In the past few weeks, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance has been at the center of several disputes, and here's another one.
According to a report (1) that Reuters published on Thursday, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance had covert access to the bank account of its US-based partner and allegedly transferred $400 million from that account to a trading firm that Changpeng Zhao managed.
When Reuters was explaining the trail of money transfers, they mentioned that the money traveled from an account held by Binance.US at Silvergate Bank to an account held by the trading firm Merit Peak Ltd.
In addition, all these money exchanges took place during the first three months of 2021. With evidence from the bank records and company messages, Reuters reported that the transfer of funds had begun in late 2020.
The journal stated that it was unable to determine whether or not the consumers in the United States were the owners of the monies that were moved. In addition, it was mentioned that they needed to be made aware of the reasons that led to the transfer of this money.
However, Reuters said that officials at Binance.US voiced concern about the transactions because they were unaware of why they were taking place.
Kimberly Soward, a spokesperson for Binance.US, responded to the news published by Reuters by stating that the outlet was reporting "outdated information." On the other hand, he did not respond to any inquiries concerning the transfers.
Settlements on Binance and with the SEC
Recent events have resulted in the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) increasing the monitoring it exercises over the cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
It was reported this week that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) might file a complaint against BUSD issuer Paxos regarding the selling of BUSD tokens as unregistered securities.
Binance may be willing to pay penalties to settle investigations into its operations in the United States, according to one of the top executives. Patrick Hillmann, the officer at Binance, recently stated that the officials at the company were unaware of the norms and laws surrounding bribery, corruption, and money laundering.
Binance is "working with authorities to figure out what kind of remediations we must go through today to make reparations for that," he said. He was referring to the recent scandal involving the exchange.
Since 2018, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) has investigated the cryptocurrency exchange Binance over potential violations of US sanctions and anti-money laundering regulations.
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is facing yet another serious accusation against the company. On the other hand, they have categorically rejected the charges made by Reuters.
Meanwhile, BNB toke, the native token of Binance is up 2.4 % on daily candle stock chart. It was trading at $ 311 at the time of writing.
It has been up 26 % since start of the year. However, as compared to other major cryptos, it has been laying behind where, Bitcoin is up 46% and Ether is up 42% since 2023 start.
