Cz binance owner9/4/2023 ![]() The second-largest exchange, Coinbase, processed $47 billion that month. įTX – at one point the third-largest crypto exchange by spot volume – processed around $37 billion in spot trades in October, the month before it collapsed, according to CryptoCompare. ![]() ![]() Subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday. This article originally appeared in Valid Points, CoinDesk’s weekly newsletter breaking down Ethereum’s evolution and its impact on crypto markets. If the collapse of FTX was catastrophic for the burgeoning crypto industry, a collapse of Binance would be apocalyptic. The arrest of the FTX exchange founder drew mainstream headlines that greatly overshadowed the other big crypto story of the day: questions around the solvency of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. “It’s very ugly, these kinds of cases.Monday’s arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried (“SBF”) capped off a historic period in the world of memes, money and mayhem that is the cryptocurrency industry. “What he’s done with all these funds, and how he’s dispersed them through the world, gives him access points in a variety of different countries,” she told Fortune. government, although his wide-ranging network of entities may allow continued access to capital. For Binance, O’Brien said, that crime could be improperly routing customer funds to a trading entity and then sending those proceeds to various banks all over the world.įor now, the question remains when-and if-the DOJ decides to press charges, and whether Zhao will be included along with his exchange.Įven with Zhao possibly living in non-extradition countries, Lynch said it would be difficult for him to evade the reach of the U.S. For example, if someone goes to purchase a vehicle with cash obtained from selling narcotics, the car dealer could end up in jail. “This is the foundation for, what I think, is the criminal indictment,” she added.Īs O’Brien explained, the challenge with making money laundering charges stick is that the transfers must further an underlying crime. ![]() She said the reach of the international financial networks, as well as the multiple accounts and speed of the deposits and withdrawals, raises red flags that the DOJ will likely be looking into. With the SEC typically more focused on securities violations than money laundering, Lynch said that the agency was setting the stage through forensic accounting and monitoring the Binance accounts to which it had access. “Binance has not been accused of engaging in money laundering by the SEC.” Enter the DOJ “These types of transactions are typical of most global corporate entities and are required to ensure we are able to facilitate our products and services in a stable and compliant manner,” a spokesperson said in a statement shared with Fortune. “It seemed to be very tactical-the millions, and at times billions, that moved within a couple of months to these offshore accounts located in different parts of the world, that still have an account at these U.S.-based banks,” she told Fortune.īinance has denied any impropriety with the flows of money, as well as allegations from the SEC that it mishandled customer funds. Suzanne Lynch, an expert in money laundering and professor of economic crime at Utica College, says these are the types of red flags that investigators will be examining. The SEC does not include an explanation for the arcane series of transactions, nor Zhao’s control over the dozens of entities in the Binance network. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |