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Bitcoin coins are seen at a stand during the Bitcoin Conference 2023, in Miami Beach, Florida, U.S., May 19, 2023. Crypto companies spent $18.96 million in the first three quarters of 2023 on lobbying, compared with $16.1 million during the same period in 2022. That was despite last year's spectacular meltdown of crypto exchange FTX, which had been a top-ten spender. Coinbase (COIN.O), the largest U.S. crypto exchange, led the pack again, spending $2.16 million, followed by Foris DAX, which operates Crypto.com, the Blockchain Association and Binance Holdings. Although those bills have yet to advance further, crypto lobbyists are not letting up.

Persons: Marco Bello, spender, FTX, Foris DAX, Kristin Smith, Sam Bankman, Fried, Coinbase, Binance, Crypto.com, Hannah Lang, Michelle Price, Matthew Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Blockchain Association, Binance Holdings, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Thomson Locations: Miami Beach , Florida, U.S, Washington, Manhattan, Binance

REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 27 (Reuters) - Former Binance chief Changpeng Zhao must stay in the United States for the time being, a federal judge said on Monday, after the founder of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange pleaded guilty to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws. U.S. District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle said he would review whether Zhao should have to stay in the United States after the U.S. government appealed a decision by another judge allowing Zhao to return to the UAE before his Feb. 23 sentencing hearing. Last week, Zhao conceded: "I made mistakes, and I must take responsibility." The government had said it may be unable to secure Zhao's return to the United States given it has no extradition treaty with the UAE. Lawyers for Zhao disputed that he was a potential flight risk, noting that he paid a "substantial" bail package and voluntarily came to the United States to accept responsibility for his actions.

Persons: Zhao Changpeng, Binance, Benoit Tessier, Changpeng Zhao, Zhao, Richard Jones, Chris Prentice, Hannah Lang, Michelle Price, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, United Arab, District, U.S, UAE, Binance Holdings, Justice, Lawyers, Thomson Locations: Porte, Paris, France, United States, Seattle, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Binance, New York, Washington

☆ US prosecutors want Binance's Zhao to remain in US until sentencing -filing
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

NEW YORK, Nov 22 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors pressed a federal judge on Wednesday to require Binance Holdings founder and former chief Changpeng Zhao to remain in the continental United States before his sentencing hearing on Feb. 23, 2024, according to a court filing. The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday urged the judge to require Zhao to stay in the United States and prevent him from returning to the United Arab Emirates before his sentencing. Zhao pleaded guilty on Tuesday to violating U.S. laws to prevent money laundering. Previously, a DOJ spoksperson told Reuters that Zhao was currently expected to stay in the Seattle area until Monday evening, but after that would be allowed to return to his residency in the UAE. Reporting by Chris Prentice; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao, Zhao, DOJ spoksperson, Chris Prentice, Leslie Adler Organizations: U.S, Binance Holdings, U.S . Justice Department, Wednesday, United, United Arab Emirates, DOJ, Reuters, Thomson Locations: United States, United Arab, Seattle, UAE

☆ US authorities set to unveil settlement with Binance -source
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Smartphone with displayed Binance logo and representation of cryptocurrencies are placed on a keyboard in this illustration taken, June 8, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNEW YORK, Nov 21 (Reuters) - U.S. government authorities are expected to unveil a settlement with Binance Holdings on Tuesday, resolving a years-long investigation into the world's largest crypto exchange, according to a source familiar with the matter. The deal, which will include charges against individuals and resolve allegations of violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and other U.S. laws, involves multiple U.S. agencies: the Justice Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the source said. Reporting by Chris PrenticeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Chris Prentice Organizations: REUTERS, Binance Holdings, Justice Department, Futures Trading Commission, Treasury, Network, Thomson

☆ Binance chief will admit violating US laws as part of $4 billion deal to resolve probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Zhao Changpeng, founder and chief executive officer of Binance speaks during an event in Athens, Greece, November 25, 2022. REUTERS/Costas Baltas/File photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Binance Holdings Ltd FollowNEW YORK, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Binance Holdings chief Changpeng Zhao will admit violating U.S. laws as part of a deal to resolve a U.S. probe into illicit finance breaches, according to a source familiar with matter. The deal between a number of U.S. agencies and the world's largest crypto exchange will also involve charges against Binance's former compliance chief Samuel Lim, the source said. The deal will include penalties on the firm of over $4 billion, including $3.4 billion from U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and another $968 million from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, another source familiar with the matter said. Reporting by Chris Prentice; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Zhao Changpeng, Binance, Costas Baltas, Changpeng Zhao, Samuel Lim, Chris Prentice, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: REUTERS, Binance Holdings, Treasury's, Network, Foreign Assets Control, Thomson Locations: Athens, Greece, U.S

☆ What is Binance, why is it in so much trouble, and what does it mean for crypto?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Not only is Binance the world’s biggest crypto exchange, it is orders of magnitude larger than its rivals. Up until recently, Binance boasted nearly 60% of the market share for crypto spot trading. The Seychelles-based OKX is second in market share at 5.44% and the US exchange Coinbase is third at 5.37%, according to crypto news site CoinDesk. Today, Binance takes responsibility for this past chapter.”It’s a common refrain among crypto firms who find themselves under scrutiny. “What this plea deal does is give Binance as a chance to live another day,” Yadav said.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao —, Binance, Zhao, “, ” Zhao, FTX, “ Binance, ”, Robert Le, Yesha Yadav, ” Yadav Organizations: New, New York CNN, Justice Department, Binance Holdings, Bloomberg, Getty, CZ, PitchBook, Investors, Vanderbilt University, Binance Locations: New York, Binance, Seychelles

☆ US seeks more than $4 billion from Binance to end criminal case -Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Companies Need To Integrate Climate Reporting Across Functions To Comply With California S New Law | Henry Engler | October | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A smartphone with displayed Binance logo and representation of cryptocurrencies are placed on a keyboard in this illustration taken, June 8, 2023. Negotiations between the Justice Department and Binance include the possibility that the cryptocurrency exchange's founder, Changpeng Zhao, would face criminal charges in the United States, the report said. The Bloomberg report said an announcement on the resolution could come as soon as the end of this month. A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment. The DOJ probe is one of a string of legal and regulatory headaches the world's biggest crypto exchange faces in the United States.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Changpeng Zhao, Sam Bankman, Binance, Zhao, Niket, Tom Wilson, Chris Prentice, Arun Koyyur, Maju Samuel, Bill Berkrot Organizations: REUTERS, U.S . Justice Department, Binance Holdings, Bloomberg, Justice Department, Binance, Reuters, DOJ, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Futures Trading Commission, Thomson Locations: United States, Bengaluru, London, New York

☆ Binance could lay off thousands as company buckles down for DOJ probe, source says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Changpeng Zhao, billionaire and chief executive officer of Binance Holdings Ltd., speaks during a session at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. The cuts will eliminate 1,500 to 3,000 of Binance's global workforce, this person told CNBC, and will take place through the end of the year. The Justice Department probe will likely reshape the company fundamentally, the employee told CNBC. A Binance spokesperson disputed that the cuts would impact 3,000 employees, saying that the high-end number was "just not right." Binance itself has suffered significantly since the lawsuits from U.S. regulators, with exchange outflows running into the hundreds of millions.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao, Binance Organizations: Binance Holdings Ltd, Department, CNBC, Street, Justice Department, Reuters, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Locations: Lisbon, Portugal, U.S

☆ Binance, SEC reach agreement to keep US customer assets in country
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The defendants, which include CEO Changpeng Zhao, agreed to repatriate assets held for the benefit of US customers. Binance Holdings officials, including Zhao, also will not be able to have control over these assets, the agreement said. The SEC on Saturday said it secured the emergency relief to protect US customer assets. “Given that Changpeng Zhao and Binance have control of the platforms’ customers’ assets and have been able to commingle customer assets or divert customer assets as they please, as we have alleged, these prohibitions are essential to protecting investor assets,” said Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, adding the agreement ensures US customers can still withdraw their assets. The SEC asked a federal court to issue a temporary restraining order to freeze the US assets of Binance in early June, Reuters reported.

Persons: New York CNN — Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Zhao, ”, Gary Gensler, Gurbir, Grewal, Coinbase, Binance.US Organizations: New, New York CNN, US Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Binance Holdings, Reuters, CNN Locations: New York, United States, SEC’s

The agreement, disclosed in court papers filed late on Friday, still requires the approval of the federal judge overseeing the litigation. To make certain that U.S. customer assets do not go offshore, the agreement allows only Binance.US employees access to these assets. The SEC said in a statement released on Saturday that the emergency relief order secured for Binance.US customers will protect their assets and ensure that they can continue to withdraw those assets. "Given that Changpeng Zhao and Binance have control of the platforms' customers' assets and have been able to commingle customer assets or divert customer assets as they please ... these prohibitions are essential to protecting investor assets," Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC's enforcement division, said in the statement. The U.S. affiliate of Binance halted dollar deposits last week and gave customers a deadline of June 13 to withdraw their dollar funds, after SEC asked a court to freeze its assets.

Persons: Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Binance.US, Zhao, Gurbir Grewal, Baranjot Kaur, Akanksha, Jose Joseph, Will Dunham, Stephen Coates, Louise Heavens Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Binance Holdings, Services, U.S, Thomson Locations: United States, Bengaluru

☆ Binance, SEC agree to allow only US employees to access customer funds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 17 (Reuters) - Binance, Binance.US and the U.S. securities regulator entered into an agreement to ensure that only Binance.US employees could access customer funds in the short term, according to court documents. The proposed agreement comes after the SEC sued Binance, its CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao and Binance.US's operator last week, in a dramatic escalation of a crackdown on the industry by U.S. regulators. Binance.US and SEC did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. The U.S. affiliate of Binance halted dollar deposits last week and gave customers until June 13 to withdraw their dollar funds, after SEC asked a court to freeze its assets. Other provisions in the proposed agreement will see Binance.US create new crypto wallets that the global exchange's employees have no access to, provide additional information to the SEC and agree to an expedited discovery schedule, the filings said.

Persons: Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Binance.US, Baranjot Kaur, Stephen Coates, Louise Heavens Organizations: Binance Holdings, Services, SEC, Reuters, U.S, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Binance, SEC strike deal to move all US customer funds, wallet keys back onshore - CoinDesk
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 17 (Reuters) - Binance, Binance.US and the U.S. securities regulator announced a deal to ensure that only Binance.US employees could access customer funds in the short term, CoinDesk reported on Saturday, citing a proposed agreement. The proposed agreement comes after the SEC sued Binance, its CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao and Binance.US's operator last week, in a dramatic escalation of a crackdown on the industry by U.S. regulators. The SEC also sued major U.S. exchange Coinbase (COIN.O) after that. Binance.US and SEC did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. The U.S. affiliate of Binance halted dollar deposits last week and gave customers until June 13 to withdraw their dollar funds, after SEC asked a court to freeze its assets.

Persons: CoinDesk, Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Binance.US, Baranjot Kaur, Stephen Coates, Louise Heavens Organizations: Binance Holdings, Services, SEC, Reuters, U.S, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Binance and the SEC agree to allow only U.S. employees to access customer funds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Binance, Binance.US and the U.S. securities regulator entered into an agreement to ensure that only Binance.US employees could access customer funds in the short term, according to court documents. The SEC also sued major U.S. exchange Coinbase after that. Binance.US and the SEC did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. The U.S. affiliate of Binance halted dollar deposits last week and gave customers until June 13 to withdraw their dollar funds, after the SEC asked a court to freeze its assets. Other provisions in the proposed agreement will see Binance.US create new crypto wallets that the global exchange's employees have no access to, provide additional information to the SEC and agree to an expedited discovery schedule, the filings said.

Persons: Binance, Changpeng Zhao Organizations: Binance Holdings, Services, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Reuters, U.S

☆ Crypto prices stabilize after plunging on SEC crackdown jitters
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Binance website on a laptop arranged in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. The list of digital tokens deemed as unregistered securities by the Securities and Exchange Commission now spans over $120 billion of crypto after the US agencys lawsuits against Binance Holdings Ltd. and Coinbase Global Inc. The SEC sued Coinbase and Binance last week, accusing both of selling unregistered securities, among other charges. On Tuesday, the U.S. regulator alleged that Coinbase was operating as an unregistered exchange and broker, and that 13 assets listed on its platform were considered crypto asset securities. On Monday, it also accused Binance of inflating trading volumes, diverting customer funds and misleading customers about its controls, among others.

Persons: Gabby Jones, Coinbase, Ripple's XRP, Binance's, Binance Organizations: Securities and Exchange Commission, Binance Holdings, Coinbase Global Inc, Bloomberg, Getty, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Polygon's Locations: Brooklyn, New York, U.S

☆ Investors pull $790 million from crypto exchange Binance after SEC charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Crypto investors pulled $791.6 million from the crypto exchange Binance in 24 hours, crypto research firm Nansen said Tuesday, after U.S. regulators unveiled 13 securities charges against the company and its founder, Changpeng Zhao. After the collapse of allegedly fraudulent crypto exchange FTX in November 2022, investors moved their assets to a number of exchanges, but Binance won the lion's share of those inflows. Investors withdrew $1.65 billion worth of assets from Binance and $13 million from contested Binance's U.S. arm on the Ethereum blockchain after the charges were unveiled. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission had already unveiled a similar set of charges against the crypto exchange earlier this year. Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the Securities and Exchange Commission brought the charges against Binance and Zhao.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao, Nansen, Binance, Zhao, Sam Bankman Organizations: Binance Holdings Ltd, Monday's Securities, Exchange Commission, Investors, U.S, SEC, Futures Trading Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, Binance Locations: Lisbon, Portugal, Binance, U.S

Companies Binance Holdings Ltd FollowMay 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether Binance Holdings was illegally used to let Russians skirt U.S. sanctions and move money through the cryptocurrency exchange, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Regulators globally have long called for tighter controls on crypto exchanges including Binance, the world's largest, to prevent illegal activities - from money laundering to the financing of terrorism. The recent seizures by Israel's NBCTF also highlight how governments are targeting crypto companies in their efforts to prevent illegal activity. Binance and the DoJ did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Reporting by Jose Joseph in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Binance Compliance Chief Calls His Job One of the ‘Most Challenging’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Mengqi Sun | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Binance compliance chief Noah Perlman said the crypto ‘regulation by enforcement’ approach taken in the U.S. is often difficult to navigate. NEW YORK— Noah Perlman , the newly hired global chief compliance officer at Binance Holdings Ltd., said the regulatory environment for the cryptocurrency industry has made his job one of the “most challenging opportunities in compliance.”Mr. Perlman, speaking at a crypto industry conference on Tuesday, said it has been difficult to navigate the often opaque rules governing the crypto industry without being on the wrong side of the regulators.

☆ Crypto Giant Binance Offered Perks to ‘Flash Boys,’ Regulator’s Lawsuit Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Alexander Osipovich | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A regulator’s lawsuit against crypto exchange Binance Holdings Ltd. has shed light on the secretive role of high-frequency traders in crypto and how Binance sought to curry favor with such big-ticket customers. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s lawsuit, filed Monday, shows that Binance ran a “VIP” program for big trading firms that gave them various perks including slightly faster access to the exchange’s core systems than other customers enjoyed.

☆ CFTC Charges Against Binance Highlight Role of Former Compliance Chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Mengqi Sun | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A Binance spokeswoman called the complaint filed by the CFTC ”unexpected and disappointing as we have been working collaboratively with the CFTC for more than two years.”The suit by U.S. regulators against Binance Holdings Ltd. focuses in large part on the work of the cryptocurrency exchange’s former chief compliance officer, alleging he willfully aided and abetted the firm in evading U.S. laws. Samuel Lim, Binance’s compliance chief between 2018 and 2022, faces civil charges of undermining Binance’s compliance program and conducting activities to evade rules designed to prevent illicit financial activity, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Monday.

☆ Binance Sued by CFTC Over Evading U.S. Rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: Eric Lee for The Wall Street JournalThe CFTC and other federal agencies have been investigating Binance for several years. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Monday sued Binance Holdings Ltd., alleging the operator of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange violated U.S. rules that require futures and other derivatives to be traded on regulated platforms. The CFTC’s lawsuit also named Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and Samuel Lim , who the agency said was Binance’s first chief compliance officer, as defendants. The lawsuit seeks restitution and fines as well as an order that would prevent the companies from any continuing conduct that violates U.S. rules.

☆ Lack of Crypto Audit Regulation Raises Questions About PCAOB Authority
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Mark Maurer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Additionally, there isn’t a regulatory framework for audits for many crypto companies. The SEC, which oversees the PCAOB, is reviewing how crypto companies portray reports from audit firms in the aftermath of the FTX collapse. The PCAOB—which sets audit standards, inspects audits and disciplines audit firms—has said it can only oversee audits of public companies and SEC-registered broker-dealers. In a letter last month to PCAOB Chair Erica Williams, they said the watchdog ignored what they called questionable practices by auditors of crypto companies. Even potential improvements to crypto audit regulation might not prevent fraud in the crypto industry, said Andrew Kitto, an assistant professor of accounting at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a former PCAOB economic research fellow.

☆ Crypto Brands Reposition Themselves in Wake of FTX and Market Tumble
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Patrick Coffee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Roughly one year ago, a handful of crypto heavyweights made swaggering debuts on the Super Bowl ad roster, airing costly commercials with messages like “Don’t miss out” (FTX) and “Fortune favors the brave” (Crypto.com). Then came the swoon in crypto and the bankruptcy of FTX. Recently, trading firm OKX scuttled its plans to buy an ad in Super Bowl LVII when FTX began to dominate the news cycle. Coinbase aims to convey its confidence in crypto “while maintaining our position as the most trusted brand in the space,” Chief Marketing Officer Kate Rouch said. “I think that, especially after the FTX collapse, there has been a real need for that across the entire crypto space,” he said.

The article was one of a series of reports this year by the news agency on Binance's financial compliance and relationship with regulators across the world. Reuters also asked representatives of the local Binance units and affiliates about their relationship with the main Binance exchange. In Italy, Binance's public corporate filings detail just the unit's capital base and its ownership by a separate Binance company in Ireland. The Italian company, Binance Italy S.R.L., has its listed address in a block of shops and apartments in the southern city of Lecce. Just two of the Binance units analysed by Reuters offer more substantial details in their filings.

☆ Dutch central bank warns that KuCoin operating without registration
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

AMSTERDAM, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The Dutch central bank on Thursday issued a statement saying cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin is operating in the Netherlands without being registered to do so. KuCoin is a subsidiary of a Seychelles-registered company called MEK Global Limited (MGL), the bank said in a statement. MGL "is acting in violation of the law on preventing money laundering and financing terrorism and offering illegal services," De Nederlandsche Bank said. Customers of the exchange are not breaking the law, the DNB said, "but they may have a heightened risk of becoming involved in money laundering and terrorism financing." In August 2021, the DNB issued a similar warning that Binance Holdings Ltd. was operating in the Netherlands without a license.

☆ More Crypto Exchanges Verify Reserves, But Questions About Assets Remain
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Mark Maurer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Most crypto exchanges are privately held, meaning they don’t have to file financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission or get them audited. He added that customers of crypto exchanges should “look for as rigorous of that as you can look for regulatory reporting.”FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried sat down with The Wall Street Journal to discuss what happened to the billions of dollars deposited by the exchange’s customers. Photo: Kenny Wassus/The Wall Street JournalSuch a third-party verification represents a step toward more transparency around crypto exchanges, but there are significant shortcomings, some academics said. Coinbase Global Inc. last month reported $95.11 billion in both customer crypto assets and liabilities for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from $88.45 billion the previous quarter, filings show. Still, the PCAOB encourages investors to review reports on the work those companies’ auditors have done, Chair Erica Williams said at a conference Tuesday.

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