Cryptocurrency

Binance withholds information from regulators, repeatedly shuns its own compliance department

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in a report post On Friday, Reuters published the results of its investigation into the regulatory compliance practices of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume.

The authors argue that there is a recurring pattern in which the company’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, while declaring that he is open to government oversight, operates organizations that systematically reject regulators’ requests for financial and corporate structure information and evade Appropriate customer background checks.

The report’s findings are based on statements by former senior Binance employees and advisors, as well as a review of documents such as internal communications and confidential information between regulators in multiple countries and the company. According to the filing, several senior employees repeatedly raised concerns about the company’s weak know-your-customer/anti-money laundering (KYC/AML) standards, but were ignored by the CEO.

In addition, the company reportedly violated the advice of its compliance department as it continued to recruit new clients from seven countries designated as extreme money laundering risks.

The overall point made by the report’s authors is that the pattern of behavior described allows Binance to maintain vague judicial affiliation and an opaque corporate structure while offering financial products that typically require regulatory approval or licensing in many of the countries in which it operates.

In response to a Reuters inquiry, a company spokesman said the report’s findings were based on outdated or completely incorrect information. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao later commented via Twitter:

As Cointelegraph reported, although Ongoing investigation of suspicious activity On its platforms in multiple jurisdictions, Binance continues to expand into new markets, with recent moves related to Possible deployment in Thailand.