The well-known exchange Binance and its founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, received an indictment this Monday from the US authorities for “multiple violations” of financial and regulatory standards in North America.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTC), which is in charge of regulating the futures and options markets, sued the institution in a Chicago federal court, seeking financial penalties and possible prohibitions to continue operating in certain areas.
According to the complaint, internal emails and chats show that Binance’s alleged efforts to comply with these regulations are “false” and that the company “deliberately chose, time and time again, to put its products above compliance regulations.” the law”
In addition, the CfTc claims that although a group of cryptocurrency exchanges sought to restrict access to customers in the United States, it also encouraged methods to evade regulations and access their operations.
In addition, the founder and CEO is believed to have been responsible for all strategic decisions, including a “privacy strategy” to help important clients avoid such controls.
According to the regulator, Binance operates through a large network of opaque entities in different countries, all controlled by Zhao, in order to avoid certain regulations and recognize the difficult responsibility.
Founded in China, Binance left the Asian country in 2017 before the Beijing government imposed cryptocurrency regulations and set up its headquarters in the Cayman Islands, although it has subsidiaries that operate in many countries.
It should be noted that Zhao, of Chinese origin but of Canadian nationality, was ranked 19th in the 2022 Forbes edition of the richest people in the world.
