Binance discredits US regulator complaint

On Monday afternoon, Binance issued its position regarding the allegations made by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), in which the cryptocurrency exchange platform was accused of carry out illegal exchanges of derivatives of digital assets.

Through the firm’s website, its executive director Changpeng Zhao, described the complaint as “unexpected and disappointing”, indicating that since Binance has worked for more than two years with the CFTC.

“Upon initial review, the complaint appears to contain an incomplete enumeration of the facts, and we do not agree with the characterization of many of the issues alleged in the complaint,” the manager said in a statement.

Despite the qualifications of the lawsuit and the actions taken by the CFTC, Zhao indicated that the firm intends to continue collaborating with US regulators. “The best way forward is to protect our users and collaborate with regulators to develop a clear and thoughtful regulatory regime,” the executive said.

To maintain the security of users, the platform explained that in the last two years it has made investments to implement digital identification programs that allow them to block US users by nationality, IP and VPN addresses, by mobile phone operator, fingerprints , bank deposits and withdrawals as well as in blockchain, among other measures.

This is in response to the CFTC’s statements, which in the complaint accuse Binance having offered and executed commodity derivative transactions to US persons from July 2019 to the present.

Ensure that action was taken

The executive director explained that the necessary measures were taken so that there are no active US users on the platform. He added that the procedures included increasing the compliance team, from 100 people to its increase of 750 members.

“Binance.com does not trade for profit or ‘manipulate’ the market under any circumstances. Binance ‘trades’ in a number of situations. Our income is in crypto. We need to convert them from time to time to cover expenses into fiat or other cryptocurrencies. We have affiliates that provide liquidity for less liquid pairs. These affiliates are specifically monitored so as not to make big profits,” Zhao said.

He also mentioned that to comply with regulatory policies, an investment of an additional 80 million dollars has been made in providers of know-your-customer (KYC) processes, transaction monitoring, market surveillance and research tools. , which the firm says support its compliance programs.

The executive added that to date they have processed more than 55,000 law enforcement requests, he said that they have supported the US authorities in the seizure of more than 125 million dollars in funds during 2022 and 160 million dollars in 2023 until the moment.

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