A leading US markets regulator on Monday charged cryptocurrency giant Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao for numerous violations, in another move by Washington against the once high-flying sector.
Rostin Behnam, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said the accusations against Binance, the World’s largest crypto exchange, were part of a movement to “uncover and prevent wrongdoing in the volatile and risky digital asset market.”
The allegations targeted Zhao, also known by his Twitter handle CZ, and three entities that make up his crypto empire. Zhao was often presented as the archrival of crypto tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, who was detained in the Bahamas in December and encounters a US criminal trial later this year.
Behnam said in a statement that for years, Binance knew they were violating CFTC rules, working actively to both keep the money flowing and avoid compliance. He added that this should be a warning to anyone in the digital asset World that the CFTC will not tolerate wilful avoidance of US law.
The charge sheet charges cryptocurrency giant Binance for failing to maintain standards that are required of a company operating as a derivatives market. Since July 2019, Binance’s compliance program has been ineffective, the statement said.
At Zhao’s leadership, Binance employees and customers were directed to sidestep compliance controls “to maximize corporate profits,” the regulator added.
