A group of senators in the United States has accused crypto exchange Binance of its involvement in fraud. In a letter addressed to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and his U.S. deputy Brian Schroder, the senators queried the firm’s legal and financial status.
The senators stated that the largest exchange in the world is a “hot belt of illegal financial activities” and asked the firm to respond to their long list of questions. The senators involved are Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.), and Roger Marshall (R., Kan.).
Senators Question Binance’s Transparency
The senators noted that Binance hides accurate financial reporting of the company from customers.
“Binance and its related entities have purposefully evaded regulators, moved assets to criminals and sanctioned evaders, and hidden basic financial information from its customers,” the senators stated.
In the letter, the senators also asked Zhao and Schroder to provide Binance’s financial reports from 2017 to date. They also asked the pair to give an estimate of the number of U.S.-based users that the exchange had during the aforementioned time frame.
Binance has been in the purview of U.S. regulators in recent times. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently disputed Binance’s acquisition of Voyager. Zhao also had to refute claims that the exchange is delisting all U.S.-based crypto assets due to the SEC’s crackdown.
A Response Deadline
The senators want Binance to provide documentation of its anti-money-laundering policies and procedures. The lawmakers also requested that the exchange give information on the dealings between it and its U.S. subsidiary, Binance.US.
Binance was called out for limiting the efforts of the U.S. regulator to ensure that its American subsidiary was not compliant with regulatory rules. The senators gave Binance until March 16 to respond to these allegations.
Binance has yet to respond to the allegations at the time of the report but will surely come up with a statement on the issue before the said date.
