Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, expects to pay monetary penalties to settle U.S. authorities’ investigations into its business and past crypto offerings, according to statements from the firm’s chief strategy officer to The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
See related article: Securities and Exchange Commission may sue BUSD stablecoin issuer Paxos, WSJ reports
Fast facts
- The executive, Patrick Hillmann, said Binance is working with regulators to figure remediations for past violations, with possible outcomes of a fine or something more serious. “We just don’t know. That is for regulators to decide,” he added.
- The Justice Department has been investigating Binance over potential anti-money-laundering law infractions, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is probing the exchange over the sale of unregistered securities, according to reporting from WSJ.
- Binance joins several other major crypto firms facing investigations in the U.S. over past digital asset sales. Hillman said the company began operations in 2017 and has been working to fill gaps in its early compliance efforts but expects regulators to impose fines for past conduct.
- Hillmann said that he could not estimate the size of fines or when Binance might reach a resolution with U.S. authorities but that the exchange is “highly confident and feeling good about where those discussions are going.”
- “It will be a good moment for our company because it allows us to put it behind us,” he added.
- Last week, the SEC told Paxos Trust, a New York-based blockchain infrastructure platform, that regulators plan to take enforcement action against it over the issuance of the Binance USD stablecoin, which was co-developed by Paxos and Binance.
- Hillmann said the SEC’s most recent enforcement activity “would have a really deep and long-lasting chilling effect in the U.S.”
See related article: SEC may make it harder for hedge funds to work with crypto firms: Bloomberg