Binance, one of the world largest cryptocurrencies exchanges, was proposed to pay more than $4 billion to end its years-long investigation by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), which Binance was under the radar since 2018. The negotiation between the US DoJ and Binance possibly ended up as its founder, Changpeng Zhao (CZ) facing criminal charges on money laundering, bank fraud and sanctions violations, according to Bloomberg.
Binance was viewed by Crypto traders as a great trading platform that allowed its user to trade crypto via peer-to-peer channel. Binance has earning programs that allow its user to stake on new crypto projects and gain interests as a new cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, Binance also offers futures trading, allowing its users to manage their risk or speculate with derivatives like in the traditional markets.
However, the wave of its executives’ resignation in recent months, including its chief strategy, general counsel and chief product officer, are raising legal red flags on Binance’s behind the scene.
According to Reuters, Binance was under scrutiny for years as in March 2023, the derivatives regulator, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued Binance on “willful evasion” of US commodities law, on operating an “illegal” exchange and a “sham” compliance program. In June 2023, the US markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Binance and CZ on an “elaborate scheme to evade US federal securities laws.”
Currently, Binance owns utility tokens trading around $263 per BNB. BNB’s market cap is almost $40 billion which is the fourth largest in the world. According to coinmarketcap, the earliest BNB price was around $0.1 per BNB in mid to late 2017, and it peaked over $600 per BNB in 2021 before gradually falling to the current price.
