English
61937
 The cryptocurrency industry has experienced ups and downs. Last week, Tron founder Justin Sun and his company were charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with fraudulent trading and violating other securities laws. On March 27, Eastern Time, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and its founder Changpeng Zhao were accused by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) of violating regulatory measures.  Screenshot source: CFTC official website Binance and Changpeng Zhao were accused of circumventing compliance controls. On March 27, local time, the CFTC announced on its official website that it had filed a civil enforcement lawsuit in the U.S. Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, accusing Changpeng Zhao and three entities operating the Binance platform of repeatedly violating the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations. The CFTC also charged Binance’s former Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) Samuel Lim with aiding and abetting Binance’s violations. According to the indictment, from July 2019 to the present, Binance provided and executed commodity derivatives transactions for U.S. residents. The CFTC believes that Binance’s compliance program has been ineffective and that, under Changpeng Zhao’s direction, Binance instructed its employees and customers to circumvent compliance controls in order to maximize the company’s profits. The charges allege that despite Binance’s legal obligation as a futures broker to collect user identity verification information, for most of the time, Binance did not require customers to provide any identity verification information before trading on the platform, and failed to implement basic compliance procedures designed to prevent and detect terrorist financing and money laundering.  Image licensed Bloomberg reported that since at least 2021, the CFTC has been investigating whether Binance failed to prevent Americans from buying and selling cryptocurrencies and their derivatives. According to CFTC rules, if a platform allows Americans to trade certain derivatives, it must register with the agency. The CFTC stated that the agency is seeking to recover proceeds from Binance and Changpeng Zhao, civil penalties, the issuance of a permanent suspension of trading and registration injunctions, and a permanent injunction against further violations of CEA and CFTC regulations. CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam said, “For years, Binance knew they were violating CFTC regulations but continued to trade. (Today’s enforcement action) should be a warning to anyone in the cryptocurrency space that the CFTC will not tolerate deliberate evasion of U.S. law. ”Changpeng Zhao responded to being sued: Surprised and disappointed. In fact, a few minutes before the CFTC issued the press release, Changpeng Zhao had posted a tweet with only the number "4". This tweet implies that Changpeng Zhao denied relevant foreign media reports that he and Binance were accused by the CFTC.  Screenshot source: Zhao Changpeng Twitter On January 2, Changpeng Zhao posted a tweet stating that if the number "4" is mentioned in the future, it means "ignoring FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt), fake news, attacks, etc." On March 28, Binance published Changpeng Zhao’s response to the CFTC’s prosecution on its official website blog.  Image source: Binance Blog Changpeng Zhao said in response that although Binance has cooperated with the CFTC for more than two years, the CFTC filed an unexpected and disappointing civil lawsuit. “Upon preliminary review, the Complaint appears to provide an incomplete account of the facts, and we disagree with the Complaint's allegations on many of the issues. While we can only give a comprehensive answer in due course, we will discuss a few key issues below. ”Changpeng Zhao said that Binance is committed to maintaining transparency and cooperation with regulatory agencies and law enforcement agencies (LEs) in the United States and globally. Binance currently has a compliance team of more than 750 people, many of whom have previous backgrounds in law enforcement and regulatory agencies. “We have processed over 55,000 LE requests to date and assisted US LEs in freezing/seizuring over $125 million in funds in 2022 and $160 million in funds so far in 2023. We intend to continue to respect and cooperate with regulatory agencies in the United States and around the world. ”Changpeng Zhao stated that Binance will not engage in profitable trading or "manipulate" the market under any circumstances. Binance conducts “trades” in a variety of situations. “Our income is in crypto form. We do need to convert them into fiat currency or other cryptocurrencies from time to time to pay fees. We have branches that provide liquidity for less liquid pairs. These affiliates are specially monitored and are not allowed to make huge profits. ”The currency circle continues to be turbulent, and Bitcoin once fell below US$26,700. After multiple foreign media reported that Changpeng Zhao and Binance were accused by the CFTC, Bitcoin once fell below US$26,700. As of press time, it has rebounded slightly to around $27,000. Previously, the currency circle was in constant turmoil. On March 24, local time, Binance’s spot trading encountered problems and announced a suspension. Bitcoin rebounded after a slight decline. ； On March 22, local time, the SEC accused Justin Sun and his company of fraud and violation of other securities laws. Eight American celebrities were simultaneously accused of illegally promoting Sun’s crypto asset securities.  Image licensed In fact, this is not the first time that Binance has been investigated by US regulators. According to Bloomberg, in June 2022, the SEC investigated whether Binance’s initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017 involved violations of securities laws. In addition, this is not the first time that the CFTC has taken action on cryptocurrency exchanges. Reuters reported that last year, the CFTC also filed a lawsuit against BitMEX, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges, asking it to stop its U.S. commodity derivatives business. What is Zhao Changpeng's background? Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance and a programmer who once topped the list of the richest Chinese people the year before last, is a well-known figure in the "currency circle". In 1977, Zhao Changpeng was born in a teacher's family in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province. He then followed his father to Canada to study. He studied computer science at the prestigious McGill University. After graduation, Zhao Changpeng successfully entered the financial technology industry and became a software developer. In 2013, Changpeng Zhao learned about Bitcoin from a venture capitalist. In 2014, despite the opposition of his family, Changpeng Zhao sold his house in Shanghai to invest in Bitcoin. During this period, he met OKCoin’s founder Xu Mingxing, became OKCoin’s technical director, and left after a year. In June 2017, Changpeng Zhao officially founded Binance and launched its exclusive blockchain currency, Binance Coin (BNB), in July of the same year. At the end of 2021, against the backdrop of the surge in Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies, Changpeng Zhao became the richest Chinese man with a net worth of US$94.1 billion (approximately 634.8 billion yuan), and was also among the top ten richest people in the world. But the good times did not last long. Since the beginning of 2022, cryptocurrency has been falling under the influence of the world's financial markets. Zhao Changpeng's wealth has also shrunk significantly, and he has lost his position as the richest man in China.  #Small money chatter# Have you ever speculated in cryptocurrencies? Welcome to the comment area and chat with Xiaocai! In March, Xiaocai will select the top five netizens who left messages on the most read articles and send them mysterious prizes!  |
|
|
|
|
|
