Breaking: Binance Onboards Former IRS Expert to Lead the Money Laundering Reporting

Binance, the world’s leading crypto exchange has been in regulatory hot waters for quite some time now. The crypto exchange had promised to mend its ways and coordinate with regulators around the world to ensure compliance. It has taken several steps since then by lowering the high trading leverage limits, it closed down its derivatives offering in Hong Kong and across Europe.

The exchange has now onboarded Greg Monahan, a former US government criminal investigator who worked with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to lead the global money-laundering reporting efforts for the crypto exchange.

My efforts will be focused on expanding Binance’s international anti-money laundering and investigation programs, as well as strengthening the organization’s relations with regulatory and law enforcement bodies worldwide,” said Monahan

This won’t be the first former US official joining Binance to help it clear regulatory hurdles especially in the US. The crypto exchange despite its size and popularity outside the US has failed to make a similar impact in the States but continuously working towards changing that. However, the regulatory issues for the exchange have started to mount from the past couple of months as nearly a dozen other nations issued non-compliance warnings, deeming its operations illegal in those countries.

Would Binance be able to Conquer the US Markets?

The crypto exchange hired a slew of former government executives with regulatory pasts. It has hired two former executives from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Max Baucus, a former Democratic Senator. However, Brian Brooks the CEO of Binance.US, an independent sister company to Binance came quit just three months after taking charge. He cited strategic differences as the reason behind the move.

Brooks was a former Acting Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) during the Trump administration and his appointment was seen as a major step by the crypto exchange towards compliance. Thus, his departure came as a surprise to many.

Binance’s regulatory trouble comes at a crucial juncture when its US competitors such as Coinbase and FTX are making great headways while it is forced to slow down. The CEO of the crypto exchange Changpeng Zhao has even said he is ready to step down for someone who can lead the exchange out of the regulatory clampdowns.