Binance CEO “CZ” on Tuesday refuted a Reuters report that the exchange facilitated about of $2.35 billion worth of illegal transactions.
CZ released over 50 pages of email records between Binance’s cybersecurity team and Reuters, which he believes refutes the Reuters report.
Reuters on Monday reported that Binance’s weak anti-money laundering checks and KYC rules caused $2.35 billion worth of money laundering through Binance from the North Korean hacking group Lazarus, illegal drug sales on darknet market Hydra, and investment fraud between 2017-2022. Reuters also questioned Binance on allowing Monero trading on its platform despite warnings from law enforcement agencies that Monero risks money laundering.
Moreover, the news outlet claimed the investigation is backed by blockchain data, court records, and law enforcement statements. However, the email exchanges show that Reuters and Binance fail to meet an agreement over the allegations.
Binance argues Reuters’ journalists declined to speak with two senior investigators Tigran Gambaryan and Matt Price who worked on the Lazarus and Hydra case files. Gambaryan and Price now lead the cyber-forensics team at Binance. Moreover, the news outlet declined to let Binance review the UID and wallet information on investment frauds.
In the case of Monero, Binance believes many technology firms provide encryption on their devices and messaging services due to a legitimate right to privacy.
“Financial freedom, privacy, and effective law enforcement assistance coexist as a result of proper AML policies and practices on the Binance platform.”
Binance claims it works with regulators, policymakers, and law enforcement agencies to ensure transparent crypto trading and focus on crime prevention.
Meanwhile, the SEC is also investigating if Binance broke securities law during its BNB token’s initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017. The SEC has claimed that most cryptocurrencies are securities and filed cases against many ICO projects. In fact, Binance changed the wording of the BNB white paper in 2019 on the possibility of being misunderstood as security.
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