Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, has resigned following his admission of guilt for money laundering offenses.
He stated in a post on X that mistakes had been made and that responsibility must be taken, which would be best for the Binance community, Binance itself, and himself.
The Justice Department declared that Binance, which is the top crypto-exchange globally, was required to pay a sum total of $4.3bn (£3.4bn) in fines and forfeitures.
Binance was reported to have aided individuals in evading sanctions around the globe.
A spokesperson reported that Binance had enabled approximately $900 million in transactions between US and Iranian users, in addition to tallying millions of dollars in trades carried out by US clients with those in Syria, as well as in Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk, the Russian-held Ukrainian provinces..
As one of the leading platforms for cryptocurrency and digital asset trading, Binance, based in the Cayman Islands, has obtained global recognition.
The Justice Department noted that the exchange had facilitated illegal activity such as money laundering by criminals and terrorists.
Between August 2017 and April 2022, approximately $106 million in bitcoin had been sent directly from Hydra to Binance.com wallets. Hydra, a popular Russian darknet platform, was regularly used by individuals engaged in criminal activity as a source for the buying and selling of unlawful items and services, the department said.
Binance is now obligated to declare any suspicious activity to federal government agencies.
The Justice Department indicated that this would enable criminal probes of illegal cyber activity and financial resources being given to terrorist entities like Hamas, including through digital currency exchanges.
Richard Teng, previously the head of regional markets, has been appointed as the new CEO of the company.
In a post on X, Changpeng Zhao indicated that it was challenging to detach both mentally and emotionally.
He is renowned in the crypto world.
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In March, US regulators attempted to prohibit Binance, claiming that the company had been functioning unlawfully in the US.
The CFTC brought an action against the firm for allegedly conducting business in the US without registering with the proper authorities.
It charged Binance with violating numerous US fiscal regulations, including those meant to combat money laundering.
At the time, Binance defended its conduct.
It asserted that it had invested heavily to guarantee that no US-based users were active on its platform, taking such measures as prohibiting users known to be American citizens or occupants, or those who had an American cell phone number.
In June, the company was also faced with another legal case.
The SEC accused the company of constructing a "web of deception," labeling the trading platform and its founder, Zhao, as disregarding regulations that are in place to guard investors so as to remain in action in the United States.
At the time, Binance declared they would strongly defend themselves.
US law enforcement have promised to utilize existing legal statutes to eliminate fraud and other problems within the crypto space, specially after the dramatic failure of FTX, a competitor of Binance, in 2020.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the creator of FTX, was convicted of fraud this month.
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