Photo: Changpeng Zhao, Binance Founder.
Court orders cryptocurrency giant Binance to pay $4.3bn fine
A U.S. Court has ordered the world’s biggest cryptocurrency firm to pay a fine of $4.3 billion dollars for multiple criminal financial infractions.
This follows the conviction of Binance Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Changpeng Zhao, on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty I. Court and agreed to step down from his role.
Binance which is the world’s largest crypto exchange, will pay $4.3bn to settle multiple criminal violations uncovered by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), according to reports.
Zhao is expected to appear in a Seattle federal court and enter his plea bargains.
The development is coming more than five months after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused Binance and its founder of lying to regulators about its operations.
About 13 charges were filed against Binance and Zhao in the federal case.
In March this year, the U.S. Commodity Futures and Trading Commission complicated the case for the company after filing a suit against Binance, Zhao and its Chief Compliance Officer, Samuel Lim, for alleged violation of trading and derivatives rules.
Binance was founded by Zhao, a developer in China, who later moved its operations out of China due to strict regulations of cryptos by the Chinese government.
The cryptocurrency giant has been under the scrutiny of the Pakistan government over an alleged scam that is estimated to have cost people around $100m.
Crypto scams have cost investors to lose billions with the year 2021 registering a total of $14bn stolen by scammers.
In 2021, Binance was part of the crackdown on two big attackers responsible for damage worth around $500m.
