The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, is reportedly in discussion with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) over a $4bn settlement fee to resolve alleged financial violations.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the talks could be finalised in the next couple of weeks and has not dismissed the possibility of its Founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, facing criminal charges in the US.
The potential settlement fee would signify a possible end to Binance’s regulatory trouble with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), with both alleging the exchange has committed multiple financial violations.
The CFTC charged Binance last March in a lawsuit outlining that the exchange and Zhao committed ‘numerous’ violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and regulations, such as illegal off-exchange commodity options.
Binance retorted the CFTC’s allegations, believing that the regulator has no “regulatory authority over spot trading” and that the first six charges handed out by the CFTC “do not apply to the foreign conduct alleged”.
The SEC also alleged similar violations that Binance committed in its 13 charges placed against the company, mostly stemming from unregistered securities in a “calculated evasion of the law”.
If Zhao were to be charged, he would have to be extradited from his residency in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and face trial in US territory.
