Binance, the world’s largest digital asset exchange, is bracing for fines and penalties to resolve outstanding regulatory and law-enforcement investigations in the United States.
Binance has been working with regulators to address past compliance issues, according to a Feb. 15 WSJ report citing the firm’s chief strategy officer Patrick Hillmann.
Binance is “working with regulators to figure out what the remediations we have to go through now to make amends for that,” according to Hillmann.
He went on to say that the outcome of ongoing investigations will most likely be fines, but that “that is for regulators to decide.”
Binance has been the subject of several investigations in the United States, including one launched by the Department of Justice in 2018 over potential violations of anti-money-laundering laws.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) also investigated whether the company offered crypto derivatives to US customers without first registering with the agency in March 2021.
In February 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation into Binance’s US division regarding trading firms connected to CEO Changpeng Zhao.
Hillmann added that Binance was “highly confident and feeling really good about where those discussions are going,” but he couldn’t provide a figure for the fines or a timeline for resolution with US regulators.
He described the lack of clarity surrounding cryptocurrency in America as a “very confusing time for us.”
The SEC has recently escalated what industry observers refer to as a “war on crypto,” which appears to target certain staking services and stablecoins that it has deemed to violate securities laws.
The recent enforcement activity, according to the Binance executive, “would have a really deep and long-lasting chilling effect in the United States.”
Related: Binance has had a bad day with the SEC investigation and the Reuters exposé.
Paxos was barred from issuing more of the Binance-branded stablecoin BUSD earlier this week by New York regulators.
Following SEC enforcement action, US crypto exchange Kraken was fined $30 million and ordered to halt its staking services last week.
Patrick Hillmann concluded that resolving issues with US regulators would be beneficial to the company and its future.
“It will be a good time for our company because it will allow us to move on.”
Binance declined to comment further on the situation.
