By
Steve Muchoki
April 26th, 2024
Binance will reportedly pay no less than $4 billion in fines to keep operating in the United States.
Binance Holding Ltd may have reportedly reached a settlement agreement with the United States Justice Department (DoJ). That is according to a recent report by Bloomberg. Citing sources with inside knowledge of the matter, the report claims that a resolution could be reached even as early as the end of this month.
Per the agreement, Binance is expected to pay no less than $4 billion in fines as part of three conditions it must fulfill. The company reportedly seeks a “deferred prosecution agreement.” And, according to the terms of the deal, the Justice Department would only make a criminal complaint without prosecuting the company.
The other two conditions will see Binance publish a detailed description of how it violated the DoJ’s laws and would comply with a monitoring setup to ensure it doesn’t err again.
The DoJ, on the other hand, would also call it a truce by allowing the company to keep operating in the US while complying with its laws.
Binance Not CZ
While Binance may have recorded appreciable progress in seeing that the DoJ’s investigation came to a logical conclusion, the same cannot be said for its founder.
It appears that Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) may not yet be in the clear. This means that there is still the possibility that CZ faces criminal charges in the US.
However, CZ currently resides in the United Arab Emirates, a place that has no extradition treaty with the United States. So, chances are that even if US authorities eventually charge him, they may not be able to effect an arrest immediately. This means that they would have to wait till he sets foot in a country with a US extradition treaty or till he enters the US itself.
The Investigations
Binance has been subject to lengthy scrutiny by the US Justice Department. The allegations bordered on money laundering, bank fraud and the violation of US sanctions laws. But that is not all. Both Binance and CZ have also had to face multiple investigations from several agencies in the US this year most notably, with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Meanwhile, it might be worth mentioning that the decision of the DOJ to not prosecute did not just happen. Recall that Coinspeaker earlier reported that the Justice Department was worried about a potential bank run if it did.
If Binance agrees to the fine by the US, that would represent one of the largest settlements in crypto history. As of publication though, all efforts to get a commentary from either side did not yield any result.