The U.S. Justice Department is looking into Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, for violating Russian sanctions. The authorities are investigating whether Binance Holding was improperly used by Russia to evade financial restrictions imposed by the United States.
According to sources, the national security section of the Justice Department has opened an investigation to see whether Binance or any of its many personnel have managed to avoid sanctions related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Bloomberg sources confirmed that this investigation was not previously announced and is continuing along with one that the criminal division has already started.
Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, has not yet responded to these allegations. It is anticipated that he will speak on this subject to lessen the FUD.
This investigation takes place while the cryptocurrency market shifts between a type of relief rally and its recovery from previous terrible events and bankruptcies.
Allegations have been made that Binance’s platform was utilized to evade sanctions against Iran. To overcome problems involving Iranian sanctions evasion, Binance is also believed to have spoken with the DOJ.
The exchange earlier announced in a statement that it fully abides by all US and international banking standards.
Recently, Binance has been mentioned in several criminal and regulatory investigations. After that, Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and three other entities were the targets of a civil enforcement action brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). They were accused of running the cryptocurrency exchange in flagrant breach of the CFTC’s and the CEA’s rules.
The investigation into sanctions violations is not limited to Binance. According to a May 1 release, Poloniex paid a $7.6 million settlement to the Office of Foreign Asset Control of the U.S. Treasury Department for violating the sanctions on Crimea, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria.
