Canada has fined Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, for violating national anti-money laundering rules last year.
According to a public notice published on Thursday, the federal government said Binance failed to comply with regulations and records related to operating as a foreign money services business (FMSB).
Binance fined $4.4 million by Canada
The Financial Reporting and Transaction Analysis Center of Canada (FINTRAC) wrote:
“Binance Holdings Limited was assessed an administrative monetary penalty of CAD $6,002,000 on May 7, 2024 for committing 2 violations. The violations were found during a compliance activity in 2023.”
Apart from failing to register as an FMSB, the regulator said Binance failed to report the receipt of large virtual currency transactions with a value of more than CAD$10,000. A total of 5,902 such transactions were incorrectly reported by Binance between June 1, 2021 and July 19, 2023.
The fine came just two weeks after Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) was sentenced to four months in prison after failing to implement proper know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering ( AML). ) regime in its change.
The founder and his company pleaded guilty to AML violations in November, after which they agreed to pay a separate fine of $50 million and $4 billion as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice of the USA.
Lots of Binance legal issues
Canada’s fine, which is roughly equal to $4.4 million, is another casual penalty against Binance associated with the number “4”. During CZ’s reign, the executive often used the number as a coded message to encourage followers to reject negative rumors about his company, including those of federal investigations.
Indeed, Binance’s legal troubles are far from over. The company is currently juggling a massive lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list more than a dozen alleged securities on its platform.
The firm’s current CEO, Richard Teng, is also fighting with the Nigerian government to free one of Binance’s executives, who has been detained for more than 70 days.
In Canada specifically, Binance has already closed shop due to its inability to meet the country’s high regulatory level. A rival exchange, Coinbase, recently became the first currency to get a full license to operate in the country.
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