Crypto exchange Binance likely to pay penalties to settle US probes

San Francisco, Feb 16 (SocialNews.XYZ) World's largest crypto exchange Binance is likely to pay "monetary penalties" to settle investigations into its business in the US, the media reported.

Binance chief strategy officer Patrick Hillmann told the Wall Street Journal that the exchanges' executives were "unfamiliar with laws and rules written surrounding bribery, corruption and money laundering".

"Binance is working with regulators to figure out what are the remediations we have to go through now to make amends for that," he was quoted as saying in the report.

The outcome could range from "like a fine" to "could be more", Hillmann said.

Binance is reportedly facing a probe by the US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has also reportedly sent at least two trading firms subpoenas in recent months, requesting records of their past dealings with Binance US.

Hillman did not estimate the size of the fines or a timeline for when the investigation might be settled, according to the report.

He said he was "highly confident and feeling really good about where those discussions are going".

The regulatory scrutiny on Binance has increased after the collapse of FTX last November.

Since the bankruptcy of FTX, Binance has been seeking to prove it has all of its customers' reserves.

In December, customers withdrew $1.14 billion in just 12 hours from Binance.

According to its CEO Changpeng Zhao, the massive withdrawals were "handled with ease" and "things seem to have stabilised".

Source: IANS