Binance and its US counterpart Binance.US, which were presented as distinct entities, were allegedly linked more closely than previously revealed, allegedly involving personnel, technical teams, and finances.
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Binance had a plan to avoid US regulations
According to news Internal documents and employee reports published by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reveal that Binance and Binance.US, despite their claims to be completely separate entities, shared personnel and finances and a related organization that dealt with the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies.
The report further claimed that Binance created its US platform as a shield from regulators. The move reportedly came after US authorities signaled an upcoming crackdown on unregulated offshore crypto players, while a fifth of Binance’s customers were in the US.
„Binance se obávala hrozby trestního stíhání a vydala se na plán na neutralizaci amerických předpisů,“ uvádí zpráva. „Strategie se soustředila na vybudování americké platformy Binance.US, která by licencovala technologii a značku Binance, ale jinak se zdálo, že je zcela nezávislá na Binance.com.“
The report also shared texts between employees of the two companies from 2019 that illustrate their close involvement. For example, in September 2019, when a Binance employee in Shanghai turned on trading for the US platform minutes before its intended launch, leading to an exchange in a Binance chat group on the messaging app Telegram:
Ninj0r [vývojář softwaru Binance]: “ Proč začalo obchodování???? Ještě není čas!!! Kdo začal obchodovat? Měli jsme nastavené časovače obchodování? Kdo začal obchodovat?“
Následovaly další zprávy, včetně další naléhavé od Ninj0r: “ Někdo začal OBCHODOVAT BRZY. Kdo to udělal? V 8:56:09.822 někdo ručně zahájil obchodování. Kdo? Proč?“ Nakonec generální ředitel Binance Changpeng Zhao napsal: “ Ten chlap tady v Šanghaji, omyl.“
Reports suggest that developers in Shanghai initially maintained key software features for Binance.US. The Shanghai developers’ contracts were with Binance, not the US platform, the WSJ reported, citing a person familiar with the agreements.
Additionally, the source code of the US-based digital wallets was maintained by Binance developers in China. This gave Binance, as a global company, access to information about its customers in the United States.
Binance faces increasing scrutiny
Last week, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen, and Roger Marshall they asked Binance and its US partner Binance.US to provide detailed information regarding their trading operations in the face of allegations of illegal practices.
In a letter to CZ and Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder, the senators said the exchange and its affiliates “purposefully” evaded regulators, facilitated the transfer of funds to criminals and individuals evading sanctions, and concealed basic financial information from their customers.
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