Binance founder Changpeng Zhao will reportedly step down as CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange and admit to violating US anti-money laundering laws.
Zhao will plead guilty to criminal charges, while Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, will agree to pay $4.3 billion in fines to US regulators, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Citing people familiar with the matter, WSJ says the crypto billionaire will enter his plea in a Seattle court this afternoon in a deal that could allow Binance to continue normal operations while also giving Zhao the right to retain the majority interest in the stock exchange.
However, Zhao is banned from serving in a leadership role at the company and will be sentenced at a later date.
Neither Zhao nor the Justice Department have made an official statement on the deal at the time of publication.
Zhao and Binance’s deal with the DOJ is separate from the charges the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) faced in June this year, when the SEC attempted to freeze the US arm of the crypto exchange’s assets.
Last month, the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a crypto lobbying organization, defended Binance, saying the SEC’s charges were akin to suing a supermarket for selling oranges, while comparing the exchange to e-commerce giant Amazon.
“By filing a case against the defendants here, the SEC is suing the equivalent of a supermarket that sells oranges and other fruits, or an online e-commerce marketplace, like Amazon.
Tokens alone are not securities, and the markets where they are available to buy and sell are not stock exchanges. Whether or not a token was initially sold as part of an ‘investment contract’ is immaterial.”
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