Binance Reveals the Extent of Criminal Activity

CoinDesk interviewed three leading members of Binance's compliance team. They answered a series of questions about how the company combats fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing, challenging several claims that Binance facilitates money laundering more than other exchanges and that Binance has become a hotbed of crime.

According to the representatives of Binance's compliance team, Binance cannot control the deposits and money that comes in. However, the company can monitor what happens to the money. Criminals are now aware that all transactions are monitored, which helps combat criminal schemes. Moreover, if criminals want to use a VPN, it would not make much sense because a VPN does not interfere with identifying people.

In response to accusations of breaching US sanctions against Iran, the interviewees recalled that there are UN sanctions, compliance with which applies to all UN members, and there are sanctions imposed by a country, such as in the case of the US. The latter are only applied in accordance with US law and enforcement. The official added that companies in European countries are prohibited from complying with US sanctions against Iran. Binance, for its part, is not a US company.

As for the scale of illegal activity, this is due to the size of the exchange. The figures for illegal activity are the same throughout the industry, according to interviewees:

There is nothing that screams that Binance is a den of criminal activity, and that's what I wanted. I wanted to kind of put something out there that bonifies.

In addition, the exchange significantly tightened KYC regulations in August 2021, which led to the loss of 90% of customers and billions of dollars in revenue: