Riding The Wave News Summary 201
What’s next for Binance’s Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, Binance Dies, And Crypto Is Birthed, & more.
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https://twitter.com/WatcherGuru/status/1728014536018457047
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https://twitter.com/BTC_Archive/status/1728096754682233194
https://twitter.com/BTC_Archive/status/1728055707088326846
https://twitter.com/BTC_Archive/status/1728194014631924047
https://twitter.com/rektcapital/status/1728379262166577166
https://twitter.com/BTC_Archive/status/1728521590025900036
https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1728424526034161780
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What’s next for Binance’s Changpeng “CZ” Zhao
A recent court filing suggests that Changpeng "CZ" Zhao's legal challenges are just beginning, despite pleading guilty to violating the United States Anti-Money Laundering requirements in a settlement with the Department of Justice.
Zhao is expected to be sentenced in February 2024. He is currently challenging the government's efforts to prevent his return to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) while awaiting sentencing with his family. In a filing from Nov. 24, however, authorities indicated that he may face a harsher punishment than initially anticipated
For the DOJ, seeking longer jail time for Zhao may not be as easy as it seems. According to Stark's analysis, the government officials would have to produce more substantial evidence implicating him in criminal activity. "Hopefully, DOJ has got something up their sleeve, or perhaps the Binance monitoring and other remedial requirements will reveal more egregious and chargeable crimes," he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Binance Dies, And Crypto Is Birthed
The King is dead, long live the king. On Tuesday, November 21, Binance, what was the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and the CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), both pled guilty to having engaged in criminal activity. With the U.S. government finally prosecuting the largest crypto-criminals, perhaps now cryptocurrencies can emerge from the shadows and grow towards their potential.
Digital assets and blockchain technology have been touted as revolutionary, and perhaps that is true. The ability to transmit cryptocurrency, “money”, at any time, nearly instantaneously, and without middlemen certainly has appeal. Even the idea of a digital asset as an investment, without further utility, is a valid potential use case. The problem with the digital asset class was that the potential was overshadowed by some notable participants.
Many of the early-movers in the cryptocurrency industry have been alleged to violate financial rules and regulations, and in the case of Binance and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, proven to have engaged in criminal activity.
The newest generation of participants in the digital asset space are different. There are firms seeking to develop the technology and bring value that works within the established financial services industry. Perhaps the developments will be more evolutionary than revolutionary. By working within the rules these firms will bring about changes that may be adopted by more people and the greater economy, and perhaps equally importantly, accepted by the U.S. regulatory authorities.
As part of the plea arrangement with the government, Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion, the largest penalty in US Treasury and FinCEN history. Plus, Changpeng Zhao stepped down as CEO and will be subsequently sentenced to fines and a prison sentence that may be as long as ten years.
The settlement agreement with Binance includes a complete exit from the United States, and a five-year monitorship where the U.S. Treasury Department will retain access to books, records, and systems of Binance. The Monitor will provide reports that will be made available to FinCEN, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Department of Justice. Interestingly, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was not a party to the settlement, and Binance still must address the SEC concerns.
Binance pled guilty to having engaged in criminal conduct from the very beginnings of the company. These were not victimless crimes.
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) press release of the settlement noted, “The violations include failure to implement programs to prevent and report suspicious transactions with terrorists — including Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Al Qaeda, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) — ransomware attackers, money launderers, and other criminals, as well as matching trades between U.S. users and those in sanctioned jurisdictions like Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea region of Ukraine. By failing to comply with AML and sanctions obligations, Binance enabled a range of illicit actors to transact freely on the platform.”
The DOJ continued, “Binance willfully failed to report well over 100,000 suspicious transactions that it processed as a result of its deficient controls, including transactions involving terrorist organizations, ransomware, child sexual exploitation material, frauds, and scams.”
Outside of the settlement announced this week by the DOJ, the SEC still has thirteen outstanding charges against Binance and CZ. The charges include operating unregistered exchanges, broker-dealers, and clearing agencies; misrepresenting trading controls and oversight on the Binance.US platform; and the unregistered offer and sale of securities.
Bitcoin Sender Struck With $3.1M Transaction Fee, Largest in History
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