Binance Slapped With $4.4 Million Fine By Canadian Government

Canada fined Binance – the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange – for violating the country's anti-money laundering rules last year.

to General note Published on Thursday, the federal government said Binance had not complied with rules and registrations related to operating as a foreign financial services business (FMSB).

Binance was fined $4.4 million by Canada

The Financial Transactions and Reporting Analysis Center of Canada (FINTRAC) wrote:

“Binance Holdings Limited was imposed an administrative fine of C$6,002,000 on May 7, 2024, for two violations. The violations were found during compliance activity in 2023.

Aside from failing to register as an FMSB company, the regulator said Binance failed to report the receipt of significant virtual currency transactions worth more than C$10,000. A total of 5,902 transactions of this type were not properly reported by Binance between June 1, 2021 and July 19, 2023.

The fine arrived just two weeks after Binance co-founder and former CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), was sentenced to four months in prison after failing to implement a know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) system. ) the system when disbursed.

The founder and his company pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering violations in November, and subsequently agreed to pay a separate $50 million fine and $4 billion as part of a settlement deal with the US Department of Justice.

Many legal problems in Binance

The Canadian fine – worth approximately US$4.4 million – represents another incidental penalty against Binance linked to the “4.” During his reign in Czechoslovakia, the executive often used the number as a coded message to encourage his followers to reject negative rumors about his company — including those related to federal investigations.

In fact, Binance's legal trouble is far from over. The company is currently in the process of filing a massive lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for listing more than a dozen alleged securities on its platform.

The company's current CEO, Richard Teng, is also fighting with the Nigerian government to release one of the Binance executives, who has been detained for more than 70 days.

In Canada specifically, Binance has already closed shop due to its inability to meet the country's high regulatory standards. A rival exchange, Coinbase, recently became the first foreign exchange to obtain a full license to operate in the country.