The media released news alleging that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued Binance and Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) for regulatory violations. In response to this, CZ posted a message on its official website.
CZ said that Binance has cooperated with the CFTC for more than two years and expressed disappointment in its civil lawsuit. "Upon preliminary review, the lawsuit appears to contain an incomplete statement of facts and we disagree with the characterization of many issues" including compliance technology and prohibition. U.S. user access, cooperation and transparency with law enforcement, registration and licensing, transactions, and more.
CZ believes that Binance.com has developed best-in-class technology to ensure compliance, including nationality, IP address, mobile operator, device fingerprint, bank deposit and withdrawal, blockchain deposit and withdrawal, and credit card bank identification code. This method blocks American users.
CZ pointed out that Binance is committed to cooperating with regulators and law enforcement agencies in the United States and around the world. Binance currently has a compliance team of more than 750 people, many of whom have backgrounds in law enforcement and regulatory agencies. To date, Binance has processed more than 55,000 law enforcement agency requests and assisted US law enforcement agencies in freezing and seizing US$160 million in funds in 2023.
Regarding licenses, CZ said that Binance currently has 16 licenses/registrations around the world, the largest number among exchanges, and it is still increasing.
In terms of trading, CZ emphasized that Binance will not "manipulate" the market under any circumstances. Binance's income is in the form of cryptocurrency, and it needs to be converted into legal tender or other cryptocurrencies from time to time to pay fees. Binance has subsidiaries that provide liquidity for less liquid trading pairs, and these subsidiaries are specially monitored and are not allowed to make huge profits.
In addition, as far as CZ is concerned, he has two accounts on Binance, one for Binance Card and one for holding crypto assets. CZ stores cryptocurrencies on Binance.com while needing to convert cryptocurrencies from time to time to pay for his personal expenses.
Binance has a “90-day no-trading” policy for employees, which prohibits selling cryptocurrencies within 90 days of buying them and vice versa. Additionally, Binance banned employees from futures trading. CZ himself strictly adheres to these policies and has never participated in Binance Launchpad, Earn, margin or futures trading.
CZ emphasized, “We seek amicable solutions to all problems. We cooperate with regulators and government agencies around the world. Although we are not perfect, we always have higher standards for ourselves, usually higher than existing standards required by regulations. Most importantly, we always believe in doing the right thing for our users at all times. In this journey towards monetary freedom, we don’t expect everything to be easy, but when faced with challenges, We will not back down."