Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has played a pivotal role in aiding Indian authorities to crack down on a significant gaming scam worth $47.6 million. The global cryptocurrency exchange provided crucial data that helped India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) investigate the Fiewin app, which has been linked to the scam.
Binance’s Record-Breaking Recovery Efforts
The platform attracted thousands of users with promises of easy earnings through various online games. Meanwhile, it became clearer that these promises were part of a larger fraudulent operation. As such, Binance’s Financial Intelligence Unit started gathering key evidence to uncover the illicit activities linked to the Fiewin app.
By providing essential data, Binance helped Indian authorities identify key suspects and entities involved in the scam. However, neither the exchange nor the agency has clarified whether the funds have been recovered.
Binance Returns to India After Settlement
As reported by TheCoinRise, Binance has been listed as a reporting entity with the Financial Intelligence Unit, FIU of India. The listing signals Binance’s re-entry into the country after suspending its activities in January 2024. The exchange also stated that its website and apps have become operational and available to users in India.
Upon the FIU notice, Apple’s App Store in India also restricted access to the applications and prevented new users from downloading them. However, Richard Teng, Binance CEO, said it became necessary to conform to the Indian regulatory authority given the potential of the Indian market.
Notably, while negotiations were ongoing in June, there was a report that Binance needed to pay a fine of about $2.25 million for not complying with the regulatory authorities as part of its re-entry strategy. According to the exchange’s spokesperson, the fine has been paid, hence the relisting on India’s FIU.
Binance Recovers Funds Via Blockchain Technology
According to an announcement, Binance Exchange’s security experts recovered over $73 million of stolen users’ funds by external parties between January 1 and July 31, 2024. This accomplishment far exceeds the $55 million recovered by the exchange in all of 2023. Meanwhile, the exchange emphasized that the feat became possible due to collaboration with industry peers to support Web3 users.
It maintained that these recoveries were on misplaced or lost digital assets and illegal funds that found their way to the Binance platform. Intriguingly, an analysis of the funds that Binance successfully clawed back showed that about 80% were lost due to hacking, theft, or other external exploits. The other 20% is related to scams perpetrated outside Binance Exchange.
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