【Dear Utol: Catfish Episode 46】

Binance has a fresh pair of eyes on Dear Utol: Catfish Episode 46its business dealings, this time belonging to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Bloomberg reported that the crypto exchange (currently the world's largest) is facing a DOJ probe over possibly allowing Russians to move money in a way that would violate U.S. sanctions. Per Bloomberg's report, Binance has also talked to the DOJ about older, similar complaints related to sanctions against Iran.

Binance, of course, denied any wrongdoing in a statement. The company emphasized that it "launched an initiative to completely overhaul its corporate governance structure" in 2021, becoming compliant with international sanctions.

It's worth noting that no formal accusation has been made against Binance, as this is just a probe. It may be some time before accusations manifest—if they manifest at all. In 2021, Binance was under a similar investigation related to possible money laundering.

Binance became the world's biggest crypto exchange late last year, as FTX infamously collapsed. At one point, Binance planned to bail out FTX financially, but that eventually fell through.

• FTX determines around $9 billion in customer funds are missing
• Sam Bankman-Fried launches a Substack to defend himself over FTX's collapse
• John Oliver explores the dark side of cryptocurrency
• Binance ran away from the FTX deal. The U.S. Department of Justice wants to know why.
• Crypto exchange FTX was valued in the billions. Now Binance plans to acquire it in a fire sale.

At least the crypto world is never boring.

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