An investigative report has suggested that cryptocurrency exchange Binance was behind the transfer of approximately $400 million in funds from a Binance.US account to a trading firm run by Changpeng Zhao.
According to a Reuters report on February 16, An investigation of Binance’s bank records and messages from the company showed that more than $400 million in a series of transactions starting in 2020 was sent from a Binance.US-controlled account to trading firm Merit Peak. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly launched an investigation into possible connections between Binance.US and the same trading firm in February 2022.
Reuters reported that a Binance.US spokesperson said that Merit Peak “did not operate or provide any type of services on the Binance.US platform” and that only exchange employees had access to its bank accounts. The funds were stored by Binance.US under the trading name of BAM Trading Services at Silvergate Bank.
The report came amid Binance’s publication of a blog post on “Building Trust in the Crypto Ecosystem,” in which the exchange said client assets “should only be used in ways that customers have explicitly authorized”. Binance defended itself against a similar Reuters report from June 2022 alleging that the exchange facilitated billions of dollars worth of money laundering, alleging that the news outlet was spreading disinformation.
This story is in development and will be updated.
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