Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and other top executives have concealed the cryptocurrency exchange’s ties to China for years, according to documents obtained by the Financial Times.
In a March 29 report, FT claims Binance had substantial ties to China for several years, contrary to the company’s claims that it left the country after a 2017 cryptocurrency ban, including an office still in use as of late 2019 and a Chinese bank. used to pay employees.
“We no longer publish our office addresses…people in China can directly say that our office is not in China,” Zhao reportedly said in a company message group in November 2017.
Employees were told in 2018 that salaries would be paid through a Shanghai-based bank. A year later, staff on the payroll in China were required to attend tax sessions at an office based in the country, according to the FT.
Based on the messages, Binance employees addressed a media report that claimed the company would open an office in Beijing in 2019. “Reminder: Publicly, we have offices in Malta, Singapore, and Uganda. […] Please do not confirm any offices anywhere else, including China.”
The report supports allegations made in a lawsuit filed on March 27 by the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) against the exchange, alleging that Binance obscured the location of its executive offices, as well as the “identities and locations of the entities that operate the trading platform”.
According to the demand, Zhao stated in an internal Binance memo that the policy was intended to “keep countries clean [de violaciones de la ley]” to “.com doesn’t land anywhere. This is the main reason why .com doesn’t land anywhere.”
In response to the FT report, a Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the company “does not operate in China nor does it have any technology, including servers or data, based in China,” adding that they “strongly reject claims to the contrary.” . They continued: “To be clear, the Chinese government, like any other government, does not have access to Binance data, except when we are responding to lawful and legitimate law enforcement requests.”
The Binance spokesperson also stated:
“While we had a customer service call center in China to serve Mandarin speakers from around the world, employees who wished to remain with the company were offered relocation assistance beginning in 2021.”
According to the exchange, anonymous sources are citing ancient history and “dramatically misrepresenting events. This is not an accurate picture of Binance’s operations.”
With a daily trading volume of over $8.5 billion, Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.. The company claims that it has never been registered or incorporated in China and does not operate there. Its 8,000 full-time employees live in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific, according to Binance.
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