Guilty: Binance founder Changpeng Zhao
The world of crypto has been plunged into deeper crisis as a second tycoon is convicted of criminal charges.
Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has resigned after admitting anti-money laundering failures.
He will pay a £40million fine and be barred from any involvement in Binance. The firm has agreed to pay a fine of nearly £1.4billion, and a further £2.5billion to settle criminal charges.
It broke US anti-money laundering and sanctions laws by not reporting more than 100,000 suspicious transactions with organisations such as Hamas, and Al-Qaeda.
Zhao said: ‘Today, I stepped down as CEO. It is the right thing to do. I made mistakes, and I must take responsibility. This is best for our community, Binance and myself.’
The ‘wild west’ industry has become an increasing focus for regulators.
This month FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried, 31, was found guilty of stealing billions from customers of his cryptocurrency exchange.
