Binance, a limited liability company registered in the Cayman Islands, is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, and 15 other executives were charged by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for allegedly operating as an exchange. unregistered and violate a number of laws. Following Zhao's acceptance of charges, Binance Coin lost almost 9% of its value, while Bitcoin and Ethereum suffered losses between 3% and 4%.

Zhao was accused of violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering program and intentionally violating US laws and Binance had been accused of allowing money laundering, financing terrorist groups and doing nothing to avoid it.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, claims that the digital company misappropriated its users' funds and lied to investors and regulators.

In total the SEC filed 13 charges, accusing them of making billions of dollars in exchange for putting their clients' assets at significant risk. By pleading guilty to the charges, Zhao ensures that Binance can continue operating, but more regulated. “Zhao and the Binance entities not only knew the rules, but they consciously decided to evade them and put their customers and investors at risk, all in an attempt to maximize their own profits,” said Gary Gensler, president of the US regulator. According to Gensler, Zhao and Binance “engaged in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, non-disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement that said company allowed more than 100,000 transactions that supported activities such as terrorism and narcotics trafficking; and that allowed more than 1.15 million transactions with virtual currencies that violated US laws.

According to Yellen, terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda used Binance for their illicit activities and “Binance never filed a single suspicious activity report.” The Justice Department, for its part, said Binance allowed Iran to carry out transactions that evaded international sanctions.

Zhao has been released on $175 million bail with a hearing scheduled for February 22 and although he will continue to operate it must be ensured that he respects anti-money laundering laws.

Last September, VISA and Mastercard cards, which had joined Binance in the past, separated from it, frightened by the regulatory scrutiny that was beginning to grow against that company.