Zach Everson⚖ The SEC dropped its lawsuit against Binance on Thursday, just a week after the crypto exchange started listing Trump's stablecoin.
But wait, there's more—
me, for @Forbes
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Binance has even more to gain from getting on Trump's good side.
Two weeks before it listed Trump's stablecoin, Binance's founder, majority owner, and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao petitioned Trump's Justice Department for a pardon, he said on recent podcast.
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CZ talks Life inside Prison, Trump Presidency, and state of Crypto!
If you need a refresher, in 2023—
🏦 Binance "admit[ed] it engaged in anti-money laundering, unlicensed money Ttansmitting, and sanctions violations"
🏦 CZ pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act
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https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/binance-and-ceo-plead-guilty-federal-charges-4b-resolution
Binance and CEO Plead Guilty to Federal Charges in $4B Resolution
Binance Holdings Limited (Binance), the entity that operates the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.com, pleaded guilty today and has agreed to pay over $4 billion to resolve the Justice Department’s investigation into violations related to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), failure to register as a money transmitting business, and the International Emergency Economic
Binance agreed to pay a $4.3 billion financial penalty.
CZ agreed to step down as CEO and was sentenced to four months in prison and a $50 million fine.
DOJ called the plea "the largest corporate resolution to include criminal charges for an executive"
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The SEC also sued Binance in 2023, accusing it of—
👀 operating an illegal exchange in the US
👀 misusing customer funds
👀 artificially inflating its trading volume
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/06/05/sec-sues-binance-for-multiple-us-rule-violations/
After SEC dropped the suit, a spox for Binance's US said,
"We are pleased that the SEC fully dismissed its charges against Binance.US, confirming what we have always known—that the company did not violate US securities laws."
[In 2023 Binance admitted to violating US laws in its DOJ deal.]
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And putting the "coin" in "coincidence"—
Binance was the second crypto exchange with US legal problems to list Trump's stablecoin last week.
KuCoin, which pleaded guilty in the US in Jan. to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, now lists USD1 too.
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(A fun thing I learned after publishing the article on KuCoin is that in Portuguese, cu, pronounced "ku," means ass or anus.)
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Bunch more in the article, which is free (no paywall) so please read and share. Thanks!
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Update: The article now includes a response from World Liberty Financial.