District court accepts guilty plea, begins sentencing
On the 6th, Judge Richard Jones of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington accepted the guilty plea of Changpeng Zhao (CZ), former CEO of crypto asset (virtual currency) Binance.
In November, Global Binance and CZ admitted to violating anti-money laundering regulations and sanctions regulations.
Global Binance has reached a settlement with the US Treasury, agreeing to pay a fine of approximately 633 billion yen ($4.3 billion). CZ also agreed to pay a criminal fine of approximately 7.4 billion yen ($50 million) and resigned as CEO. There is also a possibility that the fine will be reduced in the future.
connection: Binance CZ pleads guilty to violating anti-money laundering measures in plea deal with the US Department of Justice
connection: SEC Crypto Mom and Coinbase CEO comment on Binance’s settlement with the US Department of Justice and CZ’s resignation
In addition to being the global CEO of Binance, CZ has also stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Binance US. Binance US has stated that CZ will no longer be involved in governance (corporate governance).
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not yet reached a settlement with Binance, and the SEC’s dispute with the global version of Binance, Mr. CZ, and Binance US continues.
connection: Mr. CZ resigns as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Binance US
What is Binance?
Operates a major virtual currency exchange with a large number of stocks, trading volumes, and registered users. The company also engages in a wide range of other businesses, including venture capital activities, providing educational content, and philanthropic activities. In November 2022, the company announced its entry into the Japanese market.
Virtual currency glossary
Policy explanation by new CEO
Richard Teng, who succeeded CZ as CEO of the global version of Binance, posted his first official blog post as CEO on November 27, in which he outlined the company’s future aspirations.
Binance’s foundation is the idea of creating value for users through innovation, reiterating the company’s commitment to consistently provide best-in-class products that people love.
He also commented on regulatory compliance in the virtual currency industry as follows:
As an industry, we need to place greater emphasis on collaboration with policymakers. Only then will we be able to effectively contribute to building a global regulatory framework that protects consumers and fosters innovation.
We continue to look forward to working with the entire industry to carry out these important initiatives. In addition, Binance in particular takes its responsibility as a custodian of user assets seriously, and emphasized safety by maintaining one-to-one backing assets for all user assets.
In addition, CZ and others said in January that they would strengthen Binance’s reliability, transparency, and compliance.
The company said it is working to implement proof of solvency, following on from last year’s proof of reserves, which discloses the status of reserve assets.
Solvency refers to a company’s financial solvency, generally expressed as the amount of total reserves that are sufficient to cover the company’s total liabilities.
connection: Binance CZ talks about this year’s outlook, including measures to strengthen “asset proof”
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