U.S. Congress ought to maintain an inquiry into Binance.US over its connection to Benefit Peak, in line with statements from a senator quoted by Reuters on Feb. 17.
Senator Roger Marshall advised the publication:
“One thing fishy is occurring right here that clearly doesn’t move the scent take a look at…Congress wants solutions, and Binance.US and Silvergate are obligated to provide them to us.”
On Feb. 16 it was reported that Binance.US despatched $400 million from an account at Silvergate Financial institution to the buying and selling agency Benefit Peak in 2021. Benefit Peak listed Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao as a supervisor — and mixed with the truth that Binance and Binance.US are presupposed to function individually, that relationship represents a probable battle of curiosity.
Since that report, Binance.US has publicly stated on Twitter that Benefit Peak operated on its platform however “stopped all exercise on [Binance.US] in 2021.”
Although Binance.US made an identical assertion privately to Reuters yesterday, it additionally expanded on that assertion in as we speak’s public tweet. It asserted that solely Binance.US workers have entry to firm financial institution accounts. It additionally mentioned that exterior market makers like Benefit Peak should compete pretty and transparently for rebates.
Binance.US moreover mentioned that it doesn’t and won’t commerce or lend out buyer funds. The corporate distanced itself from high-profile firm collapses brought on by co-mingling of funds — presumably an allusion to the failure of FTX and Alameda Analysis.
Binance’s international arm has handled quite a few regulatory intrusions and in reality expects to pay fines to U.S. regulators, in line with a Feb. 15 report from the Wall Road Journal. Nonetheless, Binance.US has not often been the goal of such scrutiny aside from an earlier and ongoing SEC investigation into the matter of Benefit Peak.
Binance.US may quickly face broader scrutiny if as we speak’s advice from Senator Marshall is taken up in Congress and turns into greater than a non-public assertion.
Marshall was beforehand concerned in a congressional inquiry into the connection between FTX and Silvergate in addition to an anti-money laundering crypto invoice.
