The world’s largest digital asset exchange, Binance, is prepared to face fines and penalties to settle an outstanding regulatory and law enforcement investigation in the United States.
According to a WSJ report on February 15 that cited the company’s chief strategy officer Patrick Hillmann, Binance has been cooperating with regulators to resolve past compliance issues.
Hillmann stated that Binance is “working with regulators to find out what remediation we need to do now to fix it.”
He added that the results of the ongoing investigation will result in fines, but it could be more, saying “that’s for the regulators to decide.”
Binance has been subject to several investigations in the US including one initiated in 2018 by the Department of Justice for potential violations of anti-money laundering laws.
In March 2021, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) also examined whether the company offered crypto derivatives to US customers without registering with the agency.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also launched an investigation into the U.S. division of Binance in February 2022 regarding trading companies connected to CEO Changpeng Zhao.
Hillmann added that Binance is “very firm and feels good about the discussions,” but could not specify the size of the fine or the timescale for a resolution with US regulators.
He said the lack of clarity for crypto in America is creating “a confusing time for us.”
The SEC has recently stepped up what industry observers are calling the “war on crypto” – which appears to target certain staking services and stablecoins that are considered securities laws.
Referring to the new enforcement activity, Binance executives said it “will have a deep and long-lasting chilling effect on the United States.”
related: Bad day for Binance with SEC investigation and Reuters expose
Earlier this week, New York regulators cracked down on Paxos, preventing it from issuing more than its Binance-branded stablecoin BUSD.
Last week, US crypto exchange Kraken was fined $30 million and ordered to stop its staking service following SEC enforcement action.
Patrick Hillmann concluded that resolving the issue with US regulators would be good for the company and its future.
“This will be a good moment for the company because it allows us to put it behind us.”
Cointelegraph reached out to Binance for further comment and did not receive a response at the time of publication.