Binance has responded to a letter from a United States Senator since early March requesting information about the crypto exchange’s operations in the country, including its balance sheet.
According to a report dated March 18, Binance’s response did not include the requested financial data. Bloomberg learned from an anonymous source that although it was not in the letter, the exchange submitted the information to US regulators.
In a 14-page document, Binance chief strategy officer Patrick Hillman dives into the exchange’s compliance history, identifying past mistakes and claiming that the company has established solid Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering policies over the years. The response, however, failed to address the senator’s concerns about Binance’s lack of transparency.
Hillman noted in the letter:
“Binance uses internal tools and tools from established third-party vendors to scan transactions and user profiles in real time. […] between August 2021 and November 2022, Binance terminated more than 54,000 transactions as a result of transaction monitoring alerts.
On March 2, three US senators led by Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder, raising concerns about Binance’s activities and asking for the company’s balance sheet.
According to the Senator, there is evidence that Binance and its American arm are trying to evade US regulators, evade sanctions and facilitate the laundering of at least $10 billion. “What little information about Binance’s finances is publicly available suggests that the exchange is a hotbed of illegal financial activity,” the senators wrote in the letter.
Binance has previously stated that the two companies are separate entities with independent management and operations.
Among the senators’ requests are “all balance sheets of Binance and Binance subsidiaries from 2017 to the present,” as well as Anti-Money Laundering and similar policies, and documents on the relationship between Binance and Binance.US.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation into Binance.US in February regarding the trading firm’s alleged ties to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. An investigative report claims that Binance was behind the transfer of approximately $400 million in funds from Binance.US accounts to a trading company run by CEO Changpeng Zhao.