Binance Defends Compliance Policies Against Terrorism Financing Accusations

Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has responded to a recent Reuters article that questioned the company’s compliance policies for preventing and tackling cryptocurrency-based financing of terrorism. In a blog post, Binance addressed the allegations and claimed that the article had left out critical facts to fit its narrative.

Leading in Crypto Compliance

Binance stated that it is not aware of any exchange or financial institution that does more today to keep bad actors off their platform than Binance. The exchange has robust compliance policies and processes that comply with AMLD5/6 anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing requirements. The company also has specialists on its team who have focused their entire careers on counter-terrorism.

The company emphasized that it’s not possible for a crypto exchange to block or reverse a digital asset deposit once a transaction has been verified on the blockchain. Therefore, the true measures of compliance for a crypto exchange are the steps it takes to identify and react to suspicious deposits, and Binance claims that it is an industry leader in these areas.

Binance also stated that it works closely with law enforcement to support investigations and that it has been collaborating with international counter-terrorism authorities on recent seizures. The exchange’s compliance team includes more than 750 employees, many with prior law enforcement and regulatory agency backgrounds, and almost half of the compliance team is involved in sanctions control work.

 

Anti-Money Laundering Efforts

The company added that the blockchain has proven to be one of the most powerful tools for law enforcement’s anti-money laundering efforts, as the immutable, public nature of the blockchain makes crypto a poor choice for money laundering. Binance claimed that it has helped law enforcement to freeze/seize more than $1 billion so far this year.

Binance acknowledged that these are challenging issues and that it has invested heavily on behalf of its users. The company’s team and systems have improved significantly over the past several years, and Binance remains committed to leading the industry in efforts to keep bad actors entirely out of crypto.

Binance stated that the company takes compliance policies for preventing and tackling cryptocurrency-based financing of terrorism seriously, and it is proud of its team’s work with law enforcement around the globe to make the world a safer place.