The US is looking for an alternative to punishing Binance for fear of causing a panic in the market – Kommersant

The US Department of Justice is considering alternative options instead of filing fraud charges against the Binance crypto exchange. It could be a fine or a non-prosecution agreement. Semafor with reference to sources.

Sources of the publication, familiar with the discussion of the issue in the US Department of Justice, say that the filing of criminal charges could provoke a panic in the crypto markets, as a result of which customers could lose money, as was the case during the bankruptcy of the FTX exchange.

The option of fines, deferment or waiver of prosecution “would be a compromise”: Binance will be held accountable, but the damage to customers will not be so serious, the publication notes.

Now against Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao put forward accusations US Securities Commission and trade commodity futures. According to the commissions, Binance misled customers and investors by manipulating trades on the exchange using the shell company Sigma Chain. Binance is also under investigation in France, Canada and Australia.

The FTX Group, operator of the Bahamas-registered FTX cryptocurrency exchange, announced filed for bankruptcy on November 11 last year. The founder of the exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, was accused of organizing a scheme to deceive investors who invested almost $1.8 billion in the crypto exchange.

Erdni Kagaltynov