Changpeng Zhao, founder and CEO of Binance, waves as he arrives on stage for a panel session on the second day of the VivaTech conference in Paris, June 16, 2022.
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PARIS – Days before the French police visit Binance The Paris office, France’s top cryptocurrency executive, dismissed concerns about US regulatory fees affecting other Binance operations, likening them to the flapping of a butterfly’s wings.
French prosecutors have opened an investigation into “money laundering” by crypto exchange Le Monde. reported Friday and added in a statement that the company is also being investigated for operating an unauthorized exchange.
Just days before the raid, CNBC asked Binance France President David Prinçay if he was concerned about the allegations made against the exchange by the two top US financial regulators.
“I don’t care what happened in the US,” Prinçay replied at the Proof of Talk summit in Paris. “We are in Europe, with a French regulator, a European regulator.
Prinçay insisted that Binance.US assets were separated from the international exchange, which the exchange’s legal team also did. The US Securities and Exchange Commissionwhich charged Binance 13 securities fees last week, disagrees, saying that Binance user funds are at “significant risk” of flight due to founder Changpeng Zhao’s alleged ownership of an interconnected group of companies associated with Binance.
The head of Binance France called the US accusation of mixing “car accident”.
“The only concern I have now is that we’re looking too much at the car crash and not driving,” Prinçay said.
Binance founder Zhao dismissed the police statement and report as “FUD”, saying it was a “surprise on the spot” inspection that was “the norm”.
“We will not comment on the specifics of police or regulatory investigations, other than to say that information about our users is held securely and provided to government officials only after receiving documented appropriate justification,” the exchange said. he said in another statement.
Prinçay did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the police visit.
Binance is facing more than a dozen charges from the SEC and A similar list of charges from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The Department of Justice’s announced investigation is also continuing into the exchange, according to the SEC’s complaint.