The controversies around the exchange of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, Binance, do not stop. The company is now facing the United States Department of Justice.
The reason for the strained relations between Binance and the North American Justice, is that the exchange has requested thank you notes from federal agencies in exchange for assisting with their investigations.
Binance requests did not sit well with the Department of Justice , for which they have sent communications to organizations such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service and others, demanding that they stop signing the letters, according to the Bloomberg agency.
Among the reasons given by the Department of Justice for making this decision, is the fact that Binance is obliged by law to cooperate with the investigations. “The thank you notes should not be necessary to ensure the help of the company,” indicates the aforementioned Department.
According to Bloomberg, Binance is being investigated in the United States for money laundering and tax crimes. In that case, sending thank you notes would possibly put the agencies of that country in an uncomfortable position to investigate a company that claims to collaborate with the authorities.
Last May, CriptoNoticias reported that the exchange collaborated with the US justice in money laundering investigations. At the time, Changpeng Zhao, CEO of the company, denied that the company was under any kind of scrutiny on US soil.
Binance said who have collaborated with regulators to combat cybercrime, all as part of a “continuing effort to help make the industry a better place.”
Purpose of the thank you notes
According to former US Securities and Exchange Commission official Ken Joseph, companies like Binance request letters of appreciation or cite their government assistance , to avoid or reduce penalties .
However, Joseph does not believe that these mechanisms will have an impact on the investigations towards any company.
Increasing problems for Binance
Binance has no problems only in the United States. Regulators from various parts of the world put obstacles to this exchange. This Thursday, July 15, CriptoNoticias reported that Italy restricted the exchange’s operations in its territory , specifically those involving derivatives of cryptocurrencies and tokens of shares of companies.
In this way, Italy joins countries such as the Cayman Islands, Thailand the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan and Malaysia that, to a greater or lesser extent, have restricted Binance operations in their respective territories.
