Justice Department set to announce settlement with Binance: Bloomberg

Quick Take

  • The U.S. Justice Department is set to make an announcement regarding a settlement with Binance this afternoon, reports Bloomberg. 

The U.S. Department of Justice is set to announce "separate but related cryptocurrency enforcement actions" that involve a settlement with crypto exchange Binance, Bloomberg News reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

A press conference is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET, Bloomberg said. The publication reported yesterday that the Department of Justice is seeking more than $4 billion from Binance as part of a deal that would end an ongoing criminal investigation and allow the crypto exchange to continue operating.

Negotiations have included the possibility that CEO Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao would face criminal charges to resolve the probe into alleged money laundering, fraud and sanctions violations. Binance's BNB token has surged on the news, rising 6.4% at 11:23 a.m. ET, according to CoinGecko. 

The Justice Department has been investigating Binance and its executives since at least December 2022 over concerns about money laundering and sanctions violations, with scrutiny on the firm increasing throughout 2023 from additional financial regulatory bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission. 


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MK Manoylov has been a reporter for The Block since 2020 — joining just before bitcoin surpassed $20,000 for the first time. Since then, MK has written nearly 1,000 articles for the publication, covering any and all crypto news but with a penchant toward NFT, metaverse, web3 gaming, funding, crime, hack and crypto ecosystem stories. MK holds a graduate degree from New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP) and has also covered health topics for WebMD and Insider. You can follow MK on X @MManoylov and on LinkedIn.

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