Rostin Behnam, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), recently addressed allegations against Binance, alleging that the embattled cryptocurrency exchange’s leadership knowingly operated outside U.S. laws governing commodity and futures trading.
During a fireside chat at Princeton University’s DeCenter spring conference on April 14, Bloomberg reported that Benham told attendees that Binance leaders willfully flouted rules governing its operations, including deliberately allowing U.S. citizens to participate in the exchange by Use virtual private networks (VPNs) and other obfuscation tools. "None of these guys are innocent," Benham said at the event. “They’re starting big companies and offering futures contracts and derivatives to U.S. customers.” The CFTC chief later added: “If you’re going to offer futures contracts in the U.S., know exactly that you’re registered with the CFTC and comply with the law.”
The comments stem from a lawsuit filed by the CFTC against Binance and its CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao for alleged trading violations. According to a report by Cointelegraph, “The CFTC is facing seven charges, including executing unregistered futures transactions, offering illegal commodity options, failing to register as a futures commission merchant, designating a contract market or swap execution agency, failing to diligently monitor Or implement AML/KYC measures and legal circumvention.”
The specifics of the CFTC’s lawsuit against Binance the exchange also faces legal action from the IRS and federal prosecutors relied on presumed evidence that Binance and CZ continued to attract U.S. customers despite policy prohibiting such conduct , and the company knowingly engaged in the illegal activity of futures trading, allegedly operating in violation of U.S. anti-money laundering laws.
