The federal court in Seattle has delayed judgment on the pending sentencing related to charges of violating money-laundering rules for the founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao. The sentencing was supposed to happen earlier, and the sudden change of plans has raised much speculation about the real reasons for this postponement.
CZ, widely known as the face of Binance, earlier pleaded guilty to the charge of failure to have an effective anti-money laundering program at the exchange giant. This involved his stepping down as CEO and paying a fine of $50 million as part of the plea deal. In addition to this, the company itself agreed to a huge settlement of $4.3 billion, including fines and restitution.
Even though he is out on a significant $175 million release bond in the United States, his recent request to travel to the UAE was denied over concerns of potential flight risk—even when offering equity in Binance as collateral. The docket entry, which did not explain why the sentencing was postponed for two months, was reported by CNBC. When reached for comment, the lawyer, William Burck, declined to do so.
While federal sentencing guidelines suggest a maximum of 18 months in prison for CZ, there are rumours that prosecutors could be gunning for an even stiffer penalty. This throws into uncertainty not only CZ’s future but that of Binance.
Binance Bolsters Compliance Measures
Despite these entanglements with regulation, Binance has shown to be increasing its resilience, with spending on compliance very strongly on the rise. As reported by Tronweekly, the volume of the budget for strengthening business lines in that area has been adjusted from $158 million to $213 million by an incredible 35%. This investment reinforces Binance’s commitment towards further consolidation of its compliance infrastructural position and cleaning up the illicit activities within its ecosystem.
CoinGecko also added that Binance continues to lead in the centralized exchange space. Despite regulatory headwinds affecting the level of activity of the company, Binance still continues to hold its title as the largest centralized exchange (CEX) and stands at 43.7% for the market. Remarkably, the trading volume of spot trading hit $427.1 billion in December 2023, increasing 37.5% on a monthly basis.