Canada’s anti-money laundering agency has imposed fines on Binance for contravening the country’s anti-money laundering laws. The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange faced scrutiny from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) last year for non-compliance with regulations. This punitive action against Binance follows CEO Changpeng Zhao’s recent sentencing to four months in jail and a $100 million penalty for admitting to breaches of US anti-money laundering laws.
Following the penalty on Binance, FINTRAC released a statement on Thursday detailing the violations. The agency disclosed that the crypto exchange is being fined for breaching two Canadian regulations identified during a compliance review last year.
The first violation involves Binance, led by Richard Teng, failing to register as a foreign money services business (FMSB) in Canada.
The statement said, “It should be noted that Binance Holdings Limited was deemed to be an FMSB and was required to be registered with FINTRAC up until September 25, 2023, when it officially ceased all operations in Canada. Up until that day, Binance Holdings Limited was in violation of its registration requirements.”
Binance Fails To Report Around 6,000 Large Virtual Currency Transactions
At the same time, Binance is under scrutiny for not reporting 5,902 accounts involving significant virtual currency transactions between 2021 and 2023, as mandated by Canadian anti-money laundering laws for cryptocurrency firms.
FINTRAC in its statement said, “Binance failed to report the receipt from a client, of an amount in virtual currency of $10,000 (roughly Rs. 8.5 lakh) or more in the course of a single transaction, together with the prescribed information that occurred on 5,902 separate occasions during the period of June 1, 2021 until July 19, 2023.”
As of now, Binance has not issued a public response regarding the fine imposed by FINTRAC after the investigation into violations of anti-money laundering regulations in Canada.
Furthermore, the exchange is entangled in a legal dispute with regulatory bodies in Nigeria. Authorities in Nigeria summoned Binance officials last month and requested the establishment of a physical office by the firm within the country.
