The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle criminal money laundering charges levied by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Binance founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, has also pleaded guilty and agreed to step down from his position. He will pay $50 million toward the settlement as well.
Binance has been in the crosshairs of U.S. regulators since 2019, when it opted to stop serving U.S. customers after questions were raised about regulatory compliance.
Binance licensed its name to BAM Trading which started Binance.US to offer a crypto trading platform in the U.S.
Binance has been under a Justice Department investigation since 2021, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a separate action against the exchange and CZ earlier this year.
