United States prosecutors are looking into the relationships of hedge funds with Binance cryptocurrency exchange Binance in order to find money-laundering offenses.
According to anonymous sources cited by the Washington Post, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Washington in Seattle subpoenaed Investment firms are required to give Binance records of communications in the last months.
According to legal experts, the allegedly subpoenas don’t mean that prosecutors will bring charges against crypto exchanges or hedge funds. Instead, authorities are still reviewing evidence and trying to reach a settlement with Binance.
Binance did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
Binance is being investigated in the United States. This has been happening since 2018, when the US prosecutors started investigating several cases regarding illicit funds that were moving through Binance’s exchange. Unlicensed money transmission, money laundering conspiracy, and violations of criminal sanctions are all possible violations.
Related: Report on Binance’s evidence of reserves: Red flags raised by Binance
The Bank SecrecyAct requires crypto exchanges that do “substantial” business in America to register with Treasury Department and adhere to anti-money laundering regulations.
Patrick Hillmann, chief strategy officer at Binance, acknowledged that the company’s first year was difficult in terms of regulatory compliance. However, the Washington Post reported that Binance has made substantial investments in compliance programs.
Binance joined the Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists to stay compliant with global sanctions. The crypto exchange announced on Jan. 6 that its sanctions compliance team would be receiving certification training at ACSS.
The ACSS training is expected to educate Binance’s team on guidelines from the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and inform them of potential risks of violations.
After being criticized for not being regulated, Binance joined the American cryptocurrency lobbying group Chamber of Digital Commerce. The group advocates for a number of public policies such as tax parity for digital assets and Anti-Money Laundering/Know Your Customer regulations regarding crypto exchanges. They also advocate for increased regulatory clarity for security tokens and research into central bank digital currency.