A Canadian regulatory body has fined Binance $4.4 million for infractions related to money laundering.

FINTRAC has levied a significant penalty against the cryptocurrency platform Binance for purportedly breaching anti-money laundering rules.

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) released a statement today outlining two primary breaches by Binance: failure to register as a foreign money services business and failure to report significant transactions involving virtual currency. Specifically, FINTRAC alleges that Binance neglected to report transactions exceeding $10,000 on 5,902 separate occasions between June 2021 and July 2023. According to the regulator, Binance is classified as a foreign money services business. On May 7, 2024, Binance Holdings Limited was fined $6,002,000 for committing two violations. The penalty of $4.4 million, or 6 million CAD, originates from compliance assessments conducted in 2023.

FINTRAC serves as Canada’s financial intelligence unit, tasked with preventing money laundering and other financial crimes. By utilizing blockchain analytics, it identified Binance’s failure to report virtual currency transactions as a significant oversight that undermines transparency within the financial system.

 

This development mirrors the regulatory scrutiny that Binance encountered in the United States. In November 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice reached a plea agreement with the exchange, resulting in a $4 billion settlement for alleged money laundering and sanctions violations. As part of the agreement, Binance’s founder and then-CEO, Changpeng Zhao, was required to resign and pay a $50 million fine. Zhao subsequently received a four-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to violating anti-money laundering regulations.