Binance Fined $4.4 Million By Canada Watchdog for Rule Breaches

Thomas Seal, Bloomberg News

The Binance logo on a laptop arranged in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. The list of digital tokens deemed as unregistered securities by the Securities and Exchange Commission now spans over $120 billion of crypto after the US agencys lawsuits against Binance Holdings Ltd. and Coinbase Global Inc. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Binance Holdings Ltd was fined C$6 million ($4.4 million) by Canada’s financial watchdog for breaching money-laundering protections.

The world’s largest crypto exchange received the financial penalty on Tuesday from Canada’s FINTRAC agency for failing to register as a foreign money services business and failing to report virtual currency transactions exceeding C$10,000, the regulatory body said on Thursday.

Last month, the exchange’s founder Changpeng Zhao was ordered to spend four months in prison for failures that allowed cybercriminals and terrorist groups to freely trade on Binance. The company agreed to pay $4.3 billion in a US plea deal in November.

Binance ceased operations in Canada last year, saying the country’s guidance on stablecoins and investor limits made the market untenable.