The Financial Times has reported that Binance’s executives, including its CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, have been concealing the cryptocurrency exchange’s connections to China for years.
The report claims that despite Binance’s assertions that it left China after the 2017 ban on cryptocurrencies, it maintained significant ties to the country, including an office that was allegedly used until late 2019 and a Chinese bank used for employee payments.
The report has added to the recent scrutiny on Binance, as the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a lawsuit against the exchange on March 27, accusing it of deliberately obscuring its executive offices’ location and the entities operating the trading platform.
Binance has refuted the allegations and stated that it does not function in China and has no technology, servers, or data based in the country. The company spokesperson has censured the report, accusing anonymous sources of misrepresenting events and referencing outdated information in the crypto industry.
As inquiries into this issue persist, uncertainties concerning Binance’s affiliation with the Chinese government and the potential risks or pressures it might have encountered linger. This occurrence emphasizes the discrepancy between the idealistic outlook of cryptocurrencies and the existing situation where dominant exchanges are supposedly operating beyond legal limits.