Bitcoin Forum

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/21/investing/what-is-binance-and-why-is-it-in-trouble/index.html

" Binance the world’s biggest crypto exchange " ........ " Binance’s future at the top of the crypto world is now far from certain as it faces a record $4.3 billion payout to US authorities to resolve criminal charges. "

" Zhao on Tuesday resigned as CEO and pleaded guilty to federal money laundering charges. US officials called the settlement the biggest-ever corporate resolution involving criminal charges for an executive. " ==> Yet, most CEOs of Banks in the financial crisis... got production bonuses.  ::)

So, in recent years Danske Bank were fined over $2 Billion for money laundering ...... Credit Suisse: $234 Million and USAA FSB Bank: $140 Million / Santander Bank UK: $132 Million / National Bank of Pakistan: $55 Million ...... so Crypto companies are not the only companies guilty of money laundering.... right.  ::)  

"Credit and financial institutions were fined almost USD 5bn in 2022 for anti-money laundering (AML) issues...." Source : https://www2.deloitte.com/ro/en/pages/risk/articles/global-fines-amlcft-related-issues-increase-2022.html

So they fine one Crypto company for $2B and fine Banks that were guilty of the same thing for only $5B for a whole year.... ) ::)

Is this a power play ...Coinbase vs Binance? Taking down the Chinese/Japan/Malta based company to boost the US based exchanges? ...or is this just the legitimization of the Crypto industry towards a more regulated (government controlled) industry? (getting rid of the competition)

Let's discuss...

no big deal, just a redistribution of spheres of influence in the company

even the BNB reacted weakly

Yea, for some reason I thought this would cause some ripples and bigger waves in the Crypto community, but I reckon a lot of informed people predicted this will happen and they welcome this. A lot of the Fiat speculators thrive in a more regulated financial environment and they perceived Binance as risky operation.  ::)

I do not support any kind of criminal activity, but the industry needs unregulated entities like this to onboard the people that wants financial privacy. (NOT criminals, but people that understand and appreciate real financial privacy)   :P

The bank CEOs didn't commit felonies.  You need to look deeper:  why were non-creditworthy borrowers given loans?  Ask people in the US like Barney Frank and his ilk who forced the banks to use something other than creditworthiness to judge people for loans.  Blaming the CEOs is like blaming the firemen for not putting out the fire that the government started with a gas can.

There are many crooks involved in the crypto industry like in other industries, it just seems as if people are looking for a quick buck in crypto and are too credulous to actually look at what is going on.  Look at BlockFi, Celsius, FTX etc.  I don't know how people didn't see they were scams from the start.  I talked to an attorney (I won't say where, but he is pretty well known in the crypto area) who deals in this and he was convinced that Celsius and BlockFi were great.  Ditto FTX. 

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. 

Nobody actually think that Zhao are sqeeky clean, because we all know he allowed anyone to use his exchange, no matter how "dirty" the money was. We also knew that law enforcement were on his case for years and that it was just a matter of time before he would have to face up to that.  :P

The good thing out of this is that the Exchange is going on... and that it will operate within the requirements of the law. (Even though most of us hate centralized financial entities in this scene..but we also see their advantages)  :-\

Yes, for now exchanges are required.  Eventually one hopes that you can just stay in bitcoin and transact in bitcoin to avoid these exchanges.   Then there won't be a central point of failure.

More anonymity would be nice too though to protect people from the prying eyes of the authoritarian control freaks in charge in many places around the world.