Binance reaches deal to pay $4.3B settlement to American regulators

[JayJuanGee]

Perhaps the two men will be judged next year. The year 2023 was full of major events, at the end of which is the largest condemnation event of Beans and CZ.

It was clear from the start that CZ manipulated the Crypto market and extended its arms like octopus everywhere in Crypo, so I think it is good that this central octopus has been eliminated.

Sounds like you are just making shit up both in terms of your desire to compare CZ and SBF, and also in terms of your proclaiming that CZ was some kind of a master controller, which truly was not the case, even though a lot of value did end up gravitating into Binance (which shows a lot of demand), and sure there are claims that Binance was getting those customers through unfairly competing and being too much part of the wild, wild west, but that is no longer the case, since they have entered into a settlement agreement (plea) that involves ongoing monitoring of their business for 5 years.. whether all of that was deserved or not, it seems to be the current status of that exchange, and we still have to see how it is going to play out with likely behind the scenes discussions await CZ's currently scheduled sentencing in February. .and sure there may or may not be further news in regards to those kinds of developments, and sure it currently seems that both CZ and Binance has been handicapped in some kinds of ways, but it may not be enough to stop them from growing, continuing to offer services and resuming to receive deposits from customers.. even while the situation remains ongoingly fluid..

[1714767721]

1714767721

[Dump3er]

Perhaps the two men will be judged next year. The year 2023 was full of major events, at the end of which is the largest condemnation event of Beans and CZ.

It was clear from the start that CZ manipulated the Crypto market and extended its arms like octopus everywhere in Crypo, so I think it is good that this central octopus has been eliminated.

Sounds like you are just making shit up both in terms of your desire to compare CZ and SBF, and also in terms of your proclaiming that CZ was some kind of a master controller, which truly was not the case, even though a lot of value did end up gravitating into Binance (which shows a lot of demand), and sure there are claims that Binance was getting those customers through unfairly competing and being too much part of the wild, wild west, but that is no longer the case, since they have entered into a settlement agreement (plea) that involves ongoing monitoring of their business for 5 years.. whether all of that was deserved or not, it seems to be the current status of that exchange, and we still have to see how it is going to play out with likely behind the scenes discussions await CZ's currently scheduled sentencing in February. .and sure there may or may not be further news in regards to those kinds of developments, and sure it currently seems that both CZ and Binance has been handicapped in some kinds of ways, but it may not be enough to stop them from growing, continuing to offer services and resuming to receive deposits from customers.. even while the situation remains ongoingly fluid..

Do you know whether that $4.3 billion settlement is a penalty that was negotiated in order to ensure Binance won't go bankrupt upon paying it? I ask because what would regulators do if they know they'd put tens of thousands of customers at risk if they choose a fine that is too high? If this is based on financial information that the regulators gathered during their investigation, it could actually be a good sign showing how healthy Binance is financially. It would be interesting to know what this amount is based on.

As for CZ manipulating the crypto market, I have no opinion on that, but I can say that Binance was way more popular than any other exchange for a variety of reasons. Coinbase couldn't even come close in terms of popularity. I am not sure how much manipulation was really needed to grow Binance (if there was any), but since liquidity attracts liquidity, Binance turned into this ever-growing business that put tons of money into marketing to then constantly reinforce their growth in popularity.

@Trawda since you claim to know that CZ manipulated the market, this is from his X account:



Since this is his final statement after the settlement with US regulators, I doubt he would have posted that if it wasn't true

[JayJuanGee]

[edited out]

Do you know whether that $4.3 billion settlement is a penalty that was negotiated in order to ensure Binance won't go bankrupt upon paying it? I ask because what would regulators do if they know they'd put tens of thousands of customers at risk if they choose a fine that is too high? If this is based on financial information that the regulators gathered during their investigation, it could actually be a good sign showing how healthy Binance is financially. It would be interesting to know what this amount is based on.

I am not sure exactly how they arrived at the number.  I am pretty sure it is related to the allegations regarding how much money was supposedly trafficked through the site, and so it might amount to the profits and also penalties on top of profits from what information might be available in the evidence that the Govt. was planning to present in their case against Binance/CZ. 

I doubt that they give very many shits about the well-being of customers, even though they give lip service to those kinds of things.  They were trying to bring Binance/CZ down a peg or two, and surely they likely feel that they had some level of success in that direction, and partly the settlement agreement helps them to accomplish quite a bit that they would not have had been able to accomplish by litigating, including getting a surveillance agreement in place.

As for CZ manipulating the crypto market, I have no opinion on that, but I can say that Binance was way more popular than any other exchange for a variety of reasons. Coinbase couldn't even come close in terms of popularity. I am not sure how much manipulation was really needed to grow Binance (if there was any), but since liquidity attracts liquidity, Binance turned into this ever-growing business that put tons of money into marketing to then constantly reinforce their growth in popularity.

That's true.. liquidity does attract liquidity, and Binance did not have bad business practices, and they also frequently talked the talk and walked the walk in terms of trying to be outside of any jurisdiction and trying to promote ideas of free exchange, and sure there are contradictions in terms of messaging, but they did provide a service that worked and it was in a lot of places that Coinbase and other exchanges were not present.

[Abiky]

Filthy rich! I think almost any human being in the world would agree to the hypothetical scenario that they can found a business today, build it into a multi-billion dollars empire within just six years, become a multi-billionaire, go to prison for 18 months and pay $50 million and then get released, be a free man and enjoy life. I am sure that part of the deal was CZ can go to the US whenever he wants and does not get recjected at the boarder.

But what is a bit weird are the different reports about the sentence he could be facing. Most reports say 18 months whereas there are sources stating that he could be facing up to 10 years. I assume that there was a deal about that at some point?

CZ has been a smart guy and I doubt that he kept most of his fortune in the form of BNB. I guess he is swimming in BTC and businesses and real estate all over the world. Does anyone understand how these $50 million were chosen as the fine? Is that based on his income or is that all about negotiation or some catalog?

As they always say, "money talks". You can see why the wealthy (the elite) has a huge advantage over the poor. They can buy politicians and/or government officials for their own favor. I believe CZ will be facing minimal jail time as he paid a hefty fine of $4B. It's all a matter of keeping the government happy.

SBF was not so lucky because he lost everything in an instant. If he still had money left, he would've probably used his "get out of jail free card". Bankruptcy is what killed SBF and his little empire. CZ, on the other hand, lost money but his empire was still afloat. What happened recently is only a mirage as Binance will emerge bigger and stronger than ever. It will work more closely with the regulators to prevent such thing from happening again. With Binance out of the picture, I wonder which exchange CEO will be targeted next? Coinbase's Brian Armstrong, maybe? 

[Dump3er]

As they always say, "money talks". You can see why the wealthy (the elite) has a huge advantage over the poor. They can buy politicians and/or government officials for their own favor. I believe CZ will be facing minimal jail time as he paid a hefty fine of $4B. It's all a matter of keeping the government happy.

SBF was not so lucky because he lost everything in an instant. If he still had money left, he would've probably used his "get out of jail free card". Bankruptcy is what killed SBF and his little empire. CZ, on the other hand, lost money but his empire was still afloat. What happened recently is only a mirage as Binance will emerge bigger and stronger than ever. It will work more closely with the regulators to prevent such thing from happening again. With Binance out of the picture, I wonder which exchange CEO will be targeted next? Coinbase's Brian Armstrong, maybe? 

Correct me if I am wrong, but CZ has broken some laws without hurting people in the same way as SBF did. Trading is risky in general, so my point is not to say that nobody ever lost money using CZ's services. But SBF lied and harmed a lot of people, he destroyed an unbelievable amount of wealth with his construct of lies and infinite stupidity + ruthlessness. But it was especially the ruthlessness how he decided to embezzle customer funds knowing that it might not work out well for him. It is mostly about the harm done. If you drive a little bit too fast in real life, you get a small fine, pay it and can go on. If you hit a person at the same speed and somebody gets harmed, you might be done in a worst case scenario. CZ was the Ferrari driver in the business, faster than anyone else, authorities included. But his actions weren't of existential consequences for so many people/victims. Those two cases will be the most interesting in the coming year I guess. SBF is wrecked. CZ has lots of things to look forward to in life.

[armanda90]

As they always say, "money talks". You can see why the wealthy (the elite) has a huge advantage over the poor. They can buy politicians and/or government officials for their own favor. I believe CZ will be facing minimal jail time as he paid a hefty fine of $4B. It's all a matter of keeping the government happy.

SBF was not so lucky because he lost everything in an instant. If he still had money left, he would've probably used his "get out of jail free card". Bankruptcy is what killed SBF and his little empire. CZ, on the other hand, lost money but his empire was still afloat. What happened recently is only a mirage as Binance will emerge bigger and stronger than ever. It will work more closely with the regulators to prevent such thing from happening again. With Binance out of the picture, I wonder which exchange CEO will be targeted next? Coinbase's Brian Armstrong, maybe? 

Correct me if I am wrong, but CZ has broken some laws without hurting people in the same way as SBF did. Trading is risky in general, so my point is not to say that nobody ever lost money using CZ's services. But SBF lied and harmed a lot of people, he destroyed an unbelievable amount of wealth with his construct of lies and infinite stupidity + ruthlessness. But it was especially the ruthlessness how he decided to embezzle customer funds knowing that it might not work out well for him. It is mostly about the harm done. If you drive a little bit too fast in real life, you get a small fine, pay it and can go on. If you hit a person at the same speed and somebody gets harmed, you might be done in a worst case scenario. CZ was the Ferrari driver in the business, faster than anyone else, authorities included. But his actions weren't of existential consequences for so many people/victims. Those two cases will be the most interesting in the coming year I guess. SBF is wrecked. CZ has lots of things to look forward to in life.

Its mean CZ have polite attitude than SBF broken some law without make costumer of Binance user losses their fund and difference with SBF how many people loss their money in FTX exchange without get refund yet. I don't think about who are lucky between CZ or SBF because rule broken by CZ as indicate with money laundering his Binance US exchange operation, by paying $4.3B settlement to American regulators Binance US allow for operating and not give drastically impact for the user not worry their fund keep secure for depositing or withdrawing.

CZ leaves his position as Binance CEO and seems still be important part for Binance but working behind the scene because he is most important person for building Binance as top global exchange reputation.

[rodskee]

It's official CZ pleaded guilty to a felony charge of violating money laundering laws. CZ's on bail at $175M. He's replaced by Richard Teng after he resigned as CEO of Binance. The exchange's got to pay $4.3B to settle the case.

Did we consider Sam Bankman Fried & Changpeng Zhao would've been convicted criminals in 2023? They're going to be sentenced next year.

this is also the reason why seems to be other countries are trying to have this piece
of cake , since binance can settle for this high amount so what more that other small countries can
sue them and have even small amount?good for US users but not in some asian users that is now
suing Binance to have also settlement.

[Hazink]

It seems there has been a new change in the charges against Binance, as the announcement yesterday showed a friendly reduced amount that they are required to pay, and this has been approved by the US court.

Zhao will pay $150 million and Binance will pay $2.7 billion to the CFTC as a result, the agency said in a statement.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois approved the previously announced settlement and entered a consent order of permanent injunction, civil monetary penalty, and equitable relief against Zhao and Binance, the CFTC said in its statement. The settlement was reached in late November.

US court approves order for Binance to pay $2.7 bln to CFTC

[Dump3er]

Its mean CZ have polite attitude than SBF broken some law without make costumer of Binance user losses their fund and difference with SBF how many people loss their money in FTX exchange without get refund yet. I don't think about who are lucky between CZ or SBF because rule broken by CZ as indicate with money laundering his Binance US exchange operation, by paying $4.3B settlement to American regulators Binance US allow for operating and not give drastically impact for the user not worry their fund keep secure for depositing or withdrawing.

CZ leaves his position as Binance CEO and seems still be important part for Binance but working behind the scene because he is most important person for building Binance as top global exchange reputation.

This is really an intriguing question about this whole case and one thing I have been wondering about is how much money or wealth CZ kept as shares in the Binance empire in the form of tokens or coins. Or did he do it smartly and cashed out a lot over those years? I am quite sure that he is very rich anyway, but the numbers that were thrown around in the media ranged from a few billion USD to 60 billion USD or something like that, but if that is all on paper like it was in the case of SBF, it would mean that if CZ decides to liquidate a lot of his holdings, it would be selling pressure for BNB.

[arabspaceship123]

After he becomes a free man he'll be able to visit America it's got to be part of the deal he's made with govt lawyers. He'll be rich when he's put of prison. It's complicated because CZ's being sued by investors so if he settles the cases he'll worry less but it shouldn't affect his sentence. Yes he is smart guy he's got a good deal but judges have the sentence to pass.

Filthy rich! I think almost any human being in the world would agree to the hypothetical scenario that they can found a business today, build it into a multi-billion dollars empire within just six years, become a multi-billionaire, go to prison for 18 months and pay $50 million and then get released, be a free man and enjoy life. I am sure that part of the deal was CZ can go to the US whenever he wants and does not get recjected at the boarder.

But what is a bit weird are the different reports about the sentence he could be facing. Most reports say 18 months whereas there are sources stating that he could be facing up to 10 years. I assume that there was a deal about that at some point?

CZ has been a smart guy and I doubt that he kept most of his fortune in the form of BNB. I guess he is swimming in BTC and businesses and real estate all over the world. Does anyone understand how these $50 million were chosen as the fine? Is that based on his income or is that all about negotiation or some catalog?

[Trawda]

In fact, the only thing that caught my attention in the case is that “Binance must pay $4.3 billion to settle the case”!!!!

I wonder how much income Binance has to be able to pay this very high fine to the US government?

[arabspaceship123]

It's been said Binance isn't registered as a legal company so the don't follow tax registration rules. Unless they announce their income we won't know about how much income they have but they're paying the fine after gaps it isn't in single payment. CZ's going to pay fines separate from Binance.

In fact, the only thing that caught my attention in the case is that “Binance must pay $4.3 billion to settle the case”!!!!

I wonder how much income Binance has to be able to pay this very high fine to the US government?

[JayJuanGee]

Its mean CZ have polite attitude than SBF broken some law without make costumer of Binance user losses their fund and difference with SBF how many people loss their money in FTX exchange without get refund yet. I don't think about who are lucky between CZ or SBF because rule broken by CZ as indicate with money laundering his Binance US exchange operation, by paying $4.3B settlement to American regulators Binance US allow for operating and not give drastically impact for the user not worry their fund keep secure for depositing or withdrawing.

CZ leaves his position as Binance CEO and seems still be important part for Binance but working behind the scene because he is most important person for building Binance as top global exchange reputation.

This is really an intriguing question about this whole case and one thing I have been wondering about is how much money or wealth CZ kept as shares in the Binance empire in the form of tokens or coins. Or did he do it smartly and cashed out a lot over those years? I am quite sure that he is very rich anyway, but the numbers that were thrown around in the media ranged from a few billion USD to 60 billion USD or something like that, but if that is all on paper like it was in the case of SBF, it would mean that if CZ decides to liquidate a lot of his holdings, it would be selling pressure for BNB.

I have some difficulties understanding why you presume that CZ would not have wealth in places other than BNB, and it is quite likely that someone like CZ holds quite a bit of bitcoin.. 

I would imagine that calculations of CZ's wealth is connected to his ownership of Binance, and I would also imagine that if someone only recently got to be a billionaire, and maybe a few years ago he was not even a millionaire, then it might not make a whole lot of difference between having 1-2 billion versus having 60 Billion or more.. Sure there are differences, but in the whole scheme of things, someone who is newly in the filthy rich category might not have really gotten used to how to be filthy rich.  So, I am having some difficulties understanding why it would be so dire to preserve that level of wealth - especially if even the value of the company is within an industry that is so volatile. 

There are likely a lot of OG's in bitcoin who have seen a lot of fluctuation in their wealth, and you can even imagine scenarios of fairly well to do bitcoiners who may have accumulated anywhere between 100 and 1,000 BTC over the past 10-13 years or so, and maybe I am going to start using early 2012 as my starting place for making these kinds of analysis, since the BTC price and the 200-week moving average were both at $4 at that time, and it seems like a decent place to start bitcoin's price history, even though bitcoin's 2013 price performance did end up bringing in a lot more abilities for normies to access bitcoin when its price went from around $10 in the beginning to 2013 to $1,1163 in the end of 2013 and then ended up spending a lot of time in the mid-$200s in 2015, but if we imagine bitcoiners who were both able to accumulate and to hold their gbitcoin through these earlier times, they have already gone through quite a bit of volatility, and let's pick the middle of my earlier range of 100-1,000 bitcoin, and if someone had not really had a lot of wealth but was able to accumulate more than 500 bitcoin in those first 4 years into bitcoin between 2012 and 2015, then maybe he would have an average price per bitcoin of less than $400.. so that would be $200k invested, and so the wealth of such person holding 500 or more bitcoin would have gone up to around $10million (in late 2017) and then back down to around $2 million (in 2018 when BTC prices were around $3k-$4k) and then back up to more than $30 million a couple of times in 2021, and then back down to around $8 million in 2022, and then currently bouncing around $20 million, so whether we are talking $millions or $billions there are likely some already built in ways of dealing with such volatility in the BTC space, and sure maybe there could be some decent increases in the ways of spending the wealth and the ways of living, but the preservation of wealth in terms of dollars might not be as BIG of a deal as you (Dump3er) seem to be making it out to be... and there also can be a certain expectation that the value is not going down to zero, even if there might have been some (or perhaps inadequate) actions to greatly diversify out of various assets that are moving around a lot in price.

[edited out]

After he becomes a free man he'll be able to visit America it's got to be part of the deal he's made with govt lawyers. He'll be rich when he's put of prison. It's complicated because CZ's being sued by investors so if he settles the cases he'll worry less but it shouldn't affect his sentence. Yes he is smart guy he's got a good deal but judges have the sentence to pass.

Rich people are frequently being sued, and they have attorneys dealing with those matters.  Maybe they settle and maybe not.. Frequently various kinds of lawsuits like that will end up getting dismissed, and yeah, if they end up being something that may end up going to court there is a pretty large incentive set to settle those kinds of matters, if they are starting to seem as if they are potentially going to be problematic in some kind of a meaningful way (which many times they are not and the mere fact that various civil lawsuits exist is not usually detrimental in itself).

[GigaBit]

I will not blame CZ as he is not involved in any kind of scam with investors. However, various allegations have been brought against him in recent times. And these allegations are definitely conspiracy. Binance is definitely safer than others for investors. They have proof of reserve in 1:1 ratio with customer deposits. But the main problem is that a company with a large ($9.42 trillion) investment like BlackRock can't lose to Binance. So they are filed various scam allegations against Binance.

[arabspaceship123]

CZ's a genius. He's taken a startup company to become the most famous crypto exchange today. He's made his money from business trading he hasn't scammed investors so he's ahead of exchanges which scammed ppl. Binance's going to dominate crypto so it shows CZ's influence because without his skill it wouldn't have happened.

I will not blame CZ as he is not involved in any kind of scam with investors. However, various allegations have been brought against him in recent times. And these allegations are definitely conspiracy. Binance is definitely safer than others for investors. They have proof of reserve in 1:1 ratio with customer deposits. But the main problem is that a company with a large ($9.42 trillion) investment like BlackRock can't lose to Binance. So they are filed various scam allegations against Binance.

[Dump3er]

CZ's a genius. He's taken a startup company to become the most famous crypto exchange today. He's made his money from business trading he hasn't scammed investors so he's ahead of exchanges which scammed ppl. Binance's going to dominate crypto so it shows CZ's influence because without his skill it wouldn't have happened.

I will not blame CZ as he is not involved in any kind of scam with investors. However, various allegations have been brought against him in recent times. And these allegations are definitely conspiracy. Binance is definitely safer than others for investors. They have proof of reserve in 1:1 ratio with customer deposits. But the main problem is that a company with a large ($9.42 trillion) investment like BlackRock can't lose to Binance. So they are filed various scam allegations against Binance.

I find it hard to anticipate where Binance could be going from here. Since they haven't been shut down and seem to have worked out a deal in the US, maybe their next step is to obtain the required licenses. I haven't been digging deeply into how they plan to operate in the near future, but I am sure they will try to preserve their US operations by abiding by the law. This $4.3 billion fine was the last warning shot, so something will change now for certain. But since this no KYC policy they seem to have been pursuing gave them the edge over other exchanges, how would such a change impact their business if they now go for full compliance like Coinbase and become some data kraken for the government?

[arabspaceship123]

It isn't hard to anticipate where Binance's going from here. You're right they've worked a deal so they'll get regulated approval to trade in America. They'll give licences to Binance for fiats so they'll bring in full KYC before taking customers from Coinbase. When cases involving Binance & CZ are settled they'll sell shares in NASDAQ. CZ's going to have $100B wealth soon.

I find it hard to anticipate where Binance could be going from here. Since they haven't been shut down and seem to have worked out a deal in the US, maybe their next step is to obtain the required licenses. I haven't been digging deeply into how they plan to operate in the near future, but I am sure they will try to preserve their US operations by abiding by the law. This $4.3 billion fine was the last warning shot, so something will change now for certain. But since this no KYC policy they seem to have been pursuing gave them the edge over other exchanges, how would such a change impact their business if they now go for full compliance like Coinbase and become some data kraken for the government?

[EleazarGH]

The recent developments with CZ and Binance are surprising. Do you think BlackRock's influence is connected to Bitcoin ETF approval?

[bhadz]

The recent developments with CZ and Binance are surprising.

Not surprising anymore because it's been so long since the government has been hitting Binance with all of their strict regulations.

Do you think BlackRock's influence is connected to Bitcoin ETF approval?

Well, this is far from the topic about Binance's settlement with the government. It's possible that financial institutions like BlackRock has the influence for the potential Bitcoin ETF approval, why?
Check this out: Spot Bitcoin ETFs Discussed In Meeting Between BlackRock And SEC

[YUriy1991]

The recent developments with CZ and Binance are surprising. Do you think BlackRock's influence is connected to Bitcoin ETF approval?

Just enjoy the development and don't be surprised if there are many things we will see during this journey, for example intense lobbying to approach the SEC to get approval for a Bitcoin ETF. However, there are many crypto market players out there who have hopes that the SEC will quickly give approval. Bitcoin ETF early next year to increase Bitcoin's legitimacy as an investment asset.