The United States Department of Justice is reportedly considering charging cryptocurrency exchange Binance with fraud, but hesitating based on costs to consumers.
According to an Aug. 2 Semafor report citing people familiar with the matter, Justice Department officials are concerned about an indictment against Binance causing a run on the exchange similar to what happened with FTX in November 2022. They are reportedly considering fines or non-prosecution agreements for Binance rather than criminal charges in an effort to reduce the harm to consumers.
Binance was already reportedly the target of a criminal probe in the U.S. for allegedly violating the country’s sanctions on Russia. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a lawsuit against the crypto exchange in May for allegedly offering unregistered securities and operating illegally, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission targeted the exchange and CEO Changpeng Zhao in March for allegedly violating trading and derivatives regulations.
At the time of publication, no charges had been filed against crypto exchange Binance or Binance.US.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.