On Tuesday (21/11/2023), Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng admitted guilt in a money laundering case in the United States. He agreed to pay a settlement of 4.3 billion US dollars to conclude the investigation that has been ongoing for years into the world's largest crypto exchange, which he founded. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated, "Binance is now paying one of the largest corporate fines in U.S. history as a consequence of the crimes it committed."

Binance's guilty plea is part of coordinated actions with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the Treasury Department and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), according to the Department of Justice. Zhao admitted failure in maintaining an effective anti-money laundering program and directly filed his application in the United States, leading to his resignation as CEO. In court documents, it was mentioned that Zhao agreed to pay a fine of 50 million US dollars as part of the agreement.

The agreement between Binance and the Department of the Treasury includes a civil monetary penalty of 3.4 billion and a fine of 968 million US dollars involving OFAC, making it the largest settlement ever made by these agencies. "Binance is considered to have turned a blind eye to its legal obligations in pursuit of profit," said U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. "This deliberate failure allowed money to flow into the hands of terrorists, cybercriminals, and perpetrators of violence against children through its platform," she added. Yellen highlighted that Binance deliberately weakened its own sanctions monitoring controls, allowing over 1.5 million virtual currency trades that violated U.S. sanctions and failing to report suspicious transactions.

According to Yellen, the punishment and the five-year supervision imposed on Binance mark a historic milestone for the virtual currency industry. It is likely that Zhao, often seen as a fierce rival to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, will face further penalties in the future.