A top U.S. markets regulator charged cryptocurrency giant Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, with multiple violations on Monday, marking another Washington crackdown on the once‑high‑flying sector. Rostin Behnam, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said the charges against Binance—the world’s largest crypto exchange—were part of a campaign to “find and stop misconduct in the volatile and risky digital‑asset market.”
The allegations target Zhao, also known by his Twitter handle CZ, and three entities that comprise his crypto empire. Zhao has often been portrayed as the arch‑rival of crypto tycoon Sam Bankman‑Fried, founder of FTX, who was arrested in the Bahamas in December and faces a U.S. criminal trial later this year.
“For years, Binance knew they were violating CFTC rules, working actively to both keep the money flowing and avoid compliance,” Behnam said in a statement. “This should be a warning to anyone in the digital‑asset world that the CFTC will not tolerate willful avoidance of U.S. law.”
The charge sheet accuses Binance of failing to uphold standards required of a company operating as a derivatives market. According to the regulator, “Since July 2019, Binance’s compliance program has been ineffective.” At Zhao’s direction, Binance employees and customers were instructed to skirt compliance controls “to maximize corporate profits.”
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