Canada fines Binance C$6m for AML violations

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The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada says Binance failed to register as a foreign money services business.

The company also failed, on thousands of occasions, to report large virtual currency transactions of C$10,000 or more in the course of a single transaction.

Binance quit the Canadian market a year ago, citing the regulatory environment.

Last week, the crypto giant’s founder, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, was sentenced to four months in prison in the US after pleading guilty to violating anti-money laundering requirements.

Zhao pleaded guilty in November as part of deal between Binance and the Department of Justice, Treasury Department and CFTC to settle allegations that the exchange failed to maintain a proper AML programme, operated an unlicensed money-transmitting business and violated sanctions law.

The world’s largest crypto exchange agreed to forfeit $2.5 billion to the government and pay a fine of $1.8 billion.