The regulators of Alaska and Florida have informed Binance.US that it can no longer serve their citizens, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal on January 25, as a result of the former Binance CEO‘s guilty plea.
In January 2024, the Alaska Division of Banking and Securities allegedly denied Binance.US’s license renewal. The agency needed to be more responsive to Cointelegraph’s request for comment concerning the denial at the time of publication.
The money transmitter license of Binance.US has also been placed under emergency suspension by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation. A week after Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, founder and former CEO of Binance, pleaded guilty to violating U.S. anti-money-laundering policies on November 21, 2023, the platform reportedly suspended C.Z.
In December, Zhao entered a guilty plea before a U.S. federal court, pleading guilty to one count of violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. Zhao resigned as chairman of Binance.US and transferred his voting rights via proxy agreement, thereby eliminating his influence over the company’s governance as part of the settlement agreement.
Local Binance operations persisted in the United States through Binance.US, notwithstanding the measures taken by the U.S. government against the global Binance exchange.
The U.S. exchange wrote on November 28, “We remain fully operational and are committed to continuing to provide our customers with the same products and services as we have always done.”
Reportedly, South Dakota, Arkansas, and Illinois regulators reached an agreement with Binance.US in late December that would permit the company to continue operations in those states. Binance.US must ensure an irreversible transfer of Zhao’s voting rights to fulfill this requirement.
Zhao unsuccessfully attempted to secure permission to travel to his residence in the United Arab Emirates by pledging his $4.5 billion stake in Binance.US as collateral after his guilty plea. In a private hearing on December 29, Judge Richard Jones denied his request, according to court records.
