World's largest crypto exchange Binance reportedly under investigation by IRS and DOJ

The world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, Binance, is reportedly under investigation by the US Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Binance CEO dismisses claims

While the subject of the investigation has not been revealed, officials who usually handle money laundering and tax offenses are involved, according to Bloomberg’s sources. 

The IRS is targeting Binance users as well as the employees at the exchange. Currently, government agencies have not accused the exchange of any wrongdoing. 

Cryptocurrency analytics firm Chainalysis discovered that in 2019 $756 million of $2.8 billion worth of illegal transactions involving Bitcoin went through the leading crypto exchange. 

Binance spokesperson Jessica Jung stated that the company takes its legal obligations “very seriously and will engage with regulators and law enforcement in a collaborative fashion.” The firm’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, responded on Twitter, expressing that the report was misleading. He said:

The "news" title is bad. The article itself isn't so bad, actually (but who reads). It described how Binance collaborated with law enforcement agencies to fight bad players, but somehow made it look like a bad thing.

CZ dismissed the report as fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD). However, the damage has been done as Binance Coin price plunged by over 12%, hitting a low of $552 in the past few hours. Bitcoin and Ethereum have also been affected by the heightened selling pressure. 

Bloomberg reported that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) was also investigating Binance in March. According to the report, regulators were determining whether users of the Malta-based exchange's US platform purchased and sold cryptocurrency derivatives on its non-US platform. 

The company claims that it prevents American residents from accessing investment products that would require registering with the government agency if it traded in the United States. Binance further clarified that it follows all legal and regulatory requirements within the countries in which it operates.