Binance Responds to Reuters Claims About Mixing User Funds

A Reuters report on Tuesday suggested that Binance – the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange – brought in billions of dollars of customer assets with its corporate revenue in 2020 and 2021, leaving their money behind.

Binance chief communications officer Patrick Hillman responded by calling the story “weak” and xenophobic but acknowledged that Binance had “regulatory loopholes” in the past.

Reuters claims

early reuters reports cited multiple unnamed sources familiar with the matter, including one with “direct knowledge of Group Finance at Binance.”

Source Claims Coming “Almost Daily” To Binance Accounts Held With Silvergate – A Now Collapsed Pro-Crypto Bank Investigated Bankrupt FTX Exchange With Alameda Research To Help With Incoming Funds.

Binance told Reuters that none of the funds in its Silvergate account were “customer deposits,” but were used to buy BUSD, Binance’s native dollar-pegged stablecoin.

However, throughout 2021, the exchange’s website reflected dollar transfers on its platform as “deposits” that would be “deposited” into their accounts as BUSD, leading to concerns about regulatory safeguards around those transfers. There would be potential confusion.

Paxos – the issuer behind BUSD – was forced to stop issuing The new stablecoin token in February after receiving a Wales notice from US regulators.

Binance’s response

one in do On Tuesday, Binance’s Hillman insisted that customers were clearly told on the website that their “deposits” would be used to buy BUSD.

The communications official also called out one of Reuters’ qualifying statements, which found “no evidence” the Binance client lost any money, in what he deemed a “transparent attempt to shield himself from an abusive lawsuit.”

“We’ve been very public about where the company’s regulatory shortcomings have been in the past, there’s no reason to continue making stuff up for respected news outlets like Reuters,” he said.

Hillman accused Reuters of implicit “xenophobia” for repeatedly mentioning CEO Changpeng Zhao’s Chinese ethnicity. the executive has clarified In the past that Binance is not a Chinese company and he is a Canadian citizen since the age of 12.