This is really huge news for crypto, and it’s not good. The largest global crypto exchange Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao(CZ) has pleaded guilty to violating the money laundering laws. The exchange agrees to pay $4.3 billion in fines and as for CZ he will have to pay $50 million and could spent some time in a cell too.
A surprise for sure
To be honest I haven’t seen this coming at all. I thought Binance was quite bullet proof and followed the rules. So for me and I think a lot of people in the crypto world it’s a huge surprise. CZ has the most followers on X from all other crypto exchange CEOs and has been seen as the “good” guy in the space. He’s been reassuring everyone on X for months that Binance has enough funds to be able withstand liquidity crunch. But it seems every single crypto company is breaking some laws.
Who’s next?
Kraken? Coinbase? Bybit? Who know’s at this point. For SEC anyone and everyone is the target and they seem to be really cracking down on the whole crypto space. Which can be seen as a good thing and a bad thing at the same time.
It would be nice to have crypto finally a bit more regulated and seen as a safer proposition for investors. But with that ends the main purpose why crypto and Bitcoin was created for, the borderless transactions, free of middle man aka banks, decentralization, anonymity and limited supply.
Can Binance survive this?
Binance appears to be still doing good, despite having to pay the $4.3 billions. Its latest “proof of reserves” report, shows the exchange holds $65 billion worth of crypto assets alone. So for sure the fine is a pretty big hit but in my opinion the company should be able to survive unless SEC goes further and fines them on something else. But I believe the SEC is done with Binance they have given then quite a big slap on the wrist and that’s it.
Should you invest in BNB or other Binance coins? I don’t know, it’s up to you really. But it would be awful news if the biggest crypto exchange in the world with the highest volume goes down. I am sure it would be even worse than the whole FTX fiasco that happened last year. We could see Bitcoin going down to $16-$18k.
What I am up to
I’m out of the crypto world for now and will be looking on from the shadows while focusing on trading stocks. I’ll definitely come back to the space later when it picks up a bit of steam and has more volatility. For now it’s still boring even after Bitcoin almost reached $38k earlier this month.
Good luck trading guys, and please don’t forget to enjoy life and have some fun too.
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