Senator Elizabeth Warren is a prominent crypto skeptic — and now, she’s stepping up her attacks on the world’s biggest exchange.
The Democrat’s issue with Binance relates to a high-profile plea agreement that was reached in November 2023, when the company pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act.
In a damning ruling, the Justice Department during the Biden era had concluded the trading platform “allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals and child abusers” — and alleged legal requirements were ignored in pursuit of profits. Suspicious transactions involving groups linked to Hamas, al Qaeda and Islamic State also went unreported.
Binance’s punishment was severe and pretty unprecedented. The company was slapped with a $4.3 billion fine — the largest in history — and was ordered to be monitored for five years.
That wasn’t all. The exchange was also told to leave the U.S. market altogether, with founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao abruptly resigning. He was later sentenced to four months in prison, and served time in California.
These penalties were much more than a slap on the wrist, it was the equivalent to a hand being chopped off. So… why is Warren so unhappy?
Well, as you might expect, a lot of this has to do with the Trump administration, which has adopted an aggressive pro-crypto approach over the past eight months. The Massachusetts senator is also pretty alarmed at the president’s many business pursuits in the digital assets sector, arguing this amounts to a conflict of interest.
Back in May, Warren and two of her colleagues wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, and explicitly asked whether the terms of Binance’s settlement with the Department of Justice were being honored.
Several key questions were raised — including whether there’s a timeline on when Binance will no longer operate in America, and if the exchange has asked officials to consider a presidential pardon for CZ.
Should that be the case, Warren also wanted to be given further details about the context of this conversation. (Incidentally, CZ himself has previously confirmed his lawyers have formally applied for a pardon.)
But there’s a much bigger issue at play here: Binance’s ties to World Liberty Financial, a DeFi company that’s owned by one of Trump’s business entities and extensively managed by the president’s sons.
Around the time of Warren’s first letter to Bondi, it was confirmed that an Abu Dhabi firm was investing a staggering $2 billion into the exchange — funded through WLF’s USD1 stablecoin.
Last month, a damning piece in The New Yorker illustrated why this was such a problem, with David D. Kirkpatrick explaining the controversial transaction gives Binance a worrying amount of influence.
“Binance will now determine when to cash in the $2 billion dollars in stablecoin from the Emiratis … that gives CZ leverage over the Trumps.”
The U.S. Department of Justice responded to Warren on Sept. 12, but in a newly released letter, the Democratic politician claims that none of her questions were answered in detail — and instead, officials just summarized the plea agreement.
She went on to cite a recent Bloomberg report that claimed Binance is close to reaching a deal with the government that would mean it no longer needs to be monitored for compliance by an external body over the next three years. Her letter went on to warn:
“These reports make it more important than ever that the public understand the Trump administration’s interactions with, and relationship to, Binance and its employees.”
Warren demanded “meaningful answers” to her original questions once again — setting a deadline of Oct. 1. Since it took over four months for her initial letter to be responded to, this request seems a little ambitious.
Trump and his press secretary have long denied conflicts of interest when it comes to his crypto ventures. Nonetheless, it’s fair to say that the president has blurred the lines between politics and business more than any of his predecessors.
And, to be frank, it’s highly likely that Warren’s requests will fall on deaf ears. The president faced a considerable backlash after launching $TRUMP — and a fresh avalanche of criticism after hosting a glitzy dinner for his meme coin’s biggest holders.
If he wasn’t embarrassed into toning down his extracurricular crypto activities then, he’s hardly going to start now.
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