Binance hits back at Reuters money laundering allegations

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance issued a lengthy response to a Reuters article that claimed the exchange had been a "hub for hackers, fraudsters and drug dealers," saying At least $2.35 billion in illicit funds was laundered on the Binance exchange.

Binance addressed the issue in a blog post, noting that the accusations in the article were not only untrue, but that certain interested parties were trying to “mislead the public” by spreading false information. Binance wrote:

“We strongly recommend that you ignore hand-picked data authors and experts who rely on unverifiable ‘leaked’ information from regulators and fuel crypto paranoia for reputational or financial gain. Instead, (we should) just look at the facts .”

Binance also pointed out that traditional financial platforms are more susceptible to contamination from illicit funds than cryptocurrencies, which are inherently transparent. Additionally, Binance cites statistics from the United Nations that 2%–5% of all fiat currencies are linked to illicit activities.

Finally, in a blog post, Binance published an email correspondence with Reuters. This includes Binance’s full response to a Reuters query before publishing an article critical of Binance.

On Monday, Reuters published a special report alleging that the Binance exchange was involved in money laundering involving billions of dollars in illicit funds. The outlet has criticized Binance for everything from investment fraud and dark web transactions to weak know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering protections.

Back in February, Binance was also facing an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into its relationship with market-making firms Sigma Chain AG and Merit Peak, which traded digital assets on Binance.US. buy and sell.