The Week in Crypto – Binance, Sam Bankman-Fried, and the UK

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This week in the crypto world we’ve seen Binance targeted by American authorities, Ethereum confirm its withdrawal date, Sam Bankman-Fried accused of Chinese bribes, and much more. But which birds have left the nest and flown the highest?

Squawk.

Binance Targeted by CFTC

This week saw the long-awaited crackdown on Binance U.S. authorities, as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a civil enforcement action in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Changpeng Zhao, the owner and CEO of Binance, three entities that operate the Binance platform and its former compliance chief, Samuel Lim. 

Binance was accused of numerous violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations, alleging that it knowingly disregarded applicable provisions of the CEA and engaged in a calculated strategy of regulatory arbitrage. The charges could see Binance banned from operating in the U.S. and pay out tens of billions of dollars in fines and restitution, with the very future of the company at stake if it is found guilty

UK Continues to Talk Up Crypto

The UK struck an upbeat tone over the future of cryptocurrencies in the region this week by noting their potential for individuals and businesses, right at a time when its cousin across the pond is doing all it can to ban it.

In its latest Economic Crime Plan published this week, the British government maintained that its ambition is to “make the UK an attractive destination for cryptoassets and cryptoasset innovation in the world”, with new regulations ensuring that criminal activity is minimized and that the space can flourish in what could turn out to be its new home.

SBF Alleged to Have Brided Chinese Officials

Just when it seemed that things couldn’t get any worse (or weirder) for Sam Bankman-Fried, he was this week accused of bribing Chinese officials to get $1 billion in FTX funds released. A slew of new charges claims that Bankman-Fried tried several ways of getting the funds, which belonged to Alameda Research and had been frozen by Chinese exchanges, handed back to the company, including opening new accounts on the same Chinese exchanges and using other people’s identity to get the funds transferred to the new accounts.

In the end, Bankman-Fried allegedly tried to coerce Chinese officials into releasing the funds, paying $40 million into an anonymous crypto account and receiving the funds shortly afterward. Of course, the two events could have been entirely disconnected.

Uh-huh.