A top US financial regulator has said the $4.3bn penalty levied on Binance by authorities last month was set at a high level to act as a deterrent to other groups, after the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange “simply failed to comply with regulation”.
Kristin Johnson, commissioner at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said on Tuesday that the heavy penalty was part of the “guardrails” for the crypto industry, and hoped it would bring “order and structure”.
Binance’s fine, which includes the largest penalty ever levied by the US Treasury, came in November after it pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to money laundering and breaching international financial sanctions.