An investigative news article claimed that around $2.35 billion in crypto had been laundered through Binance.
According to a special report by Reuters in the five years, from 2017 to 2021, the laundered amount through the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange reached over $2.35 billion
$2.35 billion in crypto laundered
Binance, as of yesterday, was the top cryptocurrency exchange, with $10.5 billion in spot volume and also $41.4 billion in contract volume, based on CoinMarketCap statistics.
Binance’s CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao did not comment on the report as of this writing.
However, its Chief Communications Officer Patrick Hillmann said they did not consider the report’s “calculation to be accurate,” but did not provide the firm’s own calculation.
Hillmann added that Binance was also creating “the most sophisticated cyber forensics team on the planet”. He claimed that the focus was on improving its “ability to detect illegal crypto activity on our platform.”
Darknet sites’ transactions
Meanwhile, the report on Binance claims that it showed data regarding client transactions on darknet sites where most of the data was provided by Crystal Blockchain.
Crystal Blockchain is a crypto transaction analysis and monitoring firm. It aims to provide compliance and risk management solutions to crypto exchanges, banks, and financial institutions.
From 2017 to 2022, the data revealed buyers and sellers on a Russian darknet drug market called Hydra. Traders utilized Binance to make the transactions which totaled around $780 million.
‘Misinformed to establish a wrong story’
In its report, Reuters claimed that it cross-checked the figures with another analysis firm, which agreed with the findings.
However, in another news report, a Binance spokesman claimed that the firm has gotten “an outpouring of support from allies in law enforcement across the globe.”
The spokesperson claimed that they know Angus Berwick’s latest “misinformed op-ed”. Berwick works as one of Reuters’ writers that focused on investigative news articles. They added that Reuter’s article also used outdated information from 2019 and unverified reports “to establish a false narrative”.