The CEO of the largest US crypto exchange, Brian Armstrong, says the guilty plea of Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and his company on federal charges is a significant development for the digital asset industry.
On Tuesday, Binance agreed to pay more than $4 billion in a settlement after pleading guilty to money laundering, violating sanctions and running an unregistered money transmission business.
Zhao also admitted his failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering (AML) program and resigned as CEO of the world’s largest crypto exchange.
In a new interview on CNBC, Armstrong says the event gives meaning to Coinbase’s efforts to comply with U.S. laws.
“For us at Coinbase, this really validates the long-term strategy we have been pursuing to focus on compliance, to ensure we are building a trustworthy business. I have to tell you that over the last ten years since we’ve been doing that, it’s been frustrating at times.
We have seen competitors enter the scene that did not take this approach. Sometimes they can offer products that we thought were not legal and in this environment we see regulators finally taking action and creating a level playing field.”
Armstrong says that centralized crypto services, such as those offered by exchanges, should follow the same rules that exist in traditional financial services.
“I think it’s good for the industry to turn the page, make sure we follow the laws where it’s clear today around AML and KYC (know your customer), and then we also make clear the areas where law where it is not yet clear in the area of commodities and securities, and there is new legislation on the horizon that I think Congress can help with.”
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