2023-11-26 22:30:19
[딜사이트 황지현 기자] Binance, the world’s largest virtual asset exchange, will withdraw from the U.S. market after paying a fine of 4.3 billion dollars (about 5.5 trillion won) from the U.S. government on charges including anti-money laundering laws.
As this agreement between Binance and the U.S. government became known, the domestic virtual asset industry is focusing attention on how it will affect Binance’s entry into the country.
◆ Binance is unstable… CEO Changpeng Zhao also resigns.
According to the virtual asset industry on the 24th, the U.S. Treasury and Justice Department announced on the 21st (local time) that the virtual asset exchange Binance had reached an agreement with the U.S. government to pay a fine of approximately 5.5 trillion won.
The fine exceeding 5 trillion won is due to Binance being accused of assisting in money laundering by countries and organizations sanctioned by the U.S. government. Binance did not establish an anti-money laundering system and did not report transactions by criminals such as terrorist groups, ransomware perpetrators, and money launderers to financial authorities. Representative examples include the Al Qassam Brigades, an armed group of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which are known to have used Binance as a conduit for funds. Binance also brokered transactions with users in sanctioned areas, including Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
With this agreement, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao decided to step down from his position as CEO. He wrote on his He said. It was emphasized that only some of the various charges presented by the U.S. government were valid.
As a result, some in the market are evaluating Binance’s future positively. JP Morgan, the largest U.S. bank, said, “It is positive in that uncertainty about Binance itself will subside and potential systemic risks due to Binance’s collapse can be eliminated for virtual asset investors.”
◆ Gopax “Still partners with Binance”
When Binance admitted to money laundering charges, it entered a new phase in its domestic expansion. Last February, Binance planned to enter the domestic market by securing a 72.26% stake in Gopax, a domestic won-denominated virtual asset exchange. Last March, Gopax appointed Leon Singpung, CEO of Binance Asia Pacific, as a Gopax registered executive and submitted a virtual asset business (VASP) change report to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). However, domestic financial authorities are not accepting VASPs, and advancement into domestic business is being delayed.
Gopax submitted a report meeting certain standards, but FIU delayed approval without specific reasons. Accordingly, investors in GoFi (GoPax’s virtual asset deposit service) filed a lawsuit for damages against Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Joo-hyun, Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Bok-hyun, and former FIU President Park Jeong-hoon in late June, claiming that the financial authorities were unfairly delaying the reporting of Gopax changes. raised. This is because FIU must accept the VASP report in order for Binance to repay the outstanding Go-Fi balance of 35.5 billion won.
A Gopax official said, “We learned about the fines through foreign news articles. Regardless, we still have a business and technical partnership with Binance.”
◆ Binance’s domestic expansion ‘green light vs. red light’
The virtual asset industry is expressing various opinions on how this situation will affect Binance’s entry into the country.
First, there is an opinion that if the obstacle to Binance approval is ‘judicial risk’, it will be possible to obtain a domestic business license. Seungsik Yoon, an analyst at Tiger Research, said, “With some of the U.S. judicial risks resolved regarding the eligibility of the largest shareholder being considered for Binance’s entry through Gopax, it seems to have become a starting point for domestic regulators to consider changing the business operator.”
There are also opinions that it may be interpreted differently depending on the reason why FIU is hesitant to approve the acquisition of Gopax. Jeong Hye-won, an analyst at Xangle, said, “The financial authorities have delayed accepting reports of changes to the virtual ledger business following Binance’s acquisition of Gopax, and the interpretation will vary depending on the reason.” He added, “The cause of concern about Binance can be seen as judicial risk.” “If we had thought about it, it could be understood as a green light to enter the domestic market because the risk has been resolved. However, if it is due to other reasons such as concerns about the inflow of Binance capital into the country, this situation is unlikely to have any impact,” he pointed out.
It was also suggested that it had a negative impact on the acquisition of Gopax. Hwang Seok-jin, a professor at the Graduate School of International Information Security at Dongguk University (a member of the People Power Party’s Virtual Asset Special Committee), said, “It is difficult to say that the judicial risk has been completely resolved because CEO Changpeng Zhao’s criminal punishment and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit still remain.” “The fact that Binance is paying a fine for money laundering is actually an acknowledgment of the judicial risk that the FIU was concerned about, so there is a possibility that they will firmly say no to the Gopax acquisition,” he said.
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