The cryptocurrency industry can learn lessons from the settlements reached by three cryptocurrency exchanges with regulatory bodies.
That's what senior compliance officials at Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken said while speaking on Wednesday (April 10) at the Chainalysis Lynx conference in New York, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Wednesday.
Each of the three companies has reached settlements with U.S. regulators over the past two years, continues to invest in compliance and employment controls, and hopes the rest of the industry can learn from their experiences, according to the report.
Noah Perlman, chief compliance officer at Binance, said the requirements that came with its settlement guide the company as it improves its compliance program and could also serve as a model for others in the industry, according to the report.
In November, Binance settled allegations from multiple agencies that it violated anti-money laundering (AML) laws and sanctions, the report said.
Valerie Leila Jaber, global head of financial crimes compliance at Coinbase, said Coinbase's compliance team has partnered with the company's technology teams to enhance its ability to quickly respond to compliance-related alerts at a time when its transaction volume is increasing, according to the report. .
In January, Coinbase agreed to a settlement with the New York State Department of Financial Services over violations of anti-money laundering laws, the report said.
CJ Rinaldi, chief compliance officer at Kraken, said the company has learned that it is better to identify issues and notify regulators directly, thus avoiding surprises, according to the report.
The report said that in 2022, Kraken settled allegations that it violated US sanctions against Iran.
The WSJ report comes a day after Binance's new CEO, Richard Teng, told CNBC that the cryptocurrency exchange is a more mature company now that it has moved beyond its previous ethos of “it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission.”
“As the company moves into greater maturity, we are looking at sustainability,” Teng said. “The direction of travel now is very clear towards greater compliance, which is why we are building a very strong compliance program.”
The ability to easily conduct transaction monitoring has helped cryptocurrencies shed much of their early reputation as nothing more than a currency for darknet markets and illicit actors, Caitlin Barnett, director of regulation and compliance at blockchain data firm Chainasis, told PYMNTS in an interview published in November. 2022.
