IRS, Justice Department Probing Binance

As Binance Global halts withdrawals, the world’s biggest exchange faces investigations by US authorities, according to Bloomberg.

article-image

Source: Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • US authorities haven’t accused Binance of any criminal wrongdoing, but seek information
  • Some users have complained that their accounts have been locked for weeks

The world’s biggest digital assets exchange is facing questions from the US Department of Justice and the IRS, but the nature of the inquiry is not yet criminal, according to a report from Bloomberg

Loading Tweet..

Reports say that Justice Department officials which usually probe money laundering and tax offenses have been called in to investigate. All this comes after energy infrastructure company Colonial Pipeline is said to have paid ransomware hackers $5 million in bitcoin to free their company workstations from the encrypted grip of ransomware. 

In its report Bloomberg noted that forensic work done by Chainalysis has concluded “more funds tied to criminal activity flowed through Binance than any other crypto exchange.”   

Binance had been in the spotlight earlier this week as it temporarily suspended withdrawals for some, citing technical challenges. However, a report from CoinDesk claims that users from the US — which the exchange technically forbids but often turns a blind eye through the use of VPNs — have had their accounts locked for months, even as they were undertaking a Binance-sanctioned plan to move assets to the regulatory-compliant Binance.US exchange.     

“We take our legal obligations very seriously and engage with regulators and law enforcement in a collaborative fashion,” Binance spokeswoman Jessica Jung said in a published statement. “We have worked hard to build a robust compliance program that incorporates anti-money laundering principles and tools used by financial institutions to detect and address suspicious activity.”

In March, the exchange faced a probe by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission with regards to the presence of US-based traders on its platform.

The price of BNB, Binance’s exchange token, is down nearly 5% in the last hour and 15% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.  

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Featured.png

Research

Helium stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution as a decentralized wireless network, balancing rapid growth, economic restructuring, and global expansion. With accelerated growth in domestic DAUs and Hotspots supporting its network, Helium is leveraging strategic partnerships and innovative proposals to scale internationally. The recent implementation of HIP 138, “Return to HNT,” has unified its token economy under HNT, simplifying participation and strengthening liquidity, while HIP 139’s phase-out of CBRS refocuses efforts on scalable Wi-Fi offload. Meanwhile, governance shifts under HIP 141 raise questions about centralization as Nova Labs consolidates control over the roadmap.

article-image

In 2011, WikiLeaks faced a financial blockade imposed by the US government. It was Bitcoin’s first major test.

article-image

Kado’s founder Emery Andrew spoke to Blockworks about the acquisition and what’s next for the team

article-image

LayerZero’s Bryan Pellegrino chatted with Blockworks about the firm’s next steps and its 10-year runway

article-image

Colosseum co-founder Matty Taylor is seeing “high-performance [Solana] founders showing a lot of interest in private trading technology”

article-image

Executives weigh the growth potential they see in the public stock and private credit/equities arenas

article-image

Players can stake ME, trade tokens and link wallets to climb the leaderboard