US Senate Democrats have asked the Treasury and DOJ to investigate Binance’s illegal financial controls.
Democrats in the US Senate continue to support Binance, calling on the Treasury and Justice Department to investigate Binance’s compliance with sanctions and protections against illicit finance following reports of potential terrorist financing.
Nine senators, including several who played a key role in negotiating the cryptocurrency industry bill known as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, sent a letter to the heads of federal agencies on Friday asking them to investigate the exchange after news reports emerged about possible violations. It also claimed the company fired some of the compliance officers involved in discovering the deals.
The latest move by Democrats follows an announcement earlier this week by Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democratic senator and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, who said he was inquiring with Binance and wrote a letter to the company requesting information. But neither he nor any other Senate Democrat is in the majority. This means they currently have no control over the committee’s investigation.
Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said some of the initial media reports were “inaccurate” and “defamatory.” A company spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the senators’ request Friday to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
According to a Friday letter from senators, including Elizabeth Warren, Ruben Gallego, Angela Alsobrooks, and Mark Warner, “These allegations raise serious concerns that Binance’s poor control of illicit finances remains a serious threat to national security. They also requested information on Binance’s compliance with the requirements of the 2023 agreement.”
“If significant sums of money could flow to terrorist groups or sanctions evaders through Binance, our control of illicit finance could be dangerously compromised,” they wrote in the letter, reaching a delicate point in the ongoing debate over the U.S. laws that would govern the cryptocurrency market.
Preventing illicit financing of cryptocurrencies is one of the issues still being discussed in the bill. Senator Warner has taken the lead among Democrats seeking to clean up legislative language on the topic.
Another unresolved issue concerns the cryptocurrency activities of US President Donald Trump and his family, which was also mentioned in the letter. The lawmakers wrote that they were “aware” that Binance had ties to World Liberty Financial, the Trump-backed cryptocurrency venture behind the $1 stablecoin. They also mentioned Trump’s pardon for Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. He pleaded guilty and served four months in prison in connection with past issues with Binance’s anti-money laundering and know-your-customer provisions.
