Binance announced plans to exit the Canadian market in 2023 but may still face a $4.4M enforcement fine from the Canadian regulators.
In May, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) imposed a $4.4 million fine on Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange. Binance has since submitted an appeal.
On June 5, Binance Holdings Limited submitted a notice of statutory appeal to the Federal Court system of Canada against the director of FINTRAC in response to allegations of noncompliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) regulations.
The regulator announced on May 9 that Binance had been fined over 6 million CAD, or approximately $4.4 million, for violations such as failing to register as a foreign money services business and failing to report digital currency transactions that exceeded $10,000.
Binance purportedly stated in its appeal that it did not target Canadian residents with its services. Blaming the regulatory environment, the exchange declared its intention to withdraw from the Canadian market in May 2023.
Binance was contacted by Cointelegraph for comment; however, a response was not received at the time of publication.
The FINTRAC decision was distinct from the legal complications that Binance is currently experiencing in other nations. The company’s then-CEO, Changpeng Zhao, was compelled to resign due to a $4.3 billion settlement with U.S. authorities in November 2023.
Zhao is currently incarcerated in federal prison for four months after entering a guilty plea to a single felony charge.
Following allegations of tax evasion and money laundering at Binance, Nigerian authorities apprehended two executives in February. Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British and Kenyan national, was in Kenya at the time of publication after he escaped from Nigerian custody.
According to reports, Tigran Gambaryan, a former special agent with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, contracted malaria while imprisoned in Nigeria.
