Since the LUNA ecosystem got crashed there is like a domino effect going on in the crypto market, major players in the crypto space like Celsius Network, BlockFi, and FTX are getting crushed one by one. Well, this is what happens when you are running your business in a shady way. But this domino effect is not taking a break and the series of events continues, this time it is Binance, the largest player in the centralized and considerable player in the decentralized crypto ecosystem. Let’s check on this news and one other that revolves around criminal activities in the crypto space.
1. SBF Got Arrested by Bahamian Authorities
Sam Bankman-Fried aka SBF, the man behind the second largest crypto exchange FTX, which recently got bankrupt and resulted in one of the largest scams in the crypto space got arrested by Bahamian authorities. According to the report, the arrest of SBF is in response to the criminal charges filed in the US, the arrest is carried out by the Royal Bahamas Police Force. The arrest is confirmed by the Attorney General of The Bahamas as shown in the following picture:
The scale of the FTX scam is very large and it affected thousands of investors across the globe including Bahamians as well as the US. After this arrest, the Bahamian Prime Minister released a statement:
The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law.
It is possible that in the upcoming days, the US might make an official request regarding the extradition of SBF to Bahamian authorities and will take SBF to the US. It will be interesting to see the upcoming investigation as it is supposed that SBF is related to the current US government.
2. BINANCE to Face Charges in the US?
Binance one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges might be in trouble. Reuters, a global media firm, recently published a report saying that “the split between prosecutors' opinion is delaying to press charges against Binance”. Binance is trying to bring back the trust of users in the crypto space but this report has scared users more and as a result of this report, almost $900 million worth of crypto has been outflowed from the Binance accounts. You can read the full Reuters report here.
The investigation against Binance started in 2018, which makes it one of the longest ongoing investigations in the crypto space. This investigation was started keeping US anti-money laundering laws and sanctions in focus and verifying that Binance is complying with these laws.
In response to this report by Reuters, Binance published a reply in their blog and also tweeted that “Reuter has it wrong again”. Some people on tweeter are speculating that because the CZ, CEO of Binance has spoken about the FTX scam and close relations of SBF with the current US government is the result of this, but it seems quite difficult to connect as the investigation had started in 2018. But we cannot deny the possibility that the investigation gets paced because of certain things!
As Binance is the largest player in the crypto space, if it is found guilty in this investigation then it will be the worst nightmare for the crypto industry. There will be chaos and we will definitely see a tremendous amount of impact on the crypto market.
Hope you found this article informative, if yes then do follow me @CryptoManthan
Thanks For Your Time!
Check out my latest feed on Twitter and consider following me there as well!
Check out my previous articles-
Crypto Bulletin – 12th of December | Market Manipulation: Binance Locked Withdrawals for Suspicious Accounts | LUNA Master 'Do Kwon' Found in Serbia
Binance Released Proof of Reserve: Is It Enough to Regain Trust?
Introduction To gFam Challenges - New Way to Interact with Crypto Space (And Earn!)
