Senator Richard Blumenthal has increased his scrutiny of Binance, sending a follow-up letter on April 1 to CEO Richard Teng that forces the crypto exchange to explain inconsistencies between his testimony in the Senate and the accompanying media. to announce related to events associated with Iran.
The New Haven Democrat said he was concerned that Binance may have provided “misrepresentations or misrepresentations to the State Committee and the public,” and sought documents and records the company relied on in preparing its earlier responses.
Senate Probe Seeks Bags, Actions, and Answers
Blumenthal is letter comes after a report by Fortune and The New York Times that found $1.7 billion in funds from accounts linked to Binance to entities with ties to Iran, an amount greater than the $110,000 figure that Binance cited last year for dealing directly with Iran’s largest exchange.
The Senate said the discrepancy, as well as Binance’s delay or delay in producing items requested by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), raised “certain concerns regarding its reporting and compliance with Congressional oversight.”
Collaborative Reading
Blumenthal’s letter contains a long list of specific questions and requests for documentation. He asked Binance to reveal if anyone sent or received money or to the group Wallets linked to Iran mentioned in the report, and provide wallet addresses.
They wanted a full, annual accounting of all the transactions between Binance and the known Iranian exchange, and asked to explain the method they used to calculate the $110,000, including whether they accounted for the transfers linked to the Iranian exchange.
Blumenthal also pressed the crypto exchange for internal results. He asked if Binance has removed, weakened, or loosened any detection, monitoring, freezing, or reporting mechanisms as of January 1, 2025, including tools designed to monitor them. random transfer.
He sought clarity on whether Binance has ever refused to investigate, suspend, or delete accounts linked to people inside Iran — including those using VPNs or “download accounts” (KYC-verified accounts that are bought, shared, or stolen).
Similarly, he asked whether Binance had punished employees who followed the rules that complained internally or provided information to the police or external partners, referring to the reports that Binance had. removed workers “illegal broadcasting.”
Binance Given April 14th Deadline
The senator also criticized what he saw as slow or inadequate action by Binance in responding to legal warnings. He said Binance took two months to respond to the lawsuit criminal money and organizations such as Hexa Whale and another two months to remove the affected shell.
He added that it took five months for Binance to remove Blessed Trust as a trader after being warned about its role in suspected terrorist financing.
Blumenthal wrote that Binance appeared, at times, to have posted other issues and internal tags such as “Don’t Block. Internal Accounts,” which he said were meant to signal the need for more scrutiny rather than protection from harassment.
Collaborative Reading
He asked for specific dates to show when companies and stakeholders opened the Binance issue, started sending money to Iranian intermediaries, were told that the US rules, and when it was suspended or removed.
The senator also sought clarification on any delay between notification and action. Blumenthal requested the Senate rules and gave Binance until April 14 this year to turn over the documents.
Image taken from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
