In brief
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren is demanding answers from the DOJ about its enforcement of Binance’s 2023 settlement and the company’s ties to the Trump administration.
- Warren criticized the DOJ for not addressing previous questions about Binance’s compliance, a possible pardon for founder Changpeng Zhao, and links to Trump-affiliated crypto platforms.
- Warren raised new concerns after reports this week that Binance is seeking to end its obligation to work with an outside compliance monitor.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is pressing the Department of Justice for answers regarding its enforcement of the U.S. government’s settlement with Binance—and for further details about the crypto giant’s recent interactions with the Trump administration.
In a letter sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi Wednesday seen by Decrypt, Warren raised concerns about what she framed as the department’s lack of cooperation with previous inquiries into Binance’s compliance with its 2023 settlement for violating U.S. anti-money laundering and sanctions laws.
In May, Warren said, she and other senators asked Bondi whether the DOJ has been enforcing the terms of Binance’s settlement agreement, which include ensuring the company’s exit from the U.S. market. Over four months later, a Department official responded, stating only that Binance was required to fulfill certain obligations, but declining to update Warren on whether those obligations were being met or the status of Binance’s exit from the U.S.
Also in May, Warren had asked Bondi whether DOJ officials have had conversations with Binance about a pardon for exchange co-founder Changpeng Zhao. Zhao pleaded guilty to criminal money laundering charges in 2023, which, in addition to carrying a prison sentence, barred him for life from serving again as a Binance executive.
In an exclusive interview in May with Decrypt sister publication Rug Radio, Zhao revealed he is actively seeking a pardon from the Trump administration.
The DOJ did not respond to Warren’s questions about a potential Zhao pardon in its letter last week, nor did it engage with another question about whether DOJ officials have broached the issue of Binance’s relationship with the Trump family’s crypto platform, World Liberty Financial, in conversations with the company.
“The response… fail[ed] to meaningfully answer any of our questions,” Warren wrote Wednesday, chiding the DOJ.
On Wednesday, Warren again implored the law enforcement agency to answer her questions, citing a Bloomberg report from earlier this week which revealed Binance is in talks with the DOJ to ditch its obligation to cooperate with an outside compliance monitor. A major term of the company’s 2023 criminal settlement was that it would cooperate with such a monitor for five years.
“These reports make it more important than ever that the public understand the Trump Administration’s interactions with, and relationship to, Binance and its employees,” Warren wrote Wednesday. The letter was also signed by Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).
When the U.S. government reached its landmark settlement with Binance in 2023, it highlighted the exchange’s cooperation with an external compliance monitor as a crucial means of ensuring that the company “fulfills the terms of its settlement—including that it does not offer services to U.S. persons.” Through a monitor, the U.S. Treasury Department would retain access to Binance’s internal books, records and systems.
Though Binance is handily the world’s largest crypto exchange, its presence in the United States has been limited for years. Last month, however, the Trump administration opened the door to allowing foreign crypto exchanges like Binance to legally serve U.S. customers for the first time, via a CFTC registration framework.