Market news | SEC is investigating Binance

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating its US subsidiary.the world's largest crypto exchange Binance, as well as two trading companies associated with its founder Changpeng Zhao.

We are talking about the companies Sigma Chain AG and Merit PeakLtd., which trade crypto-currency assets and act as market makers for Binance.US, the US affiliate of Binance. According to documents from 2019, both companies are associated with the owner and head of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, which was confirmed by the former heads of these companies.

The SEC will study how the crypto exchange discloses to customersaffiliation of these companies with Zhao. The sources also reported concerns from the Binance.US legal and compliance team regarding the origin of funds from Sigma Chain AG and Merit Peak Ltd.

The Binance website says that related tocrypto-exchange companies can perform operations on the trading platform, but the name of these companies is not indicated. The representative of Binance.US noted that the exchange should not disclose information about investors and corporate culture, but may transfer this data at the request of regulators.

In 2021, Binance has faced more than oncepressure from financial regulators. In August, the crypto exchange restricted access to a number of products for residents of South Korea and Malaysia. In July, it warned that it would stop trading cryptocurrency derivatives in Europe. The crypto exchange has also become the subject of investigations in Thailand, Singapore and the Cayman Islands.

Previously Inc.said that Binance bought a stake in American Forbes for $200 million and became one of the two largest owners of the magazine. Forbes needs funds to prepare for an IPO through a SPAC, planned for the first quarter of 2022, the sources said.