Britain Court Urges Binance for Better Financial Crime Prevention

The Court of London in an order emphasised that Binance should develop policies and procedures to identify and timely freeze assets to prevent crypto crimes. 

In a judgement last week, the High Court of London directed Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world, to invest more in preventing cyber thefts accounting for loss of digital assets. The ruling came after a user was victimised for an online hack worth $2.6 million, which resulted in a court order to identify and take down hackers by consolidating their accounts.  

As per the public statement issued by the prosecution court, the judge accepted a request submitted by Fetch.ai, an AI-based financial service provider that works with Binance, which emphasised the need to determine cyber actors in order to tackle financial crime conducted through crypto platforms. 

Although the case involves a comparatively small sum, it is the first one brought to public that includes Binance as the key focus. This will be a challenge for the British legal system to combat digital fraud carried out through cryptocurrency exchanges. 

Responding to the proceeding, Binance mentioned, 

“We can confirm that we are helping Fetch.ai in the recovery of assets. Binance routinely freezes accounts that are identified as having suspicious activity occurring in line with our security policies and commitment to ensuring that users are protected while using our platform.”

Binance has a non-transparent corporate infrastructure which amid the global crypto crackdown has added fuel to fire and raised money laundering concerns for global regulators. To address these risks, Binance has reassured that it is working towards compliance with local regulations in its operations, and it has also expanded its team of international compliance experts to ensure thorough AML compliance. 

Syedur Rahman, partner at the London-based crime investigation legal firm, Rahman Ravelli, while representing Fetch.ai, stated that

“We need to dispel the myth that crypto assets are anonymous. The reality is that with the right rules and applications they can be tracked, traced and recovered”

He further added that Binance already notified Fecth.ai about the incident and froze the sum, and planning on further action following the orders of the court.