Binance.US sent $400M to a partner firm managed by CZ

Binance.US sent $400M to a partner firm managed by CZ

Feb. 16, 2023 at 10:31 pm

By Mike Dalton

Transfers made in 2021 reveal a possible conflict of interest with the Binance CEO.

Binance.US sent approximately $404 million to a firm managed by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, according to a Feb. 16 report from Reuters.

That report alleges that Binance.US, under the name BAM Trading, sent millions of dollars from an account at Silvergate Bank to a trading firm called Merit Peak Ltd.

Merit Peak names Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao as its manager. Binance and Binance.US have been required to operate separately since 2019. As such, the above transactions imply that Zhao has a possibly inappropriate financial connection to Binance.US.

Reuters went as far as to suggest that the transactions imply that Binance controls the finances of Binance.US. It also said that Merit Peak was a dealer on Binance.US and, citing regulators, said that lack of public disclosure on the matter created a conflict of interest. Reuters was, however, unable to find the reason behind the transfers and was unable to determine whether the transferred funds belonged to exchange customers.