In every single corner of the crypto landscape, one name pops up: Binance.
Run by Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the world’s largest crypto exchange is a dominant force in everything from Bitcoin trading and digital art to venture capital. With its power and influence only increasing after the collapse last year of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX empire, the inconvenient truth is that Binance has a grip on the $1.1 trillion industry that has few parallels in traditional finance. That’s despite all the decentralization talk from crypto’s true believers.
So the news Monday that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Binance and Chief Executive Officer Zhao for allegedly evading federal laws and operating an illegal digital-asset exchange threatens to send shock waves across the world of virtual currencies. Bitcoin fell as much as 4.5% after the lawsuit was filed.
