Officials in Brazil are investigating cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its employees for alleged financial crime, Valor Econômico said April 18.
The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) believes that Binance may have engaged in illegal activities by offering crypto derivatives to clients, despite the fact that the government issued a suspension order to the company in 2020.
Binance complied with that order to the regulator’s satisfaction by suspending futures trading in 2021. However, recent findings suggest that Binance did not, in fact, fully comply. The screenshots reportedly show that customers in Brazil can change the language of the Binance website to access features that would otherwise be restricted.
This solution was recognized by Binance itself. A support agent wrote: “The futures platform is not available on PT-BR [Portuguese-Brazil]. You can change the language.” Such advice is illegal in Brazil.
A legal expert cited by Valor suggested that Binance itself is not necessarily responsible for the actions of its employees. Instead, authorities could charge the customer service agent responsible, who will face six months to two years in prison if convicted.
Binance told Valor that it does not comment on existing investigations and stated that it does not offer derivatives in Brazil.
The allegations from Brazil parallel those in a separate case in the US, where the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) accused Binance of helping clients circumvent geo-restrictions by using VPNs. .
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