Canadian crypto mogul Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has brushed off accusations that the Binance exchange he co-founded helped to finance terror and military groups in Iran.
During an appearance at the Digital Chamber’s DC Blockchain Summit on March 18, CZ said that the charges being levied against Binance don’t make any sense.
“There’s no benefit,” said CZ when asked if he thought Binance was complicit in letting Iran funding occur on its cryptocurrency trading platform.
More From Cryptoprowl:
CZ, who is now a resident of the United Arab Emirates, added that, “I live in a country that’s being attacked by Iran.”
The former CEO of Binance, CZ grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, holds a degree from McGill University in Montreal, and remains a Canadian citizen.
He served a short prison sentence and received a pardon from U.S. President Donald Trump for violating U.S. anti-money-laundering and sanctions laws.
In his appearance at the conference, CZ said that the Iran transactions in question don’t generate any fees or provide any business for the crypto exchange.
Binance, which remains the largest crypto exchange in the world, has sued The Wall Street Journal newspaper for reporting that it fired compliance personnel who’d flagged suspicious transactions that may have violated U.S. sanctions laws.
According to the Journal’s report, internal investigators flagged more than $1 billion U.S. of crypto transfers from Chinese clients into wallets linked to Iranian financing networks.
Binance has said repeatedly that it has found no evidence that accounts on its platform had transacted with Iranian entities.
CZ, who is close to launching a memoir he worked on during his time in prison, said that he and Binance have been targeted by false accusations.
“The way they’re attacking, they’re completely using false, baseless information,” he said during the conference.
Binance is a private company and its stock doesn’t trade on a public exchange. CZ’s net worth has been estimated by Forbes magazine at $111 billion U.S.
