Curriculum·Graduate·G404
AML, KYC, and the Travel Rule
Binance, November 2023.3 billion dollars to settle US charges that it had operated for years with willfully deficient anti-money-laundering controls, and its founder pleaded guilty and stepped down.
Lesson 1 opens on
Binance, November 2023
3 billion dollars, one of the largest corporate penalties in US history, and its founder pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program and stepped down. US authorities described an exchange that had grown enormous while deliberately not building the compliance function its size demanded: it did not implement effective know-your-customer, did not report suspicious transactions, and let money move for sanctioned jurisdictions and illicit actors, including transactions connected to terrorist financing, ransomware and child sexual abuse material.3 billion dollars is the bill for that choice arriving all at once.
The lessons
- G404-01Why AML exists, and what Binance paid to learn itState what anti-money-laundering controls are for and why an institution owes themabout 32 min · opens on Binance, November 2023
- G404-02KYC and the risk-based approachDefine know-your-customer as verifying identity and understanding a customer's expected activityabout 32 min · opens on Bitzlato, January 2023
- G404-03The Travel Rule, on-chainState what the Travel Rule requires: originator and beneficiary information travels with a transferabout 33 min · opens on BTC-e, 2017
- G404-04Sanctions screening and the blockExplain that sanctions liability is strict: an apparent violation stands regardless of intentabout 33 min · opens on Kraken and OFAC, November 2022