Binance Seeks to Return to the US
After facing billions of dollars in regulatory fines and executive imprisonment, Binance is rebuilding its influence in the United States through a complex network of partnerships.
According to an exclusive report by the Wall Street Journal, Binance executives met with US Treasury officials last month, seeking to lift regulatory restrictions on the company while also negotiating cooperation with World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's cryptocurrency project. This signals a potentially significant shift in the US crypto regulatory environment, with the Trump administration's "regulatory leniency" policy potentially allowing Binance to re-enter the US market and create opportunities for specific tokens to explode.
The report states that in March, Binance executives met with US Treasury officials to request the removal of the US monitor overseeing the exchange's anti-money laundering compliance. If successful, this would mark the first step towards the exchange's return to the US market after pleading guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws in 2023.
Meanwhile, Binance is also in talks with World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency project backed by the Trump family, planning to list its USD-pegged stablecoin, USD1.
Given Binance's over 250 million users and daily trading volume of $65 billion, this cooperation could bring billions of dollars in profits to the Trump family. Generally, the more USD1 stablecoins in circulation, the more profit the Trump family can generate from the assets backing the token. Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, reported $13 billion in profits last year.
The relationship between Binance and World Liberty Financial is complex. According to the Wall Street Journal, the latter received technical authorization from Binance, allowing it to use Binance's trading platform. Additionally, some Binance employees have transferred to work for this "independent" company.
More notably, World Liberty Financial is seeking local partners to comply with various countries' regulatory requirements. These partners are often entities with political backgrounds or connections to regulatory agencies. This complex business structure can satisfy surface-level compliance requirements while maintaining Binance's substantial influence over operations.
The Trump administration has made rapid progress in relaxing cryptocurrency regulations. In recent weeks, the Department of Justice suspended its corporate enforcement program and disbanded its cryptocurrency unit—which had helped bring charges against Binance in 2023.
During the meeting between Binance executives and Treasury officials, Binance CEO Richard Teng and Chief Legal Officer Eleanor Hughes requested the agency to withdraw oversight or reduce its duration and scope. Binance employees have been discussing changes to their anti-money laundering controls, with some employees viewing this as an effort to relax scrutiny of high-risk clients.