While Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in the industry has thrived to be as secure and transparent as possible following the FTX saga, some of its employees have reportedly been doing some elicit acts to dent the company’s reputation.
According to an investigation conducted by CNBC, some employees at the exchange have been helping Chinese customers to bypass the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) verification process despite the region’s ban on the crypto market.
Employees Allegedly Help Bypass Verification Process
CNBC’s report alleged that Binance’s billion-dollar worth of security protocol is being manipulated by some users in China with the help of some workers in the exchange. These acts were reportedly seen taking place in the Binance official Chinese language chat rooms which contain above 220,000 users.
The reports highlighted that the techniques that can be used to evade the exchange’s KYC residency and verification systems were shared in the group chats. These shared techniques and chats came from accounts identified as Binance employees or Binance-trained volunteers known as “Angels.”
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Some of the techniques shared included forging bank documents or offering false addresses while others contained basic manipulation tips of the crypto exchange’s systems.
Additionally, the employees, volunteers, and customers also reportedly shared video guides and documents on how to falsify their country of residence in order to obtain Binance’s debit card.
Binance’s Response To The Alleged Act
As a response to the act, reported by CNBC, a Binance spokesperson noted, “We have taken action against employees who may have violated our internal policies, including wrongly soliciting or making recommendations that are not allowed or in line with our standards.”
The spokesperson further added that “Binance employees are explicitly forbidden from suggesting or supporting users in circumventing their local laws and regulatory policies, and would be immediately dismissed or audited if found to have violated those policies.”
Binance CEO Changepeng Zhao “CZ” who is usually most active on Twitter to address almost every situation concerning his exchange hasn’t made any comments about the CNBC investigation.
BNB price is moving sideways on the 4-hour chart. Source: BNB/USDT on TradingView.comNotably, this news comes amid China’s ban on cryptocurrencies since 2021. With the country’s recent outlawing of crypto exchanges, an act such as Chinese users subverting KYC to access Binance could have some consequences.
Meanwhile, the region is still pushing for the adoption of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) digital yuan. Last month, China brought more digital yuan (e-CNY) exposure through diverse commercial and government-sponsored activities, as well as digital yuan donations made by the government to increase the currency’s adoption.
The exchange’s native token BNB has since been enjoying an upward rally over the past few weeks. However, it has slowed down in the past week as the digital asset fell 2.58% in the last seven days to trade at $323 at the time of writing.
Featured image from Shutterstock, Chart from TradingView