North Dakota’s financial market regulator has revoked the money transmitter license of Binance.US, operated by BAM Trading Services, making it the seventh US state to do so, joining Alaska, Florida, Maine, North Carolina, and Oregon.
The order, issued on June 4, 2024, stated that Binance.US “has not continued to meet the qualifications or satisfy the requirements that apply to an applicant for a new money transmission license.”
The regulator justified the cancellation by stating it was “necessary and appropriate in the public interest for the protection of citizens to restrain unlawful acts, practices, or transactions.”
Florida was the first state to revoke Binance.US’s license last November, following the Justice Department’s settlement with Binance.com and Zhao’s guilty plea. North Carolina and Maine followed suit in January.
Additionally, Binance.US paused the onboarding of new users in Connecticut, Georgia, Ohio, Minnesota, and Washington, and never received licenses in New York, Texas, Vermont, and Hawaii.
Binance.US, operated by BAM Trading Services since 2019, was separate from its global parent Binance.com.
However, the US arm used “the same branding and copyrighted logos under license as Binance.com, engages in a similar business line as Binance.com, and uses Binance.com’s proprietary software under license to conduct transactions for Binance.US.”
Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance.com, indirectly owns Binance.US and “exercised control” over the entity. Despite his incarceration, he remains a majority shareholder of Binance.com.
Last November, Binance.com settled with the US Department of Justice, paying $4.3 billion and an additional $2.85 billion to the US commodities regulator.
The settlement required Binance.com to exit the US market completely, though it did not directly involve Binance.US.
Zhao pled guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act and was sentenced to four months in jail.
The actions against Binance.com have indirectly affected Binance.US’s operations, with the platform facing SEC actions that wiped out 75 percent of its revenue and led to significant staff layoffs.