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Traders in China have reportedly exchanged $90 billion worth of cryptocurrencies on Binance despite a ban on their trading in the country. According to a report quoting internal figures and sources, the volume made the People’s Republic Binance’s biggest market.
Users of Binance, the world’s largest exchange for digital assets, have traded $90 billion of cryptocurrency in a single month in China where crypto trading has been prohibited since 2021, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The activity made China the biggest market for Binance, accounting for 20% of volume worldwide, excluding trades made by a category of very large traders, the publication wrote, citing internal figures as well as current and former employees of the company.
Reuters noted in a report that the newspaper did not specify the month during which the transactions were made. While Binance did not immediately respond to a request by the news agency for additional comments, a spokesman for the exchange was quoted by the WSJ as stating:
The Binance․com website is blocked in China and is not accessible to China-based users.
While Binance was initially based in China, the exchange pulled out of the country amid a regulatory crackdown in late 2017. However, according to a report by the Financial Times in March, also quoting internal documents, the crypto giant maintained links to China several years after its management’s claims that it had left the mainland.
In the past few months, the leading cryptocurrency exchange has been under increased scrutiny of regulators around the world. In the United States, Binance was sued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission for breaking U.S. securities and derivatives laws and diverting customer funds.
An ongoing probe by the U.S. Department of Justice seeks to establish whether Binance is responsible for money-laundering and sanctions evasion. In June, French prosecutors launched an investigation for money laundering and regulatory violations, too.
