Police Say Binance Is Making It Harder to Fight Crime

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has quietly changed how it cooperates with law enforcement in many countries around the world, frustrating investigators who say the company has made it harder to find scammers and combat money laundering.

The new policy is a big shift for Binance. The company had tried to clean up its act after years of legal problems, working directly with investigators to freeze suspicious accounts and share information about customers making fishy transactions.

But in April of last year, Binance enacted a policy requiring law enforcement officials to route certain requests to foreign government agencies, a time-consuming process governed by international treaties. That rule, along with an exodus of a group of senior compliance employees, has stymied some investigations in Europe and raised concerns in the United States, The New York Times found.

Binance moves billions of dollars in digital coins every day, leading a booming global industry that has been embraced by the Trump administration. Last year, President Trump eased federal scrutiny on crypto companies at the same time that his family’s crypto start-up forged a business relationship with Binance.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/us/binance-crypto-crime.html