compliance

Binance co-founder He Yi responded to the news that "U.S. senators are investigating Binance for allegedly transferring $1.7 billion to Iranian entities," stating: "Binance helped trace the off-platform transfers of our clients' clients' clients, which precisely proves that Binance's compliance has established a very high standard."

The chief Democratic member of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee's investigative panel, Richard Blumenthal, has launched an investigation into Binance due to reports that the platform may be involved in sanction evasion related to Iran.In a letter to Binance CEO Richard Teng, Blumenthal requested documents regarding records of Iranian users using Binance, internal compliance investigation materials, and information on related employee terminations. Media reports indicate that Binance's compliance team had found that partners Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust were used as money laundering intermediaries and provided trading channels for entities related to the Iranian government, while employees involved in the investigation faced disciplinary actions or termination. Binance has denied the related allegations.

Binance's co-CEO Richard Teng posted on the X platform: "Recently, there have been some false reports regarding our compliance program. The Wall Street Journal published defamatory statements, and despite our efforts to clarify the facts, the journalist did not acknowledge any corrections we made regarding the relevant allegations. We have sent a letter requesting an immediate correction and complete retraction of these false statements."In a previous clarification regarding the compliance program, Binance stated that recent reports about its sanctions compliance relied on incomplete and inaccurate descriptions that did not reflect the full facts and complete investigation records. Regarding the risk exposure to Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance has reduced its direct risk exposure to the country's four major exchanges by over 97.3%, from $4.19 million to $110,000.

Binance co-founder He Yi responded on platform X to the news that "Binance employees were fired for discovering transactions related to Iran," stating that compliance staff need to handle various types of cases in their actual work. In recent years, Binance has proactively initiated multiple investigations related to potential crimes and has handed over the results to law enforcement agencies, while also assisting users in avoiding potential fraud and financial losses through risk control and compliance measures.In the face of a constantly changing regulatory environment and new types of financial crime, the company's compliance system still needs to be continuously upgraded and optimized. He also expressed gratitude to former employees who participated in the company's compliance efforts and emphasized that as the company continues to promote higher standards of compliance, it may not be possible to satisfy everyone during the execution process. However, Binance will continue to invest resources and bring in more compliance professionals with specialized backgrounds and law enforcement collaboration experience to enhance overall risk identification, investigation, and resolution capabilities.

According to Xinhua News Agency's client report, eight departments have issued a document further emphasizing that virtual currency-related activities are illegal financial activities, and have defined compliance boundaries for RWA tokenization as "strictly prohibited domestically and strictly regulated abroad," specifically naming Shuqin Technology as a pioneer in RWA compliance.It is reported that Shuqin Technology is a blockchain company based in Hangzhou. Public information shows that its founder was involved in founding "Yibit" and served as CTO, being one of the earliest blockchain entrepreneurs in the country. Previously, Shuqin Technology had explored RBA (Real Business Assets), relying on "fully trustworthy data" to structurally present business operations, revenues, and risks, and has formed a "triple credit enhancement" governance framework: supporting asset sustainability with real business, achieving verifiability and traceability with trustworthy data, and preemptively establishing compliance requirements and responsibility boundaries through governance structure. At the same time, Shuqin has introduced the "granular data" methodology, breaking down business into the smallest verifiable units, fully presenting the business process chain to meet key requirements such as authenticity, traceability, and risk isolation, providing underlying support for new productive enterprises to connect with international capital.

AI regulatory compliance startup Bretton AI announced the completion of a $75 million Series B funding round, led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from Greylock, Thomson Reuters Ventures, and Citi Ventures.The company was founded by Will Lawrence, a former employee of the compliance team at stablecoin infrastructure company Paxos. Its clients are primarily focused on fintech service companies, including fintech startups such as Mercury, Ramp, Robinhood, and Coinbase, as well as some community regional banks, helping them achieve anti-money laundering and Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance operations.

Guotai Junan Securities released a research report stating that HashKey HLDGS (03887.HK), as a leading licensed digital asset company in Hong Kong, is initiating coverage with a "Buy" rating and a target price of HKD 10.14.The core logic is based on three points: first, the company holds a full license from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) under categories 1/7/9, with a market share exceeding 75% and significant compliance barriers; second, institutional business accounts for 85.5%, with Omnibus client trading volume increasing nearly fivefold, and the proportion of institutional revenue is expected to rise significantly to 68% in H1 2025; third, the development of digital asset ETFs is driving institutional demand, and the company's integrated ecosystem (trading + on-chain services + asset management) creates a competitive advantage.In terms of finance, it is estimated that revenue will reach HKD 782 million, HKD 1.211 billion, and HKD 2.338 billion in 2025-2027, with net profit losses gradually narrowing (HKD -1.084 billion, -0.717 billion, -0.047 billion). Using the PS valuation method and referencing comparable companies like Coinbase, a 12x PS is applied, corresponding to a market value of HKD 28.1 billion.

CoinVex ecological cooperation project EC Treasury announced the completion of a multi-million dollar financing round. This round was co-led by the well-known family office Eastern Fortune Investments and early-stage venture capital firm Ludus Ventures, further strengthening CoinVex's foundation in RWA asset on-chain, liquidity, and settlement capabilities.At the same time, EC Treasury announced a deep cooperation with the Hong Kong-listed company Ocean Group (HK 1991). Both parties will jointly promote the real-world asset (RWA) treasury plan by allocating diversified quality assets such as mainstream crypto assets, precious metals, and stocks, building a positive flywheel of "asset appreciation - market value enhancement," and facilitating more real assets to enter CoinVex's trading and liquidity system with higher efficiency.Eastern Fortune expressed optimism about EC Treasury's potential to enhance global asset allocation efficiency through innovative means; while Ludus Ventures pointed out that this move aims to support entrepreneurial teams with pioneering spirit in Web3 and emerging sectors.

According to tracking data from the Web3 asset data platform RootData X, in the past 7 days, the compliant blockchain ecosystem Rayls has been the project with the most new followers among X (Twitter) Top personalities. New influential figures following this project include cryptocurrency analyst Phyrex (@Phyrex_Ni), IcoBeast.eth (@icobeast), and crypto researcher Jason Chen (@jason_chen998).

According to Fortune magazine, cryptocurrency compliance and investigation startup TRM Labs has announced the completion of a $70 million Series C funding round, achieving a valuation of $1 billion and becoming a newly minted "crypto unicorn."This round of financing was led by early investor Blockchain Capital, with traditional institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Bessemer, Brevan Howard, Thoma Bravo, and Citi Ventures participating. TRM Labs was founded in 2018 by Esteban Castaño and Rahul Raina, and its blockchain analysis software is widely adopted by global law enforcement agencies and an increasing number of private companies using cryptocurrency for fund transfers.Currently, about 40% of TRM's clients come from the private sector, and this proportion is growing as financial institutions explore tokenized deposits, equity, and other assets. The company's team has rapidly expanded to 350 people and is leveraging AI technology to combat the evolving tactics of crime.

According to CoinDesk, India's federal budget for the fiscal year 2026-27 maintains the existing 30% cryptocurrency capital gains tax and 1% withholding tax, disappointing industry groups that had sought tax reductions. The government did not adjust the tax rates but proposed new penalties for entities that fail to properly report cryptocurrency transactions under Section 509 of the Income Tax Act starting from April 1, 2026.Failure to submit the required reports will incur a daily fine of 200 rupees (approximately $2.2) until the non-compliance ends. If the submitted information is incorrect, or if errors are not corrected after being discovered, a fixed penalty of 50,000 rupees (approximately $545) will be imposed. Officials stated that this move aims to strengthen compliance, but market participants warn that it will continue to create friction for traders.

According to DL News, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently released guidance that clearly states that tokenized securities (including tokenized stocks) are not exempt from current securities law regulation due to changes in technological form. Whether securities are issued or registered on-chain or off-chain, federal securities laws regarding registration, information disclosure, reporting, and anti-fraud still apply.The SEC emphasizes that the essence of a security takes precedence over its technological form; tokenization is merely a change in the method of issuance and record-keeping and does not alter its legal attributes. This statement provides issuers and asset management firms with clearer compliance expectations and is expected to encourage more traditional financial institutions to explore securities tokenization. The guidance also categorizes tokenized securities into two types: one directly supported and issued by the original issuer; the other issued and supported by third-party institutions.Even if tokens issued by third parties do not grant holders equity, voting rights, or information rights, as long as they involve securities attributes, they must still comply with securities laws. However, the SEC has not yet provided a clear regulatory path for secondary market trading of tokenized securities. Currently, some tokenized stocks have already been launched outside the U.S.; for example, Robinhood has introduced over 2,000 U.S. stock tokens in Europe under the MiCA framework.Industry insiders believe that this guidance helps reduce compliance uncertainty, but the large-scale implementation in the U.S. market still relies on legislative progress such as the Clarity Act, which has recently been delayed again due to industry disagreements.

On January 28, the U.S. SEC issued a regulatory statement on tokenized securities, categorizing them into two core types. The first type is the issuer direct tokenization model, where the issuer or its agents issue securities in the form of blockchain and record holder information. These tokenized securities must comply with the same registration, disclosure, and other legal obligations as traditional securities, and the use of on-chain or off-chain recording methods does not alter the applicability of securities laws.The second type is the third-party tokenization model, which includes custodial (where token holders have indirect ownership of the custodial securities through the tokens) and synthetic (where the tokens only track the price performance of the underlying securities without transferring any substantive rights, potentially constituting a security swap) forms. The SEC specifically notes that third-party tokenization introduces additional counterparty risk and bankruptcy risk, and some products must be subject to strict regulatory constraints of security swaps.

According to a recent feature report by Forbes, Gate founder and CEO Dr. Han systematically reviewed his entrepreneurial journey in an exclusive interview and elaborated on Gate's development philosophy centered on security, transparency, and long-termism.The report pointed out that Gate is one of the earliest trading platforms in the industry to introduce and continuously disclose proof of reserves. Through higher standards of asset security mechanisms and a comprehensive risk control system, it has gradually established a trust foundation with nearly 50 million users. On the compliance front, Gate actively responds to global regulatory frameworks, including MiCA, with multiple entities under its umbrella having obtained or completed relevant regulatory registrations, license applications, authorizations, or approvals in jurisdictions such as Malta, the Bahamas, Australia, and Dubai.Dr. Han stated that the cryptocurrency industry is entering a critical regulatory period, and platforms that truly possess long-term competitiveness must withstand both market and regulatory scrutiny. Gate is also continuously lowering the barriers for users to enter the digital asset and tokenized financial world through an integrated layout of trading, custody, settlement, and compliance capabilities, promoting the industry towards a more robust and sustainable direction.