The chief legal officer of crypto exchange Kraken is optimistic that Binance’s decision to settle with the US government will benefit the digital asset industry.
Last month, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume agreed to pay over $4 billion in fines after pleading guilty to engaging in money laundering, violating sanctions and operating an unregistered money-transmitting business.
In a new CNBC interview, Kraken’s Marco Santori says Binance’s settlement will pave the way for a new era for crypto.
“The industry, the ecosystem, regulators, policymakers, I think, are ready to move forward from the Binance settlement, that’s what settlements do. They set the stage for moving forward into something better.
Binance users, I think, were relieved to find that there were no allegations that money was missing. There were no allegations of insolvency.
There were allegations of violations of financial services laws, which were serious but thankfully, I think that this is just further evidence of a bright future ahead of crypto and a digital asset ecosystem that’s putting behind it a lot of its darker days.”
Santori’s statement about the implication of Binance’s settlement on the future of crypto comes as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced last month that it was suing Kraken for allegedly operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, dealer and clearing agency.
He says Kraken is keeping a close eye on a US bill that will regulate crypto exchanges.
“In the US, we’re tracking the movement of a bill that made its way out of committee recently called Fit21. It’s a market structure bill that would regulate companies like ours, would regulate Kraken, Coinbase and Gemini and all the rest in the United States.”
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