Binance, World's Largest Crypto Exchange, Reportedly Under Investigation by DoJ, IRS

[Jism]

Coinbase customer service sucks bad, someone claimed to have 2000 or employees, but I doubt thats true, they cant even update their website. Lets not mention how they are cheating customers with hidden transaction fees when converting which is supposed to be fee free. I recently learned that you need to transfer coin to CB Pro to do buy/sell/converts so you dont get cheated. I put in a bunch fo tickets since early last year, 1 got answered. CB is not really doing anything illegal, but they arent really helping anyone either. I almost joined binance but after this, nope.

This "attitude" appears in lots of businesses lately. It's better to not to join these websites anymore. Skrill for example is doing the exact same thing. I just cancelled my account completely and stopped using skill. They are all out to maximize profits and cover the very basic minimum support. Yet charge huge transaction fee's and all that bullshit.

 

[thesmokingman]

The issue isn't the charges, it's the jurisdiction dude.

How can they be complicit in US money laundering when they won't even let a USA citizen have an account?

Short, logical answer is: unless they are doing something outside what their website is showing (like, in person), they can't.

Also, the definition of what constitutes "money laundering" very much differs in different legal zones. The US must prove that harm was done to their citizens by the exchange knowingly to their legal definition of "money laundering" in order to proceed with a case like this.

Given what I know, I doubt that will happen.

Under the counterterrorism measures approved by Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks, prosecutors are not even required to trace the money back to the target of an investigation.

The authority to seize ill-gotten foreign funds ''is a very powerful tool and one that can affect our international relationships,'' said Bryan Sierra, a spokesman for the Justice Department.

Yea they can seize almost whatever they want. I don't think any nation is going to go to bat for Binance here.

THREATS AND RESPONSES: LAW ENFORCEMENT; U.S. Cautiously Begins to Seize Millions in Foreign Banks (Published 2003)

Justice Dept begins using its expanded counterterrorism powers to seize millions of dollars from foreign banks that do business in US, saying tool has proved invaluable in seizing ill-gotten money that criminals hide overseas and that was once out of government's reach; State Dept officials...

www.nytimes.com

 

[R-T-B]

Thing is, by SEC policy, crypto is not money, but digital property. Whether that law applies to it is debatable. Will be interesting to see how that plays out.

 

[thesmokingman]

Thing is, by SEC policy, crypto is not money, but digital property. Whether that law applies to it is debatable. Will be interesting to see how that plays out.

Those definitions don't matter. It's actually illegal to move money out of the US to hide it from the feds. And whether it's a currency or a store of currency, that's kind of going in circles. Yall know what it is and what they mean by it.

 

[R-T-B]

And whether it's a currency or a store of currency

By SEC definition it is neither. But I get your point, gold bullion would be the same. I'm just not entirely sure if that has an impact on what laws apply.

 

[thesmokingman]

By SEC definition it is neither. But I get your point, gold bullion would be the same. I'm just not entirely sure if that has an impact on what laws apply.

Again it really doesn't matter what the SEC considers. The feds are requiring we report our crypto gains.

“It could be a real tax mess for folks who try to hide crypto earnings from the IRS,” said Kathryn Hauer, a certified financial planner with Wilson David Investment Advisors in Aiken, South Carolina.

 

[R-T-B]

Again it really doesn't matter what the SEC considers. The feds are requiring we report our crypto gains.

Yes, as digital-property sales. It's directly in line with the SECs findings.

If you buy and hold and never sell, despite any aparent "gains" there is no tax.

The difference is small but worth noting.

 

[thesmokingman]

Yes, as digital-property sales. It's directly in line with the SECs findings.

If you buy and hold and never sell, despite any aparent "gains" there is no tax.

The difference is small but worth noting.

Again, the SEC has jack all to do with the feds. In 2014 they said they would treat digital currencies as property. Thus if you don't claim your earnings your coins can be seized as property. It's important that its treated as property ya know, so the damn feds can seize it and go about their merry way of treating seized assests.

And I thought it's implied that you're taxed on earnings? See the quote in my post above?

 

[Hemmingstamp]

I wish there was an alternative, so we are stuck with this or a personal wallet which we have to micromanage if you do any staking

The more information the better. I've been reading horror stories but that appears to be down to the individual most of the time.
I've not heard of any exchanges stealing everyone's earning and doing a runner as of late either which gives me hope.

 

[zlobby]

This "attitude" appears in lots of businesses lately. It's better to not to join these websites anymore. Skrill for example is doing the exact same thing. I just cancelled my account completely and stopped using skill. They are all out to maximize profits and cover the very basic minimum support. Yet charge huge transaction fee's and all that bullshit.

Turn and burn. Quick, easy cash. They will continue doing so when there are people who fall for it.
At the end, either business is booming and they sell it, or they cash out and bro down nonetheless.

The more information the better. I've been reading horror stories but that appears to be down to the individual most of the time.
I've not heard of any exchanges stealing everyone's earning and doing a runner as of late either which gives me hope.

Just you wait until the first huge staking scam or something similar unfolds. Lessons will be learned but they will be pricy.

 

[R-T-B]

Just you wait until the first huge staking scam or something similar unfolds. Lessons will be learned but they will be pricy.

A staking pool getting hacked is a real possibility. You need 13 eth to stake without a pool, and most people on earth don't have anywhere near that. That leaves the pool as a point for a scam or failure.

 

[Bytales]

Im buying crypto with my fiat (for which i have allready payed taxes) When i cash out said crypto, i will do so in such a way so that i wont pay taxes again, becuase, guess what, i payed allready when i earned the money with which i bought it in the first place. But goverments get greedy. So me not paying tax second time doesnt make me a criminal, its the state that is the criminal asking taxes at every corner they deem reasonable...
So yeah, thats why i dont hodl any money in the bank. That is utterly stupid.

 

[Hemmingstamp]

This "attitude" appears in lots of businesses lately. It's better to not to join these websites anymore. Skrill for example is doing the exact same thing. I just cancelled my account completely and stopped using skill. They are all out to maximize profits and cover the very basic minimum support. Yet charge huge transaction fee's and all that bullshit.

And they appear unaccountable to anyone. Theft, It's the 21st Century business model in full swing---With other people's money.

 

[R-T-B]

Im buying crypto with my fiat (for which i have allready payed taxes) When i cash out said crypto, i will do so in such a way so that i wont pay taxes again, becuase, guess what, i payed allready when i earned the money with which i bought it in the first place.

If you live in USA, this argument doesn't work. Other nations may differ.

 

[milewski1015]

That's DOJ and IRS being stupid and greedy once again. Binance explicitly does not work with US of A, so if there's a case of tax evasion or illegal activities, it's US citizens that use Binance who should be investigated. It's a simple case of going after one offshore company being a tad easier, more manageable, and having bigger social resonance than running a crypto-crusade after your own people.


I also started with Coinbase, but outside the US it's nothing more than a fancy wallet with charts. Binance is basically a better Coinbase for the rest of the world.
Heck, I've even tried to do a small crypto withdrawal through my relatives stateside not too long ago, and the whole process was such a clusterf#$% that I was forced to do it through Binance anyways. In EU and CIS it's essentially the only reliable way to buy/sell crypto for fiat. Last months they even added support for UAH and added fiat withdrawals for Ukraine (which is more than Paypal ever did, even after direct talks with our govt.). In the essence the only difference between Coinbase and Binance is one being public and one being private. ID validation is nothing new, and nearly all exchanges do it nowadays, and nearly everywhere there are ways around it.
Plus, exchange is just a tool. Crooks will always find a way to use new tools, so nothing new, nothing surprising, and nothing to blame Binance for (exchange manipulation is a story for another day, but CB had its dirty spots there too). I'm absolutely sure that while I'm writing this post, someone somewhere on another side of the planet in total disregard of scary IRS and photo ID validation is selling adderall and oxies for crypto, cause who the hell is going to check his tax forms anyways?

I started with Coinbase back in 2017 as well, but wanted to get into altcoins which Coinbase just didn't support at the time IIRC. Had to go to Binance. Had some stuff in there, and popped back in to check on it recently only to find out Binance is restricted for US citizens and have to migrate assets to Binance.US.

 

[Atnevon]

Blockchain tie to an actual currenty. Problem solved. No lotteries for mining, no waste, no trade-for-drugs, no pyramid to-the-moon Elon nonsense.

except for the complain libertarians complaining about gov'ment watching what they do.

Then I can get a 3080 for what its meant for and boo-hoo-hoo on the monopoly-money farmers mad their "farms" would be worthless.

 

[R-T-B]

Blockchain tie to an actual currenty. Problem solved.

Good job, you invented stablecoins only 4 years late.