Thousands of traders were liquidated following news that the world’s largest crypto exchange and its former CEO pleaded guilty to violating US laws.
On Tuesday, Binance and its co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) pleaded guilty to several federal charges and agreed to over $4 billion in settlement, according to a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) press release.
According to the DOJ, Binance admitted to having engaged in anti-money laundering (AML), unlicensed money transmitting and sanctions violations.
The DOJ also revealed that former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao admitted that he failed to maintain an effective AML program while serving as the exchange’s head. Zhao resigned as the firm’s CEO.
News of the multi-billion-dollar settlement rocked the crypto markets.
According to the blockchain-tracking platform Coinglass, nearly 40,000 traders were liquidated in the last 24 hours to the tune of $102.04 million.
As the markets digest the news, Bitcoin (BTC) witnessed over $32.37 million in long and short contract liquidations in the past day as the flagship digital asset fell to a 24-hour low of $36,292. At time of writing, BTC is worth $37,334.
Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest crypto asset by market cap, saw $23.31 million in futures contracts liquidations over the same time period, while BNB, the native utility token on the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Binance Smart Chain, witnessed $1.22 million in liquidations.
At time of writing, Ethereum is trading at $2,062 while BNB is worth $237.35.
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