Leading crypto exchange Binance has been dumped by global payments processor Checkout.com amid growing regulatory concerns.
Binance was once Checkout (dot) com’s largest client — with more than $2 billion in transactions in one month in 2021, reports Forbes.
Checkout CEO Guillaume Pousaz terminated the company’s relationship with its once-largest customer citing “reports of regulators actions and orders in relevant jurisdictions” and “inquiries from partners”.
He cited additional concerns over Binance’s anti-money laundering, sanctions and compliance controls.
Binance disagreed with Checkout’s basis for terminating the contract, saying it was mulling legal action.
“We have come a long way to building an industry-leading compliance program and we hope to build more trust with regulators and partners,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
Checkout has been processing between $300 million and $400 million in Binance transactions.
“Checkout’s decision to terminate its contract with Binance is a stunning blow to the crypto exchange,” the report mentioned.
US regulators sued Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao in June this year for allegedly operating a “web of deception” and filed 13 charges in a federal court.
Binance was also ordered by Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) to immediately cease all offers of virtual currency services in the country.
Several crypto companies have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in recent months like Genesis Global Trading (a subsidiary of the crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG), FTX, BlockFi, Three Arrows Capital, Celsius Network and Voyager.
