Long accused of abetting crypto crimes, Binance has now become a victim

NEW YORK (AP) — Binance and its billionaire founder have long been accused of profiting off crypto criminals.

Now they have become victims.

Targeted in what looks like the largest cryptocurrency heist in history, Binance and Changpeng Zhao have been front-page news for most of the crypto exchange's short history, often in unflattering ways.

He and his company have been accused of turning a blind eye as the exchange was used by drug traffickers, child abusers, terrorists and money launderers. Zhao himself even went to jail over the charges. On Thursday, a hacking group, possibly from North Korea, turned against the company, allegedly stealing an estimated $6.3 billion in bitcoin from its customers.

Here's a look at the fabulously successful online marketplace and its turbulent path to becoming the world's largest crypto exchange.

Founded in 2017 by Zhao, Binance is like the New York Stock Exchange but for cryptocurrency, a meeting place to buy and sell bitcoins, stablecoins, ether and other so-called digital currencies that act like electronic cash. No Greek columns adorn its headquarters— it doesn't even have one — but it exists online where people controlling digital “wallets” buy and sell cryptocurrencies. The ultimate owners, however, are mostly shrouded in secrecy to the public.

A former McDonald's worker in Canada, where he had moved with his family from China, Zhao initially set up Binance in the latter country. Then, after a crypto crackdown, he moved the company to Japan and has since hopscotched a bit around the world, with plans to expand in the island of Jersey and Malta.

Along the way, Binance bought a large cryptocurrency wallet, funded a kind of digital currency called a stablecoin, partnered with an Israeli payments processor, courted the Trump family and surpassed rivals — including Coinbase and FTX — to become the largest exchange in terms of trade volume.

Forbes estimates Zhao is now worth more than $100 billion.

As cryptocurrencies moved from the financial fringes to the mainstream, scandals and market meltdowns mounted, most prominently the 2022 collapse of FTX, founded by now-disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried . Regulators under the Biden administration began targeting Binance and others for allegedly operating unregistered securities exchanges.

Under the Bank Secrecy Act , U.S. financial institutions need to know the identities of their customers, monitor transactions and file reports of suspicious activity. And it was this law that eventually tripped up Zhao, who in 2024 became the first person ever sentenced to prison time after pleading guilty to violating it.

The alleged crimes against Binance included allowing virtual currency trades worth hundreds of millions between U.S. users and users in Iran, in violation of sanctions and failing to report suspicious transactions involving groups including Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades and al-Qaida.

Zhao stepped down as CEO, expressed contrition, and spent four months in jail.

Then came U.S. President Donald Trump, a onetime cryptocurrency critic turned champion, who was given millions of dollars in campaign donations and funds for his 2025 inauguration. Zhao and Binance have also acted as key supporters of some of the Trump family’s crypto enterprises , including World Liberty Financial.

In October last year, Trump pardoned Zhao , saying that he had been unfairly treated by his predecessor in the Oval Office and he would stop attacks on the industry, which he calls a priority for the U.S.

Binance has denied there was a quid pro quo between its help and the pardon.

“Any claim of a quid pro quo by Binance or CZ, or preferential financial treatment by Binance, is a clear misstatement of the public record,” attorney Teresa Goody Guillen said in an email to The Associated Press earlier this year, referring to Zhao by his initials.

Asked about the pardon, the White House said federal authorities had unfairly punished Zhao in what it called “The Biden Administration’s war on crypto.”

U.S.-based TRM, a blockchain intelligence firm, announced Thursday that the $6.3 billion heist was most likely an attack by TraderTraitor, which it described as North Korea’s elite hacking unit.

Desperate for foreign currency amid a push to develop nuclear weapons, Pyongyang has repeatedly turned to crypto to get around U.N. sanctions, experts say. A spy agency in South Korea considers crypto hackers north of the DMZ line among the best in the world.

Binance said Friday that it is beginning to recover money for users, working with blockchain partners to freeze roughly $3 billion in affected assets.

Zhao posted earlier on X that “User funds are safe!”