The cryptocurrency exchange said it was unaware of the reason Binance barred access to its corporate account, and accused a Tezos tool contributor of “misleading the community.”
After being criticized on social media, prominent cryptocurrency exchange Binance acknowledged that it had limited a Tezos tool contributor’s account access to $1 million in cryptocurrency.
In a tweet posted on Thursday, Binance stated that it had limited Baking Bad’s Tezos staking rewards account “in response to a law enforcement request.” The Tezos contributor claimed that the cryptocurrency exchange had since July 1 “without any explanations” blocked access to its corporate account, which contained Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Polgyon (MATIC), Tether (USDT), and other tokens. Binance refuted this assertion.
“BakingBad is well aware of [Binance’s actions], as he was already advised of this multiple times and provided the LE contact form through our support chat system on 7/6, 7/12, and 7/22,” said Binance. “Attempting to mislead the community in regards to your case will not change anything, unfortunately.”
The exchange added:
“Binance is required to cooperate with such requests, the same as any other exchange. There is a process to contest the seizure with the agency should you wish to pursue that path. But that is done through the agency, Binance has zero control over that process.”
Given that the exchange and its subsidiaries operate in numerous nations throughout the world, it is unclear to which law enforcement body Binance was alluding. According to Baking Bad’s LinkedIn profile, the platform is situated in Estonia, where extra anti-money laundering regulations went into effect in February for several businesses offering services related to cryptocurrencies.
Several law enforcement and regulatory agencies that placed restrictions on firms and people with Russian roots at the commencement of the war in Ukraine have received deference from Binance in the past.
Binance would not “unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts,” according to a spokesperson who spoke to Cointelegraph in February. CEO Changpeng Zhao stated that the exchange must adhere to sanctions in a manner similar to that of traditional financial institutions.
Russian citizens and residents’ access to their accounts was blocked by the exchange in April, making it impossible for them to trade or deposit using Binance’s spot, futures, and custody wallets, as well as staked and earned deposits.