WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 While the scandals in the cryptocurrency industry seem to never end, Washington policymakers appear to have little interest in pushing through legislation to codify the structure of the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest shoe to drop is Binance\u2019s multibillion dollar settlement<\/u><\/a> with U.S. authorities and the resignation of its CEO this week. Before that came the conviction of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried for stealing billions from customers and the implosion of smaller crypto companies that cost investors large sums of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When cryptocurrencies collapsed and a number of companies failed last year, Congress considered multiple approaches<\/u><\/a> for how to regulate the industry in the future. However, most of those efforts have gone nowhere, especially in this chaotic year that has been dominated by geopolitical tensions, inflation and the upcoming 2024 election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, the appetite for new rules seems more diminished than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday that existing regulations already apply to cryptocurrency at a news conference announcing the $4 billion settlement with Binance: \u201cI think today\u2019s actions show that we are serious about enforcing strong regulations that are already in place to make sure that illegal transactions are not fostered by cryptocurrency entities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>\u201cIn cases like this, where there are violations of a truly egregious nature,\u201d she said \u201cof course we want to make sure our tools stay up to date and are adjusted so that we can address emerging threats. We believe we have strong tools and we have been increasingly deploying them to counter this type of abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And a group of more than 100 mostly Democratic lawmakers<\/u><\/a> in October said the responsibility for preventing the use of crypto to finance terrorism belongs to the White House, calling for the Biden Administration to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony related to his failure to prevent money laundering on the platform. Zhao stepped down and Binance admitted to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and apparent violations of sanctions programs, including its failure to implement reporting programs for suspicious transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As part of the settlement agreement, the U.S. Treasury said Binance will be subject to five years of monitoring and \u201csignificant compliance undertakings, including to ensure Binance\u2019s complete exit from the United States.\u201d Binance is a Cayman Islands limited liability company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland called the settlement one of the largest corporate penalties in the nation\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now the largest entities in crypto over the past couple of years \u2014 Binance, Coinbase and FTX \u2014 are either in severe legal trouble, under investigation or have collapsed altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n