China is Binance’s largest market with US$90 billion despite crypto ban: WSJ

Binance users in China traded about US$90 billion worth of cryptocurrency-related assets in May, keeping the country as the exchange’s largest market despite China’s ban on crypto, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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Fast facts

• The US$90 billion worth of transactions accounted for 20% of worldwide volume excluding trades by some major traders, WSJ reported. 
• Current and former employees of Binance reportedly said that the importance of operations in China is often openly discussed within the exchange, and its investigations team works with Chinese authorities to prevent criminal activities among about 900,000 active users in China.
• The world’s largest exchange helped users in China bypass restrictions by directing them to various websites with Chinese domains before rerouting them to the platform, WSJ reported citing undisclosed internal documents. 
• In 2021, China banned all cryptocurrency-related activities, including mining and trading of tokens while promoting the use of its central bank digital currency, the e-CNY.
• “The Binance.com website is blocked in China and is not accessible to China-based users,” a Binance spokesperson said in response to Forkast’s text message inquiry on Wednesday.
• South Korea was the runner-up in Binance’s crypto trade volume, with a 13% share of over US$58 billion. It was followed by Turkey, Vietnam and the British Virgin Islands.
• Binance is facing regulatory scrutiny in the U.S., where the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Binance and chief executive officer Changpeng Zhao on 13 charges including selling unregistered financial securities and misappropriation of customer funds.

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