Binance Under Investigation Over Unregistered Axie Infinity Shard Trading

Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) is an Ethereum token derived from Axie Infinity, a blockchain game that allows players to interact in a virtual world through digital pets called "Axies".

Axie was founded by Sky Mavis PTE LTD (Sky Mavis), launching in 2018. The Sky Mavis team has 40 full-time employees, including CEO Nguyen Thanh Trung and COO Aleksander Leonard Larsen, who are responsible for making key decisions related to Axie, such as product development, marketing, digital design, and software technology.

axe infinity 1024x576.jpg — Players can earn AXS while playing the blockchain game Axie Infinity.

Players of the Axie game can earn AXS while playing and use this currency to purchase in-game items.

AXS can also be staked through Axie. The total supply of AXS tokens is 270 million, with over 100 million in circulation.

In 2020, Sky Mavis raised approximately $864,000 through an offering to “strategic investors”.

In the same year, Sky Mavis conducted a public sale of AXS, successfully distributing 29.7 million AXS tokens and raising $2.9 million.

This token has been traded on the Binance platform since October 2020, and in the US a month later.

At the time of the initial AXS sale, the Axie platform was still incomplete, and although some platform features had been implemented since 2020, others remain under development to this day.

Previously, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), CEO of Binance, pleaded guilty to money laundering and resigned from the cryptocurrency exchange as part of a $4.3 billion settlement with the US Department of Justice .

CZ and others are accused of violating the Bank Secrecy Act, failing to effectively implement an anti-money laundering program, and intentionally violating economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Founded in 2017 by a Chinese-born entrepreneur, Binance rose from obscurity to become a major force in the cryptocurrency world in just a few weeks.

To this day, Binance remains the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange globally, processing billions of dollars in trading volume annually.

The exchange has taken an aggressive approach to growth, rapidly expanding its global reach on a regular basis without prior permission.

While its parent company is based in the Cayman Islands, Binance does not have a single global headquarters, and Zhao has frequently resisted calls to do so, saying he wants the platform to run on a "decentralized" operating model.

In 2021, the UK Financial Conduct Authority banned Binance from operating in the country. More recently, Binance abandoned plans to pursue a full UK license after regulators stated that its anti-money laundering controls and customer practices did not meet requirements.

CZ pleads guilty to money laundering, resigns as Binance CEO.

According to court documents, Changpeng Zhao (also known as CZ) pleaded guilty to money laundering and resigned as CEO of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, as part of a $4.3 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.