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His "fortune" is mostly ownership of Binance which is now under the thumb of the US government. If—as widely theorized—Binance's secret ingredient is crime then

by wmf 2y ago

His "fortune" is mostly ownership of Binance which is now under the thumb of the US government. If—as widely theorized—Binance's secret ingredient is crime then it's not going to be worth what it once was.

earnesti 2y ago
I'm pretty sure that he also has personal BTC stash. Maybe not billions though.
- TrainedMonkey 2y ago
  Most likely multiple anonymous wallets of different cryptos. The real question is whether anyone else has access to them... if yes I expect there to be nothing left.
  - wmf 2y ago
    I think his wife is holding everything in Dubai.
    - zht 2y ago
      His wife wife or his unofficial wife?
- mr90210 2y ago
  After SBF, he’d be pretty stupid for not stashing his assets just in case.
tim333 2y ago
Google says net worth 60bn. I think he'll be ok even if that goes down a bit.
monero-xmr 2y ago
Binance far and away dominates non-United States volume of crypto trading. If you think that Coinbase, a publicly traded US company, has real volume and earns a fee for that, then it's not hard to understand why Binance has real revenues and value.
- malux85 2y ago
  I don’t think anyone is disputing it’s volume and fees, I think what they are pointing out is that a nontrivial, maybe majority of that, is proceeds of crime, which makes the business somewhat less attractive.
mise_en_place 2y ago
Let's just say they were very ambivalent about KYC. They had a lot of phantom liquidity as well, Binance pioneered the scam wick.
krmboya 2y ago
There is Binance US and Binance the global version. I expect Binance US to be tailored to US laws and regulations, but are you implying the global version is also under tight US govt control?
- wmf 2y ago
  May 2024: "The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) appointed Forensic Risk Alliance (FRA) to serve as the outside monitor over the crypto exchange Binance. Binance must undergo a monitorship of three years as part of its plea deal with the DOJ related to money laundering violations." https://www.theblock.co/post/293834/doj-taps-fra-over-sullivan-cromwell-for-binances-3-year-monitorship-report https://www.theblock.co/post/293834/doj-taps-fra-over-sulliv...
- colechristensen 2y ago
  Yes, global banks also fall under US control if they want to transact with anything in the US financial system. Less so if they don’t have American customers, but they still do have to follow American laws. For example several very old Swiss banks have been shut down by US regulators because they were doing business in the US with US citizens and their secrecy was being used to break US law by Americans.
  - poincaredisk 2y ago
    Do you have a source for that? It sounds interesting and I want to learn more, as I was not aware of anything like this happening.
    - gomerspiles 2y ago
      AFAIK significant banks didn't really shut down over FATCA, some have paid fines or higher tax rates and most of them do the minimum for anyone who matches any of the criteria for persecuting a possible US person, within the limits of the institution's local laws, if any. From a general government structure POV, I respected a Congress more than the prevalent US views, but I don't respect the US Congress any more.

by wmf 2y ago

earnesti 2y ago

I'm pretty sure that he also has personal BTC stash. Maybe not billions though.

TrainedMonkey 2y ago
Most likely multiple anonymous wallets of different cryptos. The real question is whether anyone else has access to them... if yes I expect there to be nothing left.
- wmf 2y ago
  I think his wife is holding everything in Dubai.
  - zht 2y ago
    His wife wife or his unofficial wife?
mr90210 2y ago
After SBF, he’d be pretty stupid for not stashing his assets just in case.

tim333 2y ago

Google says net worth 60bn. I think he'll be ok even if that goes down a bit.

monero-xmr 2y ago

Binance far and away dominates non-United States volume of crypto trading. If you think that Coinbase, a publicly traded US company, has real volume and earns a fee for that, then it's not hard to understand why Binance has real revenues and value.

malux85 2y ago
I don’t think anyone is disputing it’s volume and fees, I think what they are pointing out is that a nontrivial, maybe majority of that, is proceeds of crime, which makes the business somewhat less attractive.

mise_en_place 2y ago

Let's just say they were very ambivalent about KYC. They had a lot of phantom liquidity as well, Binance pioneered the scam wick.

krmboya 2y ago

There is Binance US and Binance the global version. I expect Binance US to be tailored to US laws and regulations, but are you implying the global version is also under tight US govt control?

wmf 2y ago
May 2024: "The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) appointed Forensic Risk Alliance (FRA) to serve as the outside monitor over the crypto exchange Binance. Binance must undergo a monitorship of three years as part of its plea deal with the DOJ related to money laundering violations." https://www.theblock.co/post/293834/doj-taps-fra-over-sullivan-cromwell-for-binances-3-year-monitorship-report https://www.theblock.co/post/293834/doj-taps-fra-over-sulliv...
colechristensen 2y ago
Yes, global banks also fall under US control if they want to transact with anything in the US financial system. Less so if they don’t have American customers, but they still do have to follow American laws. For example several very old Swiss banks have been shut down by US regulators because they were doing business in the US with US citizens and their secrecy was being used to break US law by Americans.
- poincaredisk 2y ago
  Do you have a source for that? It sounds interesting and I want to learn more, as I was not aware of anything like this happening.
  - gomerspiles 2y ago
    AFAIK significant banks didn't really shut down over FATCA, some have paid fines or higher tax rates and most of them do the minimum for anyone who matches any of the criteria for persecuting a possible US person, within the limits of the institution's local laws, if any. From a general government structure POV, I respected a Congress more than the prevalent US views, but I don't respect the US Congress any more.