World’s largest cryptocurrency exchange to pay over $4 billion in agreement with US

The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange has agreed to pay more than $4 billion as part of a settlement with the U.S. government, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The development of the case against Binance was confirmed on condition of anonymity ahead of an expected announcement. The value was first reported by Bloomberg.

It comes months after the company was accused of operating as an unregistered stock exchange and violating a host of U.S. securities laws in a lawsuit by regulators.

Binance is a Cayman Islands limited liability company founded by CEO Changpeng Zhao. The charges were similar to practices uncovered after the collapse of the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, last year.

Zhao has also faced accusations of diverting client funds, hiding the fact that the company was commingling billions of dollars in investor assets and sending them to a third party that Zhao also owned.

At the time the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against the company, Binance said it had been cooperating with the investigation, but said the agency "chose to act unilaterally and litigate."

The cryptocurrency industry has been marred by scandals and market crises. Sam Bankman-Fried, the 31-year-old founder of the failed cryptocurrency brokerage, was convicted earlier this month of fraud for stealing at least $10 billion from clients and investors.