Binance Under Investigation Over Unregistered Axie Infinity Shard Trading

Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) is the ethereum token native to 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), launched in 2018. The Sky Mavis team has 40 full-time employees, including CEO Nguyen Thanh Trung and COO Aleksander Leonard Larsen, responsible for making important decisions related to Axie, such as product development, marketing, digital design and software engineering.

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

Axie game players can earn AXS while playing the game 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 about $864,000 through an offering to “strategic investors.”

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

The token has been trading on the Binance platform since October 2020 in the US a month later.

At the time of the initial AXS sale, the Axie platform was not yet complete, and while some of the platform's features have been implemented since 2020, others are still in 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 willfully violating economic sanctions imposed by the US Department of Commerce.

Founded by a Chinese entrepreneur in 2017, Binance went from obscurity to a major force in the cryptocurrency space in just a few weeks.

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

The exchange has taken an aggressive approach to growth, rapidly expanding its reach globally often 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. Binance recently scrapped plans to pursue a full UK license after the regulator said its anti-money laundering and customer due diligence controls did not meet requirements.

CZ pleads guilty to money laundering, resigns as Binance CEO

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 US Department of Justice, according to court documents.

Binance Faces New Investigation From US Government

The US government is suspecting the Binance exchange of violating its sanctions against Russia.

Illegal Cryptocurrency Market and “Gambling” on Binance

Users can freely buy and sell cryptocurrencies on Binance with real money and choose the Battle investment mode which is no different from “gambling”.

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