A U.S. court recently ruled to dismiss all legal charges against cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ). The plaintiffs had claimed that the Binance platform was used to facilitate the funding of 64 global terrorist attacks between 2017 and 2024, but the court found that the plaintiffs failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove that Binance acted with intent or knowingly assisted in any wrongdoing.
The court noted that the relevant accounts merely conducted transactions through the Binance platform, which constitutes independent user actions and cannot be equated with a collusion or conspiracy between the platform and terrorist organizations. As a neutral technology service platform, the crypto exchange cannot monitor or predict the purpose of every transaction in real-time, nor does it have any motive to engage in illegal activities.
Changpeng Zhao shared a statement from his lawyer, Teresa Goody Gillen, on social media platform X, emphasizing, "False information will eventually dissipate, and the truth will emerge." He further explained that no centralized exchange could collaborate with terrorist organizations, as such accounts typically only perform immediate withdrawals after deposits, generating almost no trading fees, which holds no economic value for the exchange. This further underscores the absurdity of the allegations from a business logic perspective.
This ruling sets an important precedent for the crypto industry, emphasizing that platform responsibilities should be distinguished from user behaviors, and provides strong legal support for compliant crypto enterprises.