In brief
- Binance's bill of rights include calls for privacy and the right to use crypto tools.
- Some provisions are directed at exchanges and how they serve their customers.
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Binance, the world's largest crypto company, issued Tuesday what it calls "10 Fundamental Rights for Crypto Users." The manifesto-like document calls for universal access to financial tools, strict protections for personal data, and other measures.
Touting the document as a global regulatory framework for crypto markets, Binance also created provisions directed at exchanges. Those include obligations for platforms to protect users from bad actors and ensure enough liquidity for frictionless trading:
Binance has published its list of rights at a time when the company is trying to reinvent its corporate culture and remake its image. For years, critics have claimed Binance and its free-wheeling CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), were willing to look the other way when it came to allegedly shady trading practices or criminal activity on its platform.
As part of its rehabilitation efforts, Binance has been hiring former regulators and members of law enforcement. These include prominent IRS agents and investigators from Europol.
Greg Monahan, a former U.S. Treasury criminal investigator, now oversees the exchange's anti-money laundering efforts. He told Decrypt that, as crypto has grown into a $3 trillion market, regulators have become a permanent feature of the industry and that "privacy and security of the ecosystem" are now a top priority.
It remains to be seen, of course, what (if any) effect Binance's new bill of rights will have on regulators or other companies in the crypto industry. The impact is likely to be limited given the reputations of Russia and China, which have millions of crypto users, for disregarding basic human rights and rule of law.
But Monahan says the bill of rights was proposed in part as a rallying measure for others in the industry, and as a signal to regulators that crypto companies take law and rights issues seriously. The company is certainly hoping regulators take Binance's latest endeavor seriously.