Binance is a 'hotbed of illegal financial activity' and is hiding basic info from customers, US senators say in scathing letter to the world's biggest crypto exchange

• US senators accused the world's largest crypto exchange of being "a hotbed of illegal financial activity."
• In a scathing letter to Binance, lawmakers requested copies of the company's balance sheets since 2017.

A bipartisan group of US senators is pressing Binance for more details on the crypto exchange's business practices, a company spokesperson confirmed to Insider.

In a scathing letter, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the elected officials accused Binance of being "a hotbed of illegal financial activity," and asked for copies of the company's balance sheets since 2017, figures around the number of US-based customers on its platforms, and any communications about alleged efforts by CEO Changpeng Zhao to limit compliance.

They also requested more information on Binance's anti-money laundering policies.

"Binance and its related entities have purposefully evaded regulators, moved assets to criminals and sanctions evaders, and hidden basic financial information from its customers and the public," according to the document, signed by Senators Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen, and Roger Marshall.

The letter was addressed to Zhao and Binance.US chief exec Brian Shroder, per the WSJ report. The senators asked for a response by March 16 and sought more information about the relationship between Binance.com and Binance.US.

"As a globally regulated exchange, we receive queries from officials in jurisdictions in which we operate on a regular basis and we always respond in an attempt to both explain our business operations and cooperate with our regulators," a Binance spokesperson told Insider in a statement.

The spokesperson added that Binance.com, the global exchange that's often referred to as Binance, does not operate in the US and has no US-based customers. The company's purportedly independent US affiliate is Binance.US.

"We appreciate the senators' request and will provide information to help them better understand why we remain the most trusted platform with users across the globe," the spokesperson said.

However, this isn't the first time the crypto giant has faced scrutiny over its business practices. Binance reportedly transferred nearly $2 billion in stablecoin collateral to trading firms, leaving its investors exposed, according to Forbes, citing an analysis of blockchain data from August 17 to early December.

"Binance does not, and has never, invested or otherwise deployed user assets without consent under the terms of specific products," a company spokesperson told Insider in a previous statement Tuesday.

Binance also has reportedly faced a slew of legal and regulatory probes from the SEC and the US Justice Department.