Binance, the largest cryptocurrency platform in the world, has processed over $5.4 trillion in crypto transactions so far this year. But financial regulators around the globe have recently taken aim at the Cayman Islands-based company and the Wild West attitude of platforms that sell cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, dogecoin, and ethereum, among thousands of others.
Gizmodo submitted a Freedom of Information Act request with the Federal Trade Commission, asking for any complaints filed with the FTC about Binance. The agency found 760 complaints filed since June of 2020, 200 of which were released to Gizmodo and redacted to protect private information. And while the redactions making it difficult to independently verify each individual claim, we start to see illuminating patterns.
The first, and arguably most alarming pattern, appears to be people who put large amounts of money into Binance but say they can’t get their money out. Most often, but not always, it appears their accounts were flagged for “suspicious activity” and the people are unsure how to then withdraw their money from Binance, even after trying to verify their identity. Other times, people say they deposited money but simply aren’t able to take any money out for weeks and sometimes months, assuming they could access the money at all.
The second pattern is a number of people who say they were scammed while trying to find a customer support phone number online for…
