Binance hires two former IRS cyber investigators in continuing compliance push

Exchanges • September 30, 2021, 10:56AM EDT

Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced the hiring of two former U.S. Internal Revenue Service special agents to its investigations team.

Per a September 30 announcement shared with The Block, Tigran Gambaryan and Matthew Price are joining Binance, with Gambaryan as its new vice president of global intelligence and investigations, while Price will serve as senior director of investigations.

While at the IRS, the pair were both members of the IRS' Cyber Crimes Unit. Gambaryan led investigations into Silk Road and Mt. Gox. Price, meanwhile, was the lead investigator on the more recent case against darknet mixer Helix.

Binance has taken steps to ingratiate itself with regulators amid a period of heightened scrutiny in a range of countries, including the U.S. Indeed, in May reports emerged that the exchange was the subject of investigations by the Department of Justice as well as the IRS, which followed on the heels of earlier rumors of an investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Compliance concerns and risk were at the heart of Binance.US CEO Brian Brooks' abrupt departure in August.

About Author

Kollen Post is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things policy and geopolitics from Washington, DC. That includes legislation and regulation, securities law and money laundering, cyber warfare, corruption, CBDCs, and blockchain’s role in the developing world. He speaks Russian and Arabic. You can send him leads at [email protected].