BNB Crashing As Binance Founder Prepares To Plead Guilty To Criminal Charges, Step Down

BNB
BNB
, the native token of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange has fallen 10% amid rumors that the company is preparing to pay a $4.3 billion fine to settle criminal charges with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Chief Executive Changing Zhao, commonly referred to as CZ, will plead guilty to violating criminal U.S. anti-money laundering requirements, according to the Wall Street Journal. He will also be stepping down as CEO. Forbes has learned longtime executive Richard Teng is being considered to take over the industry’s top job.

The token was created in 2017 to help fund the creation of Binance in an offering that a Forbes investigation revealed to largely be a flop. Holders of the asset received trading discounts and access to unique investment opportunities through Binance. Although the reported agreement suggests that the company may be able to continue to operate, investors appear to be fleeing the token that has been a key linchpin in Binance’s ascent to becoming the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

So far the rest of the crypto market is unaffected by this news. The two largest tokens by market capitalization, bitcoin and ethereum, are trading flat on the news.