Binance has announced its involvement in providing investigative intelligence and compliance support to a joint international operation named "Cyber Patrol." This initiative aimed to map and disrupt cryptocurrency payment channels linked to illicit streaming services. The announcement was made in a blog post on Binance's website on November 26.
According to the statement, Cyber Patrol brought together Europol’s Intellectual Property Crime Coordinated Coalition, the European Union Intellectual Property Office, over 15 national law enforcement agencies, major sports and media rights-holders, leading cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance, and specialist blockchain-analytics firms. The week-long coordinated action targeted digital piracy payment networks with a focus on disrupting the business model behind illegal IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) and streaming platforms.
During the operation, investigators mapped an extensive piracy ecosystem. They identified 69 targeted pirate sites and referred 25 illicit IPTV services to cryptocurrency providers for disruption. An additional 44 sites were placed under active investigation. Collectively, these targeted platforms attracted an estimated 11,821,006 annual visits. Approximately $55 million in cryptocurrency transactions linked to these services were traced across associated accounts, highlighting the scale of the illicit economy.
Binance operates a multi-layered Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and customer due diligence framework that combines robust Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and Know-Your-Business onboarding with continuous transaction monitoring. Its AML program employs a structured questionnaire to collect information on users’ compliance controls, enabling risk-based profiling, ongoing monitoring, and targeted mitigation efforts. These measures are supported by dedicated Customer Due Diligence (CDD) and monitoring teams focused on preventing money laundering, terrorist financing, and other illicit activities across the platform.
As the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume and user base, Binance serves more than 270 million registered users across over 180 countries while listing hundreds of digital assets. Industry analyses and Binance disclosures indicate daily trading volumes that can reach over $200 billion across spot and derivatives markets. This level of activity reflects deep liquidity and global scale, positioning Binance as a key infrastructure partner for complex multinational enforcement operations like Cyber Patrol.