The U.S. Department of Justice has reached an agreement with the crypto exchange Binance to pay a $4.3 billion fine. In addition, CEO and founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao is stepping down.

According to the last message in the Wall Street Journal, the world's largest crypto exchange Binance has agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine.

The subpoena will end the investigation of the U.S. authorities into alleged money laundering, bank fraud and sanctions violations, which has been running since 2020.

However, according to the Wall Street Journal, the deal, which will be officially announced at 9 p.m. (CET) Tuesday night, does not include a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which also sued Binance and founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao in June of this year.

In addition, Binance's CEO has pleaded guilty and resigned as chairman of the crypto exchange. Although Binance's CEO may retain his majority stake, he will no longer be allowed to take a leadership role in the company.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the official ruling against CZ will be announced at a later date.

Neither the Justice Department nor Binance or its CEO have yet responded to the news.

Although the price of its own currency Binance Coin (BNB) initially reacted positively to the news, it turned more strongly south in the last few minutes of trading and after reaching a new 4-month high of $272, it is currently trading around $238, down about eight percent on a 24-hour basis.

Investors may be concerned about Binance's ability to pay the billion-dollar fine.

Volatility in the crypto market has also increased significantly in the last few trading hours. The Bitcoin price surged more than three percent around $37,000 and is currently trading near its lowest point of the day.

Solana (SOL) reacted even more sensitively and is currently trading more than six percent lower, after the SOL price in the previous weeks was one of the clear outperformers.