Photo: ANP
The US stock exchange watchdog, the SEC, has filed a lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange Binance and founder Changpeng Zhao. They allegedly mishandled customer deposits, misled investors and regulators, and violated securities rules. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler argues that consumers should not put their “hard-earned assets” “through or through these illicit platforms.”
Binance called the charge disappointing in response. The cryptocurrency exchange says it has been in talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a long time to settle the matter. Binance also says it will defend itself in court. Binance is not a public company. There is no official headquarters for the cryptocurrency exchange, but it is subject to the rules in force in Bermuda.
Binance has been banned in the US since 2019. Subsequently, the company established a Binance.US subsidiary that complied with all the rules, but this too has already been banned in six states. And now the authorities are behind it because Binance.US is not really separate from the parent company.
In the Netherlands, Binance was fined €3.3 million by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) last year. The regulator stated that the cryptocurrency exchange offered its services without the legally required registration with a central bank.
The value of cryptocurrencies dropped dramatically after the news of the US indictment. For example, bitcoin was 6.3 percent lower at more than $25,500. Other cryptocurrencies have lost nearly 10 percent of their value.
