Good Morning!
If you haven't seen the latest news in the crypto sphere, its quite the bomb shell and is one of the largest attacks on any crypto entity by the SEC since XRP. Binance, one of the leading centralized exchanges globally, has been sued by the SEC with 13 charges against them as well as 11 claims for relief. For a full summary of both the SEC's statement and their 136 Page official case file, look for the link at the end of the blog.
CZ, or Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance.com and Binance US is under attack for violating both the Securities and Exchange act on multiple fronts. Some of the allegations include:
Binance's CCO suggested onboarding large U.S. customers by asking them to join a U.S. exchange but allowing them to trade on Binance.com through a special arrangement, emphasizing the support for business and finding ways to accommodate whales (large-volume investors).
Binance did not require all customers to submit Know Your Customer (KYC) documents until after August 2021, even though they had millions of worldwide customers. This raised concerns about compliance and customer identification.
Binance successfully retained U.S. investors, including VIP customers, despite appearing to restrict them. Internal presentations showed a significant percentage of VIP trading volume on Binance.com came from U.S. customers.
The SEC case does not stop there. it also lists 9 Cryptocurrencies that it deems are unregistered Securities sold by Binance: ATOM, FIL, COTI, ALGO, BNB, SOL, ADA, MATIC & AXS.
Among the 9, ALGO makes a surprising appearance; in 2019, Gary Gensler was filmed deeming ALGO to NOT be a security. Watch the clip here:
In response to this case, Binance made a press release that can be viewed here:
In summary, this is what the general sense was as per Chat GPT:
Binance expresses disappointment with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for filing a complaint and seeking emergency relief against them. Binance claims to have cooperated with the SEC's investigations and engaged in good-faith discussions for a negotiated settlement. They believe the SEC's decision to litigate instead of continuing the settlement process is disheartening. Binance disagrees with the SEC's allegations and believes they should not be subject to enforcement action. They intend to vigorously defend their platform. Binance criticizes the SEC for its lack of clarity and guidance in the digital asset industry and suggests the SEC's approach to regulation through enforcement and litigation is misguided. Binance claims the SEC's actions undermine America's role as a hub for financial innovation and leadership. They assert that user assets on the Binance platform are safe and secure and reject any allegations to the contrary. Binance suggests that the SEC's actions may be motivated by a desire for jurisdictional control and making headlines rather than protecting investors. Despite being a non-U.S. exchange, Binance states that it stands with digital asset market participants in the U.S. against the SEC's actions and is prepared to fight them legally. Binance commits to cooperating with regulators and policymakers and working with industry partners to defend cryptocurrency technology and provide a safe platform for users.
Charles Hoskinson, Founder of Cardano had much to say about this case. In his most recent tweet, he expressed the following: "With respect to Binance, I'm reading through the SEC complaint. It's over 130 pages, but seems like the next in a series of steps to implement chokepoint 2.0 in the United States. The end goal is a agenda based CBDC partnered with a handful of massive banks and end-to-end control over every aspect of your financial life..."
For the full tweet, click here: https://twitter.com/IOHK_Charles/status/1665780536177217537
All in all, this is one of the major developments in the SEC versus Crypto ever and will be an important case to watch over the coming weeks and months.
For the full summary of the SEC's Statement and Court document summarized to less than 9 pages instead of 136 or more, click here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jQ_8jFSWS0QILAOFMmvXmdWyYQpFRRccfgq1y84OWLM/edit?usp=sharing
I've Even included a refresher on both the Securities act and the Exchange Act as well for those who need it. If you'd like to join me for a live discussion this morning, you can do so here to tune in to the live stream below which will be live at 9:30 Pacific standard time!
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