https://sputnikglobe.com/20230607/us-sec-seeks-to-freeze-binances-assets-in-whack-a-mole-game-with-crypto-exchanges-1110970782.html
US SEC Seeks to Freeze Binance’s Assets in 'Whack-a-Mole' Game With Crypto Exchanges
US SEC Seeks to Freeze Binance’s Assets in 'Whack-a-Mole' Game With Crypto Exchanges
Sputnik International
The SEC has asked a federal court to freeze the US-based assets of Binance, a day after it accused the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange of a “web of deception” and “calculated evasion of the law."
2023-06-07T03:27+0000
2023-06-07T03:27+0000
2023-06-07T03:26+0000
world
binance
us securities and exchange commission (sec)
cryptocurrency
cryptocurrency exchange
sec
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A court document posted on Twitter said the SEC seeks “an order freezing the assets of defendant BAM Management and BAM Trading,” which serve as the holding company and trading arm of Binance. Under a total of 13 charges filed by the SEC, Binance and its co-founder Changpeng Zhao are accused of illegally commingling funds of the exchange’s users with other pools of money, and diverting them to an European firm controlled by Zhao. “We allege that Zhao and Binance entities engaged in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement after the fling of the charges Tuesday. The SEC, which acts as the US stock market’s regulator, said Zhao and Binance worked to subvert “their own controls” to allow high-net worth US investors and customers to continue trading on Binance’s unregulated international exchange. The cryptocurrency exchange and its founder attempted to evade US securities laws by announcing “sham controls” that they disregarded behind the scenes so that they could keep high-value US customers on their platforms, the SEC alleged. The asset freeze order on Binance came on the heels of a separate lawsuit filed by the SEC on Tuesday against Coinbase, another cryptocurrency exchange accused of deception. “Coinbase has never registered with the SEC as a broker, national securities exchange, or clearing agency” despite running all those services, “thus evading the disclosure regime that Congress has established for our securities markets,” the SEC said. Analysts said SEC appeared unhinged in its aim to take down crypto players who posed a risk to investors who knew little about the industry. “The global crypto market cap just got a lot smaller and as the two most popular exchanges got sued and now crypto investors will have to decide if they are confident that all their offerings will remain available to trade,” said Ed Moya, analyst at online trading platform OANDA. Binance struck back at the SEC’s charges on Monday, calling them “baseless” and “unjustified by the facts, by the law, or by the Commission’s own precedent.” The crypto exchange operator added that it intends “to defend ourselves vigorously.” It also accused the SEC of seeking a “near eradication” of the crypto industry with similar action against other names in the business such as Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken. Binance called on the US Congress to intervene with bipartisan legislation that would create a workable regulatory regime for digital assets and rein in what it called bureaucratic overreach, without which “our country’s role as a leader and innovator will continue to be undermined.” Binance’s founder Zhao, a Chinese citizen who lives in Dubai, also dismissed the SEC’s charges on Twitter by saying “4,” a popular refrain in Binance’s community urging users to ignore fear, uncertainty, and doubt, or “FUD.”
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230515/us-crypto-regulatory-head-vows-crackdown-on-digital-platforms-1110371246.html
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securities and exchange commission, binance, crypto exchanges
securities and exchange commission, binance, crypto exchanges
US SEC Seeks to Freeze Binance’s Assets in 'Whack-a-Mole' Game With Crypto Exchanges
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked a federal court to freeze the US-based assets of Binance, a day after it accused the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange of a “web of deception” and “calculated evasion of the law."
A court document posted on Twitter said the SEC seeks “an order freezing the assets of defendant BAM Management and BAM Trading,” which serve as the holding company and trading arm of Binance.
Under a total of 13 charges filed by the SEC, Binance and its co-founder Changpeng Zhao are accused of illegally commingling funds of the exchange’s users with other pools of money, and diverting them to an European firm controlled by Zhao.
“We allege that Zhao and Binance entities engaged in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement after the fling of the charges Tuesday.
The SEC, which acts as the US stock market’s regulator, said Zhao and Binance worked to subvert “their own controls” to allow high-net worth US investors and customers to continue trading on Binance’s unregulated international exchange.
The cryptocurrency exchange and its founder attempted to evade US securities laws by announcing “sham controls” that they disregarded behind the scenes so that they could keep high-value US customers on their platforms, the SEC alleged.
The asset freeze order on Binance came on the heels of a separate lawsuit filed by the SEC on Tuesday against Coinbase, another cryptocurrency exchange accused of deception.
“Coinbase has never registered with the SEC as a broker, national securities exchange, or clearing agency” despite running all those services, “thus evading the disclosure regime that Congress has established for our securities markets,” the SEC said.
Analysts said SEC appeared unhinged in its aim to take down crypto players who posed a risk to investors who knew little about the industry.
“The global crypto market cap just got a lot smaller and as the two most popular exchanges got sued and now crypto investors will have to decide if they are confident that all their offerings will remain available to trade,” said Ed Moya, analyst at online trading platform OANDA.
“The SEC looks like it is playing 'Whac-A-Mole' with crypto exchanges. The first crypto exchange to get the regulatory hammer was Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange. The next crypto exchange to get hit with an SEC lawsuit was Coinbase and it seems like this is just the beginning. With most exchanges offering a wide range of cryptos, it seems the regulatory hammer will hit them all as too many of the blockchain protocol cryptos are being deemed as securities by the SEC."
Binance struck back at the SEC’s charges on Monday, calling them “baseless” and “unjustified by the facts, by the law, or by the Commission’s own precedent.”
The crypto exchange operator added that it intends “to defend ourselves vigorously.” It also accused the SEC of seeking a “near eradication” of the crypto industry with similar action against other names in the business such as Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken.
Binance called on the US Congress to intervene with bipartisan legislation that would create a workable regulatory regime for digital assets and rein in what it called bureaucratic overreach, without which “our country’s role as a leader and innovator will continue to be undermined.”
Binance’s founder Zhao, a Chinese citizen who lives in Dubai, also dismissed the SEC’s charges on Twitter by saying “4,” a popular refrain in Binance’s community urging users to ignore fear, uncertainty, and doubt, or “FUD.”
