Binance Vs Regulatory Bodies: A Timeline Of Events Anti-regulation allegations from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and withdrawal from markets are having the company in difficult and choppy waters.
By Paromita Gupta •
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The month of June, has so far, not gone well for Binance, a global cryptocurrency exchange, and its founder Changpeng Zhao. Anti-regulation allegations from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and withdrawal from markets are having the company in difficult and choppy waters. It won't be an exaggeration to say that each week brings grim news to CZ and platform users.
While we don't know what the future holds for them, here is a look at the events which transpired (and continues) against Binance-
June 5, 2023- The United States Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it was filing 13 charges against Binance and CZ, including secretly allowing high-value U.S. customers to continue trading on the platform and exercising control over customer assets.
"Through thirteen charges, 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," said Gary Gensler, SEC Chair.
June 6, 2023- Binance tweets a blog post titled "SEC Complaint Aims to Unilaterally Define Crypto Market Structure" and claims that SEC's true intention was to make headlines rather than protect investors.
"While we take the SEC's allegations seriously, they should not be the subject of an SEC enforcement action, let alone on an emergency basis. We intend to defend our platform vigorously. Unfortunately, the SEC's refusal to productively engage with us is just another example of the Commission's misguided and conscious refusal to provide much-needed clarity and guidance to the digital asset industry," read the blog.
June 9, 2023- The Securities and Exchange Commission Nigeria released a circular on Binance Nigeria Limited and ordered an immediate stop to operations. Binance Nigeria Limited is a local entity of the country and is in no manner related to Binance, CZ and their operations. The founder took to Twitter to share that the company had "issued cease & desist notice to the scammer entity "Binance Nigeria Limited." Nonetheless, amid all the unfavourable events, the brand reputation of Binance did suffer.
June 14, 2023- It's reported that Binance withdraws its registration with Cyprus' Unit Crypto Service. It won registration as a Crypto Asset Service Provider in Cyprus in October 2022 on the condition it offers spot, custody, staking and card services in the country.
A Binance spokesperson disclosed that the decision was taken to prepare for becoming fully compliant with the upcoming MiCA bill.
June 16, 2023- A double attack on Binance as it quits The Netherlands, after failing to acquire a virtual asset service provider license and its French unit is put under investigation by French local authorities for 'illegal' provision of digital asset services and "acts of aggravated money laundering," as per the Paris public prosecutor's office. "Binance will continue striving to obtain authorizations to provide our products and services to users in the Netherlands" read the Binance blog on the news.
June 17, 2023- US SEC announces emergency relief to US Binance customers. The order prohibits all the defendants (including Binance) from spending corporate assets other than in the ordinary course of business.
"Given that Changpeng Zhao and Binance have control of the platforms' customers' assets and have been able to commingle customer assets or divert customer assets as they please, as we have alleged, these prohibitions are essential to protecting investor assets. Further, we ensured that U.S. customers will be able to withdraw their assets from the platform while we work to resolve the alleged underlying misconduct and hold Zhao and the Binance entities accountable for their alleged securities law violations." said Gurbir S. Grewal, Director, SEC Division of Enforcement.
June 19, 2023- Binance Markets Limited (BML), Binance's United Kingdom arm, cancelled its registration with Financial Conduct Authority for activities that it never carried out or offered in the UK.
Back in March, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had charged Binance and CZ with numerous violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations. In May, it withdrew from Canada, citing the challenging regulatory environment.
