

federal laws by operating underhand schemes, falsifying accounts, and the outright deceit of investors. The SEC’s investigation has demonstrated that these platforms believed they could act above the law, to the point that Binance’s head of compliance admitted to another compliance officer at the firm in December 2018 that they were “operating as a fucking unlicensed broker in the United States, bro.” The internal communication has been included in the SEC’s indictment documentation.Īmong the crimes that this real whale of the cryptocurrency world is alleged to have committed, according to the SEC, are: commingling and diverting customer funds, simulating fictitious market operations, circumventing U.S. On Tuesday, before the SEC also sued Coinbase (the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency trader, and the leading listed platform), the regulator filed 13 charges against Binance, a platform that in 2021 traded $9.58 billion, according to data from the U.S.

market regulator, hit the nail on the head when it declared that, in spite of appearances, what the crypto universe lacks is its own law, distinct from international law. This Monday, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S.

It has its own jargon, its own humor and a particular way of understanding investment, which has created a whole community around those assets. Shares of Coinbase were last down 1.9% to $53.85.Ĭoinbase did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The world of cryptocurrencies is almost a million miles away from ours.

On Thursday, ratings agency Moody's changed its outlook of Coinbase to "negative" from "stable," citing the potential impact of the SEC's lawsuit. The Binance and Coinbase SEC lawsuits "introduced a cloud of uncertainty around these assets and, as a result, our team has decided to end support for them," the company tweeted. Robinhood said it would be removing those three coins effective June 27. crypto exchanges are likely to be in the firing line as a result of this week's lawsuits, which expand the number of cryptocurrencies that the SEC has identified as securities to include some commonly traded tokens, such as Solana, Cardano and Polygon. 'REGULATORY GRAY AREA'Ĭrypto companies started out in a regulatory gray area, but the SEC under Chair Gary Gensler has steadily asserted its jurisdiction over the industry, arguing most tokens are securities and should be subject to the same disclosure rules. EDT (1600 GMT) on Friday, investors had pulled more than $31 million from Binance.US in the prior 24 hours, according to data firm Nansen.īAM Trading, Binance.US's operator, holds customers' funds with California-based Axos Bank, according to a letter from lawyers for BAM Trading to the SEC dated May 26, which was made public by the SEC on Tuesday.Īxos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.īinance.US had struggled to find banking partners after the failure of Signature Bank, the Wall Street Journal reported in April.īinance.US said crypto-denominated trading, deposits, withdrawals and "staking" - where users deposit cryptocurrencies for use in blockchain transactions - would remain fully operational.
