The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a motion in federal court requesting a summary judgment ruling in its case against cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The SEC argues that a recent ruling in a similar case against Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon supports its enforcement action against Binance, Binance.US, and former CEO Changpeng Zhao. In that case, the judge ruled that certain tokens involved in the alleged fraud were securities because they qualified as investment contracts.
The SEC believes that the court’s analysis of the Terraform case is relevant to the arguments made by Binance regarding its stablecoin BUSD, staking-as-a-service program BNB Vault, and Simple Earn programs. The commission contends that the Terraform Labs judgment provides additional grounds for Judge Amy Jackson to deny Binance’s motion to dismiss.
Binance and Zhao had filed a motion to dismiss the SEC’s case in September, claiming that the commission had overreached its authority and applied its standards retroactively. However, the SEC’s argument is that the Terraform ruling supports its position and strengthens its case against Binance.
This SEC case is one of the last regulatory actions against Binance in the United States, following a $4.3 billion settlement reached in December with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Justice Department, and Treasury Department. As part of the settlement, Zhao agreed to plead guilty to one felony count and is scheduled to be sentenced in February.
In 2023, the SEC has brought enforcement actions against several platforms, including Coinbase, Ripple, and Kraken, alleging that they offered unregistered securities.
This News Article was automatically generated by Bob the Bot (AI)
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Geography | North America |
| Countries | 🇺🇸 |
| Sentiment | neutral |
| Relevance Score | 1 |
| People | None |
| Companies | Treasury Department, Judge Amy Jackson, Do Kwon, Terraform Labs, Binance.US, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Ripple, Binance, United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Kraken, Justice Department, Coinbase, Judge Jed Rakoff |
| Currencies | None |
| Securities | None |
