- The US regulator regarded Binance as an “intentionally opaque common enterprise.”
- The trading platform Binance.com acquired 16 licenses globally so far.
The crypto regulatory landscape is witnessing the most crucial disputes of all time. On Monday, the US Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) pulled Binance into a lawsuit, accusing the exchange’s compliance system — calling it a “sham.” Markedly, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) recorded his reply to the regulator via a blog as a spontaneous follow-up.
CZ sternly replied:
“Upon an initial review, the complaint appears to contain an incomplete recitation of facts, and we do not agree with the characterization of many of the issues alleged in the complaint.”
Despite collaboratively working with the crypto exchange for over 2 years, CFTC criticized Binance’s compliance efforts with unreasonable claims. According to the regulator, the complaint was filed against Binance for “willful evasion of the US Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations.” Under the complaint, the regulator charges CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ), former Chief Compliance Officer Samuel Lim, and three entities under Binance.
Amid this filing, the exchange’s native token – Binance Coin (BNB) – declined over 6% in the last 24 hours. At press time, as per CMC, BNB traded at $309.17
Binance CEO CZ’s Disclosures
As per the statistics disclosed by CZ on the blog, Binance handled over 55K law enforcement (LE) requests. The crypto exchange also collaborated with the US LE regulators to free and seize funds – over $125M in 2022 and $160M up-to-date in 2023. Furthermore, it has acquired 16 licenses and registrations in global nations so far.
CFTC accused the crypto exchange of choosing profits over following US laws. In reply to this, CZ highlighted the “90-day no-day-trading rule” set for their employees. According to this, every employee, including the CEO, cannot initiate a new trade of cryptocurrencies or futures within 90 days of the recent one.
Additionally, the crypto space encountered rumors of CZ owning major accounts on Binance. The CEO clarified by stating, “Personally, I have two accounts at Binance: one for Binance Card, one for my crypto holdings.” Due to internal policies, he also confirmed his non-participation in the native Launchpad, Earn, Margin, or Futures.
On the same day, the largest crypto exchange announced the opening of its regional center in Georgia. Recently, Binance hyped the sector by organizing several crypto community meetups worldwide. Seemingly, the regulatory scrutiny over this established crypto entity poses a challenge to Binance’s expansion and its crypto adoption mission.
Crypto exchanges with well-known regulatory compliance protocols are now being unreasonably targeted by US regulators. Last week, Coinbase received the Wells Notice from SEC for violating federal securities laws.
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