The latest news in the crypto sector from the United States talk about Binance and the SEC’s attempt to punish the exchange for an alleged violation of securities laws, for which the federal agency had filed a lawsuit on June 5, 2023.
Despite the Department of Justice (DOJ) reaching an agreement with the exchange that involved a $4.3 billion fine and the resignation of former CEO Changpeng Zhao, the SEC wants to continue its crusade.
Now he demands that Binance includes his admissions of guilt within the file of the June case and that the judges take into account this parallel process.
The cryptocurrency exchange seeks to defend itself by stating that Gary Gensler’s requests are not relevant to any of the “false accusations” made by the supervisory commission and requests the definitive dismissal of the case.
Who will win this legal battle?
Let’s see everything in detail below.
Summary
Latest news from the United States: the SEC wants to include Binance’s admission of guilt in the June lawsuit
With the latest news coming from the District of Columbia Supreme Court in the United States, we see how the SEC is still motivated to pursue the case against Binance regarding the alleged violation of American securities laws.
On June 5th, the market surveillance commission had formulated as many as 13 charges against the exchange, which include: sale of unregistered securities such as security tokens, money laundering, insider trading, and much more.
The issue seemed to be resolved when the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) in a separate lawsuit reached an agreement with the cryptocurrency exchange that involved the payment of a hefty fine of 4.3 billion dollars and the resignation of Changpeng Zhao in exchange for allowing Binance to continue its operations in the USA while complying with the current regulations.
Now, however, since the exchange had declared itself guilty for the illicit activities, the SEC demands that these admissions of guilt be integrated with the June case and that the judge takes all of this into account.
Binance, according to news coming directly from the District of Columbia court, is defending itself by stating that the intentions of the federal entity are procedurally incorrect and should be ignored.
In particular, the SEC has not demonstrated in any way that the resolutions reached with the DOJ were relevant to any of the “wrong accusations” made by the SEC against Binance Holdings and Changpeng Zhao.
In a document submitted by the exchange’s lawyers on Tuesday, it can be clearly observed that the facts contained in the plea agreements with the DOJ have nothing to do with the SEC’s theory that the platform violated the securities laws of the Securities Act or the Exchange Act. Specifically, we can read:
“The SEC notice is an inadmissible supplementary document that does not identify any new “authority” and instead attempts to introduce new factual information and arguments. This alone is a reason to ignore it.”
The same Binance and Zhao continued by saying that:
“Jurisdictional admissions under the BSA do not bring any of the SEC’s claims within the scope of securities laws”
Binance tries to dismiss the lawsuit regarding alleged violation of US securities laws
The situation seems likely to be under the control of the exchange, which should not face any further penalties in the clash with the SEC after negotiating with the federal department.
This agreement is seen by most actors in the crypto world as “the price paid to obtain legitimacy for their own business” in the United States.
The SEC’s claims are only formal in nature and may have a null effect on the ongoing case.
It is not a coincidence, in fact, that the issue of “security tokens”, for which Binance is still under accusation, has not been touched upon at all in the agreement with the DOJ.
which forced the exchange to admit other types of misconduct different from those highlighted by the alleged violation of securities laws.
According to the crypto trading company, the SEC’s attempt to leverage resolutions with other agencies indicates a lack of information on any relevant regulatory authority
The whole discussion revolves around the fact that the settlement agreements and the consent order with the Department of Justice did not in any way refer to securities laws.
Furthermore, in the defense letter of the platform against Gary Gensler and his team of detractors, it is stated that the minimum requirements highlighted by the Howey Test have not been met” to identify (among other things, ambiguously) a financial security title.
In detail, both Binance and Binance.US have argued that the regulator did not show there were obligations towards the exchange users after purchasing certain cryptocurrencies, suggesting that there was no investment contract as required by the Howey Test.
The case seems to be heading towards a dismissal, with the exchange having the last chance to put an end to this legal battle before a final verdict is reached by the courts.
Despite the latest news highlighting legal turbulence, the BNB token has not shown any signs of weakness in the market, and in fact, it closed yesterday with a +3.3% against the US dollar.
Since Monday, the crypto has increased by 4.6%.
