Yesterday evening, the SEC filed a request to try to obtain a temporary freeze of Binance.US’s assets. For its part, the platform has responded publicly in an attempt to reassure the community
SEC seeks to freeze Binance.US assets
Following up on its complaint against the Binance Group, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last night filed a motion in the US District Court for the District of Columbia seeking a temporary freeze of Binance.US’s assets.
Among the multitude of allegations made against Binance in the initial action, there were unclear areas regarding the distinction between the global branch and the US branch, as well as the potential commingling of customer assets.
It was these uncertainties, among others, that prompted the SEC to file this request while it clarified the situation. As a result, the SEC is requesting that all US client assets, which may be under the management of other group entities, be repatriated to BAM Trading and BAM Management, the companies that operate Binance.US :
“The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed an emergency action requesting a temporary restraining order freezing assets, ordering defendants to repatriate assets held for the benefit of customers of the Binance.US crypto trading platform […]. “
For his part, Changpeng Zhao, CEO and founder of Binance, insisted that the assets were safe and that Binance.com was not affected:
Clarification: this could only affect https://t.co/hSHrrlF7o7, IF granted by the court.
It does NOT affect https://t.co/9rMMAmc1G9 Funds are SAFU https://t.co/Xedzc0tyuM
– CZ Binance (@cz_binance) June 6, 2023
Binance.US responds
Rapidly after the announcement, Binance.US posted a message on Twitter to share its view of the facts:
This afternoon, the SEC filed a motion seeking a TRO and preliminary injunction against https://t.co/AZwoBOgsqS attempting to, amongst other things, freeze https://t.co/AZwoBOgsqS corporate assets. User assets remain safe and secure and the platform continues to be fully…
– Binance.US (@BinanceUS) June 6, 2023
Pending a court ruling on the SEC’s request, the company maintains that its services continue to operate normally:
This afternoon, the SEC filed a motion seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against Binance.US seeking, among other things, to freeze Binance.US’s assets. User assets remain safe and secure and the platform continues to be fully operational with deposits and withdrawals functioning normally. “
In addition, Binance.US says that over the past week, its lawyers have been in dialogue with the SEC “almost around the clock”.
Now, the ecosystem remains on tenterhooks to see how far the Securities and Exchange Commission’s various tussles with industry firms will go.
While the cryptocurrency market initially stalled following the initial announcements at the beginning of the week, prices did not react negatively to this latest news, and Bitcoin (BTC) even recorded a 4.5% rise over 24 hours when these lines were cut.
