CFTC sues Binance.com over manipulation & lack of compliance effort

Binance became the latest crypto company to face regular heat amid the ongoing US crypto crackdown wave. 

Binance.com is a popular top-ranked crypto trade platform. The services of this exchange are not available in the US jurisdiction but this company provides crypto trading in the US via an independent subsidiary Binance.US. Technically US authorities have no authority to take legal action against Binance.com. 

On 27 March 2023, The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued the Binance.com exchange & its CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) over evasion of federal law and operating an illegal digital asset derivatives exchange.

Today the CFTC charged Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, with willful evasion of federal law and operating an illegal digital asset derivatives exchange. Learn more: https://t.co/DdczFgvW6A

— CFTC (@CFTC) March 27, 2023

The CFTC agency alleged that the Binance exchange manipulated the crypto market and also claimed that its team never cooperated with investigative subpoenas and obscured the location of its executive offices. 

In the 74-page complaint, the commodity regulatory body labelled Ethereum (ETH), Binance USD (BUSD), Tether (USDT), and Litecoin (LTC)  as commodities along with Bitcoin (BTC). 

Some crypto proponents showed their happiness with these enforcement actions taken by this US agency because the CFTC complaint labelled some crypto assets as commodities under their purview.

BTC: commodity
ETH: commodity
LTC: commodity
USDT: commodity
BUSD: commodity

– the CFTC pic.twitter.com/Y3qi6vDmTA

— scott (@scott_lew_is) March 27, 2023

Coinbase’s chief legal officer said that people should not be happy with these small pieces of information over the nature of some crypto assets, as the same asset can be a commodity & security under the same jurisdiction. He also slammed confusing & unclear laws of the US. 

A security can apparently also be a commodity, except when it's not. And it depends on which regulator you ask, and when. If you're confused, you are not alone. Is this really the best American law has to offer? https://t.co/uziI1J2tCi

— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) March 27, 2023

Binance CEO CZ responded on this matter through a dedicated blog post and confirmed that Binance is holding the highest numbers of regulatory regimes under different jurisdictions and also Binance’s rules are equally applicable to him & his employees, just like all other crypto customers. 

He also confirmed that Binance.com follows all the strict guidelines to prohibit the engagement of any US-based crypto investors at Binance.com.

My Response to the CFTC Complaint | Binance Blog https://t.co/TadyotM7HN

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) March 27, 2023

Read also: NVIDIA Exec says Crypto didn’t bring anything useful to society