SEC Files Emergency Motion for a Restraining Order Against Binance
- The United States SEC has filed an emergency motion for a restraining order against crypto exchange Binance.
- The motion was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on June 6, the same day the SEC sued Coinbase.
- The motion prevents the firm from destroying, altering, or concealing records and sets conditions on discovery.
- The motion includes eight actions, including the freezing of assets belonging to Binance.US.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set its sights on regulating the crypto industry via enforcement actions. Recently, the securities regulator filed court actions against leading crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase over various allegations. Interestingly, the agency has gone as far as to file an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order against the world’s largest crypto exchange and its US arm, along with CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ), on June 6, the same day it sued Coinbase.
The emergency motion for the restraining order was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and the SEC requested eight actions in the court. These actions include freezing the assets belonging to the US arm of Binance, followed by the repatriation of fiat and cryptocurrency held by US customers or for the benefit of US customers.
Furthermore, the motion also prevents Binance from destroying, altering, or concealing records and sets a number of conditions on discovery of the same. The filing states:
“This relief is necessary on an expedited basis to ensure the safety of customer assets and prevent the dissipation of available assets for any judgment, given the Defendants’ years of violative conduct, disregard of the laws of the United States, evasion of regulatory oversight, and open questions about various financial transfers and the custody and control of Customer Assets.”
Moreover, the motion was accompanied by a proposed order and was ready for the signature of the judge. The proposed order states that the funds belonging to the customers will be returned to Binance.US within 10 days, and the defendants must transfer all customer money in crypto to new wallets with new private keys. The new keys and wallets will be possessed by BAM Trading officers based in the US.
Binance is also required to produce a list of customer fiat and crypto assets along with a list of Binance.US customers, followed by the balances in their account. As reported earlier by BitcoinWisdom, a report claimed that if Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ in the crypto space, resigns as the head of the world’s leading crypto exchange due to regulatory actions, Richard Teng, the current head of all operations outside the United States, will be named as the new CEO.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
