Binance.US Suspends Trading for Several Crypto Pairs Following Lawsuit Filed by SEC – Blockchain News, Opinion, TV, and Jobs

Binance.US, the US arm of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has suspended trading for several cryptocurrency pairs and reduced supported convertible trading pairs following a lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Binance entities and their leadership. The move was seen as a precautionary measure to address potential securities concerns raised by the SEC.

This move comes after the SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance on June 5, accusing the exchange of offering unlisted securities. Fees include the offering and sale of unlisted BNB and BUSD tokens, as well as the various products and programs offered by Binance. Similarly, Coinbase, another popular cryptocurrency exchange, was also targeted by the SEC in a separate lawsuit, alleging the offering of securities in certain cryptocurrencies such as SOL, MATIC, and The Sandbox.

Binance.US announced that they will be delisting certain advanced trading pairs on June 8, 2023, as well as discontinuing their Over-The-Counter (OTC) Trading Portal. More than 90 stablecoin Tether (USDT) trading pairs, eight Bitcoin (BTC) pairs, and two Binance USD (BUSD) pairs are affected by this suspension. However, deposits and withdrawals are still available on the platform.

A Tether spokesperson suggested that the decision to stop trading in non-USDT tokens could be a precautionary measure given the possibility that tokens listed on these exchanges could be considered securities by the SEC.

Additionally, Binance.US has reduced the number of supported convertible trading pairs and limited options to buy, sell, and convert only a select few cryptocurrencies, including USDT, USD Coin (USDC), BNB, Ether (ETH), BTC, and others. The exchange also updated the maximum trade amount for this option to $10,000.

Additionally, Binance.US is temporarily closing its OTC trading platform, but no information is available as to when it will resume operations.

Binance’s efforts to improve the transparency of its reserves have recently exposed red flags in crypto exchange finance. The Wall Street Journal recently made headlines with an article making just that statement Binance is trying to reassure investors, but its finances remain a mystery.

According to the former member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and investment manager, the report issued by the audit firm Mazars does not carry transparency in the matter. It said there was no information regarding the quality of internal controls and how Binance’s system liquidates assets to cover margin loans.

The report also reports a lack of information about Binance’s corporate structure. It stated that Binance’s chief strategy officer, Patrick Hillmann, could not name Binance’s parent company. Binance has been going through a corporate reorganization for almost two years now.

Both Binance and Coinbase are now facing regulatory challenges, and the outcome of these lawsuits may have significant implications for the crypto industry.

Mona el isa, former Goldman Sachs, and founder of Avantgarde, one of the first institutional-level DeFi companies in the world, commented on the lack of transparency and proof of reserves in centralized crypto companies like Binance. He points out that these companies do not provide meaningful evidence of their asset maintenance practices, which requires implicit trust from users. According to El Isa, if there is more transparency regarding custodianship, the market can better differentiate between good and bad practices, thereby enabling effective monitoring and mitigating potential problems.

El Isa argues that decentralized and transparent on-chain funds, typically found in decentralized finance (DeFi), can be more secure than opaque centralized financial (CeFi) funds. DeFi offers auditable 24/7 transparency, eliminating the need for trust. This viewpoint aligns with his drive to build Enzyme, which he co-founded. Enzyme is a platform designed to automate and bring transparency to traditional asset management, which aims to create an empowering asset management experience through non-custodial interactions, on-chain reporting for transparency, and enforceable and automated risk management within a governance framework. decentralized management.