Binance, its US arm Binance.US, and Changpeng Zhao have officially filed a joint motion in court to dismiss the lawsuit brought against them by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In the motion filed yesterday (Thursday), crypto exchanges and Zhao claimed that the US regulator had overstepped its authority while filing the lawsuit, adding that the allegation by the regulator did not “plausibly alleged” various securities-related violations. The latest motion further pointed out that the SEC is trying to push its authority over digital assets.
“Since 2019, Congress has considered more than a dozen proposals that would provide a coherent and workable framework for crypto assets and their trading platforms,” the motion argued. “Critically, none of those proposals would confer sole regulatory jurisdiction over the crypto industry to the SEC. Despite this, the SEC now seeks to expand its authority and filed this lawsuit, asserting claims against Binance Holdings Limited (‘BHL’) and Changpeng Zhao, among others.”
Serious Charges
The SEC filed the lawsuit against Binance, its US unit, and Changpeng Zhao, bringing many allegations against them, including the operation of an illegal exchange and even co-mingling of clients’ funds, which is very serious.
Binance, however, immediately reacted to the allegations, calling them “simply wrong” and also questioning the authority of the US securities regulator.
“The SEC pursues these novel theories retroactively, seeking to impose liability for sales of crypto assets that occurred as far back as July 2017, before the SEC provided any public guidance concerning cryptocurrency,” the latest motion noted. “It is clear that the SEC’s lawsuit has no foundation in the currently enacted securities law.”
The SEC’s lawsuit came three months after the US commodities regulator brought a lawsuit against the exchanges and Binance.com CEO for registration failure and violating several other regulatory guidelines. The CFTC
