A new secret court filing related to Binance, the crypto exchange that already faces U.S. accusations of wrongdoing, has some wondering whether more bad news is about to hit the industry giant. On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) submitted a sealed motion to the court docket for its case against Binance, which allows it to file sensitive or confidential information without revealing the contents publicly. A spokesperson for Binance did not immediately respond to a request for comment by CoinDesk.
John Reed Stark, a former SEC official who now runs a consulting firm, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that filing court documents under seal is a “rare move”. “After all, it’s in the public interest to know and understand the SEC’s use of U.S. tax dollars and the U.S. SEC wants its messages heard loud and clear to deter future securities violations.” Stark offered two theories about what the SEC is doing: It’s trying to avoid interfering with a criminal investigation at the U.S. Department of Justice, or the SEC is worried about putting a witness or company at risk.
The SEC in June sued Binance on allegations of violating federal securities laws by offering unregistered securities to the general public in the form of its BNB token and BUSD stablecoin. Stark commented that “Under any circumstance, that this SEC seal-seeking filing is unusual, odd and uncommon cannot be overstated”. He added that in his almost 20 years in the SEC Enforcement Division, he had never seen a motion or any other court document filed under seal.
With the SEC’s recent filing, many are left wondering if more bad news is coming for Binance.