In a Monday filing, Binance US argued that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) effort to freeze its funds is draconian and unduly burdensome. Binance US, the U.S. affiliate of the global crypto exchange, proposed an alternative stipulation that would stop short of the SEC’s sought-after full asset freeze, allowing the company to continue paying employees and vendors but preventing it from paying any other Binance entity.
The SEC seeks unnecessary and unjustified relief. Far from requesting relief that is ‘carefully calibrated’ to ‘maintain[] the status quo’ … the SEC’s proposed remedies would effectively end BAM’s business, Binance.US’s motion argued. BAM Trading Services is the name of the entity behind Binance.US.
The SEC had not previously raised any concerns about Binance.US’s assets or Zhao and Binance’s access, the filing claimed, later saying the first time a concern was raised was May 30, 2021 – or in other words, mere days before it sued. Moreover, the SEC’s charges are of registration violations and control person issues, not that funds were misused, the filing claimed.
Binance also disputed SEC allegations that it was a clearing agency or an exchange for the SEC’s purposes, saying it does not operate Binance.US and instead acts as a service provider for the U.S. crypto trading platform.
The U.S. District Court for the District of D.C. will hold a hearing on the motion on Tuesday, June 13 at 2:00 p.m. ET.