​SEC asks the court to freeze the assets of Binance.US customers

What’s new? On June 6, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a motion for a restraining order against the US arm of crypto exchange Binance. It demands that the assets of Binance.US customers be frozen to ensure their protection and eventual recovery within proceedings on the lawsuit of violation by the exchange of securities regulation legislation filed by the SEC the day before.

The SEC’s press release

What is known about the situation? The SEC has made several other claims against the defendants as part of the motion. For example, Binance-related companies and the head of the global exchange, Changpeng Zhao, must justify the reason for not granting the injunction. In this way, the regulator wants to get it passed before the proceedings begin.

The SEC is also seeking to have the defendants compelled to provide certain information and prohibited from destroying, hiding, or altering records. The regulator said that these actions need to be taken quickly to keep customers safe. According to officials, many questions about intra-corporate transactions remain open, and some defendants claim they are not subject to the court’s jurisdiction.

Zhao noted on his Twitter account that the order would only affect Binance.US, not Binance.com if the request is granted.

Clarification: this could only affects https://t.co/hSHrrlF7o7, IF granted by the court. It does NOT affect https://t.co/9rMMAmc1G9. Funds are #SAFU https://t.co/Xedzc0tyuM — CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) June 6, 2023

Binance US officials said after the SEC’s motion that users’ assets remain safe, and the platform continues to operate at full capacity, with deposits and withdrawals being made as usual.

This afternoon, the SEC filed a motion seeking a TRO and preliminary injunction against https://t.co/AZwoBOgsqS attempting to, amongst other things, freeze https://t.co/AZwoBOgsqS corporate assets. User assets remain safe and secure and the platform continues to be fully… — Binance.US 🇺🇸 (@BinanceUS) June 6, 2023

Users withdrew more than $719 million from the exchange in 24 hours after the SEC petition was filed. CryptoQuant experts noted that the figure is in line with historical norms.