SEC Requests Court to Freeze US Binance Assets... Targets Cryptocurrency with Sharp Measures

Dozens of Accounts Frozen in the US
Coinbase Sued Following Binance

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which filed a lawsuit against Binance, the world's largest virtual asset (cryptocurrency) exchange, requested additional freezing of Binance's assets in the United States from the federal court on the 6th (local time).

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to major foreign media, the SEC submitted a complaint containing this request to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that night. In the complaint, the SEC claimed that "Binance's U.S. subsidiaries and founder Zhao Changpeng disregarded U.S. laws."

If the U.S. court grants the SEC's request, assets deposited, held, and traded by customers on the Binance platform will be forcibly frozen. However, this applies only to two Binance companies in the U.S. and does not apply to exchanges outside the U.S. Dozens of accounts within the U.S. are expected to be subject to freezing.

This measure came just one day after the SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance and its founder and CEO Zhao Changpeng in the Washington D.C. federal court for violations of securities-related laws. The SEC alleges that Binance profited unfairly by using customer assets.

On the same day, the SEC also filed a lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase in the New York federal court, accusing it of acting as an unregistered broker-dealer. In the complaint, the SEC pointed out that Coinbase earned billions of dollars through cryptocurrency handling since at least 2019 but violated securities laws by evading disclosure obligations meant to protect investors.

Gary Gensler, SEC Chairman, criticized on Twitter, "Coinbase failed to comply with relevant laws, depriving investors of critical protections that could prevent fraud and manipulation."

After the SEC's lawsuit against Binance caused its stock price to drop 9% the previous day, Coinbase's shares fell more than 12% following the SEC's lawsuit on this day.

As U.S. regulators continue to file lawsuits against cryptocurrency exchanges day after day, the market expects that the U.S. authorities' cryptocurrency regulatory efforts will become more active in the future. Since the bankruptcy of FTX, the world's third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, in November last year, voices calling for stronger cryptocurrency regulations have been growing worldwide.