As an experienced financial analyst, I have followed the regulatory landscape of the cryptocurrency industry closely, and I believe that the ongoing legal battles between regulators and crypto exchanges like Binance represent a significant inflection point for the sector. In this specific case, Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s ruling on June 28, 2024, marks an important development in the SEC’s lawsuit against Binance and its co-founder.


On June 28th, Judge Amy Berman Jackson from the US District Court for the District of Columbia decided that the majority of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s lawsuit against Binance and its co-founder could proceed.

In June 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Binance and its CEO, Zhao, alleging that they had mishandled customer funds, deceived investors and regulatory bodies, and breached securities regulations.

In September, Binance disputed the allegations and requested the dismissal of the case. Their legal team argued that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was attempting to broaden its regulatory reach beyond U.S. borders to cover transactions on international cryptocurrency exchanges.

Ten Counts Will Proceed

According to Bloomberg’s report from June 29, Judge Jackson decided that out of the thirteen charges, ten will go ahead in their entirety, two will move forward with some parts only, and one charge will not proceed at all.

The number of discarded BUSD sales is connected to the now-defunct stablecoin of our firm, which was taken out of circulation following regulatory intervention against its issuer, Paxos, in February 2023. This action halted the production of new BUSD tokens.

The part of the report discussing transactions where individuals, not Binance itself, sold Binance’s native BNB token on the exchange, was disregarded.

An extra claim concerning Binance’s Simple Earn platform, where users can earn returns on their cryptocurrency holdings, was discarded. However, the remaining charges in this case move forward.

In November 2023, Binance was hit with a penalty amounting to $4.3 billion for infractions relating to anti-money laundering and sanctions regulations. This legal action, however, is distinct from that case.

As a researcher studying the regulatory landscape of cryptocurrencies, I can tell you that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its chair, Gary Gensler, continue to assert that most crypto assets fall under the category of securities. However, efforts by the SEC to clarify this classification through lawsuits have not yielded definitive results.

BNB showed no response to the latest news and maintained its position at $570 as of now. Notably, this cryptocurrency has surpassed many altcoins with impressive gains in recent times, reaching a record peak of $717 on June 6.

ConsenSys Fires Back

In related developments, on June 28, Ethereum software solution provider ConsenSys responded to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with a firm statement.

As a researcher, I’ve observed yet another instance of regulatory expansion by the SEC. This time, they’re attempting to redefine longstanding legal norms under the guise of clarification, effectively broadening their jurisdiction through litigation.

As an analyst, I would rephrase it as follows: I anticipated that the SEC would carry out their warning and classify MetaMask’s software interface as a securities broker requiring registration. The SEC’s stance on cryptocurrencies has been inconsistent and seemingly aggressive, driven by selective enforcement actions.

This is just the latest example of its regulatory…

— Consensys (@Consensys) June 28, 2024

This week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused ConsenSys of selling unregistered securities via its MetaMask staking feature, marking another action taken by the regulatory body against the crypto industry.

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2024-06-30 09:14