Will Binance Be Held Back by Its Lawsuit with the U.S. SEC?
After reaching the largest settlement in history with the U.S. government, Binance continues its lawsuit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has taken a firm stance against the SEC.
On the 13th (local time), Binance submitted documents to the court arguing that "the SEC has focused on transactions in which tokens were purchased from other anonymous token holders on Binance's website," and "there was no contract with the initiators of these transactions to invest funds." They contended that the SEC's claims of illegal investment contracts and securities sales by Binance do not hold, and the lawsuit should be dismissed.
They also mentioned that the term "investment contract" is ambiguous when applied to digital asset transactions. Binance emphasized, "The term 'investment contract' is vague when applied to digital assets, and this issue should be decided by Congress, not the courts."
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Hyeonsu “Elliot” Jin, Managing partner at Decent Law Firm, stated, "The SEC's lawsuit is regarding violations of securities laws. The settlement with the U.S. government is a separate matter," and added, "Binance's motion to dismiss the lawsuit is unlikely to be accepted in principle. The settlement may work against Binance in the ongoing SEC lawsuit."
As the SEC expressed its intent to proceed with the lawsuit, Changpeng Zhao's planned trip to the UAE was also canceled. Previously, a U.S. court granted Zhao permission to travel to his home in the UAE, but at the request of the Department of Justice, he was ordered to remain in the U.S. until the SEC's trial ruling in February next year.
Attorney Jin explained, "The UAE is not a country with an extradition treaty with the U.S., and it has never accepted such requests from the U.S. Moreover, a significant portion of Changpeng Zhao's assets are understood to be outside the U.S.," adding, "The court likely determined that if Zhao were to leave the country, there is no guarantee he would return to the U.S. In the end, they saw the potential for Zhao to flee."
