SEC Charges Binance and its Founder with Securities Law Violations

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Binance, its U.S.-based affiliate BAM Trading Services Inc., and their founder Changpeng Zhao with various securities law violations. The SEC alleges that Binance and Zhao misled investors regarding the level of risk involved when trading on the platform. They are also accused of providing false information about who was operating the platform, manipulating trading volumes, commingling billions of dollars of investor assets, and failing to register as an exchange, broker-dealer, and clearing agency both in the U.S. and abroad. Furthermore, Binance and BAM Trading are accused of offering unregistered crypto assets such as BNB, BUSD, Simple Earn, BNB Vault, and BAM Trading’s staking-as-a-service program. Lastly, Zhao is alleged to have allowed high-value U.S. customers to continue trading on the Binance.com platform despite claims to the contrary.