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Trading Curtailment on Binance.US Amid Regulatory Scrutiny
Binance's American division has announced a temporary hold on its over-the-counter (OTC) trading platform and a reduction in the number of trading pairs offered. This move, enacted on June 7, follows a recent lawsuit filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Binance and its management.
A statement released by Binance.US details, "Post meticulous evaluation, Binance.US has decided to delist certain Advanced Trading pairs as of 9 a.m. PDT / 12 p.m. EDT on June 8, 2023. Concurrently, we have chosen to refine our Buy, Sell & Convert service and have temporarily halted our OTC Trading Portal."
Impact on Crypto Trading Pairs
This temporary suspension affects more than 90 trading pairs of the stablecoin Tether, eight Bitcoin pairs, and two Binance USD pairs. However, Binance.US reassures that deposits and withdrawals will continue uninterrupted.
In a comment to Cointelegraph, a Tether representative conjectured that this action might be a proactive measure concerning non-USDT tokens listed on the exchange, which the SEC could potentially classify as securities.
Reduction in Convert Trading Pairs
Binance.US also reduced the number of convertible trading pairs. Currently, purchase, sale, and conversion functionalities are available only for a limited number of tokens, namely USDT, USD Coin, BNB, Ether, BTC, Fetch.ai (FET), Cosmos, Aptos, Polygon, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Fantom, ApeCoin, Solana, Chainlink, Cardano, Polkadot, Gala, and Avalanche.
USD conversion will continue as usual, says the exchange. However, it has revised the maximum limit for buying, selling, and converting to $10,000. Moreover, Binance.US has ceased its over-the-counter (OTC) trading platform for an unspecified period.
SEC Lawsuit Against Binance
On June 5, the SEC lodged a lawsuit against Binance, accusing it of offering unregistered securities. The charges include 13 allegations against the exchange, incorporating unauthorized offers and sales of BNB and BUSD tokens, the Simple Earn and BNB Vault products, and its staking program.
Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges Binance failed to register its Binance.com platform as an exchange or a broker-dealer clearing agency. Remarkably, a day after pursuing Binance, the SEC also targeted Coinbase on similar charges, asserting that several cryptocurrencies provided by the exchange, like SOL, MATIC, and The Sandbox, should be considered securities.
