The SEC on June 6 continued to take the next step in its lawsuit against Binance, in which it asked a Washington, D.C. federal judge to freeze the assets of BAM Management US Holdings and BAM Trading Services – companies that hold and operate Binance.US.
In the motion, SEC considers this legal procedure is necessary to preserve the status quo, ensure the safety and availability of those assets held and prevent dissipation or transfer of those assets from the jurisdiction of this court. If this request is approved by the court, Binance will have 5 days to move the crypto assets involved in the restraining order to BAM. Within the next 30 days, all funds have to be transferred to a new wallet that only Binance.US can access.
During this time, SEC asks Binance.US to honor withdrawal orders on the platform, preventing defendants (including CZ) from withdrawing customer funds.
In response, Binance.US said users’ assets are still safe and secured and the platform continues to be fully operational with deposits and withdrawals functioning as normal. It argues that the SEC’s allegations are unwarranted and looks forward to defending ourselves in court.
Earlier this week, SEC sued Binance.US, Binance Global, and founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao for mishandling customer funds, misleading investors and regulators, and breaking securities rules. Besides Binance, Coinbase is also facing similar trouble. The SEC also accused Coinbase of violating US securities regulations regarding trading and staking activities. SEC Chair Gary Gensler claims that thousands of tokens being traded on the two exchanges have similar characteristics to securities and need to be registered with his agency.