Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, has recently seen a decline in its operations in the United States. The exchange has faced numerous challenges, and these issues have impacted its services in America. Currently battling with the SEC, the exchange is now hiring experienced individuals to solve its problems and avoid new complications.
Binance and Its Management
Binance, through its US arm BinanceUS, announced that it has added Martin Grant, who previously served for 17 years as the chief compliance and ethics officer at the New York Federal Reserve Bank, to its board. This move comes after the former CEO Changpeng Zhao stepped down following accusations from the US authorities.
Grant has over 30 years of experience in legal and compliance-focused roles within US government agencies, which is precisely what Binance needs. Since government bodies, especially the SEC, do not provide any legal guidance, crypto companies hire public officials to help align with regulatory expectations.
The problem is that the SEC itself does not fully understand its requirements. The SEC fails to clearly define under what conditions crypto companies commit offenses and how to classify altcoins as securities, calling everyone to comply with invisible rules.
The Binance Lawsuit
Last year, the SEC filed lawsuits against BinanceUS, Coinbase, and Kraken, accusing these exchanges of operating as unregistered brokers and trading platforms. One of these companies is currently listed on the stock markets. Coinbase was publicly listed at the time and its primary business was operating a cryptocurrency exchange, yet the SEC allegedly approved the IPO while being inebriated.
Norman Reed, the current CEO of BinanceUS and former general counsel of the exchange, commented on the ongoing Binance lawsuit;
“I feel quite good about where we stand with the SEC. My view is that they have not provided clear guidance on what constitutes a security in the markets. There was the Howey case in 1946, decided under very different factual and legal circumstances, about an orange grove. (And they continue to try to view crypto as an orange grove). It’s true that our trading volumes took a significant hit following the SEC’s lawsuit, but over the last two quarters, partly due to a broader market recovery, we’ve seen very strong rebounds in volume, revenue, and user engagement across the platform.”
