US regulator asks court to freeze crypto giant Binance’s assets

Regulators have charged Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao with allegedly operating a “web of deception.”

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked a federal court to issue a temporary restraining order to freeze the U.S. assets of cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

The motion, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday, comes a day after U.S. regulators indicted Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao for allegedly operating a “web of deception,” putting pressure on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange increases even further.

In the motion, the SEC accused Binance of years of infringing conduct, including “disregarding” US laws and “evading regulatory oversight”.

Binance’s holding company is located in the Cayman Islands. Binance.US is its US subsidiary. Binance said the SEC’s motion related only to Binance.US.

After the SEC filed the motion, Binance.US said user assets would remain safe and the platform would continue normal deposit and withdrawal operations. It added that it would defend itself in court and called the SEC’s move “unwarranted”.

The SEC alleged on Monday that Binance artificially inflated its trading volumes, diverted client funds, failed to ban US clients from its platform and misled investors about its market surveillance controls. Binance is also facing legal action in the US from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Justice Department.