The SEC alleges that, while Zhao and Binance publicly claimed that Binance.US was created as a separate, independent trading platform for US investors, “Zhao and Binance secretly controlled the Binance.US platform’s operations behind the scenes”. The SEC said Binance and BAM operated the Binance.US platform, which had been created for US customers after the main Binance platform said in 2019 it was quitting the US market. The 13 civil charges have been placed against Zhao, Binance Holdings and two further Binance-linked entities, BAM Trading Services and BAM Management US Holdings. In its complaint filed on Monday at a federal district court in Washington, the SEC added: “Defendants have enriched themselves by billions of US dollars while placing investors’ assets at significant risk.” The complaint alleges that between June 2018 and July 2021, Binance earned at least $11.6bn (£9.3bn) in revenue, mostly from transaction fees.Īmong other charges, the SEC alleges that, while Zhao and Binance publicly claimed that US customers were restricted from transacting on, “Zhao and Binance in reality subverted their own controls to secretly allow high-value US customers to continue trading on the platform”. "If that happens, that could be bad news for the SOL token and possibly the industry at large.“We allege that Zhao and the Binance entities not only knew the rules of the road, but they also consciously chose to evade them and put their customers and investors at risk,” said Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s enforcement division. "Solana’s SOL token is currently taking one of the biggest hits because FTX is a big supporter of the layer one blockchain and holds significant amount of SOL on its balance sheet that it may have to sell to shore itself up in the current bank run," Marius Ciubotariu, a core contributor to solana-based Hubble Protocol and Kamino Finance, said via email. Solana, an ethereum rival that rocketed higher last year, has seen an outsized crash this week due to FTX's large solana holdings that some think the exchange may be forced to sell-off. This continues to unnerve traders in a space so driven by sentiment." "FTX and Alameda both scrambled to calm fears of another Three Arrows event after Binance chief CZ announced he would liquidate his FTT position. "Fears of contagion from the public spat between Binance and FTX have gripped the cryptocurrency market, resulting in an aggressive sell-off in FTX’s token, FTT, as well as solana SOL, which is one of the largest holdings of FTX's principal trading firm Alameda Research," crypto market analysts at the exchange Bitfinex wrote in an emailed comment. The drama between FTX and Binance have worried the bitcoin and crypto community who fear the clash will spillover to the wider market, as the collapse of hedge fund Three Arrows Capital did earlier this year in the aftermath other terra luna meltdown. could spread to the price of bitcoin, ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies. The price of FTX's FTT has dropped by almost 50% over the last week, sparking fears the situation. Sign up now for CryptoCodex -A free, daily newsletter for the crypto-curious MORE FROM FORBES 'I Overestimated'-Coinbase CEO Admits He Made A Big Mistake After $2 Trillion Bitcoin, Ethereum And Crypto Price Crash By Billy Bambrough Yesterday, Bankman-Fried posted to Twitter that "FTX is fine. FTX’s token FTT is down 30% at $15 at time of writing, but an announcement from FTX could result in a short squeeze"-where bets against an asset fail and result in a sudden price surge. "However, the silence from FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is deafening, and causing further fear. "Whether this is just short-term liquidity issues due to the speed of withdrawals, or a more fundamental issue, is yet to be seen," Sotiriou added. Last week, Coindesk reported Alameda Research's balance sheet is loaded with FTX's FTT, making it highly illiquid. Over the weekend, Binance chief executive Changpeng "CZ" Zhao sent shockwaves through the bitcoin and crypto community when he announced Binance was liquidating its holdings of FTX's cryptocurrency FTT, a rival to Binance's own much larger BNB, citing "recent revelations" about FTX and Bankman-Fried's trading company Alameda Research. FTX did not immediately return a request for comment. The Block has reported FTX stopped processing withdrawal requests at around 6am ET, citing ethereum blockchain data. "Mass panic around FTX’s solvency has caused investors to withdraw their assets from the platform hastily, which FTX have clearly struggled to deal with," Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at digital asset broker GlobalBlock, wrote in an emailed note.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |