Today in crypto, the SEC dropped its lawsuit against Binance, the US Congress has introduced a comprehensive bipartisan crypto market structure bill, and Bybit secured regulatory approval under the EU’s crypto framework.
SEC drops Binance lawsuit
The US Securities and Exchange Commission asked a Washington, DC, federal court on May 29 to allow it to drop its long-running lawsuit against crypto exchange Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao.
The SEC said in a joint motion with Binance and Zhao that it believed dropping the suit was appropriate “in the exercise of its discretion and as a policy matter.” The agency had paused the action in February, saying that the work of its Crypto Task Force could see it put an end to the case.
The SEC sued Binance, Zhao and the exchange’s US-based arm, BAM Trading, in June 2023, alleging they violated securities law, mishandled customer funds and misled customers.
Binance and Zhao settled a separate case with the Justice Department in November 2023, agreeing to pay a $4.3 billion fine and admitting that the company violated sanctions, was an unlicensed money transmitter and failed to implement appropriate Anti-Money Laundering measures.
Zhao spent four months in jail after admitting to violating money laundering laws as part of the deal. He was also forced to step down as CEO.
It’s the SEC’s latest backdown from the crypto industry under the Trump administration, with the regulator abandoning or settling its actions against crypto companies including Coinbase, Consensus and Kraken.