The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has moved to end its legal battle against the cryptocurrency exchange "Binance Holdings", in the latest sign of a significant shift in how the agency is handling the regulation of the cryptocurrency market.

The agency, along with Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, filed a joint request on Thursday to freeze the case in the federal court for the District of Columbia. This move follows a previous joint request in February to freeze the lawsuit for 60 days.

At that time, the agency and Zhao stated that the formation of the then-acting chair, Mark Uyeda, of a special team to draft a regulatory policy for cryptocurrencies justified the suspension of the case, noting that the team's work could impact the outcome of the lawsuit.

The latest request calls for the case to be dismissed, meaning it cannot be refiled, and without imposing any fees or costs on either party.

"A huge victory for the sector"