The U.S Securities and Exchange Commission has agreed to dismiss its long-running lawsuit against global crypto exchange Binance and its co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, in the agency’s latest backdown from its previous crypto enforcement actions.
A joint stipulation was filed on Thursday by the SEC, Binance, and Zhao, asking the Federal Court to dismiss the agency’s lawsuit complaint filed in June 2023.
“Whereas, in light of the foregoing, and in the exercise of its discretion and as a policy matter, the Commission believes the dismissal of this Litigation is appropriate,” the filing reads.
The motion indicated that the SEC’s Crypto Task Force “might impact and facilitate the potential resolution of this litigation” and that the Commission felt dismissing the suit was appropriate “in the exercise of its discretion and as a policy matter.”
The motion also requests that the case be dropped with prejudice, meaning the SEC cannot file it again later.
The SEC in June 2023 alleged that Binance, Zhao, and U.S.-based sister company Binance.US offered American investors unregistered securities and commingled user funds through a “web of deceit.”
The SEC’s chairman at the time, Gary Gensler, claimed in the original complaint that Binance “attempted to evade U.S. securities laws by announcing sham controls that they disregarded behind the scenes” while giving U.S. investors access to the trading platform.
Binance and Zhao settled a separate case with the Department of Justice in November 2023, agreeing to pay a staggering $4.3 billion fine and admitting that the company violated sanctions, was an unlicensed money transmitter, and failed to enforce proper Anti-Money Laundering procedures.
As part of the deal, Zhao resigned from his role as Binance CEO and was later sentenced to four months in prison in April 2024.
Binance stated on X that the latest joint motion was a “huge win for crypto” and thanked President Donald Trump and new SEC boss Paul Atkins “for pushing back against regulation by enforcement.”
Since President Trump assumed office, the SEC has adopted a friendlier approach to the crypto industry, scrapping a slew of high-profile lawsuits and investigations against firms including Coinbase, Robinhood, Kraken, and Ripple, among others.
