A judge recently denied the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) request for an emergency temporary restraining order (TRO) against Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, saying that the SEC has not presented evidence that Binance has misused customer funds.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson, a U.S. District judge for the District of Columbia, said during a court hearing that the SEC has not presented evidence to support its claim that Binance customers’ funds are at risk.
“Similarly, you all repeat in the memo that there’s no evidence, absolutely no evidence of any dissipation of assets whatsoever,” the judge said, according to a transcript of the hearing. “And the government at this point has said they haven’t seen the evidence of offshore transfers from BAM Trading itself.”
Binance.US said in a tweet, “There has never been any evidence presented by the SEC concerning misuse of customer assets. In fact, the SEC lawyers conceded in court earlier this week, when asked by the judge, that they had no evidence suggesting that any such thing had occurred […] We look forward to continuing to defend ourselves in court.”
Guy Turner, a founding member of Coin Bureau, which provides news and analysis about cryptocurrency, weighed in on social media. He said that the SEC’s unsubstantiated claims toward Binance come after the SEC missed the fact that the defunct crypto exchange company FTX misused company funds.
“So they completely missed FTX’s misuse of customer funds and lied about Binance doing it? Seems very on-brand,” Coin Bureau tweeted.
According to a report by ABC 7 News, FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has 13 criminal charges against him relating to the misuse of customer funds that led to FTX’s bankruptcy. The report said he is accused of using customer assets to buy real estate and make political donations, as well as cover losses of his hedge fund Alameda Research.
Coinnounce reported that Bankman-Fried previously had a relationship with SEC Chair Gary Gensler. Members of the public have voiced that the relationship is a reason the SEC did not notice warning signs of FTX’s mismanagement and impending collapse.
The Texas Work Group on Block Chain Matters has also been exploring the potential benefits of increased use of blockchain technology in the state, according to the Texas Comptroller Office.
