CFTC Sues Binance And Changpeng Zhao Over Regulatory Violations

The U.S. CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) has filed a lawsuit against Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao for allegedly violating trading regulations. The lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Illinois.

Binance reportedly failed to meet its regulatory obligations, according to the CFTC, by not being able to properly register with the derivatives regulator. Since 2021, the crypto exchange has been the subject of a CFTC investigation.

In February, the exchange acknowledged that it would most likely face regulatory action in the U.S. and that it had already been working with regulators to alleviate some concerns.

Binance has additionally been investigated by the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) and federal prosecutors, who have questioned whether the exchange has indeed complied with the proper AML and KYC policies. Correspondingly, the U.S. SEC is also looking into whether Binance gave local traders access to unregistered securities.

However, not everyone is supportive of the actions taken by the likes of the CFTC and SEC, as with the recent failures of banks such as SVB (Silicon Valley Bank), many have instead started embracing crypto.

In fact, Cathie Wood believes Bitcoin will skyrocket in value if the trust in the traditional financial system continues to erode. The ARK Invest CEO claims that the decentralized nature of crypto and its scarcity will attract capital seeking a superior store of value to what has previously been available.