Binance.US braces for lengthy and costly litigation with the SEC in job cuts: report

In a letter to employees, Binance said it expects lengthy and costly litigation with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and asked Binance.US management to reduce the size of its workforce across the division .

Around 50 employees are likely to be affected by the job cut decision.

Job cuts at Binance.US

A. Bloomberg reports It is noted that several employees of the US affiliate of Binance have been laid off. While a firm spokesperson confirmed the lay-off, the exact number of employees affected by the decision was not mentioned.

However, a Reuters report outlines that around 50 employees have been affected.

Earlier this month, Binance.US said it was being cut off from banking and payment partners. On June 9th, The Crypto Exchange Serving Only US Customers Suspended USD deposits and asked users to withdraw their USD deposits immediately, given the SEC’s “extremely aggressive and scare tactics”.

Recently, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao dismissed the notion that the company sold BTC and BNB and termed such rumors on social media as FUD. CZ insisted that the firm also had a “bag of FTT”.

in a crosshair with sec

In its June 5 filing, the SEC requested the court to freeze the assets and operations of Binance.US. However, the authorities rejected the SEC’s proposal on June 14 and asked Binance.US and the agency to engage with each other and find a solution.

“Shutting it down completely would have significant consequences not only for the company but for the digital asset markets in general. (Work on it) – the specifics of that are better handled by me,” Court said.

These developments indicate that the sudden crackdown on US regulators following the collapse of FTX in November 2022 has finally caught up with the industry’s top players. The US SEC filed lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase on June 5 and June 6, respectively.

The commission’s charges against the two included operating as an exchange, broker-dealer and clearing house without proper licenses. It accused Binance of mixing two unregistered securities – BNB and BUSD – and customers’ funds. The SEC argued that Binance and Coinbase allow trading in crypto tokens, which are unregistered securities.

The regulator wants exchanges and tokens to follow the same guidelines that apply to securities. This means following the rulebook and making adequate disclosures that help investors reduce risk and make informed decisions.