The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dismissed its lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange Binance, ending another major cryptocurrency enforcement action.
The agency had alleged Binance artificially inflated its trading volumes, failed to block U.S. users from its primary exchange, and commingling user funds. It first brought the suit in 2023.
Binance and the SEC jointly filed for the dismissal. In court filings, they said that as “the Commission's Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda launched a crypto task force dedicated to helping the Commission develop a regulatory framework for crypto assets,” Binance was granted a motion for a stay in February, “noting that the work of the crypto task force might impact and facilitate the potential resolution of this Litigation.”
The stay was extended in April, with a status report due from both parties in June. “In light of the foregoing [extended stay], and in the exercise of its discretion and as a policy matter, the Commission believes the dismissal of this Litigation is appropriate,” the SEC wrote.
The suit will be dismissed “with prejudice as to the conduct alleged”, per the SEC, which would prevent the agency from pursuing the case again.
The move comes as the Trump’s administration forges close ties with the cryptocurrency industry. Newly appointed SEC chair Paul Atkins said in ethics disclosures in March that he held up to US$6 million in cryptocurrency equity and cryptocurrency investment funds, and had served on the board of tokenisation company Securitise until February.
The SEC also ended its lawsuit against Coinbase in February. The agency had argued that Coinbase allowed users to trade in unregistered securities.
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