US Regulators Investigating Binance's BNB Token

According to Bloomberg, the SEC is looking into whether Binance's initial coin offering of its Binance coin (BNB) token in 2017 was an unregistered security offering that should have been registered with the regulatory agency. CoinDesk reports: Without commenting on the details of the reported probe, a spokesperson for Binance told CoinDesk via email, "As the industry has grown at a rapid pace, we have been working very diligently to educate and assist law enforcement and regulators in the U.S. and internationally, while also adhering to new guidelines. We will continue to meet all requirements set by regulators." BNB was trading down 4% after news of the report came out.

The SEC is also investigating market-making companies owned or partially owned by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao that do business with Binance.US, a U.S.-based affiliate of the global exchange, [...]. According to the report, one of the SEC's focuses is on whether Binance.US is wholly independent of the global exchange and whether employees may be involved in insider trading.

release the hounds

[Anonymouse Cowtard]

Go after the scamming cunts and shut them down. Throw their executives, managers and marketers in prison and throw away the key. Send a message to the other scamming cunts that their time is up.

Re:

[Lisandro]

"It looks like money" isn't the statutory authority.

Nope. It certainly does look like an unregistered security though - you know, the SEC's purview.

securities rules are not new.

[bloodhawk]

The rules for securities and how they are issued are not new, perhaps it is Binance that need the education not the regulatory authorities.

Re:

[bill_mcgonigle]

Securities are defined. Did BNB offer ownership stake and voting rights?

Or was it issued as a commodity with no right to anything but what a market might offer?

The SEC would love to pretend that commodities don't exist and everything is a security because that's what they ostensibly regulate. They are an ancient relic from a pre-blockchain era. Fortunately the 5th Circuit recently shut down many of their wildly unconstitutional schemes.

Binance pulled out

[DrMrLordX]

Binance left the US market with their primary exchange for a reason. Binance.us is a shell of the international site. Technically they might still be guilty of having issued an unregistered security in 2017 (when they were still in the US market), but it remains to be seen what can be done about them when that business unit has legally removed itself from the United States already.

Re:

[muh_freeze_peach]

So if I commit a crime, and move afterward, all is good?

Re:

[DrMrLordX]

If you're a citizen in Taiwan already and all you do is remove your business unit from the US, then probably, yes. They can sanction you and issue some fines that you'll probably never have to pay.

Crypto sellouts

[gtall]

The Wash Post has a story for cryptocurrency, I don't know how this impacts Binance's floozy: I'll paraphrase

    They want the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), not the SEC, to provide oversight to crypto. CFTC is very small agency and probably toothless and without expertise.

The sponsors are Sens. Cynthia M. Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), it is only a bill, not yet passed. So there you have it, bipartisan sell outs to knacker effective oversight of crypto. I don't believe the sponsors' assertions that it will effectively regulate crypto. The crypto industry is proclaiming the bill is wonderful, that alone should make anyone leery of it.

It's not an industry

[rsilvergun]

Industries produce something. These are ponzi schemes. There is literally no value to any of these yet they're being sold and marketed as investments. The only way for them to appreciate in value is for new buyers to come in and pay more than the old buyers. I don't see how that could be anything but a ponzi scheme. You can't even argue that they're collectables or art like you do with NFTs (never mind that NFTs aren't that either, they're a receipt for a purchase)

Happy to see the regulator hammer comin

Re:

[real_nickname]

The only way for them to appreciate in value is for new buyers to come in and pay more than the old buyers.

Definition of speculation not ponzi. A ponzi would be: A and B give me 100$ and I pay interest to A by using money from B. B still think he has 100$+interest. People buying bitcoin know they can lose and are fighting against other buyers or sellers. Your definition totally apply to stock market and stock market is not a ponzi. A lot of stock market activity is not "investing": shorting, HFT is a fight against other traders. It's ok to be against crypto but use the right arguments please.