SAN ANSELMO, CA – JUNE 06: On this photo, the Binance logo is displayed on a screen on June 6, 2023 in San Anselmo, California. The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed lawsuits against cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Binance for allegedly violating multiple securities laws. (Photo illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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Binance.USA Customers will now not have the ability to use US dollars to buy cryptocurrencies on the platform starting June 13, limiting the exchange’s ability to operate in the US after each payment partners and banks “signed their intention to suspend USD fiat channels,” the exchange said. .
Binance announced the change late Thursday night on Twitter and blamed the Securities and Exchange Commission for “unsubstantiated civil claims against our company.” The exchange said it had preemptively prevented customers from buying and depositing US dollars.
Binance’s banking transactions are under massive scrutiny by the SEC, which has filed a civil lawsuit against the exchange and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, alleging they violated US securities laws.
Zhao’s influence and ownership over the U.S. and international arms of Binance — a global network of offshore holding corporations that the SEC said has transferred billions of dollars in assets between them — prompted the SEC to file for a brief restraining order. This restraining order would freeze US dollars from the exchange anyway.
Customers won’t lose their money – those that didn’t withdraw their money before the closing date could still theoretically convert it to a stablecoin like tether, then withdraw it and convert it back to dollars elsewhere. Nevertheless, this means that Binance’s banking partners have decided that the exchange is just too dangerous to pursue, and the revelations from the SEC case have grow to be too significant to ignore.
The exchange’s disclosed U.S. partners, which included Axos Bank, Cross River Bank, and bankrupt Silvergate, Signature, and Silicon Valley Banks, have processed billions of dollars in transactions for the U.S. exchange, according to documents provided by Binance to the SEC. Many banking partners had already stopped supporting Binance, and it wasn’t immediately clear which banking partners Binance retained.