Binance.US, the United States subsidiary of the embattled Binance exchange, described the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuit against its platform as “baseless.”
In a June 5 statement, Binance.US said the lawsuit was the latest example of the financial regulator’s regulation-by-enforcement approach towards the crypto industry.
According to the exchange, the SEC “seeks a near eradication [of the crypto] industry” as it had taken similar actions against rival platforms like Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini.
Binance.US said:
“Today’s filing is unjustified by the facts, by the law, or by the Commission’s own precedent. The relief sought by the Commission would harm the very investors the SEC is charged with protecting. It would also stifle innovation and punish our company and industry rather than working to allow American businesses to thrive.”
The platform said it intends to defend itself against the lawsuit and urged “Congress to step in and pass bipartisan legislation that creates a workable regulatory regime for digital assets and reins in the bureaucratic overreach.”
Disappointment with lawsuit
In its statement, the parent company Binance stated that it was disappointed with the SEC’s decision to file a lawsuit against its firm despite its “extensive good-faith discussions” and “cooperation” with the SEC’s investigations.
According to Binance, the regulator’s failure to productively engage with the platform showed “the Commission’s misguided and conscious refusal to provide much-needed clarity and guidance to the digital asset industry.”
“The Commission has determined to regulate with the blunt weapons of enforcement and litigation rather than the thoughtful, nuanced approach demanded by this dynamic and complex technology. Unilaterally labeling certain tokens and services as securities – even ones over which other U.S. authorities have asserted jurisdiction – only compounds these problems.”
Additionally, Binance said the lawsuit showed that the SEC was not interested in protecting investors. Instead, the regulator was rushing to claim jurisdictional ground from other regulators.
In March, Binance was sued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over allegations of regulatory commodity violations.
Binance added that its size and global name recognition made it an easy target, and it is now “caught in the middle of a U.S. regulatory tug-of-war.”
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