The Securities and Exchange Commission has applied for an emergency relief application to temporarily freeze Binance and affiliated firms' assets following the agency's lawsuit against the crypto exchange.
The SEC sued Binance Holdings, BAM Trading Services and founder Changpeng Zhao collectively yesterday (6 June) for charges including operating unregistered national securities exchanges, the unregistered offer and sale of Binance's own crypto assets, and misleading investors.
Binance sued by SEC over 'variety of securities law violations'
In this next step, the SEC has applied for the temporary freeze of the firm and founder Zhao's assets "to ensure that Binance.US customers' assets are protected and remain in the United States through the resolution of the SEC's pending litigation of this matter".
The emergency motion covered eight areas, including the agency evidencing why a preliminary injunction should not be granted to the companies and individuals listed on the suit.
The SEC has taken major steps to crack down on cryptocurrency platforms this week, as it launched a separate case against Coinbase yesterday.
It alleged the San Francisco-based exchange group had violated US securities laws in a similar way to Binance, accusing it of failing to register as a broker, national securities exchange or clearing agency, although did not accuse it of mishandling money or misleading investors. Coinbase's founder was also not sued, in contrast to Binance.
