The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has sued Binance, alleging that the exchange violated rules designed to prevent illegal financial activities. After that, the rate of withdrawal of funds by users increased. Analysts estimate that Binance’s net outflow of funds to Ethereum was $2.1 billion in seven days as of Monday night. In total, Binance holds $63.2 billion in exchange wallets.
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CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam called it a scam that Binance intentionally circumvented the CFTC’s registration requirements by instructing customers how to connect to the exchange without revealing their U.S. location. The CFTC spokesman explained that Behnam explained the situation to the public in this way, although the agency has not officially accused Binance or its leaders of fraud.
Binance, in turn, claims that it has made every effort to operate legally in the US, including establishing a Binance.US subsidiary that offers a reduced selection of crypto products for US users, subject to US law. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao names CFTC complaint “unexpected and disappointing” Adding this binance “Works with the CFTC for more than two years”.
The exchange’s spot market share fell from 57% in early March to 30% on March 24, while Binance retained a 66% share of the crypto derivatives market. Binance has experienced a large outflow of funds in the past due to regulatory measures. This was particularly noticeable in February 2023, after New York regulators banned the re-issuance of the BUSD stablecoin under the Binance brand, causing the BUSD cryptocurrency to lose half of its market value.
In addition, Binance announced last week that it would again charge fees for spot trading with Bitcoin, although these have been reduced to zero since summer 2022. At the same time, the exchange temporarily suspended cash trading for several hours to correct a programming error. According to analysts, Binance’s decision to return fees also likely contributed to the decline in cash market share. An additional concern for the exchange was a federal court ban on buying assets from bankrupt crypto broker Voyager Digital.
At the moment, some investors have refused to cooperate with Binance, fearing a repeat of the situation with the bankruptcy of crypto exchange FTX and other lending organizations. Binance’s Chief Strategy Officer announced last month that Binance expects to pay fines to resolve ongoing U.S. law enforcement investigations into its business.
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