© Reuters
Investing.com – Binance.US customers will no longer be able to use US dollars to buy cryptocurrencies on the platform from June 13, which will hamper the exchange’s ability to do business in the United States, after that banking and payment partners have signaled their intent to discontinue US dollar payment channels.
Binance announced the change late Thursday night on Twitter (NYSE:), and blamed the SEC for its “wrongful civil claims against our company.” The exchange said it preemptively disabled clients’ ability to buy and deposit US dollars.
Binance’s banking transactions are under intense scrutiny from the SEC, which has filed a civil lawsuit against the exchange and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, claiming they both violated US privacy laws. securities.
Mr. Zhao’s influence over the U.S. and international arms of Binance — an international network of offshore holding companies that the SEC says moved billions of dollars in assets between them — and ownership of those companies prompted the SEC to file an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order. This restraining order would have frozen US dollars from the stock market anyway.
Customers won’t lose their money: Those who haven’t withdrawn their money by the closing date can still, in theory, convert it to stablecoin like tether, then withdraw it and convert it back to dollars elsewhere. But it does suggest that Binance’s banking partners have decided the exchange is too risky a client to keep, and the revelations from the SEC case have become too big to ignore.
The exchange’s US banking partners, including Axos Bank, Cross River Bank and the failed Silvergate, Signature and Silicon Valley banks, processed billions of dollars in transactions for the US exchange, according to documents Binance has. provided to the SEC.