Bitcoin fell to a 10-day low on Monday, after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued the operator of the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance, its CEO Changpeng Zhao and some affiliates for alleged violations of the federal laws governing commodity markets.
Major cryptocurrency BTCUSD lost 3.4% Monday to as low as $26,544 on Monday, according to CoinDesk data. Bitcoin is up nearly 70% so far this year, while still down 60% from a 2021 all-time high.
CFTC…
Bitcoin fell to a 10-day low on Monday, after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued the operator of the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance, its CEO Changpeng Zhao and some affiliates for alleged violations of the federal laws governing commodity markets.
The largest cryptocurrency
BTCUSD
lost 3.4% Monday to as low as $26,544 Monday, according to CoinDesk data. Bitcoin is up nearly 70% so far this year, while still down 60% from a 2021 all-time high.
The CFTC alleged that Binance failed to register with the agency, despite its “solicitation of and reliance on customers in the United States to generate revenue and provide liquidity to its various markets,” according to a filing in federal court in Illinois on Monday.
“Binance and its officers, employees and agents have instructed US customers to use virtual private networks (VPNs) to hide their location,” the CFTC wrote in the filing.
Binance.com does not provide access to US customers, the company has said, while Binance.US, which claims to be a separate legal entity, targets US customers.
Representatives at Binance did not respond to a request for comment for this article.
US regulators have redoubled efforts to increase oversight of the crypto industry, after several major companies collapsed last year, resulting in billions in investor losses.
Last week, Coinbase
COIN
,
the largest crypto exchange in the United States, said it received a Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which could lead to formal charges.
In February, the SEC accused Kraken of failing to register its betting program. The exchange ended the program in the United States and paid $30 million in fines to settle the allegations, without admitting or denying the allegations.
Meanwhile, the New York Department of Financial Services ordered stablecoin issuer Paxos to stop minting BUSD, a stablecoin issued by Paxos and branded by the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance. Paxos also received a Wells notice from the SEC, which is considering recommending an action alleging Paxos’ failure to register BUSD as a security.
