On March 31, Binance.US, a US-based subsidiary, announced that it had temporarily suspended trading for stablecoin pairs involving Binance USD (BUSD) through One Common Billing System (OCBS).
The suspension was due to an ongoing investigation by the Commodity Futures Commission (CFTC) into potential violations committed by the exchange.
The decision to halt services came amidst the current global banking crisis, which has caused uncertainty and affected Binance.US’s operations.
The suspended services include BUSD crypto deposits and withdrawals and buying, selling, and converting crypto options.
The exchange has confirmed on its status dashboard that it is investigating the situation, and the services will remain suspended until further notice. Additionally, the exchange recently halted specific U.S. dollar deposit services and temporarily suspended Apple Pay and Google Pay deposits for reasons related to the company.
The statement read:
OCBS and stable coin pairs for BUSD are suspended temporarily. We are working to restore all services as soon as possible. Transitioning to new banking and payment service providers over the next several weeks.
The exchange had halted debit card deposits for up to 5% of its customers but is working to restore all services as soon as possible.
Binance Allegedly Didn’t Meet Compliance Obligations
The CFTC filed a lawsuit against Binance and its CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, on March 27, alleging trading violations. The lawsuit claims the exchange did not meet compliance obligations, including failure to register with the regulator. The allegations suggest that the exchange aided its customers in circumventing compliance controls.
The CFTC accused the company and its CEO of,
Instructed its employees and customers to circumvent compliance controls in order to maximize corporate profits.
In response to the allegations made by the CFTC, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao addressed the matter in a blog post. CZ denied the accusations and pointed out that the complaint filed by the CFTC had an “incomplete recitation of facts.”
He also mentioned that the exchange disagreed with how many issues were raised in the complaint. From his statement, it appears Binance intends to dispute the claims made against the company and its CEO and has challenged the CFTC’s allegations in court.
According to reports, Catherine Coley, the first CEO of Binance.US, has hired a former federal prosecutor and a former top official of the CFTC to represent her in the ongoing investigations by the U.S. government into Binance.US.
Coley left Binance.US in June of 2021. Ever since that, she has been silent about her current activities in the media, leading many to speculate about her whereabouts and involvement in the investigation. It remains unclear what roles Coley’s lawyers will play in the investigation or their legal strategy.
Binance.US was launched in September 2019 in California as a separate entity from Binance, which is unavailable to US users due to local regulations.
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