ChainCatcher news, FTX sues Binance, former CEO Changpeng Zhao faces a $1.8 billion clawback demand. In the filing, the plaintiffs claim that Binance, its former CEO Changpeng Zhao, and other Binance executives obtained at least $1.76 billion worth of cryptocurrency through fraudulent transfers from FTX.The transaction was a buyback agreement reached between Binance and FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried in July 2021, who is currently serving a 25-year sentence. In that transfer, Bankman-Fried sold approximately 20% of FTX's international business and 18.4% of its U.S. entity West Realm Shires Services (operating under the name FTX US).

ChainCatcher news reports that lawyers for Binance and former CEO Changpeng Zhao are once again attempting to dismiss the lawsuit filed against them by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. They have filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint submitted by the SEC last month.It states that the amended complaint merely "verbally" acknowledges the previous court ruling, which determined that the crypto assets themselves are not securities, but refuses to accept the logical conclusion of that ruling, which is that reselling these assets on the secondary market long after the developers initially distributed the crypto assets does not constitute "securities" transactions. Instead, the SEC's revised complaint continues to assert that nearly all transactions involving crypto assets (including blind secondary market resales of tokens) are securities transactions, because some buyers may hope that the asset's value will appreciate.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Binance CEO Richard Teng stated that Zhao Changpeng is permanently banned from managing or operating the exchange, rather than just for three years as previously reported by many news outlets.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the financial regulatory agency of Oregon has announced the revocation of Binance.US's money transmission license and has prohibited it from accepting fund transfers or holding fiat and cryptocurrency assets for customers in the state.It is reported that this is the sixth U.S. state to take regulatory action against Binance.US since former CEO Zhao Changpeng pleaded guilty last November. Previously, states such as Florida, Alaska, North Carolina, Maine, and Connecticut had suspended or refused to renew Binance.US's operating license. Meanwhile, Binance.US has never obtained licenses in New York, Texas, Vermont, and Hawaii.

ChainCatcher news, Binance's new CEO Richard Teng stated in an interview with Italian media that since he took over the leadership role in November 2023, Binance has welcomed a return of positive net capital inflow. Regarding the role that Zhao Changpeng will play in the future, Richard Teng mentioned that he will not be involved in the organization's daily management or structure and intends to take a break.It is reported that in terms of technological innovation, Richard Teng is focused on researching the combination of blockchain and AI. He holds an optimistic view on the future of Bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency industry, emphasizing that the industry will continue to evolve, including increased credibility, growing user trust, new institutions joining, and the launch of new products. At the same time, he supports Bitcoin ETFs and believes that more products will attract more users, making the industry more popular.

ChainCatcher news, Binance.US stated that Zhao Changpeng has resigned as chairman of the board and has transferred his voting rights through a proxy arrangement.

ChainCatcher news, a California resident is suing Binance and its CEO, accusing them of causing the collapse of the rival exchange due to a tweet posted last November. The Northern District Court of California has accepted a class action lawsuit against Binance.US and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, alleging that they attempted to monopolize the cryptocurrency market by harming the interests of the competitor FTX, thereby violating federal and California laws regarding unfair competition.The lawsuit claims that Changpeng Zhao's proposal to acquire FTX was not made in good faith, and this incident "ultimately led" to the collapse of FTX, with the FTT price dropping from $23.1510 to $3.1468. This significant drop caused the FTX entity to go bankrupt, while the executives and board of the FTX entity had no opportunity to salvage the situation and take measures to protect their customers and end users.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Wall Street Journal, informed sources revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice has been conducting an investigation for nearly a year, which could lead to criminal charges against Binance and Changpeng Zhao, as well as billions of dollars in fines. Binance and the Justice Department have been in discussions for several months, and internally, Binance has been debating whether Zhao should step down.Earlier this month, during a virtual meeting just days before the departure of Binance.US executives, then-CEO of Binance.US, Brian Shroder, stated that Zhao needed to address "his regulatory issues, place his shares in Binance.US into a blind trust, or sell his stock" in order for the U.S. platform to maintain its growth momentum.In response to the regulatory challenges, Binance co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer He Yi vowed last month in a letter to employees to overcome these troubles. He Yi stated, "Every battle is a matter of life and death; the only thing that can defeat us is ourselves. We have won countless times, and this time we need to win as well."Additionally, according to informed sources, Zhao has been quietly hiring new lawyers to handle the U.S. Department of Justice case, while he has remained at his home in the UAE, which does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.

ChainCatcher news reports that, according to sources, the relationship between Zhao Changpeng and Binance.US, along with the current regulatory environment, will pose obstacles to the company's development.Currently, the company has proposed three solutions. Solution one: continue to implement growth initiatives as planned. However, this requires Zhao Changpeng to resolve his regulatory issues with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by either selling all his shares in Binance.US or placing them in a blind trust; Solution two: moderately reduce the company's burn rate while investing in the platform. This would allow for investments in certain platform upgrades, such as sub-account features and AWS/infrastructure optimization. However, this solution requires investors to be willing to invest in the company during the current bear market; Solution three: go dormant until there is a substantial improvement in the company's situation. This would significantly reduce the burn rate while maintaining normal business operations and licenses. If Zhao Changpeng can improve the regulatory situation or if Congress passes some form of regulation, Binance.US may continue its growth plans after the dormancy period.Previous report indicates that Binance.US has laid off one-third of its staff, and CEO Brian Shroder has departed, temporarily replaced by Chief Legal Officer Norman Reed.

ChainCatcher news, Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng responded on social media to the claim that "there was an attempt to shut down Binance.US, but the final vote did not pass," stating that this is FUD and noting that if it were a board vote, one opposing vote out of three cannot block any decision. A 2/3 majority is needed to win; if it were a shareholder vote, Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder is neither a venture capitalist nor any other type of investor.

According to ChainCatcher, citing sources familiar with the matter, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao attempted to shut down Binance's U.S. branch, Binance.US, earlier this year to protect the overall interests of Binance.One of the sources stated that the Binance.US board, chaired by Zhao, voted on whether to liquidate the company but failed to obtain the necessary unanimous support. The source mentioned that Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder was the only one who opposed this decision, as he was concerned that a sudden shutdown could force customers of the U.S. exchange to quickly transfer or liquidate their cryptocurrencies, thereby harming their interests.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, cryptocurrency exchange operator Binance and its co-founder Changpeng Zhao have requested a U.S. federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.Lawyers for Binance and Zhao submitted a motion to dismiss on Thursday in a Chicago court, stating in the document: "In this case, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is attempting to regulate foreign individuals and companies that reside and operate outside the United States. This exceeds the limits of its statutory authority and tramples on the deeply rooted principles of comity between foreign sovereign nations."Previous report, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued the company and Zhao in March this year, accusing them of deliberately taking steps to evade U.S. laws, including intentionally allowing U.S. residents to use the platform to trade cryptocurrency derivatives, despite Binance never being registered.

ChainCatcher news, according to The New York Times, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has brought 13 charges against Binance and Changpeng Zhao, including improper handling of customer funds and misleading regulators and investors about its operations. The SEC stated that Binance has been mixing "billions of dollars" of customer funds and secretly transferring them to an independent company controlled by Changpeng Zhao. Additionally, Binance misled investors about whether its systems were sufficient to detect and control manipulative trading practices. The SEC also indicated that Binance did not take adequate measures to restrict U.S. investors from using unregulated exchanges.Gurbir S. Grewal, the head of the SEC's enforcement division, stated that Changpeng Zhao and Binance understood the relevant rules but deliberately chose to evade them, putting their customers and investors at risk. (source link)

ChainCatcher message, Bloomberg reports that the SEC has sued Binance and Zhao Changpeng for violating U.S. securities rules. (Source link)