Under the Biden administration, the agency accused Binance of inflating the platform’s trading volume, among other things.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 29 voluntarily dismissed its civil lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange Binance, following a nearly two-year legal battle.
A joint stipulation of dismissal was signed by lawyers for the regulator and Binance, as well as Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, and filed in the District Court for the District of Columbia.
The SEC said dismissing the litigation—first brought in June 2023—was appropriate “in the exercise of its discretion and as a policy matter,” and that the dismissal “does not necessarily reflect the Commission’s position in any other litigation or proceeding.”
According to the filing, the parties are asking for the case to be dismissed with prejudice, meaning the SEC cannot pursue the lawsuit again.
The filing also includes provisions preventing Binance from filing a lawsuit against the SEC and its present and former officers or employees related to the litigation in the future.
A Binance spokesperson described the dismissal as “a landmark moment.”
“We’re deeply grateful to (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins and the Trump administration for recognizing that innovation can’t thrive under regulation by enforcement,” the spokesperson said.
The Epoch Times reached out to an SEC spokesperson for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
The SEC sued Binance and Zhao in June 2023, accusing the largest crypto asset trading platform in the world of illegally allowing “high-value U.S. customers” to trade while publicly claiming that U.S. customers were restricted from transacting on Binance.com.
The agency also accused Binance and Zhao of inflating the platform’s trading volume, commingling and diverting customer assets, and misleading investors about its surveillance controls.
Binance was also accused of unlawfully facilitating the trading of several cryptocurrency tokens that SEC leadership during the Biden administration viewed as unregistered securities. The previous administration issued similar charges against cryptocurrency platforms Coinbase—the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange—and Kraken.
Under the Trump administration, the SEC put the litigation on hold in February and again in April.
