A judge in Washington D.C. has paused the legal battle between Binance and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for 60 days. Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered this stay and requested both parties to submit a joint status report by April 14.
The pause was requested by Binance and the SEC in a court filing. They cited the SEC’s new crypto task force, which aims to create clear rules for cryptocurrencies. The task force is led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, appointed by the new SEC Acting Chair Mark Uyeda. Peirce has outlined priorities for the task force, including the classification of some tokens as “non-securities.”
The SEC’s approach to cryptocurrency regulation has changed under the current administration compared to the previous one. Former Chair Gary Gensler was cautious about crypto and pushed for registration from crypto firms. During his tenure, the SEC filed multiple lawsuits against firms like Binance for registration violations.
In 2023, the SEC sued Binance for operating without registration and for misrepresenting its trading controls. That same year, Binance and its former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, admitted to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and agreed to pay over $4 billion to settle a Justice Department investigation.
Additionally, the SEC also sued Coinbase in 2023 for operating unlawfully as a broker, exchange, and clearing agency. Coinbase appealed the lawsuit in April, arguing that there were significant differences of opinion. A judge in New York allowed Coinbase to appeal, and the SEC is expected to respond to this appeal soon.
