Over 90 crypto trading pairs were affected by this halt.
Crypto exchange Binance.US halted trading for a considerable number of cryptocurrency pairs on its platform on June 7th.
The trading suspension follows a recent lawsuit filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission against Binance and its management team.
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An official Binance.US announcement states:
After careful consideration, Binance.US will remove selected Advanced Trading pairs on June 8, 2023, at 9 a.m. PDT / 12 p.m. EDT. We have also decided to streamline our Buy, Sell & Convert offering and have paused our OTC Trading Portal.
Impacted by the sudden trading halt are more than 90 trading pairs linked to the stablecoin Tether (USDT), Bitcoin (BTC), and Binance USD (BUSD). However, Binance.US maintains that withdrawals and deposits continue to be operational.
Following the suspension, a Tether spokesperson suggested that the crypto exchange's decision might serve as a precautionary measure for non-USDT tokens listed on Binance.US, which the SEC could potentially classify as securities.
Further, Binance.US has downscaled the array of supported convert trading pairs. Buying, selling, and converting restrictions are applied to a select list of cryptocurrencies, including Aptos (APT), Avalanche (AVAX), ApeCoin (APE), BNB, BTC, Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), Cosmos (ATOM), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ether (ETH), Fantom (FTM), Fetch.ai (FET), Gala (GALA), Litecoin (LTC), Polkadot (DOT), Polygon (MATIC), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Solana (SOL), USDT and USD Coin (USDC).
The exchange affirmed that conversions for USD will continue, despite a revised maximum trade amount for buying, selling, and converting options set at $10,000. Furthermore, Binance.US has closed down its over-the-counter (OTC) trading platform.
The abrupt trading suspension by Binance.US underscores the growing pressure that crypto exchanges face from regulatory bodies like the SEC. As this legal drama unfolds, the future regulatory landscape for crypto trading platforms remains uncertain and intriguing.