A new chapter is Binance versus SEC case has been unlocked.
A federal court, under the supervision of Judge Amy Berman Jackson, granted its approval upon a settlement negotiated between the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Binance.US, and Binance.
This development unfreezes Binance.US's assets that were earlier frozen by a tentative restraining order (TRO).
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Amy Berman Jackson, a United States district court judge, signaled her preference for a voluntary agreement between the concerned parties on June 14th, as opposed to dictating the terms through a ruling.
Following her suggestion, an agreement was reached on June 16th and gained approval on June 17th.
In a public statement shared on Twitter, Binance.US voiced its satisfaction over the court's decision, rejecting the SEC's push for a TRO and an assets freeze.
Under the newly sanctioned arrangement, access to customer funds will be limited to Binance.US employees until the litigation concludes. It is noteworthy that US-based clients will be able to withdraw their funds throughout the legal proceedings.
The agreement inked between the American regulatory body and the cryptocurrency exchange further mandates that no Binance international official can access the private keys of wallets, the hardware wallets, or gain root access to Binance.US's tools on Amazon Web Services.
There has never been any evidence presented by the SEC concerning mis-use of customer assets. In fact, the SEC lawyers conceded in Court earlier this week, when asked by the Judge, that they had no evidence suggesting that any such thing had occurred.
John Reed Stark, the former head of the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement, offered his analysis of the agreement on Twitter, labeling a condition concerning the transfer of certain assets back to the US as a “particularly interesting provision."
On June 6th, the SEC issued an emergency motion to impose a temporary restraining order on Binance.US. The watchdog involved Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao in a lawsuit, alleging that he has access to Binance.US customer funds and orchestrated a $12 billion transfer of Binance’s funds via Merit Peak.
However, just before the hearing regarding the restraining order, both Binance.US and Zhao delivered a joint memorandum refuting any mishandling of funds. They asserted that the SEC couldn't pinpoint a single instance where Binance.US customer funds were misappropriated.
The resolution ensures customer security and ushers in a new chapter in the ongoing legal saga.
