- The US SEC, Binance, and Binance.US have forged an agreement approved by US District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson.
- The deal stipulates that only Binance.US employees can access customer funds, with Binance Global officials barred from accessing wallet private keys and internal controls.
The US District Court for the District of Columbia, under the presiding judge Amy Berman Jackson, has given its stamp of approval to the “Proposed Stipulation and Consent Order” put forth by Binance, Binance.US (BAM Trading), and the plaintiff, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This development was initially reported by CoinGape Media on June 17.
We want to provide an update on the current battle https://t.co/AZwoBOh0gq finds itself in with the SEC. We are pleased to inform you that the Court did not grant the SEC’s request for a TRO and freeze of assets on our platform which was clearly unjustified by both the facts and…
— Binance.US 🇺🇸 (@BinanceUS) June 17, 2023
Under the agreed terms, only Binance.US personnel are permitted to access customer funds within the US-based crypto exchange. Binance Global officials are to be denied access to the private keys of all wallets, including both hot and cold storage, hardware and software, as well as Binance.US’s internal systems and control mechanisms. This change must take effect within a two-week period.
The signed consent order stipulates that Binance must “repatriate” all fiat currency and crypto assets associated with Binance.US by the date of the court’s order. The assets in question encompass all forms of value that customers, both affiliated and non-affiliated liquidity providers, have deposited, held, traded, or accrued on the Binance.US trading platform.
Binance.US has been ordered not to grant possession, custody, or control over customer assets to any individual or entity, including Binance and its CEO, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. This will necessitate the creation of new crypto wallets with fresh private and administrative keys, effectively separating the business affairs of Binance and Binance.US.
Furthermore, Binance.US may transfer the crypto custody of its staking-as-a-service program to custodians BitGO or Aegis, subject to several conditions.
As part of the agreement, Binance.US is required to share a comprehensive financial statement with the US SEC in the coming weeks. This statement will cover business expenses and projected costs from December 1, 2022, until the date of the report.
Finally, the federal judge directed all parties involved to submit a joint status report on June 23, proposing a timeline for subsequent proceedings. If consensus cannot be reached, each party is expected to put forth individual proposals.
