Binance has attracted scrutiny from financial watchdogs around the globe over allegations that it skirted regulation for years by shifting its operations to different jurisdictions and claiming to have no headquarters, although it has been domiciled in several countries. In any case, users can always approach our customer support team if they require assistance.' The path to compensationīut the path to potential compensation won't be easy. In response to allegations that users like Martin have had their accounts frozen, Kim said: 'Unless there are outstanding account security or compliance matters, users can always move or withdraw their funds. He said the 'exponential growth of cryptocurrency can occasionally pose technical bottlenecks for exchange platforms due to real-time market fluctuations associated with periods of high trading volume.' 'Binance is basically operating like a financial institution but is not encumbered by any of the regulations such an institution would typically have to comply with.'īinance spokesman Riley Kim declined to comment on the pending arbitration.

'It's going to be a historic case, and it's definitely going to attract a lot of regulators' attention,' said Aija Lejniece, an international arbitration lawyer based in Paris who is advising the complainants. Martin is one of about 700 crypto traders from dozens of countries who have come together online to explore how they can take action against Binance after they either lost access to their accounts without clear explanation or recourse or they lost money when the exchange crashed on May 19, leaving them unable to move their funds despite their frantic efforts as the prices of cryptocurrencies tumbled.Īfter months of organizing and consulting with legal experts, the group has settled on the unusual strategy, announced Thursday, to pursue international arbitration, a form of cross-border dispute resolution typically used by multinational companies, to hold a largely unregulated, borderless company with no headquarters to account. 'Where are they putting everybody's money?' Sable Martin at her home in Douglasville, Ga.

The complaint also charges Samuel Lim, Binance’s former chief compliance officer, with aiding and abetting Binance’s violations.'You can't get in contact with anybody,' she said. In March, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed an enforcement action against Binance and Zhao in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois charging them with numerous CTFC violations. This follows other actions US agencies have taken against the firm and its leadership. “The public should beware of investing any of their hard-earned assets with or on these unlawful platforms,” Gensler said. SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a written statement that Zhao and Binance “engaged in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law'. The lawsuit lays out the extent to which the firms owners knew of the alleged legal violations: 'Binance’s CCO bluntly admitted to another Binance compliance officer in December 2018, “we are operating as a unlicensed securities exchange in the USA bro.”

Binance news usa