A federal judge yesterday urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to strike a compromise with Binance that would allow the global cryptocurrency exchange to continue operating in the U.S. as it fights a civil fraud lawsuit filed by the regulator, the New York Times reported. Last week, the SEC charged Binance and its U.S. affiliate with mishandling customers’ deposits and lying to regulators. It also sought to freeze the company’s U.S. assets, a move that Binance claimed would force it to shut down in the U.S. At a hearing yesterday in Washington, D.C., Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asked the two sides to confer on a possible agreement over the asset freeze, arguing that they were closer to a deal than the rhetoric in their court filings suggested. Judge Jackson ordered them to continue negotiating and to submit a status update by Thursday. She also expressed skepticism about the SEC’s use of its enforcement powers to regulate the crypto world, calling it “inefficient and cumbersome.” The moves against Binance are part of an increasingly aggressive regulatory crackdown on the crypto industry. A day after filing the Binance lawsuit, the S.E.C. also sued Coinbase, the largest U.S. exchange, for dealing in unlicensed securities.
