BSCN

Binance.US Sued Over Terra Misinformation

by BSCN

June 14, 2022

chain

According to the lawsuit, Binance.US misled its customers about Terra's UST and its native token LUNA.

Allegations of Misleading its Customers

A class-action lawsuit was instituted against Binance.US and its CEO Brian Shroder on June 13. 

According to the plaintiff, Jeffrey Lockhart, who sued for himself and on behalf of all other claimants, Binance.US misled its customers about the viability and “safety” of Terra’s UST, and its native token LUNA. The complainant alleged that Binance.US  advertised and sold UST to investors as a “safe asset that could be used to earn substantial returns, including in the form of interest.”

The Plaintiff further asserted that the US counterpart of Binance was an “early supporter and Investor in TerraForm Labs” and, as such, was intimately familiar with “UST and LUNA.” In essence, Binance.US failed to inform investors that the tokens were not safe instead, it falsely advertised UST as “safe.”

"Binance U.S. profits from every trade, and therefore has a stark incentive to sell cryptoassets irrespective of their compliance with the securities laws," Lockhart wrote in his lawsuit. 
Source

Failure to Register with SEC

Another allegation levied against Binance.US by the claimant in this lawsuit was that it failed to “register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission either as a securities exchange or as a broker-dealer.” As a result of this alleged failure to comply with federal and state securities laws, the claimant argued that the actions of  Binance.US “enable bad actors like TerraFoam Labs to harm investors.” 

Lockhart goes on to state in the lawsuit document that by listing Terra's LUNA and UST on its exchange, Binance.US acted in bad faith since it knew the UST was not safe but proceeded to list it due to its "incentive to sell crypto-assets regardless of their compliance with the securities laws."

However, according to Mike Dalton of Crypto Briefing, a Binance spokesperson defended the exchange by stating that it was registered by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) - a unit of the U.S. Treasury Department - and complies with all applicable regulations. Furthermore, he stated that these assertions lack merit and that Binance would vigorously defend itself.

How has BNB fared?

Coupled with the bloodbath that plagued the cryptocurrency on June 13, when the news of the lawsuit broke, the BNB token recorded an intraday decline of 8% in its price. Marking a low at the $206 region in the early hours of today, the bulls were spotted pushing for a price uptick at the time of writing. At the time of press, the BNB token exchanged hands at $224.71.

Source: CoinMarketCap

Having embarked on a steady decline since June 8, the Relative Strength Index (RSI)  of the BNB token has since maintained its position below the 50 neutral regions. At press time, it was pegged at 24. This showed the increased distribution of the BNB token at the time of writing.

Source: TradingView

The on-chain analysis highlighted the bearish bias that has trailed the BNB token in the last 24 hours. According to data from LunarCrush, the Bearish Sentiment for BNB saw a 43.9% uptick. In contrast, the Bullish Sentiment saw a 17% decline. In essence, the BNB has struggled to ward off bears over the last 24 hours. 

Source: LunarCrush

What is Binance US:

Binance.us is a cryptocurrency exchange for U.S. users, providing access to cryptocurrencies and digial assets. It was launched in 2019 to create a regulatory-compliant company for U.S. residents, as Binance.com is not available in the United States. Binance.us is designed for both beginner and advanced crypto traders, offering some of the lowest fees available, as well as advanced charting and trading tools. While the low fees are attractive, Binance.us offers fewer coins than most other exchanges, so users seeking more selection may want to look elsewhere.

Where to find Binance US:

Website | Twitter | Telegram |

What is BNB Chain:

BNB Chain (Build 'n Build Chain) is a new blockchain developed and combined from Binance Smart Chain and Binance Chain, with many changes in technology and development vision.  BNB Chain will be a multi-chain platform, developing other side-chains besides BSC, thereby helping increase blockchain performance, meet user needs, and develop protocols on this blockchain.

BNB Chain remains a community-based, open-source, and decentralized ecosystem. Through the concept of MetaFi (“Meta” is metadata and “Fi” is DeFi), the BNB Chain community aims to build the infrastructure that underpins the world's parallel virtual economy.

For more information on BNB Chain, these links:

Website | Twitter | Discord | Telegram | GitHub |

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