Game, set and match for the SEC?
The technique to take down an opponent is still to push their best players to leave the team. The regulator’s strategy has been clear and effective since its attack on Binance.US in June. The platform is a shadow of its former self, as the crypto sailors leave the ship one after the other.
Binance.US: The Last Gasp of the Defeated?
In June, the SEC (Stock Exchange Commission) takes a vigorous swipe at the Binance.US exchange, the US branch of the world’s first crypto exchange. The latter is accused of having provided without authorization services considered to be the sale of financial securities to American clients.
Gurbir Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, stated the following:
“We believe that Zhao [Binance CEO] not only knew the rules, but decided to willfully ignore them and therefore put customers and investors at risk, in an effort to maximize his own profits.”
However, these accusations are, at the moment, unproven. Furthermore, without regulations there is currently no United States to clarify the status of cryptocurrencies. Still, standing in the SEC’s way remains an uphill battle, one that Binance.US clearly appears to be losing.
Despite the defense of Binance.US, which denounces a “free” SEC, the numerous exits in recent months have led to fears of the worst for its future. In July, Patricio Hillman, Binance’s strategic director, announced his departure. He was followed by Han Hg, the company’s general counsel, and Steven Christie, Chief Compliance Officer.
In early September, Mayur Kamat, Director of Product and Design, left the company. This September 13, the CEO himself, Brian Shroder, officially announced his departure. Therefore, the departure of a platform deprived of its trading volumes is evident, like the flat encephalogram of a stock market that is preparing to die, defeated by the abusive regulation of an adversary who is also an arbitrator.
New Executives Leave Binance.US
Today two new faces leave the company. First Krishna Juvvadi, legal manager of Binance.US. He joined the company in May 2022, after working for the giant Uber as head of Compliance operations. Next, Sidney Majalya, Head of Risk Management, also leaves the company. He joined Binance.US in December 2021, after leaving Intel to enter the tumultuous world of cryptocurrencies.
A Binance.US spokesperson for The Block has stated the following:
“The SEC’s aggressive attempts to cripple our industry and the effect on our business have real consequences for the American labor market and innovation. And this is an unfortunate example.”
The SEC is clearly pursuing an aggressive policy, viewing the burgeoning crypto sector as a formidable adversary for its precious dollar. The emergence of finances over which they would not have full control.
However, the good thing about a wave of innovation, especially when it is global, is that it is unstoppable, as humanity will always choose the simplest, most efficient and profitable solution, that is, the one that in the end requires less effort to obtain the same result. By disrupting finance, cryptocurrencies can claim this place, and the more the United States fights the movement, the more it will fall behind the competition, like Europe in its time with the Internet.
By Leonardo Pérez
