The world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange platform, Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) were sued on Monday by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The U.S. regulator alleged that Zhao and his company violated trading and derivatives rules.
According to a lawsuit filed by the CFTC in a Chicago federal court, Binance operates a facility for trading digital assets without necessary registration, thereby offering unregistered crypto derivatives products to consumers in the U.S. against federal law.
The suit also alleged that the company, under CZ’s leadership, directed its customers to spoof their locations through the use of virtual private networks (VPN), Investors King learnt.
“VPN use by customers to access and trade on the Binance platform has been an open secret, and Binance has consistently been aware of and encouraged the use of VPNs by U.S. customers,” the suit read.
“The company directed important customers such as trading firms to set up shell companies in places such as Jersey, the British Virgin Islands and the Netherlands to avoid restrictions”, the filing added.
In a press release on Monday, CFTC Chief Counsel Gretchen Lowe called Binance’s actions “willful evasion of U.S. law,” pointing to internal chats and emails.
Lowe is making reference to internal chats between Binance employees, where the company’s Chief Compliance Officer directed an employee to ask U.S. customers to hide their location.
As a penalty, the CFTC seeks to compel Binance to repay allegedly ill-gotten gains that stem from the misconduct it is accused of. It also wants Binance to pay civil penalties and accept bans on trading as well as its ability to register within the U.S.
Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin fell around $1,000 to trade below the $27,000 mark after the lawsuit was first filed. Similarly, Binance’s exchange token BNB fell about 3% while crypto-related stocks also fell after the suit was published.