Attorney: The SEC Will Not Go Easy on Binance
Partner and co-chair of Herrick's Securities Litigation and Enforcement Group, Arthur G. Jakoby, was quoted in BitcoinLinux discussing the recent Bittrex settlement and how this may impact the SEC's enforcement actions against Binance and other cryptocurrency exchanges.
Arthur noted, "The Bittrex settlement does not portend similar SEC settlements for crypto exchange platforms such as Coinbase and Binance. Since Bittrex Global had already closed its U.S. operations and put it into bankruptcy, it will not be affected by this settlement. Thus, there was no need to fight the SEC to establish that its now-closed operations were securities compliant. Beyond the claims of operating an unregistered broker, exchange, and clearing agency, Bittrex and [William] Shihara [former CEO of Bittrex] had also been charged with scrubbing its website of any statements that would suggest violations of U.S. securities laws. This settlement was undoubtedly influenced by these additional actions to escape regulatory scrutiny. The settlement, which does not require an admission of any facts by either Bittrex or Shihara, avoids any further SEC investigation of these allegations."