Massive Reduction of Supported Trading Pairs
Binance’s United States arm, Binance.US, announced the suspension of trading for several cryptocurrencies on June 7, affecting over a hundred of trading pairs. This action follows a lawsuit filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Binance entities and their leadership earlier this week.
“Binance.US will remove selected Advanced Trading pairs on June 8, 2023, at 9 a.m. PDT / 12 p.m. EDT. Additionally, our Buy, Sell & Convert offering is being streamlined and our OTC Trading Portal is temporarily paused,” the exchange stated in an official announcement.
Major Cryptocurrencies Affected
Over 90 trading pairs of the popular stablecoin Tether (USDT), eight Bitcoin (BTC) pairs, and two Binance USD (BUSD) pairs have been hit by the suspension. Binance.US has assured its users that deposits and withdrawals remain functional, providing a slight relief to those affected by the decision.
Trading Limits and OTC Platform Closure
While the exchange will continue to support USD conversions, the maximum trade amount for buy, sell, and convert operations has been reduced to $10,000. In a surprising move, Binance.US has also shut down its over-the-counter (OTC) trading platform indefinitely, without providing a timeline for its resumption.
SEC’s Legal Battle with Binance
The SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance on June 5, alleging the crypto exchange of offering unregistered securities. The U.S. regulator slapped Binance with 13 charges related to unregistered offers and sales of its BNB and BUSD tokens, and the Simple Earn and BNB Vault products. The SEC further alleges that Binance failed to register its Binance.com platform as an exchange or a broker-dealer clearing agency.
Interestingly, the SEC filed similar charges against another crypto heavyweight, Coinbase, only a day after filing the Binance suit. The commission claims that several cryptocurrencies offered by the exchange, such as SOL, MATIC, and The Sandbox SAND, qualify as securities.
