US SEC is Investigating Binance Over Its BNB Token: Bloomberg
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US SEC Investigating Binance
According to a report from Bloomberg, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating whether the Binance cryptocurrency exchange broke securities rules when it launched its BNB token in an initial coin offering (ICO) five years ago.
Binance held its initial coin offering (ICO) back in July 2017, during the height of the so-called ICO boom, and raised a total of $15 million. The regulatory agency alleges that the platform may have failed to register its token as a security with the agency.
Binance reportedly responded by saying:
“It would not be appropriate for us to comment on our ongoing conversation with regulators, which includes education, assistance, and voluntary responses to information requests. We will continue to meet all requirements set by regulators.”
Following the news, BNB was trading down 8.6%, at the time of writing. BNB is currently the fifth-largest cryptocurrency with a total market cap of $45 billion and a 24-hour trading volume of $1.4 billion.
News of the US SEC probe comes just as Reuters released the results of an unrelated investigation where the media outlet claims that at least $2.35 billion in illicit funds have been laundered through Binance between 2017 and 2021.