OK. Had some time to read the #SEC charges against #Binance.
First, I believe they are trying to get ahead of any issues rather than waiting for the issues to cause a blow up like FTX / Celsius. SEC has learnt from mistakes. I’m not staying Binance will blow up as they probably… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
ALLEGATION:
Binance publicly claimed that U.S. customers were restricted from transacting on Binance dot com, Zhao & Binance in reality subverted their own controls to secretly allow high-value U.S. customers to continue trading on the Binance dot com platform.
The SEC alleges that, while Zhao and Binance publicly claimed that #Binance US was created as a separate, independent trading platform for U.S. investors, Zhao and Binance secretly controlled the Binance US platform’s operations behind the scenes.
SEC also alleges that Zhao and #Binance exercise control of the platforms’ customers’ assets, permitting them to commingle customer assets or divert customer assets as they please, including to an entity Zhao owned and controlled called Sigma Chain.
The SEC’s complaint further alleges that BAM Trading and BAM Management US Holdings, Inc. (“BAM Management”) misled investors about non-existent trading controls over the #Binance US platform, while Sigma Chain engaged in manipulative trading that artificially… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
ALLEGATION:
The SEC alleges that the defendants concealed the fact that it was commingling billions of dollars of investor assets and sending them to a third party, Merit Peak Limited, that is also owned by Zhao.
#Binance and BAM Trading with operating unregistered national securities exchanges, broker-dealers, and clearing agencies;
MESSAGE:
This is the old debate. If the token is considered a security then it can only be traded on an SEC registered ATS with a broker… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
ALLEGATION:
Binance and BAM Trading with the unregistered offer and sale of Binance’s own crypto assets, including a so-called exchange token, BNB, a so-called stablecoin, Binance USD (BUSD), certain crypto-lending products, and a staking-as-a-service program;
Zhao as a control person for Binance’s and BAM Trading’s operation of unregistered national securities exchanges, broker-dealers, and clearing agencies.
The SEC’s complaint alleges that (1) with respect to Binance dot com, Binance should have registered as an… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
My forecast.
1. Multi billion dollar SEC settlement for #Binance that will operate outside uS pivoting to a public auditable company significantly smaller, but compliant. CZ hands over like Arthur Hayes & moves on.
Joint agreement between Celsius/@CelsiusUcc to have W&C/UCC pursue & litigate the constructive fraudulent transfer/conveyance and similar claims held by LLC against CNL. All to push towards setting what creditors & shareholders own cases.stretto.com/public/x191/11…
TL:DR Pre #Celsius Chapter 11 Court Hearing Updates:
Ignat Tuganov, via counsel, has concerns related to the UCC @CelsiusUcc being the representative for the class claim motion. He wants more specifics related to amount of, voting rights related to, and possible settlement conditions for the class claim. He is concerned about the… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
The UCCs omnibus reply to the other parties regarding their class claim motion. They largely reiterate and expand on their previous reasonings for the class claim, countering the series B preferred objections along the way. They have also included language in the proposed order… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Latest #Celsius Chapter 11 Updates For Creditors with TL:DR:
Settlement of litigation from a former employee that did not have a separation agreement but alleged discrimination. She brought a case against Celsius in the UK and given the @CelsiusUcc involved with litigating it, #Celsius and the UCC decided to settle cases.stretto.com/public/x191/11…… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Flow Diagram of #JasonNewCo#NovaWulf Bid Reorg in one slide. I had my first call with the full team to understand more about regulatory model & a regulatory model was submitted for regulators to give feedback on the docket. cases.stretto.com/public/x191/11…
#SEC on #Celsius Chapter 11 #NovaWulf Bid after Judge Glenn request to comment - they have no comment on the bid protections motion and also said they "do not yet have all the facts and details that may be necessary to fully evaluate the transactions." cases.stretto.com/public/x191/11…