- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a surprise lawsuit against Binance.
- The lawsuit classifies Bitcoin, Ether, Binance USD, Tether and Litecoin as commodities.
- The CFTC also alleges a lack of commitment to market manipulation and compliance.
Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao has denied the allegations made by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) against Binance and himself in the March 27 lawsuit.
On March 27, the U.S. CFTC issued a 74-page complaint labeling Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance USD (BUSD), Litecoin (LTC), and Tether (USDT) as commodities. and accused Binance and Changpeng Zhao of: Market manipulation and lack of compliance.
The CFTC also accuses Binance of not cooperating with the investigative subpoena and hiding the location of its enforcement office.
CZ calls CFTC claims an incomplete statement of fact
The CEO of Binance is blog post The cryptocurrency exchange claims that:
“Binance.com does not trade for profit or “manipulate” the market under any circumstances. Binance “trades” in many situations. Our income is crypto. From time to time we need to convert to cover our expenses in fiat currency and other cryptocurrencies. There are affiliates who provide liquidity to illiquid pairs. These affiliates are specifically monitored to ensure they do not make large profits. ”
In the lawsuit, the CFTC accused Binance of using 300 “house accounts” to trade on its own platform without properly disclosing information to customers in its terms of service. Instead, it said it kept the information “confidential” and refused to respond to investigative subpoenas issued by the Commission seeking information about the trading activity.
CZ also revealed that he has two accounts on Binance. One for cards and one for crypto assets. In a blog post he said:
“Personally, I have two accounts on Binance, one for my Binance card and one for my crypto holdings. I also need to convert cryptocurrencies from time to time for personal expenses and card payments.”
