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The SEC has formally dropped its lawsuit against Binance and founder Changpeng Zhao, bringing an end to one of the last remaining crypto enforcement actions brought by the agency.
In a Thursday filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, lawyers for the SEC and Binance jointly moved to dismiss the case, which was first brought in June 2023. The case had accused the crypto exchange of illegally serving U.S. users, inflating trading volumes, and commingling customer funds.
Binance is the largest digital assets exchange in the world, by volume. It also recently forged ties with World Liberty Financial, a project that aspires to be a crypto bank and funnels 75% of profits to entities linked to the Trump family.
Binance is taking a $2 billion investment from the Emirati state fund MGX entirely in USD1, a stablecoin newly launched by the World Liberty team.
The SEC was the last major regulator still pursuing Binance after a $4.3 billion settlement with the U.S. government last year that saw Zhao plead guilty and step down as CEO, while avoiding jail time and retaining much of his wealth.
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