CFTC sues Binance and its CEO for violations seeking civil monetary penalties and other equitable relief

ChainCatcher news, according to the lawsuit documents released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao have violated CFTC regulations, including the Commodity Exchange Act, by soliciting and accepting orders from U.S. customers for commodity futures trading, options, swaps, and leveraged retail commodity trading that were not completed on any registered platform, without any compliance registration.

The complaint alleges that under Zhao's guidance, Binance, with the assistance of Samuel Lim, inadvertently circumvented legal regulations to generate revenue from U.S. customers, prioritizing commercial success over compliance. Although Binance promised to restrict U.S. customer access to its platform, the company relied on local personnel and vendors in the U.S. and actively cultivated VIP customers domestically while concealing identities and locations to evade regulation. As a result, the CFTC seeks civil monetary penalties and other equitable relief.