Everything is fine...for now.
TL;DR
The SEC wanted to freeze all of Binance.US' assets. To avoid that, Binance agreed to a deal that has been described by a former SEC enforcement agent as "unprecedented.”
Binance.US will now have to do the following:
Provide the SEC monthly reports covering its "ordinary course of businesses expenses."
Provide to the SEC a list of every account or wallet under its management since Dec 1, 2022.
Produce a record of asset transfers greater than $1,000 in value in that same time period.
All of this alongside associated financial institutions, account numbers, recipient names and reasons for each transfer.
From what we can tell: as long this agreement doesn't hinder users' ability to convert from crypto to cash (and vice versa) - this new oversight shouldn't affect most people.
Full Story
Did you ever have to bargain with your parents to get a game console?
If you didn't, just know: the deals were often brokered with a bunch of parental oversight on what games were being played, and for how long.
There's a parallel with that process and the deal that was just struck between Binance.US and the SEC.
Basically, the SEC wanted to freeze all of Binance.US' assets.
To avoid that, Binance agreed to a deal that has been described by a former SEC enforcement agent as "unprecedented, exhaustive, and onerous."
Binance.US will now have to do the following:
Provide the SEC monthly reports covering its "ordinary course of businesses expenses."
Provide to the SEC a list of every account or wallet under its management since Dec 1, 2022.
Produce a record of asset transfers greater than $1,000 in value in that same time period.
All of this alongside associated financial institutions, account numbers, recipient names and reasons for each transfer.
Ok, not great for Binance.US or any of its customers that have been doing shady stuff...
But why should the rest of us care?
From what we can tell:
As long this agreement doesn't hinder users' ability to convert from crypto to cash (and vice versa) - this new oversight shouldn't affect most people.
That said, this isn't the end of Binance's battles with the SEC - they have a date with each other (in court) a few months from now.
But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.