Video Courtesy of CNBC

The lawsuit just filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleges that Binance operated a derivatives trading platform in the U.S. without registering to do so.

The suit also alleges that the company directed its employees to take measures to prevent internal communications from being saved, encouraged US citizens to simply use a VPN to get around IP address restrictions blocking US traders from the platform, which the CFTC calls "a willful evasion of U.S. law".

At one point they even accuse CEO Changpeng Zhao of being the “owner of approximately 300 separate Binance accounts” implying the purpose is for manipulating markets and insider trading. 

Zhao responded in a blog post pointing out the company's massive 750+ person compliance team includes "many with prior law enforcement and regulatory agency backgrounds", basically stating the CFTC got it all wrong, adding his 'disappointment' in the events, also insisting the CFTC's count of 300 accounts was inflated by 298 writing that he only has "two accounts" one for his Binance crypto-to-fiat card and the other for HODLing crypto.

The most likely outcome: Binance settles and pays a fine (they can afford it).

However, there is one big unknown -  the future of Binance US. An agreement to settle by paying a penalty often will include the violator agreeing to stop all operations within the US and not return in the future.

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Adam Lee / Asia Newsroom
Global Crypto Press Association