Binance Suffers ‘Near-Death Blow’ After SEC and Class-Action Lawsuits: Rule Overturned
Binance continues to struggle with ongoing legal challenges, particularly in the United States. The exchange previously suffered a “near-fatal injury” in June 2023 after a lawsuit from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) forced more than 200 employees to lay off “squeezed” earnings, CEO Christopher Blodgett said. . Now, the SEC is suing the company for being “unable or unwilling” to respond to requests for information about its holdings of client assets. The inspector asked the court to intervene to speed up the discovery process.
At the heart of the SEC's investigation is whether employees of Binance's non-US arm had access to Binance.US client assets. The SEC was unable to confirm that Binance.US did not have other means of obtaining private keys or client assets. In the report, Binance.US pushed back on the SEC's allegations that it complied with the regulator's “exceptionally broad” information requests and asked the court to stop the expedited discovery process.
Meanwhile, a US appeals court overturned a ruling that dismissed an investor-led class-action lawsuit against Binance. Chase Williams filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of investors in April 2020, arguing that Binance contracted to sell securities without registering as a securities exchange or broker-dealer. The district court dismissed the lawsuit, saying that the investors' claim was not timely according to the relevant statute of limitations. However, the appeals court agreed with the plaintiffs' claim that Binance was subject to local securities laws and that their initial application was timely.
Do Kwon won his extradition appeal to the United States
Terraform Labs co-founder Do Khun continues to run a newspaper, as a court in Montenegro again overturns a lower court's decision to extradite Kwon to the United States. According to an official statement, the Montenegrin Court of Appeals has decided to overturn the Podgorica High Court's decision upholding Kwon's extradition to the United States.
The appeals court had previously argued that Kwon's extradition order to the United States was influenced by local laws that “violated the highest provisions of criminal procedure.” The final decision by the Montenegrin Court of Appeal is another milestone in the process of extraditing Kuo after his March 2023 arrest in Montenegro. The US and South Korea have demanded Kwon's extradition, sparking a dispute over where the Terraform Labs founder should be. Sent.
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Virginia passes blockchain bill
The Virginia Senate in the United States has passed a landmark bill that creates a task force to study the entire crypto ecosystem and make recommendations for the advancement of the technology. The new crypto working group will consist of 13 members: five from the Senate, five from the House of Representatives, two non-legislators from the blockchain industry and one non-legislator representing a local government. The group was given a deadline of Nov. 1, 2024, to conclude all studies related to the cryptocurrency ecosystem and share recommendations “no later than the first day of the 2025 regular session of the General Assembly.”
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Spain prohibits Worldcoin from collecting data
Spain's Data Protection Agency (AEPD) has ordered WorldCoin to stop collecting and processing data in Spain and issued a temporary injunction banning operations for three months. AEPD's order says the agency is investigating complaints that users in Spain failed to obtain consent and that WorldCoin collected information from minors.
The Spanish authorities' order comes a month after Hong Kong's Office of the Personal Data Privacy Commissioner investigated WorldCoin. The controversy surrounding Worldcoin stems from the use of biometric scanning devices called “Orbs”. Worldcoin users sign up for the service by downloading an app. They are then directed to the facility that holds the orb, where they must insert their eyes for scanning. As the human iris is different for each individual, this biometric authentication method is generally considered to be more accurate than fingerprint and other conventional identification methods.
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