Binance sued by US watchdog for alleged derivatives rule lapses

Binance Holdings Ltd., the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao, were sued by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission for allegedly breaking trading and derivatives rules.

The CFTC filed the lawsuit Monday in federal court in Chicago.

The derivatives regulator said Binance shirked its obligations by not properly registering with it.

Since at least 2021, the CFTC has been probing Binance over whether it failed to keep US residents from buying and selling crypto derivatives. CFTC rules generally require platforms to register with the agency if they let Americans trade those products.

The regulator is one of several US bodies that have been investigating Binance’s activities. The Internal Revenue Service, as well as federal prosecutors, have been examining Binance’s anti-money-laundering rule compliance, Bloomberg News has reported. The Securities and Exchange Commission has been scrutinizing whether the exchange has supported the trading of unregistered securities.