A federal appeals court has reinstated its lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
Reuters reported on March 8 that the lawsuit, in which investors accused Binance of violating U.S. securities laws by selling unregistered tokens, was renewed. According to the document, investors claim that the exchange sold tokens that lost most of their value.
The appeals court also said investors could bring claims related to purchases made in the year before the lawsuit was filed. Seven tokens — aelf (ELF), EOS (EOS), FUNToken (FUN), Icon (ICX), OMG Network (OMG), Quantstamp (QSP), and Tron (TRX) — that investors bought through Binance starting in 2017 soon lost most of their value.
“They claimed that Binance failed to warn them about the tokens’ “significant risks” and sought to recoup what they paid.”
Reuters report
However, representatives of the cryptocurrency exchange claim that U.S. securities laws do not apply because its exchange is located outside the country.
The recent investor lawsuit is not the first time Binance has had trouble in the country. At the end of February, a court approved Binance’s plea deal for violating anti-money laundering laws, in which it must pay $4.3 billion. District Judge Richard Jones noted that the crypto exchange was subject to U.S. laws but made a “deliberate decision” not to follow them.
The approval of the deal came after Binance was accused of serving clients in sanctioned countries, as well as terrorist organizations and drug traffickers, in violation of U.S. laws. The founder and CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, admitted the company and himself guilty.
Richard Teng, who was previously responsible for all regional markets outside the United States, became the new head of the crypto exchange.