Binance, CZ och 3 influencers namngivna i $1B rättegång

• Binance, Changpeng Zhao och tre influencers har namngivits i en rättegång på $1 miljarder som påstår att de ägnat sig åt marknadsföring av oregistrerade värdepapper.
• Moscowitz Law Firm och Boies Schiller Flexner lämnade in stämningsansökan i Floridas södra distrikt och kräver skadestånd för tre investerare.
• De tre influencers som nämns i Binance-processen är NBA Miami Heat-stjärnan Jimmy Butler och YouTubers Graham Stephan och Ben Armstrong (BitBoy Crypto).
• “We’ve been investigating these same unregistered security issues against Binance for over a year,” said the lawsuit.

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Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by spot trading volume, has been the center of many lawsuits amid increasing regulatory pressure in the US. Interestingly, the exchange has also faced pressure to discontinue the minting of its stablecoin, BUSD. As per a report, the crypto exchange along with its CEO and co-founder, Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ in the crypto space, along with three other influencers have been named in a $1 billion lawsuit. 

Enligt en rapport från Förmögenhet, Moscowitz Law Firm och Boies Schiller Flexner lämnade in stämningsansökan mot Binance, CZ och tre influencers i Floridas södra distrikt, och hävdade att kryptobörsen är ansvarig för olaglig marknadsföring av oregistrerade värdepapper med hjälp av betalda influencers. 

“This is a classic example of a centralized exchange which is promoting the sale of an unregistered security,” said the filing while explaining the charges.

The three influencers named in the Binance lawsuit are NBA Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler, and YouTubers Graham Stephan and Ben Armstrong (BitBoy Crypto). In a similar lawsuit against Voyager Digital, the law firm claimed that influencers promoting “unregistered securities” are liable for customer losses. It seems that the same issue appears here as well. 

It is crucial to note that the influencers and the exchange are asked to pay $1 billion as damages to investors. “We’ve been investigating these same unregistered security issues against Binance for over a year,” said the lawsuit, while adding that the partners of Binance and CZ are responsible for the losses of the customers and will have to pay accordingly.

Rättegången hävdar också att investerarna som har påverkats av rekommendationerna från Binance, CZ och påverkare inte behöver bevisa för domstolen att de har påverkats av dessa reklamkampanjer. Över tre uppfinnare har förts in i fallet, och advokatbyrån uppger att miljontals investerare kan ha påverkats. Planen är att lägga till fler influencers i ärendet också. 

Binance VD förklarar banden med Kina

Binance och dess relation med Kina var gömda i över sju år, claims a report from the Financial Times, and this news rocked the industry. “We no longer publish our office addresses … people in China can directly say that our office is not in China,” Zhao had reportedly said in a company message group in November 2017. 

On the other hand, the exchange spoke to Cointelegraph, confirming that it “does not operate in China nor do we have any technology, including servers or data, based in China,” and adding:

“While we did have a customer service call center based in China to service global Mandarin speakers, those employees who wished to remain with the company were offered relocation assistance starting in 2021.”

It is also important to mention here that Binance, CZ, and the exchange’s Chief Compliance Officer, Samuel Lim, were sued by the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for brott mot handel och derivatregler.

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