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SEC v. Binance
Panic selling drained the cryptoassets market in response to a new lawsuit launched by the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) against Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, alleging that Binance operated an unregistered national securities exchange, broker-dealer, and clearing agency, allegedly misused user funds, and offered and sold unregistered securities, among other allegations. The news added to the selling pressure of Bitcoin and Ethereum, falling by 7% and 4%, respectively.
Figure 1: Weekly TVL and Price Performance of Major Crypto Categories
Source: Coingecko and DeFi Llama. Close data as of Jun 5, 2023.
5 Things to Remember in Markets this Week
• Binance is facing a civil lawsuit launched by the US securities regulator: The SEC filed 13 charges against the world’s largest crypto exchange, shrinking crypto’s market cap by 5% overnight. Starting with the primary claim of operating an unregistered national securities exchange, broker-dealer, and clearing agency, the lawsuit is profound because it alleges that a number of cryptoassets are securities under U.S. law, including BNB, BUSD, SOL, ADA, and MATIC. This could nudge exchanges and other platforms to delist these tokens due to fear of regulatory exposure. The SEC also alleged that Binance offered and sold unregistered securities, focusing on BUSD, BNB, and certain lending and staking-as-a-service programs. Furthermore, the SEC alleged that Binance engaged in the commingling of billions in customer funds through entities controlled by the exchange’s CEO Champeng Zhao.
• Commingling of assets: According to the 136-page filing, Binance used the accounts of two Zhao-controlled entities, Merit Peak and Sigma Chain, to transfer tens of billions of dollars involving Binance and related entities. In 2021, at least $145 million was transferred from BAM Trading to a Sigma Chain account, and another $45 million of funds were transferred from BAM Trading’s Trust Company B account to the Sigma Chain account. From this account, Sigma Chain spent $11 million to purchase a yacht, as written in the filing. Since the launch of Binance.US, Merit Peak’s U.S. bank account allegedly received, as a “pass-through” account, over $20 billion that included customer funds from both Binance platforms, the U.S. and the global. Merit Peak then transferred the vast majority of those funds to Trust Company A in transfers that appear to relate to the purchase of BUSD. As Merit Peak was a purportedly independent entity, sending Binance customer funds to Merit Peak may have placed those funds at risk, including loss or theft, and was done without notice to customers.
Figure 2: Web of CZ-controlled Entities
Source: SEC’s Court Filing
• Misrepresenting trading controls: The lawsuit alleges that Binance failed to implement the manipulative trading controls that the exchange claims to have in place. The SEC alleges that the controls were virtually non-existent, and those that did exist did not monitor for or protect against “wash trading” or self-dealing, which was happening on Binance.US. The regulator gave new evidence that Sigma Chain engaged in wash trading from at least September 2019 until June 2022, which in turn artificially inflated the trading volume on the U.S. platform.
• Over a billion outflows overnight on Binance:
Figure 3: CEXs Inflows and Outflows (24 hours)
Source: 21shares on Dune Analytics
• Binance released a statement expressing their disappointment in the SEC while vowing to continue collaborating with regulators to reach clarity: The exchange took to its blog shortly after the lawsuit broke the news, claiming that the SEC refused to productively engage, even after their recent extensive good-faith discussions to reach a negotiated settlement to resolve their investigations. Binance also denied the allegations of fraud and market manipulation as well as the commingling of user funds through Zhao-controlled entities, which Binance has previously refuted as only being used to facilitate user purchases.
What You Should Pay Attention To
Regarding non-custodial exchanges, we could expect the delisting of specific tokens from Uniswap, akin to how tokenized stock shares were removed in response to the regulatory pressure back in 2021 from the front-end interface, to maintain regulatory conformity. Important to note that delisted assets are still accessible via interacting with the underlying smart contract, which is immutable and uncensorable.
On the other hand, liquidity could improve across the non-custodial infrastructure as users and liquidity providers will opt to utilize their capital using decentralized exchanges that retain ownership of their assets. The gradual migration away from centralized entities began back in November after the collapse of FTX, and thus, the current events should continue to accelerate the trend. In the event that altcoins are officially classified as securities, it is anticipated that the long tail of crypto assets may experience tighter market conditions and reduced liquidity. Prominent market makers like Jane Street and Jump Crypto will likely continue scaling back their operations in the United States until greater clarity regarding the classification of crypto assets is established.
In addition, the SEC isn’t the only agency targeting Binance. Thus it’ll be imperative to watch the developing allegations that the CFTC and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) have put forward against the exchange.
Next Week’s Calendar
These are the top 3 events we’re monitoring for next week.
• CPI print next week will determine whether the FED will pause the next rate hike, especially after the blowout jobs report data sent mixed signals to economists across the board.
• Apple’s WorldWide Developers Conference: Apple’s recently unveiled VR headset could revive interest in metaverse-related tokens during its conference, running from June 5th to the 9th
• Replacing ETH reserves with LSDs: The DeFi industry is witnessing a trend of incorporating Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSD) as reserves, replacing ETH. Maker and Aave have already taken steps in this direction. Liquid staking protocols enable users to earn staking yield without locking their assets, with the added benefit of near-instant redemption as withdrawals become available. Thus, we expect more DeFi blue chips to begin accepting a broader range of LSDs as collateral.
Source: Forex Factory, CoinMarketCal
Research Newsletter
Each week the 21Shares Research team will publish our data-driven insights into the crypto asset world through this newsletter. Please direct any comments, questions, and words of feedback to research@21shares.com
Disclaimer
The information provided does not constitute a prospectus or other offering material and does not contain or constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction. Some of the information published herein may contain forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. The information contained herein may not be considered as economic, legal, tax or other advice and users are cautioned to base investment decisions or other decisions solely on the content hereof.
- Michael Saylor’s bold Bitcoin bet and Strategy’s risk analysis
- Bitcoin price technical analysis: Where are the liquidation levels?
- What are real-world assets and why do we need tokenization?
Michael Saylor’s bold Bitcoin bet and Strategy’s risk analysis
Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) has amassed a staggering $43 billion in Bitcoin, positioning itself at the forefront of the corporate “reserve race.” Under the leadership of Bitcoin maximalist Michael Saylor, the company now boasts an $84 billion market cap. But with such an aggressive strategy, how sustainable is its approach—and what risks lie ahead? We break it down in today’s analysis.
Bitcoin price technical analysis: Where are the liquidation levels?
A drop below $72,000 could flush longs, while a breakout above $90,000 may squeeze shorts. One key positive indicator is that Bitcoin continues to print higher lows since March 10, which preserves a bullish market structure in our view. Dive into our technical analysis.
What are real-world assets and why do we need tokenization?
Imagine owning a slice of a skyscraper or a piece of fine art with just a few clicks. Tokenization, the act of converting ownership rights to real-world assets (RWAs) into tradable tokens, has surpassed $10 billion in on-chain value, unlocking global 24/7 access to once-exclusive markets with liquidity, efficiency, and yield. Find out how it works.
Research Newsletter
Each week the 21Shares Research team will publish our data-driven insights into the crypto asset world through this newsletter. Please direct any comments, questions, and words of feedback to research@21shares.com
Disclaimer
The information provided does not constitute a prospectus or other offering material and does not contain or constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction. Some of the information published herein may contain forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. The information contained herein may not be considered as economic, legal, tax or other advice and users are cautioned to base investment decisions or other decisions solely on the content hereof.
Since President Trump appointed Mark Uyeda as acting SEC chair two months ago, many investigations into crypto businesses have been dropped, as the SEC moves away from regulation by enforcement and works to create a framework for digital assets. As regulations become clearer and news flow turns more positive, crypto prices—which dropped sharply this week—should begin to better reflect the new regulatory landscape in the US.
We believe this regulatory shift could ultimately help trigger the next leg of the current bull run, as investors better understand the significance of regulatory clarity and seek to acquire bitcoin and altcoins at what we believe are currently very favorable levels.
Market Highlights
SEC Dismisses Crypto Enforcement Actions
The SEC dropped its enforcement actions against crypto-related companies Kraken, Consensys, and Cumberland DRW.
This indicates a shift in SEC’s regulatory approach, favoring clearer guidelines over enforcement actions. Such a pivot could foster a more predictable environment, encouraging innovation within the sector.
Banks to Engage in Crypto Activities
The FDIC has rescinded previous guidelines which prevented financial institutions from engaging with crypto activities without prior sign-off.
By removing bureaucratic hurdles, banks may more readily offer crypto-related services, potentially leading to broader adoption and integration of digital assets.
Bitcoin ETFs Inflow Streak Surpassed $1 Billion
US spot Bitcoin ETFs have recorded a 10-day inflow streak exceeding $1 billion marking the longest such streak in 2025.
This underscores growing institutional and retail investor confidence in Bitcoin as an asset class that helps increase market stability and possibly paving the way for the approval of other crypto-based financial products.
Market Metrics
All NCITM constituents had negative performance last week, with XRP (-10.8%) and UNI (-10.7%) seeing the steepest declines. ETH also experienced a sharp drop (-9.1%), contributing to NCITM’s underperformance relative to BTC (-2.9%). The NCITM -4.2% decline reflects a broader risk-off sentiment in the crypto market, as investors reassess their positions amid ongoing macroeconomic uncertainties.
NCITM (-4.2%) extended its underperformance last week, deepening year-to-date losses. Traditional indices like the S&P 500 (-1.5%) and Nasdaq 100 (-2.4%) saw smaller declines. The gap between crypto and other risk assets continues to widen, while gold has emerged as the top performer in 2025, gaining nearly 20% amid ongoing macroeconomic uncertainties. This trend highlights a growing risk-off sentiment, with investors shifting toward defensive assets and away from high-volatility investments.
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