Binance and its U.S. counterpart, Binance.US, have reached an agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that restricts access to customer funds solely to Binance.US employees, as stated in court documents.
Subject to approval from the federal judge overseeing the case, the agreement outlines measures to ensure that no officials from Binance Holdings will have access to private keys, hardware wallets, or root access to Binance.US’s Amazon Web Services tools, as revealed in the filings.
This agreement follows the SEC’s recent lawsuit against Binance, its CEO Changpeng Zhao, and the operator of Binance.US, marking an intensified crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry by U.S. regulators. The SEC also filed a lawsuit against major U.S. exchange Coinbase shortly thereafter.
In response to the SEC’s legal action, Binance.US, the American affiliate, suspended dollar deposits and set a deadline of June 13 for customers to withdraw their dollar funds, following a request from the SEC to freeze the company’s assets.
Additional provisions outlined in the proposed agreement require Binance.US to establish new crypto wallets inaccessible to employees of the global exchange. The agreement also entails providing the SEC with further information and adhering to an accelerated discovery schedule, as specified in the filings.
