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The US Securities and Exchange Commission has decided to drop its long-running lawsuit against the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume.

 

Binance, its co-founder Changpeng Zhao, and the SEC filed a joint motion on May 29 requesting a Washington, D.C. federal court to approve the dismissal of the regulator’s June 2023 complaint. According to the motion, the SEC felt that dropping the lawsuit was appropriate “in the exercise of its discretion and as a policy matter,” and that the Crypto Task Force “may impact and facilitate the potential resolution of this litigation

Additionally, the motion requests that the lawsuit be dismissed with prejudice, preventing it from being filed in the future. In February and April, the SEC and Binance paused the case, stating that the agency’s cryptocurrency unit might eventually choose to drop it.

The financial regulator filed a lawsuit against Binance, Zhao, and its US subsidiary, BAM Trading, in June 2023.

Binance and Zhao reached a settlement with the Department of Justice in a separate case, agreeing to pay a $4 billion fine and acknowledging that the company had violated sanctions, acted as an unlicensed money transmitter, and failed to implement proper anti-money laundering procedures.

Zhao admitted to money laundering and resigned as CEO of Binance as part of the agreement.  He received a four-month prison sentence later, in April 2024,

Binance founder,  praised SEC Chair Paul Atkins and President Donald Trump for their opposition to enforcement regulation, deeming the recent joint motion a “huge win for the crypto industry.”