Crypto exchange Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, through their lawyers, have alleged that the current Chair of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, once proposed to serve as an adviser to the company. This allegation is mentioned in documents filed by the SEC on June 7, as per a CNBC report.
However, contrasting reports from The Wall Street Journal from March suggest that Binance approached Gensler in 2018 regarding the advisory position. The report refers to messages and documents from 2018-2020, revealing that Ella Zhang, the then-head of Binance’s venture investing arm, and Harry Zhou, co-founder of Binance-invested firm Koi Trading, initiated the discussion with Gensler in October 2018. Gensler subsequently declined the offer.
Multiple private companies allegedly courted Gensler, who was a professor at MIT, for an advisory role, but he turned down all these proposals. In February 2021, he was nominated by President Joe Biden to head the SEC, officially taking office on April 17, 2021.
Binance is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with the SEC, which sued the crypto exchange on June 5 for failing to register as a securities exchange and allegedly operating unlawfully in the U.S. The regulator filed 13 charges against Binance, including unregistered offers and sales of the BNB and Binance USD tokens, along with its staking program.
Responding to the regulatory backlash, Binance issued a statement on June 7 asserting its distinction from other exchanges. The company emphasized its transparent wallet addresses, denied mishandling consumer funds, and claimed it had not made large political donations or entertainment and media sponsorships, an apparent jab at the now-collapsed exchange, FTX.
Binance’s founder, Zhao, sparked a Twitter debate on the same day, questioning why the SEC had not pursued FTX despite Gensler’s comments on the perceived similarities between the two entities.
Other Stories:
Australia’s largest bank restricts crypto exchange deposits
Poloniex Review: Is this crypto exchange a scam?
Is crypto mining legal in the UK?
