On Tuesday, a U.S. federal judge refused to grant the Securities and Exchange Commission’s request for a temporary restraining order freezing the assets of Binance.US.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the D.C. District Court told the SEC and Binance’s lawyers to negotiate terms for the exchange’s operations and report back to the court within two days.
Jackson said “there’s absolutely no need” for a restraining order should the two sides agree on limits restricting Binance.US’s operations in the United States, adding that they “aren’t that far apart.”
The exchange has suggested it could transfer all U.S. customer assets to new wallets under the sole control of Binance.US executives.
Jackson referred both parties to a magistrate judge to work on reaching a compromise, reserving final judgment on the restraining order until an agreement is reached or negotiations fail.
An agreement between the parties would nullify the SEC’s request to freeze Binance.US’s assets.
Just to let Clint & everyone else know, LMFX in North Macedonia is NO LONGER ACCEPTING US CLIENTS as of this past week, so I guess this exclusive list is now down to 9.
I just had that conversation with the same individual and it was even less fruitful than yours.
Transcript is below:
Leo Jefferson 12:43 AM
Hello. How may I help you?
TT 12:44 AM
Hello. A friend of mine told me LMFX no longer accepts US clients. Is there any update regarding this on your official documents, and when was this change made? And why, if possible?
Leo Jefferson 12:45 AM
We do not include countries we do not accept clients from in our legal documentation, so no.
TT 12:46 AM
Ok. Is that information perhaps anywhere on your website, or on a support page?
Leo Jefferson 12:46 AM
No it is not. If you would like to know if we accept clients from your country then you can simply contact us and we’ll tell you.
TT 12:46 AM
Ok. But is true you no longer accept US clients, and if so, since when?
Leo Jefferson 12:47 AM
It’s true. This has been the case for a few days now.
TT 12:47 AM
Ok. Why was this change made?
Leo Jefferson 12:47 AM
We simply do not accept US clients anymore.
TT 12:48 AM
Was this announcement made anywhere on your website or in an email?
Leo Jefferson 12:48 AM
No it was not.
TT 12:49 AM
So I’m guessing it was an internal decision? Apologies for these questions.
Leo Jefferson 12:49 AM
Such decisions are not taken by the Support department so I’m afraid I cannot comment on that.
For now, while we attempt to obtain additional information, I will leave the LMFX listing in Group 1 with an added ALERT regarding this news.
If there is no change in this new LMFX policy over the next seven days, I will remove LMFX from our List.
In the meantime, if you are interested in becoming a new client of LMFX, follow their account-opening procedure. If LMFX accepts your application, despite their public denial, then your perseverence will have paid off.
Then, keep your success to yourself. There is no need to advertise the fact — here in this thread — that you have succeeded in making an end-run around the official LMFX policy.
The fascist authorities who are working to separate U.S. traders from our offshore brokers read this thread, too. The fascists don’t need to be alerted to what you have accomplished!
Yes. This is the first thing that came to my mind. The timing for the LMFX ban just seems awfully suspicious. Couple that with their extremely vague and generic responses given as to the nature and reasoning for their revised on-boarding policy.
I would not doubt that some agreements may have been made in order to keep them off of the CFTC’s red list (or something similarly-related).
It seems that brokers are quick to accept US citizens during their growth period, but once they reach a certain level, and no longer need us, well…
Binance might not survive in the U.S. It looks more like the company is ready to leave and never return
Crypto giant Binance’s US affiliate fires staff after SEC charges -sources
LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. affiliate of crypto giant Binance has carried out a round of layoffs since regulators last week charged it with violating securities laws and sought to freeze its assets, said two people with knowledge of the dismissals and employees’ social media posts.
One of the sources said around 50 people were laid off. Reuters was unable to independently verify the number or seniority of employees affected.
A Binance.US spokesperson did not respond to emails and calls seeking comment.
Employees in Binance.US’ legal, compliance and risk departments were among those dismissed, the people told Reuters, requesting anonymity because the matter is private.
The SEC on June 5 accused Binance and its founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao of creating Binance.US as part of a “web of deception” to evade securities laws aimed at protecting U.S. investors. Binance said it would defend itself “vigorously.”
The SEC also sued Binance.US’ operating company, BAM Trading, alleging that it misled investors about “non-existent trading” controls over its platform.
A day later, the SEC asked a federal court to freeze Binance.US’ assets, including more than $2.2 billion held in crypto and some $377 million in U.S. dollar bank accounts. The SEC expressed concern that the exchange could move those funds offshore.
Binance.US called the request “unwarranted” and said the SEC’s allegations were “unjustified.”
Two Binance.US employees said on LinkedIn on Wednesday they were leaving the company, with one citing a “round of layoffs.”
hmmm Revolut is an interesting topic. I am not using them for crypto. I am not sure how they deal with the whole crypto topic on their side BUT if you trade in their app it shows your crypto balance but you cannot send it out anywhere. Literally you only have crypto in their app and can change it back to fiat currency within the app. This tells me either that they trade versus you or they take the countertrade on some exchange.
After I saw that your crypto would never leave there app I did not even try to trade with them.
I am open for a discussion here, maybe someone understand better how this works.
-I think, for now, we are mostly just exploring various options; still learning and discussing etc… Probably, given the current state of things, it is wise to have some other solutions in place, so anything that we find, we are sharing here.
Regarding Revolut, thanks for sharing that information. It’s really helpful. I wonder, if you cannot transfer-out, can you transfer-in?
I’m sure. The problem is when you have little-to-no recourse in the event that they lock you out. According to some of their reviews, this seems to have happened to people without any reasoning given.
I think, any trader that is regularly moving large amounts of crypto will likely set off some flags. Whether or not they allow you to explain your transfers is the question. Some brokers may use different wallet addresses, as well, which can further-complicate things.
Holly Molly, It’s best not to do business with Juno right now.
In response to some of these complaints, they have a theme
"Please know we’d like to make this right. We would really welcome the opportunity to speak to you further about your experience so we can get a better understanding of your concerns. Please reach out to us at [email protected] at your earliest convenience. Thank you, again for taking the time to share a review with us."
Perhaps so. This is one of the reasons why I am not very comfortable with this particular option. To be fair, though, any reasonably-sized company will have bad reviews, even the good companies.
However, this does possibly illustrate why going with a middle-man company like this can present its own set of problems. Not only in terms of accessibility, but lacking support and timely resolution etc…
Basically, any company that relies so heavily on a 3rd-party like this will be at the mercy of the business that they are partnered with.
Imagine having your account frozen because of the partner company (bank), and asking the middle-man company what’s going on with the account, and they simply cannot tell you because they are really not sure. It’s just not a great situation to be in, and likely the cause of a lot of the issues that are described on trust pilot.
Sadly, this is the case with Juno, and they have no control over how the service is provided to them. Evolve Bank and Trust controls every aspect of the service they provide to Juno.