

From flipping burgers to starting Binanceīinance declined NPR's request for an interview with CZ, but in 2021, he sat down with Anthony Scaramucci, the hedge fund manager and former White House communications director, who asked CZ how he got his start.īrian Armstrong, CEO and Co-Founder, Coinbase, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills on May 2, 2022. The SEC has also accused CZ and Binance of funneling their assets to other companies CZ controls, and of manipulating the broader crypto market. "We know that investors were misled about the risk controls, and that they concealed an awful lot from the investing public."
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In an interview after the SEC filed its lawsuit, Gensler told Bloomberg TV there is a lot Binance's customers don't know about what CZ and his company do with their money behind the scenes. To true believers, CZ is a visionary and a crypto crusader, but to Gensler, he is a dangerous deceiver. On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, CZ frequently accuses journalists of spreading "FUD" - fear, uncertainty, and doubt - about crypto.ĬZ shakes the hands with SS Lazio player Lucas Leiva during a visit to the Formello Sport centre in Rome, Italy, on May 12, 2022. He headlines business conferences all over the world, and seems happy to lock horns with skeptics on social media.

The SEC says Binance sits atop an "opaque web of corporate entities," and that web, the regulator alleges, was spun by CZ, a crypto celebrity who grew up in Canada. And today, Binance proudly says it has no official headquarters anywhere. The company has moved several times since then - in 2021, China banned crypto mining and crypto trading. Gensler's regulatory push is now pitting him against CZ, who founded Binance in 2017, in China.

Crypto companies intend to fight tooth and nail to avoid being regulated by the agency. And although Gensler is waging his fight on multiple fronts, he and the SEC face an uphill battle. Satoshi Nakamoto's paper proposing the creation of bitcoin was published in 2008.ĭuring Gensler's tenure, it has filed more than 100 crypto-related enforcement actions. Under his leadership, the SEC is making the case it has the authority - thanks to decades-old securities laws - to oversee an industry that is still in its infancy. He taught a course on digital assets, called "Blockchain and Money," at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before he returned to government in 2021. Gensler has said his goal is to bring the crypto industry out from the shadows.Ī longtime regulator, he headed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission - which has also filed suit against Binance - during the Obama administration, and Gensler knows the crypto world well. Many experts see the legal showdown between the SEC and Binance as a long time coming. "It is an organization that is presenting a massive headache for regulators," Yadav says. And the firm also has its own, proprietary cryptocurrency, called the Binance Coin, or BNB. The SEC alleges companies affiliated with Binance trade against Binance customers. This isn't a business model that exists in traditional finance, where there are voluminous rules to protect investors from systemic risks and conflicts of interest. Think of Binance as a crypto Amazon: a one-stop shop for everything. It's a model that doesn't exist in traditional finance. It would mean that virtual currencies and other digital assets could be regulated just like stocks.īinance has become massive in the world of crypto, becoming a one-stop shop for everything. The outcome of the SEC's string of lawsuits against crypto companies could have enormous consequences for the industry. By design, it is supposed to operate outside the rules of traditional finance. That assertion goes against the very essence of crypto. With enforcement actions against companies like Binance and Coinbase, it is arguing most cryptocurrencies are securities - like stocks, not commodities, and therefore, fall under the regulator's purview. The SEC under Gensler intends to change that. Today, there are thousands of digital currencies, and crypto companies are offering all kinds of services, including banking, while operating in a regulatory gray area.

Over the past few years, the SEC has grown alarmed at how quickly the crypto industry has developed. Under Chair Gary Gensler, the SEC has gone hard after crypto companies as it seeks to get the industry to follow its rules.
