Global Courant
Changpeng Zhao, billionaire and CEO of Binance Holdings Ltd., speaks during a session at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, November 2, 2022.
Zed Jameson | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Crypto investors pulled $791.6 million from crypto exchange Binance in 24 hours, crypto research firm Nansen said Tuesday, after US regulators revealed 13 securities charges against the company and its founder, Changpeng Zhao.
After the collapse of the allegedly fraudulent crypto exchange FTX in November 2022, investors moved their assets to a number of exchanges, but Binance won the lion’s share of that influx. After Monday’s Securities and Exchange Commission charges, it appears some of that profit has been returned.
Investors withdrew $1.65 billion in assets from Binance and $13 million from Binance’s disputed US arm on the Ethereum blockchain after the allegations were revealed. The inflow was only $871.8 million and $11.53 million to Binance and Binance.US, respectively.
The SEC alleged that Binance engaged in the unregistered offering and sale of securities, and that Zhao and his entities improperly mixed investor funds with Binance’s funds. The agency also alleged that the exchange undermined its own controls to allow institutional US investors to use Binance’s international exchange instead of the supposedly firewalled US version.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission had already unveiled a similar set of charges against the crypto exchange earlier this year. The allegations of misinterpretation and compliance shortcomings mirror the charges against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and his collapsed stock exchange.
The two Zhao and Binance entities have strongly disputed the allegations.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against Binance and Zhao. An earlier version misrepresented the agency’s name.
Investors raise $790 million after SEC charges
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