• SEC drops its civil lawsuit against Binance with prejudice, ending the case permanently.
  • Dismissal signals a regulatory shift under the Trump administration and SEC Chair Paul Atkins.

On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voluntarily dismissed its civil lawsuit against Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, signaling a regulatory shift under the Trump administration.

Attorneys for the SEC, Binance, and Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder of Binance, submitted a joint motion of dismissal in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, citing the SEC's Crypto Task Force as a contributing reason to the resolution. Unless the SEC refiles the complaint, the dismissal is with prejudice.

This dismissal is described as "a landmark moment" by a Binance representative, who also praised the Trump administration and SEC Chair Paul Atkins for eschewing enforcement-heavy regulation.

The SEC declined to comment further.

In November 2023, Binance and CZ agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine and acknowledge offenses such as unlicensed money transmission, sanctions violations, and insufficient anti-money laundering procedures in a separate case they had previously settled with the Department of Justice.

The agreement included CZ resigning as CEO, entering a guilty plea to money laundering charges, and receiving a four-month prison sentence in April 2024.

On X, Binance praised President Donald Trump and SEC Chair Paul Atkins "for pushing back against regulation by enforcement" and called the recent joint motion a "huge win for crypto."

During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump declared his intention to become a "crypto president" and promised to overturn an industry crackdown that Gary Gensler, Atkins' predecessor, had been in charge of.

Numerous Bitcoin enforcement suits have since been withdrawn or placed on hold by the SEC.

Edited by Harshajit Sarmah