Binance Challenges SEC by Citing Ripple Ruling in Response to Lawsuit
Binance and its co-founder Changpeng Zhao have submitted a joint response to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), citing the relevance of a default judgment in a prior insider trading case involving Coinbase. The response argues that the Wahi case, in which the SEC obtained a default judgment against defendant Sameer Ramani, should not serve as a precedent in the ongoing Binance lawsuit. Binance’s attorneys highlight that the Wahi judgment simply repeated the SEC’s arguments and failed to consider important decisions such as Judge Torres’ ruling in SEC v Ripple Labs, which rejected the SEC’s claim on the classification of crypto tokens. Furthermore, the SEC settled with other defendants in the Wahi case after they disputed the SEC’s interpretation of securities laws. Binance urges the court to reject the SEC’s attempt to leverage the default judgment as part of its case against Binance. Meanwhile, Binance is also facing another class-action lawsuit, as the Second Circuit Court of Appeals revived a case accusing Binance and Zhao of selling securities to investors. This ruling raises questions about the jurisdiction and territorial reach of U.S. securities laws regarding cryptocurrencies.