Crypto Lobby Group Files Amicus Brief in SEC Lawsuit Against Binance, Likens Exchange to E-Commerce Giant Amazon
A crypto lobbying group is petitioning the courts in favor of Binance in the exchange’s lawsuit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In an amicus briefing filed yesterday, the Chamber of Digital Commerce told the U.S. District Court of Columbia that the US, once a haven for new tech, is pushing away crypto and blockchain technology.
“Now, however, one of the newest frontiers of the digital economy—the trillion-dollar blockchain economy—is conspicuously avoiding the United States, finding the regulatory environment too opaque and too hostile to conduct business here…
This promising industry, however, is unfortunately developing primarily offshore, in large measure because the SEC has adopted a regulation-by-enforcement approach, arbitrarily categorizing various blockchain-based digital assets as securities and penalizing businesses for failing to obtain SEC registrations that are not actually available to them.”
An amicus brief is a legal document filed in an appellate court by a non-involved party in a case. Written by “friends of the court,” these briefs contain additional information or arguments to assist the court in making its decision.
In the case of the SEC versus Binance, the Chamber of Digital Commerce argues that the SEC’s charges are akin to suing a grocery store for selling oranges while likening Binance to e-commerce giant Amazon.
“In bringing a case against the Defendants here, the SEC is suing the equivalent of a grocery store selling oranges and other fruit, or an online e-commerce marketplace, like Amazon.
Tokens alone are not securities, and the markets where they are available to buy and sell are not securities exchanges. Whether or not a token was initially sold as part of an ‘investment contract’ is of no consequence.”
The SEC sued Binance in June, claiming that the top crypto exchange platform by volume was offering unregistered securities. At the time, the SEC alleged that Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao profited billions of dollars while ignoring customer safety protocols. Last month, the SEC accused Binance of holding back information during the discovery phase of the lawsuit.