The Crypto-Trading slump has taken more casualties as Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), has become $12 Billion poorer.
CZ’s wealth has how plunged down to an astonishing 82 percent in the wake of the naked volatility of the crypto market.
US regulators through the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had in early June sued Binance alleging a range of violations.
SEC in a statement said it was suing Binance, its founder, Changpeng Zhao, for flouting securities law violations.
The SEC had alleged that, while Zhao and Binance publicly claimed that U.S. customers were restricted from transacting on Binance.com, Zhao and Binance in reality subverted their own controls to secretly allow high-value U.S. customers to continue trading on the Binance.com platform.
The statement reads:
“The SEC alleges that, while Zhao and Binance publicly claimed that Binance.US was created as a separate, independent trading platform for U.S. investors, Zhao and Binance secretly controlled the Binance.US platform’s operations behind the scenes.
“The SEC also alleges that Zhao and Binance exercise control of the platforms’ customers’ assets, permitting them to commingle customer assets or divert customer assets as they please, including to an entity Zhao owned and controlled called Sigma Chain. The SEC’s complaint further alleges that BAM Trading and BAM Management US Holdings, Inc. (“BAM Management”) misled investors about non-existent trading controls over the Binance.US platform, while Sigma Chain engaged in manipulative trading that artificially inflated the platform’s trading volume. Further, the Complaint alleges that the defendants concealed the fact that it was commingling billions of dollars of investor assets and sending them to a third party, Merit Peak Limited, that is also owned by Zhao.”
It appears Changpeng Zhao troubles aren’t far from being over as the Bloomberg Billionaires Index slashed its estimate of revenues at crypto exchange Binance by 38% after data had showed volumes at the firm declining this year.
CZ’s fortune dropped to $17.2 billion after a $11.9 billion wipe.
