The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday filed an emergency motion asking a judge to temporarily freeze the U.S. assets of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The motion was filed a day after the feds sued Binance’s founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, for allegedly defrauding investors, improperly commingling funds, and operating as an unregistered broker. The feds said the freeze is necessary to “ensure the safety of customer assets,” adding that Zhao has “years of violative conduct, disregard of the laws of the United States, evasion of regulatory oversight, and open questions about various financial transfers.” If a federal judge rules to freeze assets as requested, it would apply to dozens of accounts held at Axos Bank, the defunct Silvergate Bank, Prime Trust, and other institutions, CNBC reported.
