Judge Grants Request for 60-Day Hold on SEC Lawsuit Against Binance

A federal judge reportedly granted a joint request by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and cryptocurrency exchange Binance to put the SEC’s civil lawsuit against the company on hold.

The hold will last for 60 days, Reuters reported Thursday (Feb. 13).

It was reported Tuesday (Feb. 11) that the SEC, Binance and Binance Co-founder Changpeng Zhao submitted a joint motion in court asking that the case be put on hold for 60 days while the Trump administration develops a digital asset framework.

The request followed the creation of a crypto taskforce by SEC acting Chairman Mark Uyeda in January.

“The work of this task force may impact and facilitate the potential resolution of this case,” the filing said. “Accordingly, the SEC proposed a brief stay to defendants, and the defendants agreed that a stay is appropriate and in the interest of judicial economy.”

When proposing the 60-day stay, the SEC and Binance said they would submit a joint status report, including whether a continuation of the stay is needed.

The SEC filed 13 charges against Binance and Zhao in June 2023, alleging that the crypto asset trading platform committed a variety of securities law violations.

The charges included operating as unregistered exchanges, brokers, dealers and clearing agencies; making unregistered offers and sales of crypto assets; failing to restrict U.S. investors from accessing Binance.com; and misleading investors.

Binance said at the time in a blog post that it was “disappointed” with the SEC’s decision to file the lawsuit because the company had cooperated with the regulator’s investigations, worked to address its concerns and aimed to reach a negotiated settlement.

The SEC’s crypto taskforce was formed by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in January and was tasked with, among other things, developing a federal regulatory framework governing digital assets.

The taskforce went live Feb. 4, with the SEC saying it wants the group to lay down a clear route so crypto businesses aren’t left guessing whether they’re breaking the law. Its goal is to create rules that make sense for crypto while protecting investors from scams and rug pulls.