Those Binance charges in full (updated)

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed 13 charges against Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao. 🍿

The full complaint from regulators is a 136-page document, which looks to be absolutely full of juice about the world’s biggest crypto exchange.

Here’s the SEC’s chosen topline:

Charges include operating unregistered exchanges, broker-dealers, and clearing agencies; misrepresenting trading controls and oversight on the Binance.US platform; and the unregistered offer and sale of securities.

There are many things to be said at this point, but perhaps we should simply echo this comment, on page 64, from one unnamed employee of BAM Trading, Binance’s operator: “Yikes”.

There’s also this fantastic, and utterly unnecessary, “(Emphasis added.)”:

You can read the full rap sheet here. If you spot something fun, let us know in the comments.

Update 17:53 BST: Binance has responded. Quote:

While we take the SEC’s allegations seriously, they should not be the subject of an SEC enforcement action, let alone on an emergency basis. We intend to defend our platform vigorously. Unfortunately, the SEC’s refusal to productively engage with us is just another example of the Commission’s misguided and conscious refusal to provide much-needed clarity and guidance to the digital asset industry. 

Update 17:55 BST: Get your totes and t-shirts: