Bitcoin’s up and Binance is down: SEC is investigating BNB

The cryptocurrency market has been bearish since April, but now it seems on its way to recovery. After weeks of losing value, Bitcoin (BTC) is finally turning bullish. On the contrary, Binance Coin (BNB) may face an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and its parent exchange has been accused of allowing money laundering.

As a result, BNB lost over 7% in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, BTC gained 4.6% in the last two days, and the total crypto market capitalization also experienced a 3.5% increase during the same period [CoinMarketCap]. According to the analytics platform Santiment, the mega whales (holders with over 10k BTC) may be boosting a buying spree.

“The mega whale addresses of Bitcoin, comprised partially of exchange addresses, own their highest supply of $BTC in a year. We often analyze the 100 to 10k $BTC addresses for alpha, but accumulation from this high tier can still be a promising sign.”

This would come to prove that institutional investors are still holding their BTCs and even comprando o mergulho right now. For its part, BNB isn’t being so lucky. The SEC’s, apparently, aiming to repeat the Ripple (XRP) story. They might accuse the exchange of illegal sales of an unregistered security, as per a Bloomberg report.

BNB was born from an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) launched by Binance in 2017. They got around $15 million for the development of their platforms and initiatives. Five years later, the SEC measure seems unwise, as the attorney Collin Belton comentou:

“Its mcap is higher than most US companies, why wait this long to take potential action if you’re concerned about potential harm? Letting things balloon only to prick it once massive seems like a recipe for inducing consumer harm rather than staving it off.”

Beyond BNB, money laundering accusations

Not only the SEC is proving BNB, but also Reuters published unfavorable research against Binance. Titled “How crypto giant Binance became a hub for hackers, fraudsters and drug traffickers”, o documento concludes that around $2.3 billion have been laundered through this exchange from 2017 to 2021. And that was possible due to their lax KYC measures.

As they described:

“During this period, Binance processed transactions totaling at least $2.35 billion stemming from hacks, investment frauds, and illegal drug sales, Reuters calculated from an examination of court records, statements by law enforcement, and blockchain data, compiled for the news agency by two blockchain analysis firms. Two industry experts reviewed the calculation and agreed with the estimate.”

o illegal funds would have come from sources such as the criminal hacking group Lazarus from North Korea, the Darknet marketplace Hydra, and several organized crime groups from Europe.

Binance already denied the accusations, urging users to “ignore those authors and pundits who cherry-pick data, rely on conveniently unverifiable ‘leaks’ from regulators, and feed into the cult of crypto paranoia for fame or financial gain”.}

This isn’t the first time that Binance is questioned by authorities, though. Last year, they had to suspend SEPA transfers due to regulatory issues. Besides, several governmental agencies in different countries have already warned against this exchange.

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