The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed an emergency motion in federal court in Washington, D.C., asking a judge to freeze the assets of Binance US and repatriate them.The order applies only to Binance US companies (Sigma Chain and Merit Peak),.The SEC alleges that Sigma Chain and Merit Peak served as conduits for billions of dollars of customer money that was improperly commingled with Binance funds.According to the SEC, the order is necessary to “prevent the dissipation of existing assets.”The warrant also requires Binance founder Changpeng Zhao “to show cause why a preliminary injunction should not be entered” against Zhao and the two firms.“Users’ assets are safe and the platform continues to operate at full capacity, and deposits and withdrawals are made as usual. The filing of the preliminary injunction is unwarranted and based more on the SEC staff gaining an advantage in litigation rather than genuine concerns about the safety of customer assets,” Binance US said.
