Binance and Coinbase Show Knives Out for Crypto: Lionel Laurent

Binance and other cryptocurrency firms were once expected to emerge from the rubble of the FTX collapse as the survivors of a market that would inevitably rally. Now, US regulators have made it clear that the knives are out for the entire crypto sector, with intent to inflict death by a thousand cuts.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s 136-page complaint Monday against Binance for allegedly mishandling customer funds, improperly functioning as an unregistered exchange and breaking securities rules makes for brutal reading on its own — largely thanks to internal chats that would make a pre-2008 Libor trader blush. “We are operating a fking unlicensed securities ...