The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Binance.US, the U.S.-based subsidiary of Binance, have agreed to work out a deal that avoids a total asset freeze of the crypto exchange’s assets.
According to a Tuesday report from Bloomberg, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the two were not far away from working out a way to protect customer assets by not shutting down the exchange amid the ongoing lawsuit.
“Shutting it down completely would create significant consequences not only for the company but for the digital asset markets in general,” Jackson said.
She referred Binance.US and the SEC to a magistrate judge to work out a compromise agreement and said she would hold off on ruling on the SEC’s request for an asset freeze until a decision had been reached with the magistrate.
The judge also asked Binance.US to provide a list of its business expenses to the court while the parties continue negotiating, CoinDesk reported.
“We are open to the business continuing to operate,” said SEC lawyer Jennifer Farer to the judge on Tuesday.
In a motion filed on Monday, Binance.US argued that the SEC’s request to freeze all of its assets would effectively end its business. The crypto exchange said that the effects of the request were already taking form, with one of its banking partners freezing all activity on Binance.US’ account until the court rules on the SEC’s motion.
The SEC lawsuit, filed on June 5, named 13 charges against Binance entities, including its founder Changpeng Zhao. The charges include operating an unregistered exchange, misrepresenting trading controls and the unregistered sale of securities.
