Cryptocurrency traders are withdrawing funds from crypto exchange Binance as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued the company and its CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao for violating federal securities law on Monday.
Blockchain data shows that the exchange endured some $69 million in net outflows over the past hour, according to blockchain intelligence platform Nansen.
Traders have withdrawn some $125 million of digital assets during this period, compared to the $56 million in deposits, per Nansen. The data excludes bitcoin (BTC) transfers.
The outflows came as the SEC lawsuit alleged that Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, had breached multiple federal securities laws. The suit said that Binance offered unregistered crypto securities including BNB and BUSD tokens to the general public and allowed for commingling of customer funds.
The SEC also alleged that CZ, the company’s chief executive officer, was “secretly” in control of Binance.US, an ostensibly separate entity operating in the U.S., and a CZ-owned entity had inflated Binance.US’s trading volume.
