Binance wins a round, even as it continues to face issues elsewhere
Binance US has won its appeal following the suspension of its money-services business license in Florida. A Florida First District Court of Appeal ruling determined that the Office of Financial Regulation’s (OFR) emergency suspension order against the cryptocurrency exchange had no legal justification.
The agency ordered the suspension after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao pled guilty to violating US Anti-Money Laundering law last November. The court cited that the applicable state law uses the word “may,” suggesting discretion in these cases rather than an automatic suspension.
The ruling requires the OFR to provide more evidence and investigate more lenient options besides suspensions. It also underscores the suspension posed a considerable financial risk to more than 170,000 Florida clients.
The court remarked, “For Petitioner to immediately comply with the ESO, it would be necessary to liquidate the digital asset holdings of every customer [which] threatens financial harm because of digital asset price fluctuations.”
Binance’s Florida suspension was among the first in several states after Zhao’s guilty plea, joining bans in North Carolina, Maine, Alaska, and Oregon. Binance’s US operations in Ohio and Georgia also remain undetermined, and its platform is not offered in New York, Hawaii, Minnesota, Vermont, and Texas.
The OFR could appeal the court’s ruling while Binance is authorized to resume operations in Florida for existing customers. New users are temporarily restricted from registering with the crypto exchange.
Binance was founded in 2017 and operates the world’s largest crypto exchange in daily trading volume. Users can purchase and trade various digital assets, including the popular Binance Coin (BNB).
