The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking to target stablecoin issuer Paxos, the developer of both the Binance (BUSD) and Pax dollar (USDP).
While the development has been confirmed by the press, the regulator has declined to comment.
However, the Wall Street Journal reports that SEC is looking at Binance’s stablecoin BUSD, which it alleges is an unregistered security.
SEC is engaging in a similar lawsuit with Ripple Labs, but the crypto company is confident it will win.
SEC’s actions seem to be coordinated with the New York Department of Financial Services, which is also investigating Paxos.
BUSD benefits from a provisional charter from a federal bank regulator – the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency – which makes the attack against it a surprising move by SEC.
Even though the regulator has not commented publicly on the report, Paxos has halted the minting of new BUSD tokens.
Binance has insisted that BUSD is a stablecoin managed and owned by Paxos and stated that it expected its value to decline overtime.
Speaking to Coindesk, a Binance spokesperson said: “Given the ongoing regulatory uncertainty in certain markets, we will be reviewing other projects in those jurisdictions to ensure our users are insulated from further undue harm.”
Meanwhile, SEC has been able to achieve some success, forcing prominent cryptocurrency exchange Kraken to shutter staking services for retail customers, something which was met with criticism by the broader crypto community and Coinbase boss Brian Armstrong.
SEC continues to take enforcement action over a course towards regulation that would allow businesses to comply with crypto laws instead of breaking rules that do not exist.
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