Binance CEO Says Firm Did Not Sell Bitcoin or Binance Coin

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has not sold either bitcoin or Binance Coin, its native token, the company's CEO Changpeng Zhao tweeted on Tuesday.

Last week, Binance was sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which listed 13 charges against the company, Zhao and the operator of its purportedly independent US exchange.

The lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase Global have increased fears the crypto market's ordeal could be prolonged further after the sector was battered by a string of meltdowns including the bankruptcy of FTX, Binance's biggest competitor, last year.

Binance Coin has lost more than 20 percent in value since the SEC's action.

It was previously reported that Binance would swap 750 million tether-tron token pairs for tether-ether in an attempt to maintain the stablecoin's liquidity.

The move comes amid renewed regulatory scrutiny at the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange and will help cushion some of the fallout from recent blows, including Binance being sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The swap, set to start after 12 pm UTC (05:30 pm IST) on Monday, will be held directly with the tether team, the tweet said.

Tether is the largest stablecoin that aims to maintain a 1:1 peg with the US dollar. Tron is the ninth largest cryptocurrency with a $6.3 billion (nearly Rs. 51,900 crore) market value, while ether is the largest after bitcoin, with its $210 billion (nearly Rs. 17,30,500 crore) market capitalization.

Last week, the SEC sued Binance, its CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao, and Binance.US's operation alleging in 13 charges that Binance had engaged in a "web of deception," artificially inflated trading volumes and diverted customer funds, and that Binance and Zhao were secretly controlling the US entity while publicly claiming that it was independent.

© Thomson Reuters 2023