The U.S. SEC Is Reportedly Investigating Binance’s BNB Token

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating if the crypto exchange should have registered the initial coin offering of Binance coin as a security, Bloomberg reports.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking into whether the initial coin offering (ICO) of Binance coin (BNB) token back in 2017 was an unregistered security offering that should have been registered with the regulatory agency, Bloomberg reported, citing confidential sources.

Without commenting on the details of the reported probe, a Binance spokesperson said:

“As the industry has grown at a rapid pace, we have been working very diligently to educate and assist law enforcement and regulators in the U.S. and internationally, while also adhering to new guidelines. We will continue to meet all requirements set by regulators.”

At the time of writing, BNB trades at $286, down 6.5% on the daily and 11% on the weekly chart.

Binance has been under investigation in the U.S. by the Justice Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Internal Revenue Service. The world’s largest crypto exchange Binance says it’s not domiciled in any one country.

The SEC is also probing into market-making companies owned or partially owned by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao that do business with Binance.US, a U.S.-based affiliate of the global exchange, according to the Bloomberg report.

According to the report, one of the SEC’s focuses is on whether Binance.US is wholly independent of the global exchange and whether employees may be involved in insider trading.