More Top Binance US Execs Exit as SEC Claims Non-Cooperation

Key Binance U.S. execs leave as regulatory pressure piles on.

BinanceUS, the U.S.-based sister platform to the popular crypto exchange Binance, has lost several key executives in the past few months.

These departures have only accelerated in recent times, with Brian Schoder (CEO), Sidney Majalya (Chief Risk Officer), and Krishna Juvvadi (Head of Legal) all leaving this week, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Alongside these key departures, BinanceUS slashed its workforce by 33%, roughly 100 employees, lamenting increased pressure from US regulators.

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In a statement, a Binance spokesperson described the company’s shrinking workforce as an “unfortunate example” of how the SEC’s aggressive attempts to cripple” the cryptocurrency industry can “have real-world consequences for American jobs and innovation.”

Recall that on June 5, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Binance, alleging securities law violations.

The case is built on similar accusations from the Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and has ground BinanceUS’ operations almost to a halt.

Daily trading volume on the platform is currently under $10 million, a significant drop from the $1 billion value the exchange had in late April (shortly before the lawsuit).

This decline in trading activity has primarily been responsible for the Binance US departures as the company struggles to generate revenue while dealing with its legal woes.

US SEC Accuses SEC of Not Cooperating with Investigations

In a related development, the SEC, in a Sept 14th filing, alleged that Binance US was not cooperating with its investigation. The SEC accused Binance of refusing to produce relevant business documents that the regulator later obtained from other sources. 

The US regulator also claimed that Binance has only produced 220 documents, largely made up of “unintelligible screenshots and documents without dates or signatures.”

The latest accusations are subject to judicial review and put Binance under further regulatory scrutiny if the court imposes additional cooperation measures on the exchange operator.

In its most recent response covered by The Crypto Basic, BinanceUS on Sept. 12 described the SEC’s continued probe into its business as unduly cumbersome.

BinanceUS said it had produced 5,000 pages of documents, addressed 19 interrogations, and produced verified accounting confirming the safety of user assets.