Most (67%) Believe Lawsuit Against Binance is a Political Move

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) of the United States recently filed a lawsuit against Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, for allegedly engaging in unregistered derivatives trading. According to the lawsuit, Binance allowed US residents to trade derivatives contracts, which are regulated by the CFTC, without registering with the agency.

The CFTC’s action against Binance is just one example of the increased regulatory scrutiny that crypto exchanges and other digital asset businesses are subjecting themselves to in the United States. As cryptocurrencies grow in popularity and acceptance, regulators are working to ensure they are adequately regulated to protect consumers and prevent fraudulent activity.

Changpeng Zhao’s Alleged Regulatory Violations

According to Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, has reviewed the document and calls it an “incomplete recitation of facts.”

“Upon an initial review, the complaint appears to contain an incomplete recitation of facts, and we do not agree with the characterization of many of the issues alleged in the complaint”

Binance claims that they are committed to transparency and cooperation with regulations and law enforcement around the world and they hold the highest number of license/registrations globally.

Hence, Real Research, an online survey app, launched a survey on CFTC filing a lawsuit against Binance to gauge public perception about the lawsuit against Binance and the need for regulatory changes for crypto exchanges.

Key Points

• 61.55% are aware of the reason why Binance is being sued.
• 33.36% of the respondents believe that Binance will win the case against CFTC.
• Victory for CFTC would lead to tighter regulation of crypto exchanges in the United States, said 22.71%.

The first poll asked, “How familiar are people with the US CFTC’s recent lawsuit against Binance and its CEO for noncompliance with US regulations?” According to the survey conducted by Real Research, 61.55% of respondents were aware of the lawsuit, while 38.45% were not.

The recent lawsuit filed by the US regulator CFTC against Binance and its CEO has raised questions about the need for greater transparency and regulation in the crypto industry. According to Real Research’s survey, 13.09% of the respondents believe the lawsuit highlights the need for greater transparency in the crypto industry, while 11.53% think it highlights the need for increased regulation.

Additionally, 10.67% of respondents believe that Binance should be more transparent about its business practices, and 10.52% believe that the lawsuit is a reminder that all companies must comply with federal law.

Figure 1: Opinions on the lawsuit against Binance.

A further 9.33% said that Binance allegedly evading federal law likely undermines the integrity of the financial system and 8.96% believe that Binance’s alleged willful evasion of federal law is a serious accusation.

CFTC vs. Binance

Based on the survey results, it appears that most respondents are unsure about which argument is most likely to be true regarding the allegations against Binance. Roughly one-third (32.6%) of respondents believe Binance’s argument is likely true, while nearly the same percentage (29%) believe the CFTC’s argument is likely to be true.

In the next poll, we aimed to determine if respondents believed the CFTC’s lawsuit against Binance was politically motivated. The CFTC may feel that Binance’s violation of federal law is more related to commodities than security, which differs from the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) stance.

The survey results indicated that a majority of 66.75% believe that the CFTC’s lawsuit is likely targeted at SEC and 16.42% said the CFTC’s lawsuit is unlikely targeted at SEC. Notably, 16.83% remained uncertain about this.

When we asked how likely SEC would file a similar lawsuit against Binance to counter CFTC’s lawsuit, a combined 49.01% said likely, with 21.39% saying 27.62% somewhat likely and 21.39% highly likely.

On the other hand, another combined 36.13% said unlikely, with 25.64% saying somewhat unlikely and 10.49% highly unlikely.

How Will the CFTC Lawsuit Against Binance Impact Its Reputation and Business Operations?

In the next poll, respondents were asked for their thoughts on the impact of the CFTC lawsuit on Binance’s reputation and business operations. According to the survey results, the lawsuit will have a major impact (22.13%), while 22.51% believe it will cause minor damage.

On the other hand, 16.03% believe that the lawsuit will restore Binance’s reputation and business operations, and 15.57% believe it will have no impact.

Regarding the lawsuit, we also inquired about the respondents’ predictions on who is likely to win the case between Binance and the CFTC. 33.36% believe Binance would win, 31.25% predicted CFTC’s victory, and the remaining 35.39% were uncertain.

The Aftermath of Binance Winning the Lawsuit

22.41% believe the case would set a precedent that would make it easier for crypto exchanges to evade regulations in the future. This was closely followed by 21.37% who believe crypto exchanges would continue to operate with limited regulatory oversight.

In addition, Binance’s victory would result in the government increasing its efforts to regulate crypto exchanges (21.16%), and the case would have no impact on the crypto industry (13.51%).

The Aftermath of the CFTC Winning the Lawsuit

The survey also inquired about the possible outcome if the CFTC emerged victorious in the lawsuit. 22.71% of respondents felt that crypto exchanges would face stricter regulations in the United States. A close second, 22.49% of participants believe that the lawsuit would establish a precedent that would make it more challenging for crypto exchanges to circumvent regulations in the future.

Furthermore, 20.34% of those surveyed thought that crypto exchanges would relocate their operations to countries with less regulatory oversight, while 13.75% of respondents believed that the lawsuit would not impact the crypto industry.