Canada Sues Binance, Degens Bet on Changpeng Zhao's Sentence
Binance is losing allies across the globe as Canada marks the latest country to turn its back on the world's biggest crypto exchange.
Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice has initiated a certification motion for a class-action lawsuit against Binance, seeking damages for unlawfully facilitating derivatives trades.
The plaintiffs argued that Binance company sold cryptocurrency derivative products to retail investors without proper registration, involving tens of thousands of Canadian users.
Canada joins the list of countries taking action against Binance. Most recently, the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered Google and Apple app stores to remove the Binance app in the Philippines due to the firm operating as an unregistered broker.”
Emilio Aquino, chair of the SEC, said that by removing Binance applications from digital app marketplaces, Google and Apple would “prevent the further proliferation of its illegal activities in the country.”
Meanwhile, Binance executive, Tigran Gambaryan, will remain in Nigerian custody until 17 May 2024 as per an Abuja court's ruling. He will spend his 40th birthday in a Nigerian prison.
Gambaryan and Binance's regional manager for Africa, British-Kenyan Nadeem Anjarwalla, were detained in Nigeria in February. The pair visited the country in to address allegations that the exchange's activity had crashed the country's national currency, the naira.
Binance is also blocked in the UK, Netherlands, Canada, Malaysia, and the US (although Binance.us operates as a separate entity).
US prosecutors are seeking a three-year prison sentence for former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) after he pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws.
Prosecutors filed the request on 23 April in a Seattle federal court, arguing that imposing double the maximum 18-month sentence recommended by federal guidelines would reflect the severity of Zhao's crimes and serve as a deterrence.
However, degens are betting that CZ will spend less than six months in jail. Trades on Polymarket show that betters believe there will be a 44% chance CZ will serve under six months behind bars - the highest probability offered. Degens believe there is only a 10% chance the fed's 36-month sentence will carry through.