Binance.US has won its appeal against Florida’s revocation of its money-services business license. The state Office of Financial Regulation’s (OFR) emergency suspension order was deemed unlawful by the Florida First District Court of Appeal.
The Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) made suspension following Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao’s guilty plea to charges of violating U.S. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws in November 2023.
The court emphasized that the OFR was merely quoting the statute and did not provide adequate grounds for the license suspension, as allowed by law. The court further noted that over 170,000 state account holders may experience significant financial losses if Binance.US was mandated to quickly liquidate its digital assets.
After Zhao’s plea, the OFR suspended the Binance.US license one week later. It was the first state to take this action. On March 25, Binance submitted an appeal against the OFR ruling, in an undisclosed document. According to Binance.US, the state has “temporarily paused new user onboarding.”
This year, Binance.US has encountered suspensions or denials of license renewals in Alaska, Maine, North Carolina, and Oregon, among other places. It’s unknown what Georgia and Ohio think of it. It never conducted business in Vermont, Hawaii, Minnesota, New York, Texas, or as a bitcoin exchange.
The Florida case serves as a reminder of the constant scrutiny and regulatory obstacles Binance must overcome to continue operating in the United States and other countries.
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