The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Binance filed a joint motion to pause their legal case for 60 days, marking the first move toward halting major cryptocurrency litigation since Mark Uyeda took over as acting SEC chair.
The motion, filed on Feb. 10, asked to pause the case against the exchange for 60 days, citing the establishment of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force.
“The work of this task force may impact and facilitate the potential resolution of this case,” the SEC and Binance wrote in the motion.
According to some industry observers, other crypto firms like Ripple, Coinbase and Kraken will likely follow suit by filing similar joint motions with the SEC.
The first request to halt a crypto case under Uyeda
Following the 60 days, the SEC and Binance plan to issue a joint report on whether a continuation of the stay would be warranted.
“As this is a joint motion, there is no prejudice to any party here, and a stay could save the parties resources because, if an early resolution could be reached, it would obviate the need to continue merits discovery,” the parties said.
“We are grateful to interim Chairman Uyeda for his thoughtful approach to ensuring digital assets receive the appropriate legislative and regulatory focus in this new, golden era of blockchain in the US and around the world,” a spokesperson for Binance told Cointelegraph.
According to FOX Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, the joint motion is the first requested pause on crypto litigation since Uyeda was named the acting SEC chair on Jan. 20.
“I expect we’ll see other non-fraud cases [such as] Ripple, Coinbase, Kraken, and others follow suit in this manner,” Terrett wrote in a post on X.
SEC crypto task force to bring clear crypto regulations
In his first action as acting SEC chair, Uyeda launched the SEC Crypto Task Force, which aims to establish a clear regulatory framework for the crypto industry in the US.
Launched on Jan. 21, the task force is led by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who’s been supportive of crypto for years and is nicknamed “Crypto Mom” by the community.
Related: SEC seeks more time to mull options on Ethereum ETFs
According to Peirce, the SEC’s handling of crypto has been associated with “legal imprecision and commercial impracticality.”
“Many cases remain in litigation, many rules remain in the proposal stage, and many market participants remain in limbo,” the commissioner stated on Feb. 4. She added:
“Determining how best to disentangle all these strands, including ongoing litigation, will take time. It will involve work across the whole agency and cooperation with other regulators. Please be patient.”
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