Under court deal, Binance can continue U.S. operations as it battles SEC fraud charges

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Binance have reached an agreement in court that lets the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange continue to operate in the United States as it battles SEC fraud charges. 

Under a consent order filed Saturday, the defendants in the June 5 lawsuit agreed to repatriate all assets held for the benefit of Binance's U.S. trading customers. 

The SEC alleges Binance broke U.S. law by operating as an unregistered securities exchange. It filed similar charges against the world's other top cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, nearly simultaneously. 

But Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, face additional charges of diverting customer funds - concealing the fact that it was commingling billions of dollars in investor assets and sending them to a third party that Zhao also owned.