Binance Spars With U.S. Regulators Over Asset Freeze

A federal judge on Tuesday urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to strike a compromise with Binance that would allow the global cryptocurrency exchange to continue operating in the United States as it fights a civil fraud lawsuit filed by the regulator.

Last week, the SEC charged Binance and its U.S. affiliate with mishandling customers’ deposits and lying to regulators. It also sought to freeze the company’s U.S. assets, a move that Binance claimed would force it to shut down in the United States.

At a hearing in Washington on Tuesday, Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asked the two sides to confer on a possible agreement over the asset freeze,