In a significant development for the cryptocurrency industry, Florida’s First District Court of Appeal has ruled unanimously against a permanent ban on Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
According to a Bloomberg law reportThe court determined that state financial regulators failed to follow proper procedures when issuing an emergency suspension order, thereby denying Binance the ability to operate in the state.
Binance wins legal battle
The ban, imposed by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation in November 2023, came shortly after former Binance Holdings CEO Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to federal financial charges.
However, the court emphasized that regulators failed to support their legal findings, particularly regarding the alleged danger posed by Zhao’s behavior.
The court’s ruling noted that the emergency suspension order lacked a clear legal basis, as regulators failed to adequately demonstrate that Zhao’s actions threatened the health, safety and welfare of be public.
Although the court ruling is a significant victory for Binance, the exchange also faced regulatory challenges in other jurisdictions. The Alaska Banking Division, for example, also rejected the renewal of Binance.US’s license to operate in the state during the same period.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, commonly known as CZ, was sentenced to four months in prison. The conviction follows his guilty plea to charges related to facilitating money laundering activities on the cryptocurrency exchange.
Notably, Zhao’s sentence was less severe than the three-year prison sentence federal prosecutors sought. On the other hand, the defense requested five months of probation, ultimately obtaining the desired result.
As a member of resolution, Binance was ordered to pay substantial fines and forfeiture of $4.3 billion. Additionally, Changpeng Zhao personally agreed to pay a large fine of $50 million.
BNB Nears All-Time High Amid Market Uptrend
As this development unfolded, Binance’s native token BNB showed further bullish momentum, consistent with the overall market uptrend seen over the past week, led by major cryptocurrencies.
Over the past month, BNB has demonstrated significant gains, accumulating a 4% increase over the past 30 days and a substantial 7% increase over the previous week alone. Therefore, its current trading price amounts to $620.
Notably, this places the fourth-largest cryptocurrency near its all-time high (ATH) of $686, reached during the 2021 bull market.
However, according to CoinGecko dataBNB has seen a 66% drop in trading volume in recent days, totaling $1 billion in the last 24 hours.. However, if the current uptrend persists, there are only a few resistance levels to watch before a possible retest of its ATH.
Analyzing the BNB/USD 4-hour chart, the next important resistance levels, $621.5 and $633, represent the main obstacles that need to be overcome for the token to continue its ascent to higher levels.
In contrast, BNB bulls must remain vigilant regarding the support lines at $614 and $605 to avoid a downtrend that could lead to a test of the crucial $600 support level.
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com
