Fifteen investors have filed a complaint against the Binance France cryptocurrency platform and its holding company, Binance Holdings Limited. They denounce facts likely to be qualified as “violation of the regulations applicable to service providers on digital assets” (PSAN), misleading commercial practices and concealment of fraud, indicated Me Baptiste Bonhomme and Me Etienne de Dreuille, confirming a information from Mediapart.
The plaintiffs, “of French nationality” and aged “from 25 to 55 years old”, have, according to their lawyers, suffered a total financial loss of nearly 2.5 million euros, from May 7, during the crash of the “stablecoin” terra (UST). Terra, a cryptocurrency that was touted to hold steady at the price of one dollar, “simply crashed,” the plaintiffs’ advice recalls. “All investors were left with nothing, no collateral,” as the platform presented the value as “collateral,” backed by the US dollar, according to investor advice.
In its defense, Binance claims to include “always market risk warnings” regarding these assets and denies having produced misleading communications, in a response posted on its website.
Violations prior to May 2022 according to the complainants
For the plaintiffs’ lawyers, there is also a problem of compliance with the regulations on the part of the Binance platform: it communicated and distributed its services when it did not yet have the right to do so, they argue. . Binance only obtained the PSAN registration from the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) on May 4, 2022, allowing it the custody of digital assets and providing it with the right to communicate and promote its services.
The AMF prohibits platforms that have not been duly registered from operating in France. Requested on Tuesday, the authority did not respond immediately.
The investors’ lawyers claim to have been able to “accurately document” violations of Binance, prior to May 2022: the platform communicated in particular via Instagram and via a Telegram group called “Binance French”, “created at the initiative of Binance and stamped as the official group” of Binance, according to Me Bonhomme and Me de Dreuille.
“Binance did not promote in France before being allowed to do so,” the platform said in its response on its website. And Binance French is a “community group made up of French-speaking users from around the world,” Binance argued.
The complaint, registered on December 14 by the Paris prosecutor’s office, was also filed against “any other person” who could be “blamed for breaches” in this case, the lawyers said.