Binance.US made an announcement on Tuesday regarding the appointment of Martin Grant to its board of directors. Grant, who previously held a senior position at the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he oversaw compliance and ethics for 17 years, will now assume his role at Binance.US.
Grant, who currently serves as the global corporate head of regulatory affairs at JST Digital, joins the board following the departure of Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former chief of Binance, the global exchange. Grant brings with him over three decades of experience in legal and compliance-focused positions, having worked primarily with U.S. government agencies, including the New York Fed.
The appointment comes at a time when Binance.US is facing scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The regulatory body is insisting on compliance with national securities exchange laws for cryptocurrency trading platforms operating in the country.
In 2022, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance.US, along with other platforms such as Coinbase and Kraken, alleging that they were conducting unregistered brokerage, exchange, and clearinghouse operations. A federal court judge found the allegations plausible in the case against Coinbase.
Norman Reed, the CEO of Binance.US and a former senior enforcement counsel at the New York Fed from 1993 to 2000, commented on the lack of clear guidance from the SEC regarding which digital assets should be considered securities. He also highlighted the reliance on the Howey case, a 1946 ruling about an orange grove, which was made under different factual and legal circumstances.
