Zhao Changpeng, founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume Binance, has officially denied allegations made by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital about a failed funding deal.
The case stems from the collapse of negotiations for an investment in Binance by Sequoia. is a private fund applying research and technology to the global derivatives markets as part of a low-risk, high-volume hedged trading strategy.Located in Menlo Park, California, Sequoia manages multiple investment funds including those specific to India, Israel, and China.
In late December, Sequoia obtained a temporary injunction, to keep Zhao from engaging in negotiations with other firms, namely IDG Capital which has offered two cash injections of $400 million and $1 billion in valuing Binance far higher than Sequoia. After that, the dispute became public. Sequoia Capital sued Zhao in a Hong Kong lawsuit claiming that he breached an exclusivity agreement with a noted VC firm while negotiating over a potential investment.
Yesterday, Binance published a which states that “Mr. Zhao denies all of SCC’s allegations relating to the present dispute”.
From the words of the exchange, Sequoia has been ordered to pay Zhao’s costs in relation to the legal proceedings. Binance confirmed that the ‘ex parte conjunction’ was obtained without notice to Zhao. However, Zhao challenged the injunction this month and the Hong Kong High court has since dismissed the judicial order.
“SCC obtained an ex parte injunction without notice against Mr. Zhao at the end of December 2017. After a hearing attended by both parties’ legal representatives in April 2018, the High Court of Hong Kong has now determined that this injunction should not have been granted, as it had been improperly obtained and constituted an abuse of process by SCC. On this basis, SCC was ordered to pay Mr. Zhao’s costs in relation to the legal proceedings,” the post reads.
According to the company’s blog on , Binance founder will make no further comment on the matter, as the substantive issues in dispute between the parties are subject to confidential arbitration proceedings.
“Sequoia Legal Case Update” by
— CZ (@cz_binance)
Binance is an international multi-language cryptocurrency exchange. It is the world’s largest exchange by trading volume. Binance has its own digital currency, named Binance Coin and based on Ethereum.
According to, Binance Coin price is $13,89 per token. Earlier the exchange that it was planning to establish its office in Malta, after receiving an official warning letter from the Japanese Financial Services Authority (FSA) demanding to obtain license for continuing its operations in the country.
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After hemming and hawing in its strange relationship with cryptocurrencies and the businesses they imply, the Philippine government decided to make room for a set aside economic zone. The scheme is offered in hopes of generating more tax income, employment for its people, and perhaps a dedicated crypto university.
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Philippines Allows Crypto Companies to Operate Economic Zone
Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) spokesman Raul Lambinos told Reuters, “We are about to licence 10 platforms for cryptocurrency exchange. They are Japanese, Hong Kong, Malaysians, Koreans. They can go into cryptocurrency mining, initial coin offerings, or they can go into exchange.” Exchanges providing onramps to the nation’s fiat money, on the other hand, are encouraged to launch offshore to avoid running afoul of Philippine law.
Raul Lambino
Such zones offer advantageous tax regimes in the hope of creating more employment for Filipinos. Early this year, the country legalized such zones for crypto, which appears to be more welcoming to digital assets than other countries in the region.
Local authorities estimate over two years crypto companies will invest more than $1 million, with ten percent of that going toward building a tax base. Ambitious plans also include a possible blockchain-based financial technology university to help feed workers to surrounding businesses in the zone.
A Strange Relationship with Crypto
The government appears to be responding to popular sentiment regarding cryptocurrency, as it has not been very supportive of late: its Philippine National Police arrested bitcoiners, accusing them of running a Ponzi scheme, and the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission came down against cloud mining, asserting such contracts are too close to securities.
Senator Leila M. de Lima
And, as we wrote , opposition “leader senator Leila M. de Lima thinks that the legislative chamber needs to prioritize Senate Bill 1694, a proposal she filed a month ago. The recent Ordonio Ponzi scheme has compelled her to call upon her colleagues.’I hope that this occurrence will push my esteemed colleagues in the Senate to take my proposed bill seriously and help pass it into law soon.’”
Slightly before that, the SEC “revealed to the public that it plans to enforce securities regulations against cloud mining operations. According to the SEC’s statement, the regulatory agency believes these types of contracts should be defined as ‘securities,’” News.bitcoin.com .
Acceptance, however, of an economic zone for crypto is a positive first start for the industry, and might signal a slight change of heart on the government’s end.
Do you think this initiative will be imitated by other governments in the region? Let us know in the comments section below.
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