A class action complaint against Binance, alleging the cryptocurrency exchange is selling unregistered crypto derivative products and breaking securities legislation, has been approved by Ontario's higher court.
Christopher Lochan and Jeremy Leeder filed the case, alleging that Binance offered goods derived from cryptocurrency to thousands of retail traders without complying with legal requirements to register with the Ontario Securities Commission.
According to Advisor.ca, the complaint was granted certification of motion on April 19, enabling it to move on as a "class action" lawsuit that will represent a large number of people without requiring each individual to file a lawsuit on their own.
"They are two of the tens of thousands of Canadian users of the Binance website who invested in cryptocurrency products and who claim that those products were sold by the Defendants illegally," according to Lochan and Leeder, according to Judge E.M. Morgan.
"The plaintiffs have met the evidentiary burden on them of establishing some basis in fact that the issues raised in the four liability questions are common across the class," the judge said in authorizing the complaint.
In addition to the termination of their agreement with Binance, the plaintiffs are requesting damages for the cryptocurrency trades that occurred. Binance contended that since it was a third party to these transactions, retraction was inappropriate.
Nevertheless, the court dismissed Binance's claim, pointing out that it was unable to produce any pertinent contracts to back up its theory.
"One would think that they could produce at least one such contract if it is the defendants’ view that Binance website users contract with each other and that Binance is only a medium for these contracts," the judge stated.
April 2024, Cryptoniteuae