John Reed Stark, former director of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, again criticized the cryptocurrency industry this Tuesday (18). According to the director, Binance would pay its employees with “fake money”.
His comments included a link to The Wall Street Journal, where an article noted that the exchange laid off 1,000 workers during its sixth anniversary.
Before that, on Thursday (14), Stark became a laughingstock after the SEC lost the lawsuit against XRP and received taunts from a former Binance executive. The next day, the ex-SEC sought to end the party of investors and other cryptocurrencies, noting that the Commission is likely to appeal the court’s decision.
Ex-SEC Calls Binance Coin “Fake Money”
Storage of value, currency, security, investment or many other definitions, cryptocurrencies can be given the widest variety of classifications and use cases due to the versatility of their technologies.
When he shared the news that Binance would lay off 1,000 employees, John Reed Stark was less than nice in his definition. To the former SEC, Binance Coin (BNB), the fifth largest coin in the market, is simply “fake money”.
Moving on, the director questioned Binance’s use of BNB for salary payments.
“Some fired Binance employees received termination agreements that offered 2 months salary in BNB if they signed”Stark commented on the subject. Binance said the termination was “a gesture of goodwill”.
“Hmmm, how can paying laid off employees with counterfeit money be goodwill?”
Some dismissed Binance employees were given severance agreements offering 2 months salary in BNB if they signed. Binance said the severity was “a gesture of goodwill”. Hmmm, how does paying laid-off employees with counterfeit money constitute goodwill? https://t.co/76IPzgZXkZ
— John ReedStark (@JohnReedStark) July 18, 2023
While his tweet contains a link to the WSJ, such details about the terminations were shared in another more recent article, about cuts to benefits, published Monday (17), also by the WSJ.
To the SEC, Binance Coin (BNB) is a security
In a lawsuit against Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, the US Securities and Exchange Commission listed Binance Coin (BNB) as a security, as well as 14 other cryptocurrencies.
With R$ 180 billion in market capitalization, BNB is one of the most successful projects in the industry today. In addition to the numbers, the copy of this strategy by several other brokers also supports this praise.
Using it as a means of payment should not be a problem either, as BNB has good market liquidity. Still, that wasn’t enough to convince Stark.
“They can convert to USDT so what’s the problem if the [pagamento for em] BNB”questioned a former SEC follower about his statements.
“So what then, do you use USDT to buy groceries and pay rent? Sorry friend, I can’t believe your logic”answered John Stark.
Source: Live Coins
Barry Siefert is an accomplished journalist and author at The Nation View. He is known for his expertise in the field of cryptocurrency, and has written extensively on the topic. With a background in finance and economics, Barry has a deep understanding of the underlying technology and market forces that drive the crypto industry.