The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has reportedly launched an investigation into Binance's BNB, Bloomberg reports.
The regulatory watchdog wants to determine whether or not the most popular exchange token is an unregistered security.
Binance held its initial coin offering (ICO) back in July 2017. The exchange raised a total of $15 million.
The probe is yet to reach any conclusion, according to the report. The regulator may not end up taking legal action against the exchange.
BNB, which experienced immense growth in 2021, remains the fifth-biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The coin is currently trading at $293 after slipping 4.66% on the news.
In December 2020, the SEC took Ripple to court over allegedly illegal XRP sales. The resolution of the high-stakes case is expected to have significant ramifications for the entire industry.
Last September, the Wall Street Journal reported that the agency had started investigating DeFi kingpin Uniswap.
Vladislav Sopov