Binance crypto traders seek damages for millions lost during May outage

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, is facing legal action over a May 19 hour-long outage that resulted in millions of dollars in traders’ money lost, claimants allege.

Why should we care?
The legal action against Binance is unique for a couple of reasons. First, since Binance has no headquarters, traders are pursuing the claim in international arbitration court in Hong Kong. Second, Liti Capital, which has provided $5M in funding for the case, says the case is the “largest consumer international arbitration in history.” Other sources say it’s the largest investor action ever brought against a cryptocurrency platform, and a major test for investor rights in digital currency markets. New York-based White & Case will represent the traders. Binance says it cannot comment on pending legal matters, but it claims it fairly compensated users who experienced losses due to “our system’s issues.” The company reportedly suffered several outages in recent years, and is the focus of several regulatory probes, which include actions from agencies in the U.S., Japan, Britain, Germany, Italy, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the company’s CEO, last month said he wanted to improve relations with regulators.