The situation at Binance is on edge. Following the lawsuit by the SEC, the world's largest crypto exchange is under pressure, the evidence overwhelming. It involves illegal activities, from unauthorized securities trading to misappropriation of customer funds. It was foreseeable: a loss in the price of its own Binance Coin (BNB). The fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has fallen more than 20 percent in the past 30 days. Several analysts now claim that Binance is deliberately manipulating the market to artificially stabilize BNB's value.

The rumors have already spread to crypto Twitter. Some analysts are accusing Binance of washtrading. According to the allegations, the crypto exchange would sell Bitcoin for USDT. The USDT funds would then be "pumped" into Binance Coin, the argument goes. Bitcoin analyst Dylan LeClair is also convinced that "BNB is clearly a rigged market" and is trading at a lower realized volume than Bitcoin.

Changpeng "CZ" Zhao denies allegations

As expected, Changpeng "CZ" Zhao denied the rumors and called the accusations FUD. Nothing new: Binance's CEO has vehemently denied speculation of a possible jail sentence. Whether the rumors are actually based on facts is difficult to verify. Reason enough for an independent investigation. At least that's what some critics say.

Although many users defend CZ and want to hear nothing about the "FUD arguments." Binance.US has already attracted attention in the SEC lawsuit for alleged involvement in wash trading. In any case, things are going badly for the US branch: Should authorities freeze the company's assets in the course of the proceedings, the crypto exchange business would "quickly come to a halt," Binance itself admits.

Binance gossip mill heats up

Also much discussed: Binance's terms and conditions, which were amended on June 6. Accordingly, the crypto exchange has the "exclusive authority to determine which digital assets are listed on the platform" and can also remove them at its discretion. The main focus of the discussion is the following paragraph:

If Digital Assets that are no longer listed on the Platform remain in your Binance Account for longer than a certain period of time, Binance may, at its discretion, convert those Digital Assets into another type of Digital Asset.

Source: General Terms and Conditions III. Binance Services

One investor speculates that Binance could misuse customer funds for its own purposes. Particularly in the current situation, this ensures the company has sufficient liquidity. Whether the rumors are true remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, some major investors are already withdrawing their investments and selling the native Binance token. At the time of writing, BNB is trading at $246 and has risen nearly 5 percent in the past 24 hours.