Binance.US has requested a federal judge to reject the US SEC's demand to freeze its assets during a legal battle with the regulator. The cryptocurrency exchange's US arm has argued that freezing its assets would harm its business and customers.

Binance.US attorneys stated that without the ability to pay employees, vendors, suppliers, and professionals or to maintain the trading platform, operations would quickly grind to a halt.

The US SEC had requested the federal court to seize Binance.US's assets after suing Binance entities and founder Changpeng Zhao last week, alleging "blatant disregard of US securities laws" and "years of violative conduct" that puts customer funds at risk.