Lawyers for Binance and its former CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao have made a new bid to dismiss the SEC lawsuit against them.

On November 4, they filed a motion to dismiss an amended complaint brought by the SEC last month.

The filing argues that the amended complaint merely acknowledges a previous court ruling stating that crypto assets are not inherently securities, yet it avoids the implication that secondary market sales of these assets, long after their initial release, do not constitute 'securities' transactions.

"The SEC’s Amended Complaint continues to insist that nearly all transactions involving crypto assets—including blind secondary market sales of tokens—are securities transactions simply because some buyers may hope for future appreciation."

Additionally, the motion criticized the SEC for its vague regulatory stance on virtual assets, claiming it has yet to define standards for identifying which crypto transactions are considered investment contracts. Furthermore, the SEC has allegedly chosen arbitrarily which assets it recognizes as securities, recently contradicting its previous position that transactions involving Ether, the second-largest crypto asset, are securities.

The SEC initiated this lawsuit against Zhao and three companies, including BAM Management U.S. Holdings and Binance Holdings, in June 2023. This case is distinct from the criminal charges against Zhao and Binance brought by the Department of Justice.

In November 2023, Binance acknowledged participating in anti-money laundering violations and was fined $4.3 billion, with Zhao serving four months in U.S. prison before his release. The SEC is also pursuing various other cryptocurrency firms, and last week issued a Wells notice to the gaming company Immutable.