Cryptocurrency markets sold off sharply on Monday following news that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) is suing Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and its founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Changpeng Zhao (CZ). The complaint accuses Binance of secretly controlling customers’ assets, allowing them to move customer funds as they please.

Over the past 24 hours, the global cryptocurrency market has lost more than 4.5% in value, according to CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin, the largest crypto token by market capitalization, has fallen nearly 5% to trade at $25,720. It was the lowest point touched since March 17.

Tokens such as Ethereum, Cardano, Solana, Dogecoin and Polygon were also trading down sharply.

Additionally, Binance Coin (BNB), the token used to pay for transactions and exchange fees on Binance, is down nearly 9% over the past 24 hours.

“We will continue to work with regulators and policymakers in the US and globally, as this is the right thing to do,” Binance said in a blog post on Monday. However, it added that Binance is not a US exchange, so the SEC’s action is “limited in scope.”

Binance was founded in Shanghai in 2017 by CZ, a Canadian citizen born and raised in China until he was 12 years old. While its holding company is based in the Cayman Islands, Binance said it has no headquarters and declined to reveal the location of its main Binance.com exchange.

The SEC also claimed in its complaint that Binance and Zhao had “discretionary control” over billions of dollars in crypto assets originating from the United States.

The SEC charges are the latest in a string of legal woes for Binance. In March, another US regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, filed its own lawsuit against Binance, accusing it of operating illegally in the country. The exchange is also under investigation by the US Department of Justice.

Regulators worldwide have stepped up scrutiny of crypto firms since the dramatic collapse of the crypto exchange FTX last year.

Shivam Thakral, CEO of Indian cryptocurrency exchange BuyUcoin, told the Business Standard: “Markets will react strongly as the Binance-SEC incident unfolds; we should brace ourselves for volatile markets in the weeks ahead,” he added, which also highlights the need for regulatory clarity in the global crypto ecosystem.