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🟠 Binance converting $1 billion in BUSD to bitcoin, ether and BNB
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced on Twitter that the foremost crypto exchange would convert the approximately $1 billion remaining from its Industry Recovery Initiative funds to native crypto assets — precisely, bitcoin, ether and BNB. The cryptocurrencies will be purchased using the exchange's dollar-pegged stablecoin, BUSD.
The $1 billion conversions to native crypto assets come amid a banking crisis that captured the United States' attention over the weekend. Last night, the New York Department of Financial Services seized what was widely considered the last crypto-friendly bank, Signature Bank, citing systematic risks — effectively cutting the crypto industry off from banks in the country. "Took 15 seconds and costs $1.29," CZ tweeted, citing a movement of funds worth over $980 million. "Imagine moving $980 million through a bank before banking hours on a Monday."
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📣 A Giant Whale Has Sold 73.92 Million USDC, Resulting In A 6.14 Million US Dollar Loss
According to reports, a whale worth 73.92 million USDC was swapped for 63.84 million USDT. An observer on the network reports that a huge whale address that formerly held 120 million USDC is swapping USDC for USDT. Now, 73.92 million USDC has been swapped for 63.84 million USDT and 2755 ETH, resulting in a 6.14 million USD loss. The address still has 45 million USDC in it.
Indeed, understanding the background of this occurrence is necessary in order to completely comprehend its significance.While the specific reason for the whale address selling the USDC at a loss is unknown, various ideas have been advanced. One scenario is that the whale address was just wanting to get out of their position as soon as possible and was ready to incur a loss to do so. Another option is that the whale address was attempting to manipulate the market in some way, such as selling a significant number of USDC.
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🪙 Ether.fi’s Mainnet Launch For ETH Delegated Staking In April
ether.fi is a non-custodial, decentralized staking protocol that offers stakeholders complete control over their assets while leveraging the power of permissionless decentralization. The protocol offers a secure and seamless delegated staking service that provides higher returns and lower costs through innovative revenue streams.
The launch of ether.fi will occur in three phases. Phase 1 will take place in April and will involve the protocol going live on the mainnet with ETH delegated staking following Shanghai. Phase 2, which is scheduled for Q2 23 or Q3 23, will see the eETH liquidity pool go live. Finally, Phase 3 is scheduled for Q4 23 or Q1 24, and will involve the launch of the Permissionless Node Marketplace. In Phase 1, ether.fi will release a desktop app for delegated staking via an auction mechanism. The staking rewards and unstaked ETH can be withdrawn, and the protocol will offer transferrable NFTs.
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🪙 Fantom Mainnet Gets Major Boost With Go-opera 1.1.2-rc.5 Release
Fantom Mainnet, a high-performance, scalable, and secure smart-contract platform has announced a new release, go-opera version 1.1.2-rc.5. The upgrade brings several significant improvements, including batched genesis blocks processing, configurable DBs management, parallel EVM logs search, and optimizations in P2P protocol.
One of the key highlights of the upgrade is the improvement in P2P and events/blocks processing, resulting in an approximately 30% improvement in events/blocks processing time. Additionally, the processing time for genesis file has improved up to three times faster, while each log search should take only 1/5 of the time it took before. The upgrade also includes security improvements for the Opera node, such as stricter conditions for starting LLR and txpool syncing, restricting P2P connections to given IPs, and forbidding unlocking accounts when external RPC is enabled.
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🏦 Huobi to Join BitTorrent Chain's L2 Blockchain Ecosystem
Huobi, a virtual asset trading platform, announced joining the BTTC (BitTorrent Chain) ecosystem to support the development of a Layer 2 network based on BTTC. The goal is to promote an on-chain open financial system. BTTC, the L2 solution for Ethereum, TRON and BNB Chain, was launched in December 2021.
BTTC is a cross-chain solution that enables seamless asset exchange through digital asset connectivity of mainstream public chains such as Ethereum, TRON and BNB Chain, spanning a super network linking all blockchains. BTTC, the L2 solution for Ethereum, TRON and BNB Chain, was launched in December 2021 with ZK (Zero Proof of Knowledge) technology to be introduced later this year. This enables users to build decentralized applications anywhere and provides a secure, low-cost and fast development environment for dApps, thus creating an on-chain open ecosystem.
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🇺🇸 US Senators Accuse Binance Of Being A Hotspot For Legal Violation
Three US senators from different political parties have written to Binance, accusing the cryptocurrency exchange of being a hotbed of illegal financial activity and requesting information on its anti-money laundering measures, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Senators have given Binance until March 16 to answer their request.
The group demanded information on the company’s balance statements, internal processes, and any correspondence regarding what was allegedly an attempt by Zhao to limit compliance, according to the letter sent to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao on March 1. The letter, written to Changpeng Zhao, the chief executive of Binance, and Brian Shroder, his senior U.S. deputy, highlighted news articles from The Wall Street Journal and other publications regarding a slew of legal and financial concerns the company was facing. The senators requested Messrs. Zhao and Schroder to provide copies of Binance’s.
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💰 Visa's crypto strategy isn't going anywhere after report firm was 'slamming the brakes'
Visa remains committed to its crypto strategy, a company spokesperson told The Block, despite the hammering digital assets have taken in recent months. To that end, we’re focused on growing our core competencies in web3 infrastructure layers and evaluating the blockchain protocols driving crypto development."
The statement came following a Reuters report claiming that Visa would be "slamming the brakes" on its plans to form new partnerships with crypto firms. Visa had "decided to push back the launch of certain products and services related to crypto until market conditions and the regulatory environment improve," the report said. On Tuesday, Visa’s head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield, countered the report in a tweet claiming that the Reuters story was innaccurate. services related to crypto until market conditions and the regulatory environment improve.
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📣 The Leading DEX Velodrome Proposed As STG Hub On Optimism
Stargate proposes to move $1.5M of protocol-owned liquidity to Velodrome’s Layer 2 DEX, receiving additional VELO emissions and higher APR. Stargate can significantly reduce the need for STG emissions by locking VELO rewards as veVELO and qualify for a Lock Bonus.
In a bid to expand its reach, Stargate is proposing to move $1.5 million worth of protocol-owned liquidity (POL) to Velodrome, the top Ethereum Layer 2 DEX. Velodrome’s voting system allows protocols to attract liquidity by directing VELO emissions to their liquidity pools, incentivizing voters with veVELO tokens or voter rewards. In the last voting round, VELO bribe multipliers offered by voters resulted in a $3.5 VELO reward for every $1 in bribes. Velodrome has offered to match 40% of Stargate’s bribes.
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🏦 Ethereum’s L2 Base Testnet Has Crashed
Coinbase’s Base testnet on Ethereum crashed a few hours after launch. Hours after Coinbase released the Base testnet of the Ethereum L2 network, the network crashed, sending users flooding social media to complain about the network’s functionality.
The Coinbase wallet incorrectly estimated the gas fees required to execute users’ transactions. As a result, the user pays less gas than is needed to complete the transaction, which causes Base to revert these transactions instead of processing them. Coinbase software engineer Roberto Bayardo explained on Twitter a few hours after the release: “Should fix now. Demand contracts increase gas usage under load, which wallets don’t estimate accurately. Gas limits are now hardcoded higher.”
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📣 MasterCard Accept Crypto Payments Using USDC Settlements In Web3
Users will be able to make crypto payments across digital, physical, and Metaverse worlds thanks to a collaboration between Web3 payment protocol Immersve and payments behemoth Mastercard. Transactions on the Mastercard network will be settled using Circle’s USD Coin tokens, a stablecoin backed by US dollars.
Mastercard-Immersve cooperation to settle real-time bitcoin transactions at merchants who accept Mastercard payments online. Users won’t need to rely on a third party for collateral when making direct cryptocurrency payments using their existing Web3 wallets. Instead, Immersve will collaborate with a third-party settlement service and permit all transactions to be made using USDC. Once the user’s end of the transaction is completed, USDC will be converted to fiat before settling on the Mastercard network.
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🟠 Binance US Refutes Reports Comparing It to Fraudulent Crypto Exchanges
Binance US has refuted reports that draw parallels between it and “fraudulent exchanges that have gone bankrupt.” The U.S.-based crypto trading platform stressed that “only Binance.US employees” have access to its bank accounts, denying the allegation that global crypto exchange Binance has “secret access.”
Binance US, a U.S.-based cryptocurrency trading platform affiliated with the global crypto exchange Binance, has refuted reports that compare it to fraudulent and bankrupt crypto exchanges. Binance and Binance US claim that they are separate entities with different management teams. There have been many attempts to draw parallels between Binance.US and fraudulent exchanges that have gone bankrupt,” the official Twitter account for Binance US tweeted Thursday.
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🆘 FTX Warns Of Trade Of Fake “Debt Coins” On Exchanges
The restructuring team in charge of the FTX bankruptcy today issued a warning to investors, cautioning them to watch out for fraudulent tokens that seek to profit on the difficulties facing the defunct cryptocurrency exchange. unknown whether or not former clients will ever again be able to access the money they had on the exchange.
The business tweeted, “The FTX Debtors advise stakeholders to be on guard for scams from entities purporting to be linked with FTX.” “Any such offerings are unauthorized,” the statement reads. “The FTX Debtors have not issued any debt token.” In this context, “debtors” generally refers to the firm itself, whereas “creditors” are the people or organizations that the company owes money to (like its customers). Although FTX did not specifically name a token, it is most likely referring to a brand-new coin dubbed “FTX Users’ Debt,”.
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📣 Blur Token Surpassed $1 Billion In Volume Transactions Amid Price Drops Significantly
BLUR Token has exceeded $1 billion in volume transactions since its debut early today, while Conflux’s native token CFX soared 40% following the announcement of the partnership with China Telecom. According to Coinmarketcap data, the NFT market Blur platform token BLUR’s transaction volume.
Meanwhile, Conflux Network collaborated on blockchain-enabled SIM cards with China Telecom, the country’s second-largest telecom carrier. Its native CFX token skyrocketed in response to the announcement. Conflux Network stated in a Twitter thread following the announcement that the telecom giant will launch the first trial program in Hong Kong later this year. According to TradingView data, Conflux’s native token, CFX, increased by more than 40% after the announcement.
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🚨 SEC action against Paxos paints regulatory target on stablecoins
Stablecoins look to be the next part of the crypto ecosystem facing a regulatory crackdown. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has issued notice to crypto infrastructure provider Paxos over its involvement in Binance USD stablecoin, alleging that the stablecoin is an unregistered security.
According to a statement from Paxos, the notice it received a likely enforcement action from the SEC was only related to BUSD, which is the third largest stablecoin by total supply. The company "categorically disagrees" with the SEC. An SEC spokesperson reiterated the agency's policy of not commenting on "the existence or nonexistence of a possible investigation." The Wall Street Journal first reported the SEC's investigation into Paxos on Sunday evening. The moves follow through on months of concerned rhetoric from regulators over stablecoins.
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🪙 FTX Exec Loses $3.7 Million Island Home to Authorities 5 Months After Buying It
Singh signed a deed for the home on October 25, while FTX went officially bankrupt on November 11th. Nishad Singh – FTX’s Lead Engineer – bought a $3.7 million vacation home in the San Juan islands last October. Now, the property has been seized by the U.S. government.
The home – purchased roughly two weeks before FTX went bankrupt – is located on a wooded hill, and features six bedrooms, a lap pool, and a hot tub. Though Singh, 27, purchased the home with money from his FTX account, authorities believe those funds are directly linked to his crimes. Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried and his associates misappropriated funds at the exchange for personal use, and for trading at Alameda Research – a claim backed by FTX bankruptcy head John Ray. FTX appeared to have used funds to purchase a multi-million dollar mansion in the Czech Republic in July 2022.
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⚫️ Hedera confirms hackers stole tokens from DEXs, exploiting a bug in 'smart contract service'
The core team at Hedera confirmed there was a recent exploit on the network in which hackers stole funds via users' accounts on decentralized exchanges, it said.The attackers took advantage of a vulnerability in the "Hedera smart contract service" to transfer the Hedera Token Service (HTS) tokens.
The core team at Hedera reported that the attackers targeted liquidity pools on multiple decentralized exchanges (DEXs) that had ported Hedera tokens over to the network's smart contract service via a bridge. The affected multiple DEXs including Pangolin, SaucerSwap and HeliSwap. Today's confirmation of the exploit comes a day after the HBAR Foundation, the organization behind the blockchain, publicly notified “network irregularities” affecting various Hedera-based decentralized applications (dApps) and their users.
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🏦 Bitstamp US partners with Prove Identity to offer document-free, rapid onboarding
Crypto exchange Bitstamp U.S. is optimizing its account onboarding process through a partnership with Prove Identity. The exchange will use Prove Identity's pre-fill onboarding solution to streamline the account registration process. The pre-fill tool, which is powered by the Prove Identity Network.
Prove creates anonymized identity tokens using telecoms and mobile network data combined with bank-grade compliant information such data from utility providers and banks, said Joon Pak, head of crypto at Prove in an interview with The Block. "We have the largest collection of identity tokens in the market," Pak said. "If you've ever logged into Bank of America, American Express, PayPal, etc., we have your identity token. And that's what we call the Prove Identity Network, its what underpins all of the solutions that we provide here at Prove."Prove's solutions are used by more than 1,000 businesses including PayPal, Coinbase and Mastercard.
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🆘 FUD Attack Sends Binance’s BUSD Market Cap Plummeting 45%
Binance, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has recently encountered a series of issues that have eroded investors’ trust in its credibility. Binance has been facing mounting regulatory pressure as authorities have questioned the trading platform’s solvency following the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
One of the most significant events leading to the current wave of panic among investors is the New York regulator’s recent order to Paxos to limit BUSD’s issuance, resulting in a 45% drop in the market capitalization of the stablecoin. This drop has raised concerns among investors about the safety of their funds on the Binance platform. However, the peg with the U.S. Dollar remains intact, and users’ funds are still relatively secure. Despite the setback, BNB is still one of the largest exchanges globally and boasts a considerable user base. Nevertheless, the recent events have shaken investors’ confidence.
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🪙 Circle Will Transfer A Part Of Silvergate’s USDC Reserve Deposits
Circle made the announcement that it will be transferring a little amount of USDC reserve deposits held by Silvergate to a number of other banking partners. The remaining Silvergate-dependent clients have already been informed of alternate choices by Circle’s customer service.
Circle said that it will transfer a small portion of Silvergate’s USDC reserve deposits to a number of other banking partners. Silvergate has discontinued the provision of some services that were once made available by Silvergate Bank to the digital asset market in general. This includes Silvergate’s Exchange Network (SEN), sometimes known as the Silvergate Exchange Network, which was utilized by a select group of Circle clients. Circle is aggressively seeking to move all remaining services out of Silvergate Bank, despite the fact that Silvergate.
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🪙 Chainlink introduces new developer platform called Functions
Decentralized oracle network Chainlink has launched a new developer platform called Chainlink Functions to help connect decentralized applications (dApps) with traditional web apps in a seamless manner. The platform is now available in beta on the Ethereum Sepolia and Polygon Mumbai testnets.
Chainlink's oracle network is designed to enable smart contracts and applications to utilize off-chain data in a secure and decentralized manner. It is the most widely used oracle network in the industry with over 650,000 active users, per data from Dune Analytics. It will allow blockchain developers to connect their dApps or smart contracts with any application programming interface from within the traditional tech space without having to manage additional cloud infrastructure.
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🚨 Mastercard and Visa set crypto plans on hold amid market decline: Reuters
Mastercard and Visa are holding off on their crypto integration plans in the wake of several turbulent events that have rocked the cryptocurrency space in the last year, according to Reuters. Both card payment firms have previously announced plans to integrate crypto into their network.
Visa and Mastercard halting their crypto plans are the latest in a growing trend of mainstream businesses limiting their crypto exposure. Several banks in the U.S. have begun to withdraw services to crypto businesses. Even the major accounting firms have so far chosen not to audit the books of cryptocurrency exchanges in the wake of the FTX collapse.The regulatory environment for crypto in the U.S. may also be another issue for companies like Visa and Mastercard.
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🏦 Coinbase’s In-House Blockchain Launch Followed By Impersonation Tokens
At least 4 new token mints with names similar to Coinbase’s new blockchain have been spotted. Coinbase launched its own Layer-2 blockchain yesterday, built in collaboration with Optimism in its OP stack. The new Layer-2 blockchain, named Base, will host many of Coinbase’s on-chain products.
Unfortunately, opportunistic bad actors are once again trying to make a quick buck off of the success of other firms. Not even a day after Base was launched, Solidus Labs announced via their Token Sniffer website that at least four new tokens had been identified, all with names playing on Coinbase’s new product, such as Base Token and even the very generically named “Coin Chain.”. n the crypto world, a honeypot is a smart contract that does not allow anyone but the contract creator to withdraw funds once they are deposited in the wallet.
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📶 Factor On Arbitrum Booms With $7.6 Million Through Public Token Sale
Factor, an Arbitrum-based on-chain asset management platform, raised almost $7.6 million from more than 4,000 different wallets during its token offering, which ran on February 20 through Friday. Users can now claim the FCTR tokens they bought during the public sale on Saturday, February 25.
The protocol’s liquidity holdings for the USDC/FCTR pair on Camelot were first increased. Users would deposit USDC into the protocol in exchange for FCTR when participating in the token generation event. A liquidity pool held by the protocol will now receive half of the USDC monies raised through the open sale. Early plans called for only 40% of the liquidity to be owned by the protocol. a number of adjustments intended to reduce the initial circulating quantity from 32.5 million tokens to 18 million tokens.
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🆘 New York Attorney General sues CoinEx crypto exchange over registration
New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx for allegedly failing to register with the state. “CoinEx offered, sold, purchased and effected transactions in cryptocurrencies that are commodities and securities, without having been registered.
New York has been an active player in the crypto space with lawsuits against others, including Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of crypto lender Celsius and in the past, actions against Bitfinex and Tether. The petition alleged that CoinEx “represented itself as an exchange” while not being registered with the state. The exchange also failed to comply with a subpoena served in January, according to the petition. CoinEx did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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📣 Paxos in 'constructive discussions with the SEC,' ends relationship with Binance
Stablecoin issuer Paxos told employees it's in "constructive discussions" with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after getting a Wells notice about the Binance USD stablecoin coin. The company said last week that it categorically disagreed with the SEC's categorization of BUSD as a security.
Cascarilla also said the company would end its relationship with Binance, in what he said was a separate decision from the SEC Wells notice and the directive from the New York Department of Financial Services. "We remain fully focused on serving the end holders of BUSD and protecting them from undo harm. Paxos will continue to support BUSD through at least February 2024 and maintain the highest standards of security and soundness in the stablecoin market," Cascarilla said. The firm has facilitated more than $2.8B in BUSD redemptions.
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🆘 Platypus Develops A Plan To Indemnify Users After Attack
According to official sources, stablecoin exchange project Platypus has announced that it is working on a plan to compensate users and remind users not to refund the current stablecoin USP. The team is working with all parties to repair the damage, but more time is needed to confirm the results.
The team is also contacting law enforcement and will make further announcements once confirmed. Additionally, some funds are trapped in AAVE and the team is exploring a possible way to recover this funds, which will require the presentation and adoption of a recovery proposal on the AAVE admin forum. According to the CertiK analysis, the vulnerability appears to be in verifying the MasterPlatypusV4 contract using the EmergencyWithdraw function, which will only fail when the borrowed asset exceeds the borrowing limit.
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🟠 Binance Mints 50 Million TUSD Stablecoin Causes TRU Price To Spike 200%
TRU surged almost suddenly after Binance issued a large number of new stablecoins TrueUSD and announced restrictions on using BUSD as the main trading pair. Etherscan data indicates that at roughly 15 UTC on Feb 16, Binance generated 49.99 million TRU
TUSD is currently ranked 53rd among the top cryptocurrencies, with a market cap of $971 million. The decision to issue TUSD, however, might be considered a part of Binance’s increased attempts to support alternative stablecoins in the wake of the collapse of BUSD. Following Paxos’s instruction to stop printing Binance USD, or BUSD, the action was taken just a few days later. Over 35% of the exchange’s spot trading activity in January was in BUSD.
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📣 Judge denies request for FTX bankruptcy examiner
A judge denied a request to appoint an independent examiner in FTX’s bankruptcy case, noting that one would be too expensive when multiple investigations into the troubled crypto exchange are underway. The decision comes weeks after an independent examiner released a nearly 700-page.
The U.S. Trustee overseeing the bankruptcy had asked the court to appoint an examiner. The FTX debtors and others objected, saying an examiner would be too costly to the bankruptcy estate and could pose security concerns. “There’s no indication they were involved in any wrongdoing, and according to Mr. Ray, they’ve been stripped of any decision-making authority,” Dorsey said. He also acknowledged that although some FTX employees remain at the company, they are not accused of mismanaging the exchange or its other entities.
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🪙 Bitcoin miner Iris Energy will nearly triple hashrate after buying 4.4 EH/s in machines
Bitcoin miner Iris energy bought 4.4 EH/s worth of machines with $67 million in Bitmain prepayments and now expects to nearly triple its hashrate. The company turned off about 3.6 EH/s worth of machines collateralizing over $100 million in loans in November.
The new miners (S19j Pro) will be installed "over the coming months" and bring Iris's hashrate up to 5.5 EH/s, the company said. "This is a significant milestone for Iris Energy. We are delighted to have been able to utilize our remaining Bitmain prepayments to acquire new miners without any additional cash outlay," said co-founder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts. The company is also considering selling any surplus miners over 5.5 EH/s of self-mining capacity "to re-invest in growth initiatives and/or corporate purposes."
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