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🏦 Crypto.com To Establish New Lab To Focus On Blockchain, Web3, and AI Projects
Bitcoin exchange Crypto.com will open its first Global Innovation Lab in Singapore, focusing on blockchain technology, Web3, and artificial intelligence (AI). According to a press statement, the Singapore-based company’s Global Innovation Lab will aggressively experiment with frontier technologies, explore new businesses with strategic partners and hackathons, and find unique applications for blockchain, Web3, and AI. According to Prash Pandit, Senior Vice President of Product and Innovation at Crypto.com. The Global Innovation Lab will capitalize on Singapore’s strengths as a tech-driven city-state as well as a major global financial center to accelerate the growth of the fledgling digital asset market in an innovative and ethical way. The exchange unveiled the idea at the Point Zero Conference in Switzerland. The Swiss State Secretariat for International Finance and Elevandi, a not-for-profit organization established by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for companies and policymakers to share ideas and insights in the fintech industry in Singapore and abroad, are co-organizing the conference. As a following step, Crypto.com will form a new staff entirely devoted to the Lab, with more jobs to be created in the future.
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💰 Riot’s Stunning $162.9 Million Bitcoin Mining Machine Deal
Riot, a prominent mining company in North America, has made a significant move in the cryptocurrency industry by acquiring 33,280 cutting-edge bitcoin mining machines from MicroBT. MicroBT, based in Shenzhen, China, is renowned as the world’s second-largest producer of Bitcoin mining machines. However, in a strategic decision, Riot has secured an agreement to have these mining machines manufactured in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, marking a shift in production to the United States. The total value of the deal amounts to a staggering $162.9 million, with an approximate cost of $21.5 per terahash (T). This acquisition showcases commitment to expanding its mining capabilities and solidifying its position in the industry. The influx of these latest-generation mining machines will significantly enhance Riot’s mining infrastructure and bolster its mining capacity for Bitcoin. The move to purchase such a substantial number of mining machines is driven by the company’s ambition to capitalize on the growing demand and potential profitability of Bitcoin mining. As the cryptocurrency market continues to evolve, mining operations have become increasingly competitive, with companies vying to maximize their mining efficiency and output.
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🇨🇾 Bybit Gains Crypto License in Cyprus
Crypto exchange Bybit has gained a license for crypto exchange and custody services in Cyprus, the company said in a statement on Monday. “This landmark is a testament to Bybit's commitment to adhering to robust regulatory frameworks while expanding our global presence,” Ben Zhou, Bybit’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “We wholeheartedly support the regulatory objective of building a cryptocurrency industry that is both compliant, secure, and transparent.” The Dubai-headquartered firm said the move shows its commitment to compliance with local rules. The license strengthens the exchange's presence in the European Union (EU) after it faced regulatory scrutiny in Japan and exited Canada, and the U.K. Companies in the European Union are preparing for new rules known as the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation, MiCA, that will allow them to serve the whole bloc with a license from a single member state. Cyprus is one of the EU members to introduce an advance registration regime before MiCA takes effect in 2024. Binance recently sought to withdraw its status in the country as part of an apparent regulatory consolidation anticipating MiCA.
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🟠 Binance reverses decision to delist privacy coins in Europe
Binance has decided to reverse its plan to delist several privacy coins in Europe after revising operations to comply with local regulations. It also commented that since it operates as an exchange registered in various European Union jurisdictions, it is “obliged” to follow local regulations that require exchanges to “be able to monitor transactions for coins listed on our platform.“ Initially, Binance was to delist privacy tokens for users in France, Italy, Spain and Poland, rendering them unable to buy or sell 12 privacy tokens beginning on June 26. The coins affected by the decision were to include: Decred (DCR), Dash,Zcash , Horizen (ZEN), PIVX (PIVX), Navcoin (NAV), Secret (SCRT), Verge (XVG), Firo (FIRO), Beam (BEAM), Monero and MobileCoin (MOB). However, since the decision has been retracted, various projects have taken to Twitter to reassure community members. These decisions from Binance come as the EU has been ironing out its standards for digital assets with its new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations, which were signed into law on May 31. In July, the European Securities and Markets Authority plans to launch a MiCA consultation process, with the framework for the laws allowing an 18-month timeline to take full effect.
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⬜️ OKX crypto exchange to be operational in Dubai within the year, says executive
OKX received a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) preparatory license from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) on June 15, according to a company statement. Gaining the license is the required step toward offering spot, derivatives, and fiat services, including US dollar and United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) deposits, withdrawals, and spot pairs, to institutional and qualified retail customers in Dubai. In the statement, OKX said the United Arab Emirates is a key strategic hub for the exchange and it will operate from the new office in the Dubai World Trade Center. Forkast’s Jenny Ortiz spoke with OKX Chief Commercial Officer Lennix Lai about what the preparatory license means for the company and their plans in Dubai and the UAE. Basically we are allowed to offer spot trading. We also are allowed to engage with the banks to provide AED. So we’re going to provide AED tradable pairs so people in the region can, through robust KYC procedures, use directly linked bank accounts and trade cryptocurrency. We are a major crypto exchange integrated with the traditional banking system.
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💰 Robert F. Kennedy to Enforce Pro-Bitcoin Laws Should he Become President
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who recently announced he will run for President of the US as part of the Democratic Party, vowed to implement Bitcoin-friendly policies if elected. The Republicans also have a crypto-loving candidate and his name is Francis Suarez. The 45-year-old, who currently serves as mayor of Miami, involved the city in numerous Bitcoin initiatives and became the first American politician to receive his salary in BTC instead of fiat currency. In a recent interview, Robert F. Kennedy Jr (the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy) reiterated his positive stance towards the cryptocurrency sector, more specifically, Bitcoin. He said he will “make sure” that America introduces rules that aid BTC and enable people to control their passwords, wallets, and nodes. Kennedy has previously described himself as an opponent of the US Federal Reserve, claiming it had collaborated with numerous banking institutions between 2008-2022 to print a colossal amount of money. In his view, the outcome of the controversial policy could cause a further monetary imbalance in the future, whereas Bitcoin could serve as an “escape route from the splatter zone.”. Subsequently, he opposed central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
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🔻 Optimism Rebranded As OP Mainnet, Aiming To Create SuperChain
According to official news, Optimism has changed its name to OP Mainnet. The move is intended to reflect the goal of creating a “superchain” consisting of multiple L2 networks, with the OP Mainnet serving as the base layer for the “superchain”. OP Mainnet operates on Optimistic Synthesis, a technology aggregating Ethereum transactions on a secondary layer. The adoption of this technology enables faster and cheaper transaction processing, addressing the growing scalability concerns in the Ethereum network. OP Labs, the developer of the OP Mainnet, operates a development software stack known as the OP Stack, which allows developers to launch their own Layer 2 blockchains. Cryptocurrency exchange giant Coinbase is developing its own Blockchain, called Base, using the OP Stack. Bedrock has turned Optimism into a multi-client ecosystem, meaning there will be at least two options for the client software used to run the network. This means there will be at least two options for projects to use to launch the network. If something goes wrong with one client software, the Blockchain can rely on other users running other client software to keep the network running.
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📣 Wintermute Trading Accused Of Helping Celsius CEO Scam Investors: Report
Wintermute Trading Ltd., one of the biggest cryptocurrency market makers, was accused in a proposed class-action lawsuit of helping former Celsius Network Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Alex Mashinsky dupe investors in his now-bankrupt crypto lending firm. Wintermute Trading Ltd, one of the largest cryptocurrency market makers, has been accused of aiding in a fraudulent scheme alongside former Celsius Network Ltd. CEO Alex Mashinsky. The accusations stem from a proposed class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that starting in March 2021, Wintermute engaged in “wash trading” and other improper activities, artificially inflating the value of Celsius’s native CEL token and loan products. The investors also claim that Wintermute played a critical role in Mashinsky’s failed attempt to prop up CEL in May 2022 after the Terra and Luna tokens collapsed. Celsius froze all accounts on June 13, 2022, and filed for bankruptcy the following month amid a market crash that caused significant losses to investors. The lawsuit alleges that Wintermute’s “wash trading” activities corrupted the CEL token prices and reported trading volumes, which deceived investors.
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🪙 Bitcoin Cash Prices Spikes to 4-Month High; Open Interest Rises to 77%
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has surged by 36.5% in the past three-days after EDX, the exchange backed by Fidelity, Schwab and Citadel, listed the token alongside bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and litecoin (LTC). In the past 24-hours it has increased by more than 10% to $143, its highest level since February, according to CoinDesk data. Open interest, a metric used to assess the nominal value of open trades on a specific asset, has risen by 77% to a nine-month high $135 million according to Coinalyze data. The rise in open interest suggests a shift in positive sentiment with hopes that the asset can experience institutional adoption after being listed on EDX. Bitcoin Cash was issued in July 2017 after it forked the original Bitcoin's blockchain. It made a record high of $2,947 during the peak of the 2017 bull market. However, despite early optimism, adoption of Bitcoin Cash as a payments network has paled into insignificance compared to its sibling. Over the past seven days, the total amount of transactions on the Bitcoin Cash network worth more than $100,000 is at $129 million. Bitcoin, meanwhile, has facilitated $75 billion in transactions during the same period, according to IntoTheBlock data.
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🇪🇸 Crypto.com Achieves Important Regulatory Win To Expand Services In Spain
Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com announced that it had obtained the Bank of Spain’s Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registration. The registration came after a thorough examination of the exchange’s compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD) and other financial crime legislation, as well as its user protection measures. It will be able to provide a variety of goods and services to Spanish users as a result of this registration. Crypto.com has announced further progress in obtaining regulatory licenses and approvals across multiple countries and regions. The company has received a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license for Digital Payment Token (DPT), as well as an MPI for e-money issuance, account issuance, and cross-border and domestic money transfer services from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. In addition to these approvals, Crypto.com has also been registered as a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) in France. The platform has also obtained registration approval as a crypto asset business from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
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🪙 Algorand Cuts Block Time After New Upgrade
Algorand upgraded its protocol on Thursday to reduce block time, make application development on the network faster, and more cost-efficient. The proof-of-stake blockchain's upgrade will reduce block time to 3.3 seconds from 3.8 seconds, which is the “largest reduction of block time on a percentage basis,” Algorand Chief Product Officer Paul Riegle told CoinDesk. The upgrade comes in an increasingly competitive space in which many blockchains have introduced improvements. Block time measures how long it takes for the network to produce a new block of transactions. Other improvements include a simulator that allows developers to test and simulate issues before deploying their codebase to mainnet and a new plugin framework that allows people to create easy, customizable data. ALGO, the native cryptocurrency for the Algorand blockchain, has increased 4.9% in the past 24 hours to 12.8 cents, according to CoinDesk data. The upgrade, which incorporated feedback from the developer community, occurs as Algorand’s mainnet nears 30 million block and its four-year anniversary. such as Cardano's latest upgrade this week and BNB Chain’s upgrade last month.
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📣 Bitcoin Mining Companies In Venezuela Have To Close Because Of Cash Shortage
According to Bloomberg, Venezuela’s temporary ban on cryptocurrency mining inside the nation is basically putting an end to a sector that President Nicolás Maduro has worked hard to develop. Maduro has personally advocated for the usage of cryptocurrency, notably the government-issued Petro sovereign coin. The currency was marketed as a viable alternative to the Venezuelan bolivar in the midst of hyperinflation, as well as a means of evading punishing American sanctions. Nevertheless, as the state’s ban on crypto mining enters its third month, many cash-strapped miners may be forced to shut down permanently. And the Petro, which never took off but was once seen as Venezuela’s future gateway by Maduro, ceased trading on May 24. After starting an inquiry into a major corruption operation in which crypto wallets were reportedly used to divert payments owing to the state-run oil giant Petróleos de Venezuela SA, state officials initially put a stop to crypto mining in March. Mining organizations believe that 75,000 mining equipment units have been disconnected. It is about the equivalent of a large publicly listed mining company’s complete fleet of equipment, such as Riot Platforms Inc.
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📣 Deribit Launching Bitcoin Futures And Options After Halving In 2024
According to CoinDesk, crypto options trading platform Deribit announced that it will launch BTC options and futures contracts expiring on June 2024, precisely at 08:00 UTC, Thursday, June 22, to meet the high demand of customers. According to Deribit, the world’s largest crypto options exchange by trading volume and open interest, preparations for the same have already begun, with investors looking to bitcoin futures and options that expire two months after the critical event is known to have a significant impact on the price of cryptocurrencies. Crypto futures contracts are agreements between traders to buy or sell a particular asset at a possible price and on a specified date. Crypto options contracts provide the contract holder with the right but not the obligation to buy or sell an asset at a predefined price and date. Futures can be used to protect against potential market volatility. The basic purpose of options is to mitigate or lower the portfolio’s risk exposure. To make a leveraged optimistic or bearish wager on the underlying asset at a lesser cost, knowledgeable traders frequently purchase options or futures. According to Derbit, preparations for the halving have already begun, with investors looking for bitcoin futures and options expiring two months after the milestone.
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🇺🇸 Fed should play role in regulating stablecoins, Chair Powell says
Legislation to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for stablecoins in the U.S. could be approaching a speed bump, with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell arguing for a robust federal role in the regulation of the sector. “We believe that it would be appropriate to have a quite robust federal role in what happens in stablecoins going forward, and leaving us with a weak role and allowing a lot of private money creation at the state level would be a mistake.” The top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Maxine Waters, also sounded critical of the proposal from her Republican counterparts to allow state regulators to approve stablecoin issuance. Though Republicans can advance the bill out of committee and the House of Representatives on a party line vote, it needs support from Democrats in order to become law. Democrats hold a majority in the Senate and President Joe Biden would be loath to sign legislation that his own party does not support. “This proposal takes state preemption to a whole new level,” Waters said, referencing how a stablecoin approved in one state could then be sold across the country, whether or not other state regulators signed off.
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💰 Bitcoin Dominance Now Reaches 50%, Highest In 2 Years
While maintaining largely stable in recent days, Bitcoin dominance has risen to more than 50% for the first time in more than two years. According to TradingView data, Bitcoin’s market capitalization has surpassed that of all other cryptocurrencies combined. This comes as the majority of the larger-cap alts have been seeing slight daily losses. All eyes were on the United States as the CPI data and the Fed’s next FOMC meeting, both of which were due to be revealed and held this week. The inflation numbers, which were released on Wednesday, showed a small decrease. Yet, this had little impact on BTC’s price movement. On Thursday, the Federal Reserve, rather predictably, chose to stop its monetary strategy of rising interest rates. Bitcoin’s dominance last approached 50% in June 2022, when the whole crypto market crashed due to consistently rising inflation in the United States, prompting the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy aggressively. Interestingly, Bitcoin’s market domination has increased by more than 10.5% since November 27, 2022, owing mostly to investors seeking a safe haven in the aftermath of the FTX crisis and rising governmental scrutiny of crypto assets in the United States.
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💰 Fidelity preparing to submit spot bitcoin ETF filing: Source
Asset management giant Fidelity is close to submitting its own filing for a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund, joining a long list of issuers keen to be first to market with such a product. A source familiar with the firm's plans says that it could submit its filing as soon as Tuesday, following the lead of asset management giant BlackRock. BlackRock's June 15 filing has been followed by other asset managers looking to launch their own spot bitcoin funds including Invesco, WisdomTree and Bitwise. The launch of a spot bitcoin ETF has been described as a gamechanger among market pundits since it can provide a way for investors to get exposure to the market without having to deal with the underlying asset. BlackRock's filing specifically has been pointed out as significant given the firm's size and significance in global markets. Fidelity is also a powerhouse, with tens of millions of retail brokerage clients and over $11 trillion in assets under its administration. The firm is also no stranger to crypto as it has operated an institutional custody and trading services business in the market since 2018. On the asset management side of the house, it has offered fund products .
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🇭🇰 Hong Kong Rating Agency Announces Index Performance Of Top 30 Coins
The Hong Kong Virtual Assets Consortium (HKVAC), a cryptocurrency exchange located in Seychelles, has announced the launch of its virtual asset index. In addition to Bitcoin, Ether and stablecoins, WBTC, BTCB, stETH, BCH, LTC, BNB, MATIC, ADA, ATOM, FIL, NEAR, ALGO, ICP, XRP, DOGE, DOT, WTRX, SHIB, TRX, LINK, LEO, XMR, XLM, OKB, LDO, HBAR, VET, QNT, FTM, EOS are all included in the agency virtual asset index. The HKVAC Cryptocurrency Big Market Cap Index measures the performance of high-cap cryptocurrencies in the global crypto market. Each quarter’s adjusted review date is the final day of the quarter (March, June, September, and December). The dependability of the trading platform is reflected in virtual asset exchange ratings, which encourage openness and accountability in the virtual asset trading industry. Accordingly, the performance of virtual assets that HKVAC included in the index is at a positive 21.82% year to date and down 9.97% in the past three months. Despite the relatively good performance of Bitcoin and Ether, other altcoins such as BNB, MATIC, ADA, and SOL have suffered a severe drop in recent times because of the suppression of the SEC. Nevertheless, the listed tokens include platform tokens, privacy tokens, and a substantial number of tokens classified as securities.
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🇭🇰 HSBC Hong Kong now lets customers trade bitcoin and ether ETFs
HSBC Hong Kong, the largest bank in the special administrative region of China, now allows customers to trade bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed on Hong Kong's stock exchange. There are three crypto ETFs listed on HSBC Hong Kong's investment platform — CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF, CSOP Ethereum Futures ETF and Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF — as per screenshots of the platform seen by The Block. Colin Wu, a Chinese crypto reporter, first reported the news. HSBC Hong Kong did not immediately respond to The Block's request for comment. The news means Hong Kong-based users can now easily trade crypto ETFs at the bank. The development marks HSBC Hong Kong as the first bank in the region to allow trading in crypto ETFs, according to Wu, who says the ETF listings occurred today. CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF and and CSOP Ether Futures ETF are both managed by CSOP Asset Management and track the standardized, cash-settled Bitcoin futures contracts and Ether futures contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), respectively. Both the ETFs were listed on Hong Kong's stock exchange last December. Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF, on the other hand, debuted this January and is manged by Samsung Asset Management Hong Kong.
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💰 Lightning Network hits all-time high in bitcoin and US Dollar capacity
The Lightning Network, a second-layer payment protocol on Bitcoin, has reached a new all-time high bitcoin capacity — the amount of bitcoin locked in payment channels on the network. The record capacity of 5,630 BTC was hit on Saturday, according to The Block’s data dashboard, breaching the 5,620 prior peak on April 18. The network’s capacity in U.S. Dollars also reached an all-time high, exceeding $172 million. Lightning Network capacity is up 42% and 105% in bitcoin and U.S. Dollar terms, respectively, over the last 12 months as adoption has continued to grow. Lightning Network operates as a network of bi-directional payment channels on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, designed to enable fast and cost-effective micropayments. Enabling users to transact directly without immediate settlement on the main blockchain, Lightning offers a solution to the slower transaction speeds and higher fees associated with Bitcoin's mainnet. Users can open payment channels between themselves, allowing for off-chain transactions later settled on the Bitcoin blockchain. "There's just more happening. I think there's more happening on Bitcoin in terms of development energy in the last 12 months than in the last X number of years combined. It's really pretty amazing to see," Marcus said.
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📣 Banking Giants Crédit Agricole, Santander Seek to Provide Crypto Custody Under French Registration
A subsidiary co-owned by Crédit Agricole and Santander has registered as a digital asset service provider in France. The registration of Caceis, a company that specializes in offering financial services to institutional investors, allows the two major European banks to tap into the crypto market. The registration, granted by the AMF earlier this week, will allow the entity, Caceis, to provide custody services for digital assets, including cryptocurrencies. The move adds a major traditional financial services group to the growing number of crypto companies registered by the French watchdog, Reuters noted in a report. The DASP list already includes subsidiaries of other big players in the French financial market such as Societe Generale and AXA. Caceis was established in 2005 through the merger of the asset management activities of Crédit Agricole and Caisse d’Epargne, a French cooperative banking group. With a 69.5% stake, Crédit Agricole is its majority owner while Santander has a 30.5% stake. France has been open towards the crypto industry. Among the companies it registered as DASPs is Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
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📣 Su Zhu: oUSD Credit stablecoin Inspired By 2 Failed Stablecoins UST And FTT
Three Arrows Capital and OPNX founder Su Zhu, said on Twitter that the oUSD credit stablecoin launched by OPNX was inspired by UST and FTT (negative case). According to the OPNX founder, UST is a passive sink for investors, but the capital utilization rate is shallow, while FTT has a great borrowing demand. Still, Genesis and FTX users are lenders only naturally. The UST failed to issue enough active bonds, leading to a death spiral without a natural buyer. There were many techniques to avoid bank runaways in the UST and FTT cases. The margin currency should be the account’s unit, replicating the extremely stable derivative structure that OKX has had for many years, i.e., continuously socializing risk into a profit pool. As a result, OPNX uses oUSD to inherit the properties of provable solvency instantly, and provable liquidity (especially proof of non-liquidity that cannot be liquidity), and all client assets are on-chain, allowing it to avoid the risk of force majeure events calmly. Earlier, the OPNX exchange announced that they would launch the first Launchpad project, and oUSD will be available soon. Users can use USDT 1:1 from an unlimited oUSD purchase agreement. Its function acts as margin and PNL for all OPNX currency futures contracts (profit and loss).
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🪙 Coinbase Supports USDC Deposits And Withdrawals Through Stellar Network
Coinbase has added support for USD Coin (USDC) on Stellar, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) said on June 23. That announcement indicates that Coinbase will allow both regular Circle withdrawals and deposits through the Stellar network. By supporting USDC on Stellar, Coinbase provides a critical access point for both companies and users to benefit from faster and low-cost USDC. The SDF says that Coinbase’s support for USDC on Stellar will allow faster and less expensive transactions. Specifically, it says that USDC on Stellar can offer “nearly zero” transaction costs and can complete transactions in as little as five seconds. Banks, fintechs, and exchanges can leverage USDC’s infrastructure, speed, and low costs on Stellar’s rails to access and build use cases around the digital dollar genuinely global. Stellar has developed a vast global network of interoperable on/off links powered by anchors: wallets, exchanges, and fintech businesses transferring value from fiat to digital or digital to fiat on and off the network. The SDF added that the addition would introduce a “significant [on/off] ramp” to USDC and Stellar’s existing wallets, exchanges, and fintech businesses. Coinbase Assets acknowledged the feature in its own tweet.
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💰 Leveraged Bitcoin Futures ETF to Start Trading Tuesday, Sponsor Says
Volatility Shares’ 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITX) will become the first leveraged crypto ETF available in the United States after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) let it go effective on Friday, an executive at the company told CoinDesk. The regulator has not denied the application for the 2x ETF, Volatility Shares Chief Investment Officer Stuart Barton said, paving the way for its launch this upcoming Tuesday. “It’s exciting to see digital assets in the ETF wrapper,” Barton said. A leveraged 2x ETF allows customers to gain bitcoin exposure by only putting up half the value of the bitcoin. A prospectus filing said the ETF would correspond with the CME Bitcoin Futures Daily Roll Index. This comes in the wake up of bitcoin’s value steadily rising past $30,000 after multiple major traditional investment companies like BlackRock filed an application for spot bitcoin ETFs with the SEC. While a number of futures-based ETF products already trade, the SEC has consistently blocked spot products from launching. Other leveraged bitcoin futures products have also failed to secure the necessary approvals to launch.
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🇺🇸 SEC Waives BlockFi $30 Million Fine Until Investors Get Refund
The SEC has agreed to forgo the payment owed as part of the settlement of fees to BlockFi, to maximize and speed up payments to investors. The payment is the remainder of a $50 million fine that the crypto lending platform owes the SEC to settle allegations that it failed to register with the authorities that regulate the offering and sale of crypto assets-cryptocurrency lending products. BlockFi agreed to a settlement in February 2022 but filed for bankruptcy in November 2022 following the collapse of FTX. Sasha Hodder, the founder of Hodder Law, a firm specializing in crypto law, has said that the SEC could be one of the first creditors to receive a payment from BlockFi. The regulator among its claims should be included “general unsecured claims” in the current Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings; however, the regulator agreed to forego the payment “in order to maximize the amount that may be distributed to investors and avoid delay in such distribution” according to the agreement reached on June 22. Previously, crypto lender – which was forced to halt withdrawals following the collapse of the FTX exchange in November 2022 – also said on June 12 that it expected to complete the withdrawal testing needed to allow some customers to start getting their money back this summer.
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🇧🇪 Binance Was Ordered To Stop Service Immediately In Belgium
According to a Friday notification, Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) has ordered the troubled cryptocurrency exchange Binance to immediately stop servicing local consumers. Binance is marketing and delivering exchange services in Belgium between virtual currencies and legal currencies, as well as custodial wallet services, from nations that are not members of the European Economic Area, according to Belgium’s top markets regulator. This comes at a time when Binance Global and Binance.US are embroiled in legal issues. On June 5, the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against the exchange, alleging 13 different things. According to one of the lawsuit’s accusations, monies from these companies were combined into an account managed by Merit Peak Limited that included Changpeng Zhao. After that, the cryptocurrency market began to tremble. Binance.US also had issues after delisting more than 100 trading pairs from the Advanced Trading interface and discontinuing the OTC service. Simultaneously, the values of BTC, ETH, and BNB on the platform started to diverge from the global average.
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💰 Ripple Grants Important License To Expand In Singapore
Ripple has received in-principle permission from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for its application for a Major Payments Institution License, which would enable a local subsidiary to provide regulated digital payment token goods and services in the city-state. The license will allow the company’s Singapore office to provide regulated digital payment token goods and services, as well as further expand its clients’ usage of its crypto-enabled On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) platform, which has grown 5x year on year in the nation. Ripple’s payments system saw enormous expansion in 2022, with clients spanning Asia, allowing companies and financial institutions to simplify cross-border payments. Internally, Ripple’s operations in Singapore were enhanced as the number of staff increased to meet the region’s expanding demand. The MAS has awarded less than 20 in-principle permits and licenses to crypto companies so far. As the region’s fintech footprint grows, proactive regulators like the MAS are ready to enjoy the many advantages of fostering innovative technologies while also laying the path for future global regulation. This clearance also puts Ripple on track to expand customer usage of crypto-enabled payments in Singapore and across the APAC region.
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💰 Bitcoin ETF Launches On Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange, Jun 22
The Netherlands has recently introduced a new equity exchange-traded fund that provides investors with exposure to a basket of Bitcoin-related company stocks. The Melanion Bitcoin Equities ETF, launched by French investment firm Melanion Capital, began trading on the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange on June 22. This equities-based approach to investing in the BTC ecosystem is designed to track the Melanion Bitcoin Exposure Index, which is a custom basket of European and American stocks closely tied to BTC’s market price. The ETF complies with the Undertakings for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) regulatory framework for managing and trading mutual funds, set by the European Commission. This allows investment firms to register and sell trading products across the European Union, providing regulatory and investor protection requirements. According to Melanion Capital CEO, Jad Comair, the expansion to the Euronext Amsterdam exchange provides Dutch investors with a “regulated and transparent solution” to gain exposure to the BTC ecosystem. The Dutch market has shown significant interest in digital assets, and this ETF provides investors with an exciting opportunity to be a part of it within a regulated framework.
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📣 Binance Now Allows TUSD Spot Trading With Zero Maker Fee From June 30
Binance, the world’s biggest exchange, has launched a new zero-maker fee offer for TUSD spot and margin trading pairings. Binance has launched a zero-fee trading promotion for USD stablecoin pairings. During the promotion time, all current and new USD stablecoin spot and margin pairings, including but not limited to BUSD/USDT, TUSD/BUSD, TUSD/USDT, USDC/USDT, and USDP/USDT, will have zero maker and taker costs. The BUSD zero-maker fee promotion will be extended until December 31, 2023, at 00:00 (UTC). Binance began giving free BTC trading with 13 spot pairings in July 2022 to commemorate its fifth birthday. This scheme immediately increased Bitcoin trading volume on the exchange, but it also created a significant amount of criticism aimed at the exchange. Nonetheless, the exchange has kept the zero fees in place since then. Nevertheless, in March, Binance abruptly announced that free BTC trading would be discontinued, with the exception of pairings containing the stablecoin TrueUSD (TUSD). According to the notice, operations will resume to offer a flawless experience for its consumers. The minting of this stablecoin on Prime Trust began after the firm was rumored to be going bankrupt and selling it to Bitgo.
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💰 Bitcoin Miner Core Scientific Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Plan
Core Scientific has filed a Chapter bankruptcy 11 plan, demonstrating its determination to restructure its operations while meeting its creditors’ demands. The plan was filed in the Southern District of Texas Houston Division of the United States Bankruptcy Court. The proposal was discussed with key stakeholders, and the company is trying to generate as much agreement as possible on how a new Core Scientific might appear after exiting from bankruptcy procedures, according to the filing. Notwithstanding its present bankruptcy procedures, Core Scientific remains optimistic about its financial health and is focused on reworking its business model in order to achieve a successful return. Higher Bitcoin pricing, greater network hash rate, and lower energy costs were cited as reasons for the company’s better financial performance. According to the bankruptcy plan, holders of approved debtor-in-possession (DIP) claims would get full and final satisfaction of their claims on the bankruptcy plan’s effective date. They will either be paid in full in cash or given alternative therapy as agreed upon. Any lines of credit given to secure DIP claims will also be terminated, removing the secured interest in the company’s assets.
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💰 Binance Integrates Bitcoin Lightning Network To Allow Deposit And Withdraw
Binance announced on Twitter that it is integrating the Bitcoin Lightning Network to allow users to deposit and withdraw funds. However, there is still a lot of technical work to be done, and an update will be made once the Lightning Network is fully integrated. Lightning Network is a secondary layer protocol that runs on the Bitcoin blockchain for transaction size verification. It helps to reduce costs and traffic congestion on the base layer of the Bitcoin network. Previously, Binance founder CZ (Changpeng Zhao) said in an AMA in early March that Binance is working on Lightning Network and may allow Lightning Network trading in small quantities first. Although no specific date has been set, the team has investigated it in detail. CZ believes that every exchange must support the Lightning Network so that users can enjoy the benefits, such as cost savings through faster transactions. The biggest advantage of the Lightning Network is its speed and affordability. Bitcoin network base layer fees and timeouts may be prohibitive. However, with the Lightning Network, you can send and receive small payments in a simple but impossible way on Bitcoin’s network.
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