Former SEC official tells investors to withdraw funds from crypto exchanges now
John Reed Stark, a former high-ranking official at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) thinks digital asset investors should “get out of crypto platforms now.” On June 5, the SEC sued Binance Holdings Ltd. and CEO Changpeng Zhao. The next day, this agency continued to sue crypto exchange Coinbase for violating securities laws. “Crypto trading platforms are high-risk, perilous and inherently unsafe”, he said.
a16z opens London crypto office
Venture capital firm Andreessen Howoritz (a16z) plans to open its first overseas office in the United Kingdom later this year as regulators in the United States continue to crack down on cryptocurrencies in the country.
US lawmakers file ‘SEC Stabilization Act’ to fire Gary Gensler
On June 12, United States Rep. Warren Davidson introduced to the House of Representatives the “SEC Stabilization Act”, according to his announcement. One of the key provisions of the bill is to fire Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler.
Sturdy Finance got hacked, losses over $800,000
Decentralized lending protocol Sturdy Finance lost nearly $800,000 in ETH to an attack. According to the report, the hacker exploited a vulnerability in Sturdy Finance’s price oracle, gaining access to drain funds from the protocol’s liquidity pool.
Tether mints $1B on Ethereum for Chain Swaps
According to a report from Whale Alert, an on-chain analytics platform, on the afternoon of June 12, Tether issued 1 billion USDT tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. The company’s chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino announced on Twitter that the second mint is part of the company’s “inventory replenish” on the Ethereum network. He also noted that the mint would not affect the overall market cap of the stablecoin.
Binance US will shut down if its assets are frozen
US has declined to issue a temporary restraining order that would freeze the assets of the US trading platform. That would allow the U.S. arm of the company to continue doing business while hashing out restrictions with the regulator. Binance claimed that its assets are frozen, they would be forced to shut down in the US.
Maverick Protocol will be available on Binance Lauchpool
The Maverick Protocol, the 34th project on Binance Launchpool, is a decentralized exchange (DEX) that helps liquidity producers hit their capital efficiency targets regardless of their liquidity providing (LP) strategy.
According to the official Binance announcement, interested users can farm Maverick Protocol (MAV) tokens by staking TUSD and BNB in different pools. Binance says following the farming period, it will list MAV as soon as the tokens meet the requirement for liquidity.
US Department of Justice may sue Binance for money laundering, according to former SEC official
John Reed Stark, a former official at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announced that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) is likely to have or will prosecuted Binance for money laundering.
eToro halts ALGO, MANA, MATIC and DASH purchases for US customers
Retail trading platform has halted purchases of Algorand (ALGO), Decentraland (MANA), Polygon (MATIC) and Dash (DASH) for US customers after these tokens were labeled as securities in recent SEC lawsuits.
Crypto bot borrows $200 million from MakerDAO to make $3 profit
An arbitrage bot flash loaned $200 million worth of the dai stablecoin (DAI) from MakerDAO, making a $3.24 profit after transaction fees. The total profit before fees was $33, however, it incurred almost $30 in transaction and protocol fees, leaving a net profit of $3.24.
Flash loans have been used nefariously in the past, with a string of flash loan exploits on decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms like Platypus and 0VIX resulting in losses exceeding $10 million.
USDT lost peg on suspected selloff by whales
Whales have been selling off significant amounts of Tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin in the cryptocurrency market, leading to a surge in its dominance within the Curve 3pool liquidity pool. The unusual influx of USDT has triggered concerns about the stablecoin’s stability and caused apprehension surrounding USDT’s depegging.
Pro-Bitcoin Miami Mayor Francis Suarez filed for 2024 presidential bid
Francis Suarez, the mayor of Miami and a known crypto advocate, has filed paperwork signaling his intention to run for the United States presidency in 2024. Suarez has said that he wants Miami to become a global crypto hub and invest in crypto after the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill was passed. He will then promote the policy of receiving 401k salary and retirement benefits in Bitcoin.
Michael Saylor believes BTC will dominate thanks to SEC lawsuit
In an interview with Bloomberg on June 13, Michael Saylor explained that recent enforcement actions from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will help Bitcoin become dominant. Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency that was not listed in the list of tokens labeled as securities by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.
SEC Chairman once said BTC, ETH are not securities
During Gary Gensler’s 2018 speech, the SEC chairman once again asserted that Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash are not “security.”
Binance US lays of employees
Per a Reuters report that cited two anonymous sources, the US affiliate of Binance has laid off around 50 staff across divisions in the latest round of workforce reduction.
The report detailed that the laid-off staff belonged to Binance.US’ legal, compliance, and risk departments. Binance.US did not confirm the layoffs officially, however, at least two employees of the US-based crypto exchange confirmed their exit on Linkedin.
BlackRock files Bitcoin ETF application with the SEC
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, filed an application to register a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. This new fund will be called iSHARES BITCOIN TRUST.
Binance will leave the Dutch market
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is leaving the Netherlands after a failed bid to obtain a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license. According to the announcement from the exchange, Dutch residents can only withdraw funds from the platform from July 17.
BNB Chain teases layer 2 solution, zkBNB or opBNB?
On June 15, BNB Chain posted a short video teasing a new layer-2 solution. It said the new offering would be “coming soon” on June 19, but no further details were provided.
France investigates Binance over money-laundering, canvassing breaches
Binance is under preliminary investigation for illegal canvassing of clients and money-laundering, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
Binance US and the SEC reach agreement on access to US customers’ money
On June 17, Judge Amy Berman Jackson approved the agreement between Binance US, Binance and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Binance.US will ensure that no employee of Binance Holdings has access to the private keys for critical wallets, hardware wallets, or other access rights. The US crypto exchange platform will share details on business expenses, including cost estimates, in the coming weeks.
Elon Musk calls BOB, WASSIE memecoins a scam
Elon Musk tweeted that the Twitter accounts of BOB and WASSIE were scams and confirmed to ban these accounts.