Binance
French investors sued Binance for over 2.4 million euros in losses
Binance France and its parent company Binance Holdings Limited are being sued by 15 investors in France over alleged misleading commercial practices and fraudulent concealment, according to local media reports. In a complaint filed on Dec. 14, the plaintiffs claimed that Binance violated French laws by advertising and distributing crypto services before receiving registration from the country’s authorities. As reported by Cointelegraph, France’s financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers, has granted Binance a license as a digital asset provider in May 2022. The license allowed the crypto exchange to offer services such as assets custody and crypto trading. The complaint reportedly contains screenshots showing Binance’s social media activity pri...
Crypto billionaires lost $116B since March: Report
The bear market and the wave of bankruptcies in the crypto industry drained $116 billion from the pockets of founders and investors in the past nine months, according to recent estimates by Forbes. The loss represents the combined personal equity of 17 people in the space, with over 15 losing more than half of their fortunes since March. As a result, 10 names were removed from the crypto billionaires list. One of the major losses was attributed to Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. In March, his 70% stake in the crypto exchange was valued at $65 billion, but it is now worth $4.5 billion. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has a net worth estimated at $1.5 billion, down from $6 billion in March. The fortune of Ripple’s co-founder Chris Larsen was reduced from $4.3 billion to...
Crypto can get weird: The 5 strangest stories of the industry in 2022
From Terra to FTX, 2022 has given us many weird crypto stories. While investors have been enduring a bear market that saw the crypto industry sink below the $1 trillion market capitalization mark, adoption in the space has been growing, and old mysteries were finally solved. From the incredible short squeeze of a bankrupt company’s token to old anti-crypto arguments used by a major central bank, we’re getting weird with five stories the best fiction writers couldn’t dream up. “Comedic rapper” charged over Bitfinex hack Back in 2016, popular cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex suffered a major security breach that saw attackers steal 119,756 Bitcoin (BTC), worth approximately $72 million at the time. It was one of the largest crypto hacks in history, and although Bitfinex continued operating, ...
Santas and Grinches: The heroes and villains of 2022
From an outside perspective, 2022 has been a rollercoaster ride for crypto. The market reached a total valuation of $3 trillion during the bull market of 2021, only to scale back to its current level of around $810 billion. While this poor performance can be partly attributed to the pervading macroeconomic environment — compounded by rising inflation rates and the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict, among other factors — one cannot deny the role that the recent slew of insolvencies has had on the sector. That said, below is a list of arguably the most notable heroes and villains who have undeniably impacted this rapidly evolving industry over the past year. The heroes Changpeng Zhao At a time when some of the biggest players in crypto crumbled, Changpeng Zhao, also known as “CZ,” ensure...
Be ‘very wary’ of crypto proof-of-reserve audits: SEC official
A senior official from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has warned investors to be “very wary” about relying on a crypto company’s “proof-of-reserves.” “We’re warning investors to be very wary of some of the claims that are being made by crypto companies,” said SEC’s acting chief accountant Paul Munter in a Dec. 22 interview with The Wall Street Journal. A number of crypto firms have commissioned “proof-of-reserves” audits since the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, aiming to quell concerns over their own exchange’s financial soundness. However, Munter said the results of these audits isn’t necessarily an indicator that the company is in a good financial position. “Investors should not place too much confidence in the mere fact a company says it’s got a proof-of-reserves...
Kazakhstan central bank recommends a phased CBDC rollout between 2023-25
Kazakhstan, the world’s third-largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining hub after the United States and China, found feasibility in launching its in-house central bank digital currency (CBDC), a digital tenge. The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) revealed the finding following the completion of the second phase of testing. In late October, Binance CEO Changpeng’ CZ’ Zhao announced that Kazakhstan’s CBDC would be integrated with BNB Chain, a blockchain built by the crypto exchange. The country’s primary motivation for conducting studies on CBDC was to test its potential to improve financial inclusion, promote competition and innovation in the payments industry and increase the nation’s global competitiveness. The pilot research focused on offline payments and pr...
Project alleges unreturned listing deposit as Binance announces delistings
On Dec. 15, cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced that four tokens — Mithril (MITH), Tribe (TRIBE), Augur (REP) and Bitcoin Standard Hashrate Token (BTCST) — would be delisted from the exchange effective Dec. 22 due to not meeting the “high level of standard we expect.” Immediately after the announcement, decentralized social media protocol Mithril, whose token had a market capitalization of less than $10 million at the time of publication, posted the following statement on Twitter: “Today, Binance has announced that it will delist MITH. As part of the MITH listing, Binance required a 200,000 BNB deposit, which was never returned. On behalf of the Mithril community, we ask @cz_binance to return this deposit so that Mithril may continue to operate.” At the time of the initial ...
Ethereum rallies to $1,350, but derivatives metrics remain neutral to bearish
Ether (ETH) rallied 6.3% to $1,350 on Dec. 13, mimicking a similar failed attempt that took place on Nov. 10. Despite reaching the highest level in 33 days, the gains were not enough to instill confidence in traders according to two key derivatives metrics. Ether/USD price index, 12-hour. Source: TradingView Bulls’ frustrations can partially be explained by Binance facing a near-record $1.1 billion in withdrawals over a 24-hour period. The unusual behavior comes as the exchange attempts to put out multiple disputes about its proof of reserves and overall solvency on crypto Twitter. According to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, the social media posts amount to nothing more than FUD. However, Binance’s USD Coin (USDC) reserves were emptied after alleged troubles with commercial bankin...
BTC price shakes off Binance ‘FUD’ as analysts eye Q1 2023 Bitcoin bottom
Bitcoin (BTC) stayed steady near $17,000 at the Dec. 12 Wall Street open as news involving Binance failed to spark BTC price downside. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Factors line up to “scare” Bitcoin trade Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD avoiding fresh volatility as United States markets opened. Having traded sideways throughout the weekend, the pair offered few cues to analysts, who were waiting for U.S. macroeconomic data to shake up the status quo. This, in the form of the November Consumer Price Index (CPI) print, would nonetheless be a pivotal moment for crypto assets, they agreed, with the potential for significant upside and downside hinging on the numbers, due Dec. 13. Subsequent events involving the Feder...
Binance’s proof of reserves raises red flags: Report
Binance’s efforts to improve transparency of its reserves also exposed red flags in the crypto exchange’s finances, according to accounting and financial specialists consulted by The Wall Street Journal. As noted by a former Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) member and investment manager, the report released by the audit firm Mazars give not bring investors confidence about the exchange’s finances, as it lacks information related to the quality of internal controls and how Binance’s systems liquidate assets to cover margin loans. Another red flag raised by the newspaper’s sources regards the lack of information about Binance’s corporate structure. According to the report, Binance’s chief strategy officer, Patrick Hillmann, was unable name...
Abnormal token price movements on Binance not hack-related, confirms CZ
Crypto exchange Binance began investigating suspicious behavior on its platform after noticing abnormal price movements for certain trading pairs involving Sun Token (SUN), Ardor (ARDR), Osmosis (OSMO), FUNToken (FUN) and Golem (GLM) tokens. Nearly 40 minutes into the investigation, Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao revealed that the price movements “appears to be just market behavior.” On Dec. 11 at 3:10 am ET, Binance issued a notice about abnormal price movements for some trading pairs. The exchange began an investigation to narrow down suspicious accounts responsible for the issue. To investors’ relief, Binance’s investigation did not point to the possibility of compromised accounts or stolen API keys. Based on our investigations so far, this appears to be just market behavior. One guy d...
Binance suspends trader’s account after complaints on Twitter
Crypto exchange Binance closed a trader account on Dec. 9 after a user complained about the exchange’s response for alleged funds theft. Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said the firm does not want to service “unreasonable” clients. A user by the name of CoinMamba on Twitter started complaining about the lost funds on Dec. 8, claiming that a leaked API key tied to crypto trading firm 3Commas was used “to make trades on low cap coins to push up the price to make profit.” The trader claims in a series of tweets that Binance was unable to provide him with appropriate support: Have talked to Binance support and so far they are refusing to do anything to help me with the situation, saying that is my fault. Not sure how the API was leaked, and whose fault is this. — CoinMamba (@coinmamba) Decembe...
