Crypto Publisher

2023-09-27 08:59:35 Binance Belgium Registration Now Active Again After Suspension

Cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance has announced the reopening of registration and access for users in Belgium, following a prior suspension of services ordered by the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) in June. This move came after Binance established a Polish entity in late August, designed to cater to clients in Belgium, in compliance with regulatory requirements. The new entity enables Binance to fulfill its regulatory obligations and continue offering services to Belgian users.

Binance, founded by Changpeng Zhao in 2017, is renowned as the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. However, its rapid growth has brought it under the scrutiny of regulators worldwide, particularly concerning concerns related to money laundering. Additionally, Binance has voiced apprehensions about the potential delisting of stablecoins in Europe, in response to the upcoming implementation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation by the European Union. In a statement, Changpeng Zhao emphasized Binance’s commitment to regulatory compliance and its active collaboration with stablecoin issuers to ensure alignment with MiCA requirements.Binance navigates evolving regulations and continues its expansion, it remains a central player in the cryptocurrency industry.

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2023-09-25 09:11:28 FBI Wanted Co-Founder of Crypto Exchange Wex Sentenced in Russia

Aleksey Bilyuchenko, co-founder of Wex, the successor of the infamous Russian crypto exchange BTC-e, will spend only a couple of years in prison. The Russian, who is charged in the U.S. with money laundering, has been sentenced in his homeland as the only defendant in a case over the collapse of Wex which brought heavy losses to its customers. Russian crypto news outlet Bits.media reported, quoting a Telegram post by journalist and blogger Irek Murtazin.

The mild sentence comes after Aleksey Bilyuchenko, who has been accused in Russia of embezzling several billion rubles in customer funds, sought leniency from Russian President Vladimir Putin while the state prosecutor asked for a less severe punishment which was then reduced even further by the judge. BTC-e, believed to have been used by cybercriminals to store, transfer and launder billions of U.S. dollars in illicit proceeds, was shut down by Western law enforcement in July 2017. Wex which was founded after that, went offline in 2018, causing customers to lose up to 16 billion rubles (over $167 million today), according to one estimate.

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2023-09-24 21:37:22 Ethereum core developers discuss if Dencun upgrade may be deployed early next year

Ethereum’s next anticipated upgrade, referred to as Deneb-Cancun or “Dencun,” might potentially face a delay to early next year, as discussed by core developers. The upgrade aims to address scalability issues within the Ethereum ecosystem by implementing an improvement proposal named EIP-4844. The launch plan for Dencun was discussed in yesterday’s Ethereum consensus-layer meeting.

Tim Beiko from the Ethereum Foundation, who chaired the meeting, expressed concerns about a potential delay in Dencun's deployment on the mainnet. His concerns stemmed from the fact that the upgrade has not yet been introduced on public testnets such as Goerli, Sepolia, and Holesky. He further pointed out that if the developer team doesn’t introduce Dencun on a public testnet before Devconnect, an Ethereum-centric developer conference slated for November 2023, the mainnet activation of Dencun might not occur this year — which would be a departure from earlier projections.

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2023-09-23 20:12:11 South Korea’s FIU Enhances Crypto Exchange Oversight From October 2024

South Korea’s FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit), operating under the Financial Services Commission, has taken significant steps in reforming the reporting standards for cryptocurrency exchanges, according to Newsis. The focus of the FIU’s efforts lies in reviewing the eligibility of major shareholders in crypto exchanges, mirroring the scrutiny applied in the banking sector. This move follows concerns arising from ongoing criminal lawsuits involving major shareholders of domestic exchanges, including Bithumb.

Under the provisions of the Enforcement Decree of the Specific Financial Information Act, virtual asset business operators, including exchanges, must submit renewal reports every three years after their initial report. This process commenced with Upbit‘s report acceptance in October 2021, with exchanges set to continue renewing reports starting in October 2024. The rationale behind these reforms is to address the regulatory blind spot associated with major shareholders of exchanges. Presently, the Special Financial Services Act mandates that only exchange representatives and registered executives must report and undergo reviews, leaving the actual owners and controllers of exchanges unchecked.

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2023-09-22 15:17:01 Polygon Labs proposes facilitating Celo's migration to Ethereum Layer 2 with CDK

Polygon Labs has proposed that the Celo blockchain community use Polygon's Chain Development Kit (CDK) to facilitate a planned Layer 2 transition on Ethereum. The proposal comes after Celo’s core development team, cLabs, unveiled a separate proposed plan to transform its Layer 1 into an Ethereum-based Layer 2 using OP Labs’ software package called OP Stack. Polygon Labs proposes that the Celo Ecosystem choose to deploy an L2 using the Polygon CDK.

Polygon's CDK is an open-source software development kit designed by Polygon Labs. Layer 2s created with CDK are based on zero-knowledge rollup technology and inherit Ethereum's full security via ZK proofs. The software kit has previously received interest from several blockchain ventures, including Canto, Astar, Immutable, IDEX, and Palm Network — all of which are collaborating with Polygon Labs for Ethereum Layer 2 migration. In response to Nailwal’s proposal, Rene Reinsberg, the co-founder of Celo, said that cLabs would discuss the proposal with the broader community before reaching a governance decision.

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2023-09-21 08:50:41 Balancer hit by DNS attack on front-end website

Ethereum-based decentralized exchange Balancer suffered a domain name system (DNS) attack on its frontend website, the team confirmed.On Wednesday at 7:50 pm EST, Balancer warned users not to interact with its website until further notice. Later, the team confirmed the front-end issue was related to a DNS attack. “The Balancer DAO is actively addressing the current DNS attack and is working with all relevant parties to ensure the full recovery of the Balancer UI,” Balancer wrote on X.

The domain name system is a widely used protocol that websites rely on. However, attackers can exploit issues in DNS to attempt to carry out nefarious activities, as demonstrated in this incident. While there has been no official statement about the impact on user assets, security firm PeckShield estimated that roughly $238,000 in cryptocurrency might have been taken during the attack. In August, Balancer experienced an exploit resulting in the loss of nearly $1 million in stablecoin. This was attributed to a critical flaw on the platform shortly after it advised users to withdraw from the affected liquidity pools. During the incident, hackers executed a DNS exploit to take control of the official Balancer website link — balancer.fi.

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2023-09-19 14:26:58 Grayscale Champions Ethereum’s Future With ETHW Initiative

Grayscale has made a significant decision regarding Ethereum’s Ethereum World (ETHW) tokens. This decision stems from the firm’s assessment that the product’s custodian does not offer support for ETHPoW (Ethereum Proof of Work) and has not established a liquid trading venue for ETHPoW tokens. Grayscale’s actions signify the challenges faced by cryptocurrency asset managers when dealing with assets that may not align with their intended strategies or face insufficient infrastructure support.

On behalf of its shareholders, Grayscale has chosen to irrevocably forfeit the ETHW tokens allocated to record date shareholders as of September 26, 2022. Grayscale’s ETHE and GDLC funds passively received approximately 3.06 million and 40,000 ETHW airdrop tokens last year, representing a substantial amount of assets. By relinquishing the rights to these tokens, the firm is acting in its capacity as an agent of the record date shareholders, prioritizing their interests. It’s important to clarify that Grayscale‘s decision is solely related to its role as the agent of the record date shareholders and does not impact its status as the sponsor or manager of the respective products.

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2023-09-18 23:30:12 HIFI Token Skyrockets 208% in 7 Days, Upbit Dominates with $717M 24h Trading Volume

HIFI token has taken the crypto world by storm, recording an incredible 208% surge in its price over the past seven days. However, the HIFI token’s journey to its newfound glory has been anything but smooth. On September 16th, Binance, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, added HIFI perpetual contracts to its trading offerings. The immediate aftermath of this listing was a sharp decline in HIFI’s value, with the token plummeting by more than 30% from its recent peak.

South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit, played a pivotal role in this remarkable price rally. With a staggering trading volume of $717 million in the last 24 hours, Upbit has emerged as the primary driving force behind HIFI’s surge. What made the situation even more intriguing was the drastic difference between HIFI futures prices and spot prices. HIFI futures were trading at a negative premium of 40% compared to the spot prices, a rare and puzzling occurrence in the crypto world. This negative premium added a layer of complexity and uncertainty to HIFI’s price dynamics, leaving traders and investors scrambling to make sense of the situation. HIFI token serves as a stark reminder of the volatility and unpredictability that characterizes the cryptocurrency market.

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2023-09-17 18:40:00 NounsDAO’s Fork Sparks $27 Million ETH Withdrawal Surge

NounsDAO executed a highly anticipated fork that would change the course of its community. The outcome was striking, with more than half of Nouns NFT holders choosing to part ways, resulting in a staggering withdrawal of over $27 million worth of ETH. The fork witnessed the active participation of 472 out of 846 Noun NFT owners, approximately 56% of the total, making a decisive move to withdraw nearly 16,757 ETH from the existing DAO Noun pool to the newly established DAO entity. This substantial sum equates to a value of 27.3 million USD.

Analyzing the data further, it’s evident that the Noun NFT market has experienced a significant decline. The floor price for these sought-after digital assets, which peaked at a staggering $267,000 in December 2021, has now plummeted to approximately $57,700. This decline in value underscores the growing discontent within the Noun NFT community and provides additional context to the massive withdrawal. The NounsDAO fork has thus become a focal point in the evolving landscape of NFTs and decentralized governance. The departure of over half of its NFT holders, along with the substantial ETH withdrawal, raises questions about the future direction of the project and the challenges it faces in rebuilding trust and value within its community.

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2023-09-16 22:39:39 Binance Updates The Maintenance Ratio For Cross-margin Loanable Assets Since Sept 20

Binance, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, has announced a significant adjustment to the maintenance margin ratio for full-collateralized leveraged assets under the Portfolio Margin Program and the Classic Portfolio Margin Program. The adjustment will impact the leverage multiple of these assets, automatically updating existing fully collateralized leveraged positions in both unified account plans to align with the new maintenance margin ratio after the specified time and date.

Furthermore, the maintenance margin ratios for Cross Margin loanable assets will undergo modifications, subsequently affecting their leverage. These changes will automatically apply to all open and existing Cross Margin loan positions created under the programs from September 20, 2023, onwards at 12:00 (UTC). Binance’s Classic Portfolio Margin Program is a comprehensive cross-asset margin offering designed to streamline margin balances across various trading products. With support for over 200 cryptocurrencies as collateral, this program caters to the needs of professional traders, market makers, and institutional clients seeking an integrated solution for active trading, cross-hedging, and optimized risk management.

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