Crypto Retro

2022-08-31 20:00:05 ​​Binance froze $1M corporate account due to law enforcement request.

The crypto exchange accused a Tezos tool contributor of "misleadthe community" by claiming it was unaware of the reason Binance blocked access to its corporate account.

Major crypto exchange Binance has confirmed it restricted account access to $1 million in crypto for a Tezos tool contributor after being called out on social media.

In a Thursday Twitter thread, Binance said it had restricted the account of Tezos staking rewards auditor Baking Bad “as the result of a law enforcement request.” The Tezos contributor alleged that the crypto exchange had blocked access to its corporate account containing Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Polgyon (MATIC), Tether (USDT) and other tokens since July 1 “without any explanations” — a claim Binance denied.

“BakingBad is well aware of Binance’s actions, as he was already advised of this multiple times and provided the LE contact form through our support chat system on 7/6, 7/12, and 7/22,” said Binance. “Attempting to mislead the community in regards to your case will not change anything, unfortunately.”

The exchange added:

“Binance is required to cooperate with such requests, the same as any other exchange. There is a process to contest the seizure with the agency should you wish to pursue that path. But that is done through the agency, Binance has zero control over that process.”

It’s unclear to which law enforcement agency Binance was referring, given the exchange and its subsidiaries operate in many countries across the globe. Baking Bad’s LinkedIn page showed the platform was based in Estonia, where many companies providing crypto-related services were subject to additional Anti-Money Laundering restrictions starting in February.

Binance has previously shown deference to many law enforcement and regulatory authorities that imposed sanctions on Russia-based entities and individuals following the start of the war in Ukraine. A spokesperson told Cointelegraph in February that Binance would not “unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts,” with CEO Changpeng Zhao saying the exchange must comply with sanctions in much the same way as traditional financial institutions. Open / Comment

2022-08-28 20:00:06 ​178 South Korean Darkweb Users Arrested on Suspicion of Crypto-powered Drug Trading.

Police in Seoul, South Korea, have arrested 178 people on suspicion of buying and selling drugs online using cryptoassets as a means of payment.

According to JTBC, Seoul Metropolitan Police officers said they had arrested 12 suspected drug dealers and 166 of their alleged customers, stating that the individuals had all made use of darkweb portals and crypto payments.

The officers also stated that they had seized tokens, some USD 8,500 worth of cash, 12kg of marijuana, and significant amounts of drugs such as synthetic cannabinoids, ketamine, and MDMA (ecstasy).

A number of the drug payments appear to have been carried out in bitcoin (BTC), and the vast majority of alleged drug buyers were described as being in their 20s and 30s – although a small number of individuals were aged 40-59.

The officers explained that the individuals had all made use of a darkweb platform that allowed would-be dealers to post for free, but demanded 10% commission on all transactions – which were paid in crypto and carried out through the platform.

While the traders have been identified, the darkweb platform operators have thus far eluded capture.

Police officers stated that the platform made use of darkweb technology, cryptoassets, and messaging platforms such as Telegram, making it a natural choice for younger individuals – and less of a draw for older people.

And officers warned:

“Young people with high levels of internet literacy can easily buy narcotics online. But while they may think they leave no trace of their actions if they buy narcotics using cryptoassets, this isn’t the case. We have launched a dedicated investigation team and offenders will eventually be caught.” Open / Comment

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2022-08-25 20:00:07 ​​It’s a go! Uniswap Foundation becomes reality after 86M votes in favor.

The foundation aims to streamline Uniswap’s grants program and “reinvigorate governance.”

The $74 million plan by two former Uniswap Lab executives for a new Uniswap Foundation has just become reality after their proposal received over 99% of the votes from Uniswap (UNI) holders.

According to the initial proposal, the foundation aims to streamline Uniswap’s Grant Program (UPG) and reduce friction in the protocol’s governance system.

Former Uniswap Labs executive Devin Walsh, now serving as executive director of UF, shared the results in a tweet on Wednesday, noting that the proposal to create the foundation “passed its final vote!”

According to the Uniswap website, the foundation saw more than 86 million, or 99% of total votes, in favor of the proposal, with only 770 votes against it. The votes in favor come despite the initial proposal seeing mixed community reaction when it was first announced on Aug. 5.

The voting period started on Aug. 17 and was cut off at 2:19 pm GMT +10 deadline on Wednesday. The votes were conducted on Uniswap’s app, with voters needing to hold UNI in order to vote. For the vote to pass, a threshold of 40 million votes was needed to be cast in favor of the UF.

Walsh said that the UF has already “hit the ground running” on its top priorities, including interviewing “talented, values-aligned candidates” to join the team, scaling up the UPG and “reinvigorating governance.”

According to the Uniswap Foundation’s job board, employees they’re looking to hire include community lead, partnerships lead, governance lead, grants analyst and leads, communications and finance leads, and developer relations and protocol leads.

Despite the votes being cast heavily in favor of the UF, some on Twitter have questioned how much control the community actually has on Uniswap decisions.

Chainlink community ambassador ChainLinkGod, who has 150,200 followers on Twitter, stated that Uniswap’s decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) should “determine how funds raised are used” rather than a centralized foundation. Open / Comment

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2022-08-22 20:00:07 ​​Correlation growing between crypto and equity markets in Asia, says IMF.

New data shows a 10-fold increase in the return correlations between Bitcoin and stocks in some regions.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia there was a strong division between the crypto and financial markets in general. Now, that border has got thinner and the situation demands additional regulatory measures, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes.

In a blog post from Aug. 21, a group of IMF economists shared their concerns over the dynamics of Asian markets, where the integration of crypto in the larger financial system appears to be growing swiftly. This poses certain risks to financial stability, the economists stated, adding:

“While the financial sector appears to have been insulated from these sharp movements, it may not be in future boom-bust cycles. Contagion could spread through individual or institutional investors that may hold both crypto and traditional financial assets or liabilities.”

The economists further mentioned an example of the Indian market, where the return correlations of Bitcoin (BTC) and Indian stock markets have increased 10-fold over the pandemic.

The reasons behind the tightening connection between crypto and traditional finance are believed to be a growing acceptance of crypto-related platforms and investment vehicles in the stock market and growing crypto adoption by retail and institutional investors in Asia.

Using the spillover methodology developed in their Global Financial Stability Note, the experts also found a sharp rise in crypto-equity volatility spillovers in India, Vietnam and Thailand. In conclusion, Asian regulators are being recommended to “establish clear guidelines on regulated financial institutions,” inform and protect retail investors, and closely coordinate their efforts across jurisdictions.

On July 27, the IMF director of capital markets, Tobias Adrian, stated that there could be further failures of algorithmic stablecoins. Thus, stablecoins need a “global regulatory approach” to better protect investors. Open / Comment

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2022-08-18 20:00:08 ​​CME Group plans to launch options on ETH futures prior to the Merge.

The group reported it had observed an increase in trading volume and open interest for ETH futures and micro-sized ETH futures options, possibly in anticipation of the Merge.

Major derivatives marketplace Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group intends to launch options trading for its Ether (ETH) futures products.

In a Thursday announcement, the CME Group said that subject to regulatory review, it plans to launch options contracts for its Ether futures, sized at 50 ETH per contract. The futures options, expected to start trading on Sept. 12, will follow the firm launching micro-sized Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether options in March 2022, BTC options trading products in January 2020, and a BTC futures contract in December 2017.

CME Group’s global head of equity and FX products Tim McCourt cited the Ethereum blockchain’s upcoming transition to proof-of-stake — also known as the Merge — in announcing the ETH futures product. McCourt said the group had observed an increase in trading volume and open interest for ETH futures and micro-sized ETH futures options, possibly in anticipation of the Merge.

“We have seen heightened activity in our September and December Micro Ether options, which could also suggest that participants are hedging risk around the proposed date of the merge,” said McCourt in a statement shared with Cointelegraph. “78% of Micro Ether options open interest is in the September and December contracts.”

The CME Group reported a 7% increase in the average daily trading volume of ETH futures from June to July, and a 41% increase in the same volume of contracts of micro ETH futures. Trading activity for ETH and investment vehicles linked to the cryptocurrency could see significant volume in advance of the Merge, which core developers expect to happen on Sept. 15.

According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, the price of ETH is $1,863 at the time of publication, having risen 2% in the last 24 hours. The token hit an all-time high price of roughly $4,800 in November 2021. Open / Comment