| Binance and CZ were sued by the US CFTC; the beta version of the Polygon zkEVM mainnet was launched (March 28)
headlines
Binance and CZ sued by US CFTC for regulatory violations
Odaily News Encryption trading platform Binance and its CEO CZ have been sued by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for allegedly violating trading and derivatives rules.
The CFTC filed the lawsuit Monday in federal court in Chicago. The derivatives watchdog said Binance avoided its due diligence obligations by not being properly registered. Since at least 2021, the CFTC has been investigating whether Binance failed to prevent U.S. residents from buying and selling cryptocurrency derivatives. CFTC rules generally require platforms to register with the agency when allowing U.S. persons to trade these products. (Bloomberg)
headlines
Binance and CZ sued by US CFTC for regulatory violations
Odaily News Encryption trading platform Binance and its CEO CZ have been sued by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for allegedly violating trading and derivatives rules.
The CFTC filed the lawsuit Monday in federal court in Chicago. The derivatives watchdog said Binance avoided its due diligence obligations by not being properly registered. Since at least 2021, the CFTC has been investigating whether Binance failed to prevent U.S. residents from buying and selling cryptocurrency derivatives. CFTC rules generally require platforms to register with the agency when allowing U.S. persons to trade these products. (Bloomberg)
Binance responds to CFTC prosecution: disappointed and will continue to cooperate with regulators
Odaily News Today, a spokesperson for Binance responded to the incident being sued by the CFTC. Binance said that Binance has cooperated with the CFTC for more than two years, so the indictment it filed is surprising and disappointing. Nonetheless, Binance will continue to work with regulators in the US and around the world.
Binance stated that the best way to keep moving forward is to protect our users, and at the same time, we will continue to cooperate with regulators and help develop a clear and comprehensive regulatory system.
In the past two years, in order to meet the regulatory requirements of the United States, Binance has invested a lot of manpower and material resources to ensure that there are no American users on the platform. During that time, Binance’s compliance team has grown from about 100 people to about 750 now, including nearly 80 with experience in law enforcement or regulators, and about 260 with compliance certifications. In terms of external partners, Binance spent $80 million, mainly including KYC suppliers, transaction monitoring, market surveillance and compliance investigation tools.
Binance adopts various means on a global scale to meet the expectations of regulators, including but not limited to:
1. Ensure mandatory KYC for all users worldwide;
2. Block access by anyone residing in the United States;
3. Block access to anyone identified as a U.S. citizen (regardless of where in the world they live);
4. Block the use of any device from a US cell phone carrier;
Microstrategy Adds 6,455 Bitcoins for About $150 Million
Odaily News According to official news, the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced that it has signed all deposits and loans with First–Citizens Bank & Trust Company (First–Citizens Bank & Trust Company) for Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, National Association (Silicon Valley Bank Bridge Bank) Sign a purchase and assume agreement. Seventeen former branches of Silicon Valley Bank Transition Bank will open on Monday, March 27 local time as First Citizens Bank and Trust.
Additionally, MicroStrategy repaid its $205 million Silvergate loan at a 22% discount. On March 24, 2023, MacroStrategy and Silvergate entered into an agreement to prepay Silvergate approximately $161 million to fully repay, discharge and discharge all other obligations under the Loan and Credit Agreement and to recover collateral including 34,619 bitcoin.
Industry news
Odaily News According to official news, the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced that it has signed all deposits and loans with First–Citizens Bank & Trust Company (First–Citizens Bank & Trust Company) for Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, National Association (Silicon Valley Bank Bridge Bank) Sign a purchase and assume agreement. Seventeen former branches of Silicon Valley Bank Transition Bank will open on Monday, March 27 local time as First Citizens Bank and Trust.
Depositors of Silicon Valley Bank Bridge Bank will automatically become depositors of First Citizens Bank & Trust. All deposits undertaken by the latter will continue to be insured by the FDIC up to the limit of insurance.
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Industry news
Overview of CFTC Charges against Binance: Trading Services Provided to US Investors and Compliance Issues
Odaily News According to a lawsuit issued by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Binance is accused of illegally providing cryptocurrency trading services to US investors without being registered in the US. The following is an overview of the main contents of the document:
1. Binance provided trading services to U.S. investors without CFTC registration;
2. Binance’s exchange platform allows U.S. investors to conduct leveraged trading and futures trading;
3. The CFTC believes that Binance violated the regulations of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, failed to issue necessary risk disclosures to customers, and failed to meet other requirements of the regulations;
4. The CFTC wants the court to order Binance to stop the violation and require Binance to pay a fine.
In general, the document is mainly CFTC’s allegations and requirements against Binance’s violation of U.S. regulations, involving Binance’s trading services and compliance issues for U.S. investors.
CFTC Asks Court to Issue 4 Orders "Prohibiting Binance and Its Executives from Continuing Violations of CEA and CFTC Regulations"
Odaily News According to the CFTC’s allegations, it requested sanctions against Binance, including asking the court to issue the following order:
2. Require Binance to pay a civil penalty;
3. Ask Binance to return illegally obtained proceeds;
4. Ask Binance to pay legal costs.
CFTC releases lawsuit over CZ's Signal chats
Odaily News According to the lawsuit documents issued by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the documents mentioned multiple chat records about CZ’s use of the Signal chat application, including chats between him and Binance employees, US customers, etc. The chat also mentions instructions from CZ to employees asking them to use Signal to communicate about the U.S. ban.
The CFTC said CZ communicated with numerous Binance executives, employees, and agents via Signal with automated deletions.
It is currently impossible to confirm how the CFTC obtained CZ’s Signal-related chat records, which has sparked widespread discussion in the community.
Data: The US government's bitcoin balance is about 205,515
According to the amount of bitcoin seized: Since 2020, the US government has seized at least 215,000 bitcoins.
Recent transactions: The U.S. government transferred about 9,900 bitcoins worth $221.7 million to Coinbase, sparking speculation about a potential sale.
Current Bitcoin Balance: As of March 22, 2023, the U.S. government's Bitcoin balance is estimated at 205,515 coins, worth approximately $5.8 billion.
Bloomberg: Bank of Communications, Bank of China, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Hong Kong Branch may consider providing services to encryption companies
Odaily News People familiar with the matter said that the Hong Kong branches of China Bank of Communications, Bank of China, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank may have begun to provide banking services to local cryptocurrency companies, or are investigating the field.
On at least one occasion, a Chinese bank sales representative visited the offices of a cryptocurrency company to pitch its services, people familiar with the matter said.
Bank of China, Bank of Communications and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank did not respond to requests for comment by press time. (Bloomberg)
ARK Invest added $12.6 million to Coinbase stock and $18.1 million to Block stock on Friday
Odaily news Cathy Wood's ARK Invest bought $12.6 million in Coinbase stock last Friday. Two days to increase its holdings. On Friday, Coinbase shares rose 1.5 percent to close at $67.83 per share.
ARK Innovation EFT (ARKK) increased its holdings by 155,833 shares and ARK Next Generation Internet EFT (ARKW) increased its holdings by 26,395 shares, according to an email sent Friday night US time.
Additionally, ARK bought $18.1 million of Block (SQ) stock on Friday. The stock fell 17% on March 23 following a negative report from short-seller Hindenburg Research. Block stock closed at $60.88 a share on Friday, down 1.2%.
South Korean Prosecutors Again Seek Arrest of Terra Co-founder Daniel Shin
Odaily, South Korea's Seoul prosecutors' office confirmed on Monday that they are again seeking the arrest of Terra co-founder Daniel Shin, but did not provide further details. A lawyer for Shin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In December last year, it was reported that a South Korean court rejected the arrest warrant for Terra co-creator Daniel Shin. Seoul prosecutors said Shin faces charges of fraud, negligence of duty, violation of capital market laws and illegal fundraising. Do Kwon was recently arrested in Montenegro, and both South Korea and the United States are seeking his extradition. (Bloomberg)
In light of this court ruling, the debtor has now reopened the deadline. Customers have until April 28 to file a proof of claim against any debtor under the ruling.
Project News
CoinShares launches two zero-management fee index ETPs in Xetra, Germany
Odaily News CoinShares today announced the launch of two physical-backed index ETPs on the main German market Xetra: CoinShares Physical Top 10 Crypto Market ETP (symbol: CTEN) and CoinShares Physical Smart Contract Platform ETP (symbol: CSSC), with zero management fees. Both products track custom indices developed in partnership with Compass Financial Technologies.
It is reported that CoinShares is the largest digital asset investment company in Europe, with an asset management scale of US$2.2 billion. (Globe Newswire)
Project News
It is reported that MetaMask Swaps is a built-in function of MetaMask that allows users to exchange different types of cryptocurrencies and currently supports networks such as Ethereum, BNB Chain, Avalanche C-Chain, Polygon, Optimism and Arbitrum.
Polygon announces that its zkEVM mainnet beta is live
Odaily News Polygon announced that the beta version of its zkEVM mainnet has been launched, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin made a symbolic first transaction. Polygon also said that to make the network censorship-resistant, users will eventually be able to force transactions to ethereum L1 in the event of a failure, a mechanism that will be enabled briefly after launch.
The number of ARB token claims exceeded 1 billion
Odaily News According to the latest data from Nansen, the number of ARB token claims has exceeded 1 billion, reaching 1,000,041,375 at the time of writing, accounting for about 86% of the total airdrop tokens of 1,162,166,000 % .
Also, the current ARB token price is about $1.26, with a market cap of about $1.6 billion.
Polygon announces that its zkEVM mainnet beta is live
Odaily News Polygon announced that the beta version of its zkEVM mainnet has been launched, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin made a symbolic first transaction. Polygon also said that to make the network censorship-resistant, users will eventually be able to force transactions to ethereum L1 in the event of a failure, a mechanism that will be enabled briefly after launch.
OKX Releases OKBC Development Roadmap: Building OKBC Network in Three Steps
Currently, OKX is preparing to build the OKBC network in three steps, as follows:
OKB Chain V1: Ethereum PoA side chain, focusing on providing high performance and low transaction fees, compatible with EVM and Wasm ecology, ensuring that users and developers can enjoy a smooth experience. The testnet of OKBC V1 will be launched in 2023 Q1.
OKB Chain V3: Open up the cross-chain communication between ZK Rollups, and propose a special application solution based on the V2 platform. Only when this goal is achieved can we provide users with a Web2-like experience. By using OKB as a link on Layer 2, it is possible to create DEX products with almost the same functions and experiences as CEX.
BNB application side chain Antimatter B 2 is scheduled to go live on the mainnet in April
Odaily news Antimatter B 2, an application side chain based on BNB Chain, announced that it plans to launch the main network in April.
According to previous news, Antimatter, a cross-chain perpetual derivatives agreement, announced in June last year the launch of the side chain B 2 based on the BNB Chain. It is built on the BAS framework and compatible with EVM, such as staking, RPC-API and smart contracts. Antimatter's ecosystem will be migrated to B2, which includes Nonfungible Finance, Structured and Quanto, etc.
Cosmos Ecological DeFi Protocol Quasar Finance Has Been Launched on the Mainnet
Odaily News The main network of Quasar Finance, a Cosmos-based DeFi protocol, is now online. Users can access the cross-chain vault OSMO PRO and multiple Osmosis liquidity pools, which will automatically compound returns.
The Quasar vault allows users to access cross-chain DeFi by combining and automating various other Cosmos protocol products, and will launch Osmosis on schedule. OSMO PRO uses unilateral deposits to enter three different Osmosis pools: OSMO-ATOM, OSMO-USDC, OSMO-stOSMO, users only need to deposit OSMO without other operations, and the treasury will handle it automatically.
Odaily News According to Scam Sniffer monitoring, there is a loophole in LaunchZone’s early contract Bscex SwapX, and $7,799,856 of funds have been stolen so far. Users who approved the contract in the early stage are at risk, 34065 addresses are at risk, please check and revoke authorization as soon as possible.
Odaily News According to Scam Sniffer monitoring, there is a loophole in LaunchZone’s early contract Bscex SwapX, and $7,799,856 of funds have been stolen so far. Users who approved the contract in the early stage are at risk, 34065 addresses are at risk, please check and revoke authorization as soon as possible.
Yu Xian, the founder of SlowMist, commented on this: “Who would have thought that 2 to 3 years ago, there was a loophole in a wallet address authorization project. Many users have not canceled the authorization, and hackers continue to monitor these wallet addresses with authorization risk exposure. Once the funds are found, they are stolen."
Security Team: Kokomo Finance Implemented Exit Scam, About $4 Million in User Funds Stolen
Odaily News According to CertiK monitoring, yesterday (March 26) the Kokomo Finance (KOKO) project implemented an exit scam, the currency price plummeted by more than 95%, and the user’s stolen funds were about 4 million US dollars.
At present, the project has deleted all its social media accounts. ETH contract address: 0x 7 Da 25 Bc 4 cFAed 3 F 29414 C 6779676 e 53 B 19 a 356 f 5 .
Investment and Financing
Odaily News According to CertiK monitoring, yesterday (March 26) the Kokomo Finance (KOKO) project implemented an exit scam, the currency price plummeted by more than 95%, and the user’s stolen funds were about 4 million US dollars.
According to the official website, Davos Protocol utilizes liquidity staking and over-collateralization to ensure stability, and is committed to solving the problem of locked-up liquidity in a sustainable manner. Its monetary policy regulates the price stability of the stable asset DAVOS, and rewards liquidity providers with a stable rate of return and a fair income distribution system.
Investment and Financing
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DeFi project Davos Protocol received investment from LD Capital
Odaily News The DeFi project Davos Protocol announced on Twitter that it has received investment from LD Capital. LD Capital said in this regard: "This is a cutting-edge project that combines DeFi with breakthrough technologies and models to meet market challenges and solve practical problems."
Davos Protocol accepts native cryptocurrencies from multiple PoS networks as collateral to borrow the DAVOS stable asset. The protocol runs a variety of low-risk strategies that generate yields from collateralized assets and redistribute them to DAVOS stakers and DEX liquidity providers.
CZ responds to being sued: ignore FUD
Odaily News CZ responded to the incident of "Binance and its CEO being prosecuted by the US CFTC for violating regulatory requirements", citing the fourth article of "2023 Focus Goals and Recommendations" released at the beginning of the year to respond, "Ignore FUD, fake news, attacks, etc. .”, that is, ignore FUD news, fake news, malicious attacks, etc.
Galaxy Digital CEO: Bitcoin and Ethereum Communities Should Have a Truce
