In einem neuen Entwurf des EU-Datenschutzgesetzes sollen auch Smart Contracts reguliert werden.
Binance’s CZ refutes CFTC’s claims of improper compliance procedures and trading
- Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) made a surprise lawsuit against Binance.
- The lawsuit has labelled Bitcoin, Ether, Binance USD, Tether and Litecoin as commodities.
- CFTC also made allegations of market manipulation and a lack of compliance efforts.
Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao has rejected the allegations made by Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) against Binance and himself in the March 27 lawsuit.
On March 27, the US CFTC issued a 74-page complaint labelling Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance USD (BUSD), Litecoin (LTC), and Tether (USDT) as commodities and also accused Binance and Changpeng Zhao of market manipulation and lack of compliance.
CFTC has also accused Binance of not cooperating with the investigative subpoenas while also obscuring the location of its executive offices.
CZ calls CFTC’s claims incomplete recitation of facts
Binance’s CEO published a blog post arguing that the cryptocurrency exchange:
“Binance.com does not trade for profit or “manipulate” the market under any circumstances. Binance “trades” in a number of situations. Our revenues are in crypto. We do need to convert them from time-to-time to cover expenses in fiat or other crypto currencies. We have affiliates that provide liquidity for less liquid pairs. These affiliates are monitored specifically not to have large profits.”
In the lawsuit, the CFTC has accused Binance of trading on its own platform using 300 “house accounts” without properly disclosing the information to its customers in its Terms of Use. The CFTC says that the exchange has instead kept the information as a “top secret” and even refused to respond to the commission-issued investigative subpoenas looking for information about the said trading activity.
CZ also went ahead to disclose that he has two accounts with Binance: one for the card and one for crypto holding. He says in the blog post:
“Personally, I have two accounts at Binance: one for Binance Card, one for my crypto holdings. I eat our own dog food and store my crypto on Binance.com. I also need to convert crypto from time-to-time to pay for my personal expenses or for the Card.”
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Disney disbands its metaverse team amid large layoff
- Disney had picked Polygon for the metaverse project.
- Disney was targeting NFTs for its next-generation storytelling and consumer experiences.
- The company is currently in the process of streamlining its business.
Disney started developing a metaverse strategy in mid-2022 and announced that they would tap the Polygon blockchain for the project. Earlier in October 2021, Citi released a report saying that Disney, Electronic Arts, and WWE were set to become some of the biggest beneficiaries of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The company further appeared to ramp up resource deployment by posting a job post for an expert in-house counsel for DeFi and NFTs in September 2022. The person Disney was looking to hire was required to be an experienced corporate attorney who would “work on transactions involving emerging technologies, including NFTs, blockchain, metaverse, and decentralized finance.”
However, according to the Wall Street Journal, Disney’s metaverse plans appeared to be still unclear a year later.
Streamlining business
Disney is currently in the process of laying off about 7,000 employees as it tries to control costs and develop what the CEO Bob Iger calls a “streamlined business.” The layoff will affect the 50 metaverse project employees.
Disbanding the next-generation storytelling and consumer experiences shows Disney is questioning the continued value of Web3.
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Dan Dolev’s view on Coinbase stock after CFTC sued Binance on Monday
- CFTC sued Binance for violating federal laws to attract U.S. clients.
- Mizuho’s Dan Dolev reiterates his $30 price target on Coinbase stock.
- He prefers Bitcoin over Coinbase Global Inc to play the crypto space.
On Monday, Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Binance for violating federal laws to attract U.S. clients.
What does it mean for the Coinbase stock?
Theoretically, that should be an opportunity for rival Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ: COIN) to expand its market share.
Still, Dan Dolev – Senior Analyst at Mizuho recommends against investing in the crypto exchange. Explaining why on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime”, he said:
What you’re seeing now is beginning of the real crackdown on crypto. If I owned any of these crypto names, I’d be really worried. I wouldn’t invest in any public exchange, including Coinbase.
Last week, Coinbase also received a Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission for violating U.S. securities laws. Coinbase stock ended nearly 10% down on Monday.
Dolev prefers Bitcoin over Coinbase stock
Dolev currently has an “underperform” rating on the crypto exchange. His $30 price objective suggests its shares could tank another 50% from here.
There’s no business model. If the government cracks down on altcoins and staking, that’s 35% of Coinbase revenue – on Ethereum, you’re adding another 20%-30%. Then, what are they left with?
Nonetheless, Coinbase Global Inc reported better-than-expected results for its fourth financial quarter in February. It, however, ended Q4 with 8.3 million MTUs (monthly transacting users) versus 8.5 million a year ago.
The Mizuho analyst prefers Bitcoin over Coinbase stock to play the crypto space.
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Crypto saw $160 million in institutional inflows last week
- Investors put $160M into crypto investment products amid concerns around traditional finance.
- Bitcoin recorded the largest inflows of $128 million as a six-week streak of outflows ended.
- Digital assets manager CoinShares also says Solana, Polygon and EXP recorded inflows.
Inflows into digital asset investment products totaled $160 million last week, with the latest market report from digital assets manager CoinShares showing the largest share of inflows went into Bitcoin.
CoinShares’ Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report published Monday 27 March also highlighted that crypto investment products had ended a six-week streak of outflows.
Digital asset investment products saw largest inflows since July 2022
According to CoinShares Head of Research James Buttefill, crypto investment products had recorded outflows totaling $408 million over the past six weeks.
However, last week saw institutional investors put the most funds into crypto-related products for the sector to register its largest weekly inflow in eight months. The last time more institutional flows hit the crypto investment space was in July 2022.
The inflows come a while after Bitcoin rallied to highs near $29,000, with prices of Ethereum and other altcoins also witnessing significant upsides. However, BTC has shed some of the gains and remains below $28k.
Butterfill notes that inflows came “relatively late” compared to the rest of the crypto market, noting this is likely a reaction by investors to the recent chaos within the traditional financial markets.
Bitcoin recorded $128 million in inflows, but Ethereum saw a 3rd week of outflows
Bitcoin saw the most inflows last week, with $128 million poured into BTC investment products as some CoinShares clients expressed sentiment of BTC being a safe haven. However, Bitcoin also continued to attract negative sentiment, with short-bitcoin inflows hitting $31 million last week.
Meanwhile, Ethereum recorded outflows for the third consecutive week, with $5.2 million exiting Ether investment products. CoinShares believes there are jitters around Ethereum’s highly anticipated network upgrade Shanghai, which is expected around 12 April.
Among altcoins, the top three coins to see inflows were Solana ($4.8 million), Polygon ($1.9 million) and XRP ($1.2 million).
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