Kategorie: Crypto Business

• Credit card processor Checkout.com cuts ties with Binance over AML concerns.
• Binance is reportedly considering legal action, Forbes said in a report published August 18.
• Binance recently announced it was shutting down its regulated buy-and-sell crypto arm Binance Connect.

Checkout.com, the UK-based payments processor that has been one of the biggest payments partners for Binance, has reportedly ended its relationship with the crypto exchange giant.

A report published by Forbes on August 18 indicated that the London-based firm informed Binance of the move this week, having sent letters to that effect on August 9 and 11. In the letters, Checkout.com cites the various regulatory actions against the crypto company and overall concerns over anti-money laundering (AML) compliance.

The termination, which took effect on August 17, was communicated to Binance by Checkout CEO Guillaume Pousaz, Forbes reported.

Binance is considering legal action following Checkout’s decision, the exchange said via a statement attributed to spokesperson Dewi Mustajab. The crypto giant says the withdrawal by Checkout.com will not impact its services.

Binance recently shut Binance Connect

The development comes shortly after Binance, as CoinJournal reported earlier this week, announced it was shutting down a Checkout-supported unit dubbed Binance Connect. The regulated buy-and-sell platform supported crypto payments for businesses.

Elsewhere, PaySafe, one of Europe’s leading payments providers, also ended its partnership with Binance in June. 

Notably, Binance launched its fiat-to-crypto payments provider, Bifinity, in March 2022. The company was unveiled in partnership with both PaySafe and Checkout.com.

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Key takeaways

• Stablecoin issuer has discontinued support for Omni and Kusama. 

• Omni was the first transport layer that Tether used in 2014.

Tether makes strategic changes to its operations

Stablecoin issuer Tether announced on Thursday, August 17th, that it would discontinue support for Kusama, Bitcoin Cash SLP and Omni Layer.

This latest cryptocurrency news comes despite Tether supporting Omni since 2014. According to the stablecoin issuer, the decision was made as the company is making strategic changes to its operations. 

Omni is a software layer built atop the Bitcoin blockchain and it enhances the features of the network by providing smart contract features. 

Tether has been supporting Omni for nearly a decade but had to discontinue due to a lack of demand. The Tether team said;

“Over the years, the Omni Layer faced challenges due to the lack of popular tokens and the availability of USD₮ on other blockchains. This led many exchanges to favour alternative transport layers, leading to a decline in USD₮ usage on Bitcoin using the Omni Layer.  As a principled organization, we must remain consistent and transparent, and adhere to open processes, even if it entails difficult choices.”

Tether records its first market cap decline in end-of-month since October

Tether has maintained its position as the largest stablecoin in the world. However, the stablecoin has had minor troubles in recent weeks. 

According to an August report by CCData, the market cap of USDT fell 0.62% to $83.3bn, recording the first decline in end-of-month market cap for USDT since October 2022. 

However, the market cap dominance of USDT rose to 67.1% from 66.7% with all of the top stablecoins registering a decline in market cap in August.

Tether said it will stop issuing its USDT stablecoin on Omni, Kusama and Bitcoin Cash from August 17, while users can continue to redeem their tokens on the networks for the next 12 months. 

Furthermore, users can also swap USDT on those networks for other chains on platforms that support these assets. 

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Key takeaways

• Coinbase has been cleared to offer regulated crypto futures to eligible US customers.

• Coinbase Advanced Trade users will have access to crypto futures in a few weeks.

CFTC grants Coinbase permission to offer crypto futures

The National Futures Association, a self-regulatory organization designated by the Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has granted Coinbase the approval to offer eligible US customers access to crypto futures directly from its platforms.

This latest cryptocurrency news comes despite Coinbase’s ongoing legal battles with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

Coinbase Financial Markets CEO Andrew Sears stated that this latest development is key to unlocking growth and enabling broader participation in the crypto economy.

The cryptocurrency exchange filed an application with the NFA to register as an FCM nearly two years ago. 

Following its application, Coinbase acquired CFTC-regulated futures exchange FairX and renamed it Coinbase Derivatives Exchange. 

Coinbase Advanced Trade to gain access to crypto futures soon

The cryptocurrency exchange revealed that users of Coinbase Advanced Trade will be the first to be granted access to the regulated crypto futures. The products will then become available to customers of the institutional-focused prime brokerage platform Coinbase Prime later afterwards. 

Greg Tusar, Coinbase’s head of institutional products, wrote in a company blog post that;

“Obtaining FCM approval was our next step in bringing these transparent and secure markets to our customers so they can access regulated futures contracts alongside our liquid spot market. In the coming months, we’ll provide additional information on how our verified US customers can access our futures offering.”

By offering regulated cryptocurrency futures, eligible users can be able to open long and short positions in the cryptocurrency market via Coinbase. 

Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad believes that with the supervision of the CFTC and NFA, the cryptocurrency exchange can offer regulated futures that protect consumers and ensure that the United States remains the centre for digital innovation. 

This latest development came barely two days after Coinbase entered the Canadian market. The cryptocurrency exchange expanded its service into Canada with the launch of Coinbase One in the North American country. 

Coinbase also offered Canadians a free 30-day trial of Coinbase One as it looks to attract more customers to its platform. 

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Key takeaways

• Crypto exchange Dasset has denied customer access to funds. 

• The New Zealand-based crypto exchange has gone into liquidation. 

Dasset denies customers access to funds

Auckland-based crypto exchange Dasset has denied customers access to their funds as it faces liquidation. This is according to a report by The Herald earlier today. 

According to the report, some customers have tens of thousands of dollars worth of crypto trapped on the platform. 

A customer told The Herald that they had been trying to withdraw $40,000 — their entire life savings — from their Dasset account for three months. However, their attempts had been unsuccessful. 

Another customer revealed that had been direct-credited by the company’s CEO, Stephen Macaskill. However, they were still unable to access the funds in their account. 

The CEO said the company has been unable to find a replacement banking provider after losing its previous provider earlier this year. He added that Dasset has gone into voluntary liquidation, and the company has appointed a liquidator. 

However, a liquidator hasn’t been approved, and the customers are still unable to access their funds. 

Dasset still accepting new users

The cryptocurrency exchange is still accepting new users despite a halt in withdrawals. 

The company has removed email addresses and phone numbers from their website. However, a request form is still available. 

Dasset is the latest in a long line of cryptocurrency exchanges to face financial challenges. Last year, FTX, one of the leading crypto exchanges at the time, filed for bankruptcy following some financial mismanagement by the CEO and other executives. 

Auckland-based Dasset exchange was launched in 2017. However, compared to Binance, which was launched around the same period, Dasset remains a relatively small cryptocurrency exchange. 

The post New Zealand crypto exchange Dasset faces liquidation, customer funds trapped appeared first on CoinJournal.

• SoFi Bank’s second quarter earnings report indicated crypto holdings of $170 million.
• It includes Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Cardano.

San Francisco-based SoFi Bank, which has over 6.2 million customers, has revealed it holds up to $170 million worth of crypto, Trustnodes reported.

SoFi Bank holds BTC, ETH, DOGE

Per details in the bank’s Q2 earnings report, the holdings include $82 million in Bitcoin (BTC), over $55 million in Ethereum (ETH), $5 million of Dogecoin (DOGE) and $4.5 million of Cardano (ADA). 

The filing also showed the bank held $3.5 million worth of Litecoin (LTC), $2.1 million of Solana (SOL) and $2.9 million in Ethereum Classic (ETC) at the end of the quarter.

SoFi Bank did not begin its operations as a bank, but rather transitioned into one after making a strategic acquisition in the US. The company launched its crypto offering in September 2019, but became a bank after its double acquisition of Golden Pacific Bancorp and Golden Pacific Bank in February 2022.

The bank’s growth has seen it add Federal Reserve stocks to its offering. Its crypto products are offered via a partnership with leading US-based crypto exchange Coinbase.

Customers can start trading BTC and other cryptocurrencies with as little as $10. However, its crypto platform is not a crypto wallet and does not support staking.

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