Kategorie: Crypto Markets

Daily headlines and news about crypto markets.

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Binance US reduces staff by a third, CEO leaves

  • Binance US has been facing regulatory pressure from the SEC.
  • Binance’s US cryptocurrency market share dropped from more than 22% in April to approximately 0.9% by June 26.
  • Norman Reed, the Chief Legal Officer of Binance US, has assumed the role vacated by Brian Shroder.

Binance US, the US branch of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, has undertaken significant restructuring measures, which include a workforce reduction of approximately one-third, equivalent to the elimination of 100 positions. Brian Shroder, the President and CEO of Binance US, has also stepped down from his role.

Brian Shroder joined Binance US in September 2021, and his departure coincides with a wave of regulatory actions taken against the exchange in recent months.

As a temporary measure, Norman Reed, the Chief Legal Officer of Binance US, has assumed the role vacated by Brian Shroder.

A spokesperson representing Binance US officially verified these layoffs and Brian Shroder’s departure and said that the actions were taken to bolster the exchange’s financial resilience, providing it with a substantial financial buffer as it transitions into a crypto-only exchange.

Impact of SEC’s regulatory action against Binance

 The cryptocurrency exchange spokesperson emphasized the impact of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) robust regulatory action on the cryptocurrency industry asserting that the actions of the regulator have tangible repercussions on American jobs and innovation.

Earlier this year, both the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) initiated legal action against Binance, Binance US, and the exchange’s co-founder, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao for operating an illicit exchange, selling unregistered securities, violating commodities regulations, and mismanaging customer funds.

In response to the regulatory challenges, on June 9, Binance US suspended dollar deposits and communicated the temporary cessation of fiat withdrawal channels during its ongoing battle with the SEC. The exchange subsequently operated exclusively as a crypto-only platform for two months before reintroducing USD transaction capabilities in August after a partnership with MoonPay.

According to a July report from Reuters, which cited data from Kaiko, Binance US experienced a substantial reduction in its market share in the US cryptocurrency market. Its market share plummeted from more than 22% in April to approximately 0.9% by June 26, underscoring the evolving landscape and challenges faced by the exchange in the United States.

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Bitget earmarks another $100 million for global expansion

  • Bitget announced a new $100 million fund it’s calling Empower X on Tuesday.
  • The crypto exchange wants to tap on investment opportunities to diversify its business.
  • Bitget made the announcement today at its 5th anniversary summit in Singapore.

Bitget is in focus this morning after announcing plans of spending big on global expansion.

Bitget has established a new fund

On Tuesday, the crypto exchange revealed “Empower X” – a $100 million fund dedicated to investing in media organisations, data analytics firms, and regional exchanges.

Bitget expects tapping on such investment opportunities to help diversify its business. According to its Managing Director Gracy Chen:

Through strategic, targeted investments that foster long-term growth, we aim to expand our ecosystem of services to better serve evolving needs of users.

The Seychelles-based company made the aforementioned announcement at its 5th anniversary summit in Singapore. It was recently named one of the top four centralised exchanges by TokenInsight.

Bitget is committed to global expansion

Earlier this year, Bitget had earmarked $100 million to invest in Asia-focused Web3 startups. Its Managing Director Chen also said in a press release today:

CEX landscape is evolving … and more investment, merger and acquisition will happen in the following months. Our vision goes beyond the present.

In March, the crypto exchange also spent $30 million to secure a controlling stake in BitKeep and rebranded the decentralised multichain wallet as Bitget Wallet.

The announcement arrives shortly after Bitget reported a 1.8% increase in its market share in the second quarter of this year to 8.7%. It has recently registered successfully in Lithuania.

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Google Cloud becomes default verifier for LayerZero

  • Google Cloud will be set as default verifier of every message within LayerZero by September 19, 2023.
  • LayerZero is a cross-chain communication protocol developed by $3 billion startup LayerZero Labs.

LayerZero Labs, the team behind the cross-chain communication protocol LayerZero, has announced integration with Google Cloud. 

Per an announcement published Tuesday, the startup’s integration with the leading cloud provider involves the use of Google Cloud oracles to verify the validity of all messages sent between blockchains across the LayerZero ecosystem.

Tapping into Google Cloud’s secure infrastructure

According to LayerZero, applications within the blockchain messaging protocol’s ecosystem can now tap into Google Cloud’s secure infrastructure that provides for a purpose-built verifier. The roll out comes after more than a year of collaboration and is available immediately to all applications utilizing LayerZero.

“The Google Cloud oracle is meant to serve as the https of cross-chain messaging. Just like they verify all https certificates to attest to the validity of the website, The Google Cloud oracle is now additionally verifying all LayerZero messages by default,” LayerZero Labs wrote.

Officially, the crypto startup will have Google Cloud configured as its default messaging verifier across the platform on September 19, 2023. LayerZero sees this as a significant milestone that adds to the network’s reliability and security.

LayerZero Labs raised $120 million in its series B funding round backed by a16z, Sequoia Capital, Circle Ventures and Samsung Next. The round gave the blockchain startup a valuation of $3 billion at the time. 

As CoinJournal recently reported, the company is facing a lawsuit from FTX that seeks to recover $21 million. FTX Ventures co-led LayerZero’s extended Series A round that raised $135 million at a valuation of $1 billion in March 2022.

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Ethereum-based Milady NFT project exploited, $1M lost

  • The Milady project suffered loss of $1 million in fees as a result of the exploit.
  • The exploit was reportedly carried out by a developer within the Milady ecosystem.
  • Social media accounts were also compromised.

Milady, a non-fungible token (NFT) project built on the Ethereum blockchain, has fallen victim to a major exploit that has significantly impacted the project’s finances and social media presence.

The exploit was disclosed by Charlotte Fang, one of the co-founders of the Milady NFT collection, on September 11 via X (formerly Twitter). She revealed that a developer within the Milady ecosystem had successfully diverted approximately $1 million in generated fees away from Remilia Corporation.

Milady is a collection of 10,000 anime profile picture NFTs designed and launched in 2021 by Fang. In May 2023, Tesla CEO Elon Musk publicly endorsed Milady NFTs, resulting in a significant increase in their floor price. The floor price of a Milady NFT currently stands at 2.86 ETH, reflecting a 15% decrease over the past 24 hours, according to OpenSea data.

Remilia DAO Compromised

Remilia Corporation, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) backing the Milady Maker NFT project, had its revenue compromised due to an exploit involving Bonkler, an experimental finance art project created in April 2023, as confirmed by Fang.

Fang has, however, reassured the community that Bonkler reserves, main contract, and NFTs were secure, and that only Remilia’s revenue from Bonkler had been compromised. She emphasized that Remilia’s reserves remained “unaffected,” and user assets were “perfectly safe.”

Attacker Targets Social Media Accounts

In addition to seizing fee reserves, the attacker also took control of critical codebases and attempted to manipulate Remilia’s social media accounts.

Fang reported that the attacker had successfully taken over three X accounts, including Miladymaker and Remilionaire, while Remiliacorp was locked out. She urged caution, advising users to consider these three accounts as compromised. Fang provided new official accounts for the community to follow, including RemiliaCorp333, MiladyMaker333, and RemilioBaby.

Individuals responsible for attack identified

Fang has revealed that that Remilia had identified the individuals responsible for the exploit and expressed their determination to pursue legal action.

She stated, “We expect all our property to be returned” and added, “For such viciousness, I can give no quarter—the individuals involved have been terminated from Remilia Corporation, and will now be dealt with through the heavy hand of the law.”

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Mantle expands to RWA via Ondo Finance’s USDY

  • Mantle, an Ethereum layer 2 solution, has expanded its product offering via Ondo Finance’s USD Yield (USDY).
  • Users can access US Treasury yield directly from their Mantle wallet.

Mantle, an Ethereum layer-2 protocol backed by crypto exchange Bybit, has announced its expansion to the real world assets (RWA) market.

Specifically, Mantle is tapping into the tokenized US Treasuries offerings via Ondo Finance to bring sustainable yield to the broader DeFi ecosystem. The Mantle team is looking to achieve this through Ondo Finance’s USD Yield (USDY) token.

Access US Treasury yield via Mantle wallet

USDY is the first tokenized note in the world to be secured by both short-term US Treasuries and bank deposits. 

Ondo, which raised $20 million in its Founders Fund and Pantera Capital co-led series A round in 2022, debuted USDY in April this year, bringing to the RWA market a token with the accessibility and utility that users have with stablecoins. It provides a 5% APY to holders. 

“USDY truly is a game changer for the world of DeFi. For the first time ever, users will be able to access U.S. Treasury yield straight from the tap and directly into their wallet, with a similar ease of access as stablecoins like USDT and USDC,” Jordi Alexander, Chief Alchemist at Mantle, said.

Today’s announcement comes after a Mantle improvement proposal (MIP-26) for a RWA liquidity pool (RWA-yield backed stablecoins) of up to $60 million was approved. The MIP-26 proposal, authored by Mantle’s Economics Committee, passed with 149 million MNT/BIT against 3.2K MNT/BIT.

As part of the launch, USDY has become the inaugural Mantle Showcase yield stablecoin project.

According to the protocol, the DEX liquidity that Ondo’s USDY brings to the Mantle ecosystem will make it easy for users to buy and sell USDY on-chain. Investors can acquire the token by minting on Ondo or purchasing them on decentralised exchanges (DEXs) on Mantle

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