Kategorie: Crypto Markets

• The US SEC charged Binance for offering unregistered securities in the United States.
• The SEC then went ahead to seek for the freezing of Binance.US assets although the two later reached an agreement.
• Binance.US is now complaining that the SEC is overstepping its mandate according to the agreement.

Binance.US, the US subsidiary of Binance, has filed to limit the extent of investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in its case against the cryptocurrency exchange.

The SEC attempted to freeze all of Binance.US’s assets in June after expressing worries about the security of clients’ digital assets owned by the company. However, the US arm of Binance, doing business as BAM Trading Services and BAM Management US Holdings, entered into an agreement with the SEC as a result.

The agreement, which some commentators referred to as “burdensome” gave the SEC permission to conduct “limited expedited discovery” about the custody and accessibility of client funds.

SEC’s investigations into Binance.US

Binance in a late Monday filing claimed that the SEC’s discovery demands have exceeded the parameters set forth in the consent agreement and constitute an improper “fishing expedition.”

In particular, Binance.US asserts that the SEC is requesting lengthy correspondence and deposition evidence from firm executives on “dozens of topics” irrelevant to client assets, including its CEO and CFO, who the filing argues have no understanding of the custody concerns at the heart of the matter.

Binance’s request states that the company “worked in good faith to respond to the SEC’s requests” by supplying hundreds of documents, providing depositions from staff members knowledgeable about asset security, and taking actions to guarantee assets are in US custody.

The crypto exchange, in its protective request to the court, argues that despite years of investigation by the SEC and all the provided information, “the SEC still has not identified the slightest evidence that customer assets have been misused or mishandled in any way.” It also opposes deposing top executives like the CEO and CFO stating that that would be unproductive, unduly burdensome, and disruptive to operations.

The crypto exchange suggests that the SEC should first investigate employees responsible for asset custody since they are the ones with “far deeper knowledge” about digital asset custody.

The post Binance seeks court’s protection against US SEC’s probe appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Coinbase is seeking to expand into Canada as it faces tough times at home.
• Coinbase launched an Ethereum layer-2 network last week.
• It is worth noting that a number of crypto exchanges have excited Canada in the recent past citing poor crypto environment.

Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange is extending its already solid grasp on the North American market by expanding into Canada.

Coinbase will also provide Canadian citizens with a free 30-day trial of its recently established subscription service Coinbase One in an effort to attract new consumers. Coinbase One emphasizes staking and offers free trading and top-notch customer care.

Canadian crypto market

According to Coinbase’s statement, the crypto exchange chose Canada as its new home because of the country’s supposed high level of “crypto-awareness” and solid regulatory environment. This stands in stark contrast to the legal problems the company is currently facing domestically.

After the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) sued the exchange for allegedly failing to register as a securities exchange while allegedly providing unregistered securities to its users, Coinbase has felt the heat from American regulators.

A group of thirty Canadian parliamentarians made international headlines in late June when they released a study backing cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, along with 16 recommendations for the government of the nation to develop a national strategy on the subject.

However, despite the research, Canadian authorities have given conflicting signals on cryptocurrencies and many crypto businesses have stopped operating in the country or have withdrawn. Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by trading volume was the latest to exit Canada.

Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, harshly criticizes opposition figures who support cryptocurrency.

Coinbase feels the heat of the bear market

The expansion into Canada comes at a time when Coinbase, the world’s second-largest exchange by trading volume, is suffering from the effects of a long-lasting bear crypto market. The exchange reported a $96 million loss for the second quarter despite its financial results exceeding expectations.

Coinbase opened Base, an Ethereum layer-2 network, to the general public late last week in an effort to promote the creation of fresh decentralized applications within its ecosystem. Immediately after its launch, Base took off and quickly rose to the top five layer-2 networks by the quantity of bridged traffic.

The exchange has also been investigating how to incorporate Lightning Network, a layer-2 scalability solution for Bitcoin.

The post Coinbase enters the Canadian market with Coinbase One, free 30-day trial appeared first on CoinJournal.

• A Bitcoin address with 1,005 BTC activated 12+ years later, shifts more than $29 million.
• Wallet speculated to be from a miner who mined a lot in 2010.
• Bitcoin price remains largely flat above $29k.

According to Whale Alert, the blockchain tracker and analytics system that provides regular updates of large coin transactions, another dormant Bitcoin address has just woken up.

Bitcoin that has remained dormant for a significant period waking up suddenly when being transferred has often been subject to market speculation regarding the intention of the hodler. Whale transactions such as these often see jitters hit traders afraid of a major dump, and that is the case even as this particular wallet moved coins not touched for nearly 13 years.

Per the details shared today around 12 pm ET, the said dormant address holds 1,005 bitcoin (BTC), whose market value at current prices is about $29,750,772. The wallet “has just been activated after 12.8 years.” Whale Alert posted on X:

💤 💤 💤 A dormant address containing 1,005 #BTC (29,750,772 USD) has just been activated after 12.8 years!https://t.co/rLkpUZUvfH

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) August 14, 2023

According to one analyst who commented on the Bitcoin whale’s actions, the address appears to be of an early miner. Mempool analysis shows the individual had actively mined the flagship cryptocurrency in 2010.

Bitcoin price outlook

Bitcoin’s price has over the past few weeks struggled to strengthen towards the $30,000 levels even as bulls defend the critical support base near $29,000. Pressure remains given a technical outlook that could see bears target the buffer area in the $28,000-$28,500 range.

BTC’s chopping as seen over the last few weeks has resulted in a downtrend line on the weekly chart. Attempts to break higher have seen multiple upside wicks but no conviction from bulls. While bulls are capable of bouncing higher in the short term, any slight hammering could welcome the all-important $25k zone.

The post Bitcoin address with 1,005 BTC suddenly wakes up after nearly 13 years appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Hedera (HBAR) price rose to above $0.065 on Monday morning.
• FedNow has added support for Dropp Inc, a Hedera-powered platform that now joins the Fed’s list of service providers.

The Hedera (HBAR) price soared to above $0.065 on Monday morning (ET hours) as the cryptocurrency led the top 100 coins by market cap. 

According to data from CoinGecko, Hedera’s price spike was accompanied by a staggering 1,290% increase in its 24-hour trading volume as of 11 am ET, with buying pressure seeing over $224 million HBAR tokens traded.

The cryptocurrency, whose price had dipped below $0.060 last week, was up 17% and rising at the time of writing and 25% higher over the past 30 days.

Whys is HBAR price up today?

Hedera’s native token was pumped on multiple occasions last month and early August following key partnerships and adoption efforts with major mainstream players. These included partnerships with South Korea multinational automakers Hyundai and Kia, which introduced an AI-enabled solution for tracking supply chain carbon emissions. 

Also revealed recently is a partnership with global payments giant Mastercard.

The adoption of HBAR across these companies saw its price rise to its highest price since May. Profit taking took bulls back to lows of $0.56, but bulls are looking to reclaim the upper hand. The gains come amid new buy pressure for HBAR following the Federal Reserve’s FedNow support for  Dropp Inc, a Hedera-powered platform. Dropp is now on the list of service providers for the Fed program.

As CoinJournal recently reported, FedNow was launched to offer banks and credit unions access to instant payments. Hedera, on the other hand, is a decentralised public network based on the Hashgraph algorithm.

The post HBAR price soars as FedNow adds support for Hedera appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Hut 8 posted revenue of $14.3 million (19.2 Canadian Dollars), which had fallen $18.3 million during the quarter compared to Q1, 2023.
• The company mined 399 Bitcoin (BTC) but sold a total of 396 BTC for $10.9 million (CAD 14.7 million) during the quarter.

Hut 8 has announced its operating and financial results for Q2, 2023. In details published on Monday August 14, the Bitcoin miner indicated its revenue fell $18.3 million (CAD 24.6 million) during the quarter ending June 30.

Hut 8 posted revenue of $14.3 million in Q2, 2023

The Toronto-based cryptocurrency mining company highlighted revenue of $14.3 million (CAD 19.2 million) during the quarter, compared to $32.5 million (CAD 43.8 million) posted in Q2, 2022. 

Meanwhile, the miner reported a loss of $12.4 million (CAD 16.7 million) for Q2, 2023 with per-share loss of 6 cents (8 Canadian cents).

Hut 8 also announced that it mined 399 Bitcoin (BTC) in the quarter, this being roughly 58% down on mined bitcoin for the same quarter in 2022. The company attributes the decrease to the increase in Bitcoin mining difficulty, impact of operations following issues at its North Bay Facility, as well as electrical issues encountered at the Drumheller facility.

“While we continued to face mining challenges during the second quarter at Drumheller, which are reflected in decreased revenue and fewer Bitcoin mined, we were successful in strategically managing our costs,” Shenif Visram, CFO at Hut 8, said in a press release.

Hut 8’s financial results showed that the company’s self-mined BTC balance as of June 30, 2023 – which it held in custody or had pledged as collateral – stood at 9,136 BTC. The holdings had a market value of $274 million (CAD 368.7 million). The miner sold a total of 396 BTC for $10.9 million (CAD 14.7 million) during the quarter.

The Bitcoin mining giant, which secured a $50 million credit facility from Coinbase in June, also reported on the progress of its highly anticipated merger with US Bitcoin (USBTC). A shareholder vote on the merger is expected on September 12, the company said in a separate announcement.

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