Kategorie: Crypto Markets

Daily headlines and news about crypto markets.

Veröffentlicht am

Coinbase files to have the lawsuit by the SEC dismissed for lack of merits

  • Coinbase accuses the SEC of allowing it to go public with the same digital assets listed and later claiming to be unregistered securities.
  • Coinbase’s lawsuit comes days after Binance’s motion alleging SEC misconduct was denied.
  • Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer insists that the exchange is ready to dialogue with any regulatory agency.

In a motion submitted to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) has asked that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) complaint charges be dismissed for lack of merit.

The exchange claims that when the Securities and Exchange Commission accepted Coinbase’s plan to go public back in May 2021, the SEC was aware of all operations, including staking and listing.

Coinbase stated in the 177-page document that the SEC’s accusations were based on claims that 12 of the listed crypto tokens traded on the exchange are securities. But it’s interesting to note that when the SEC authorized Coinbase to go public, six of the twelve digital assets named were already trading there. Coinbase claims that the legal claims should be abandoned right away because the SEC at the time did not classify any of the crypto assets as securities.

Ready for arbitration

In what may seem similar to its push for arbitration with users in California, which was granted by the Supreme Court, Coinbase has stated that it is ready to sit down with any regulatory authority including the SEC to discuss the way forward.

Coinbase also claims that because Congress has not passed the necessary legislation, the SEC lacks the authority to oversee the developing cryptocurrency industry.

Furthermore, Coinbase contends that Congress must enact new legislation to regulate the cryptocurrency market because it is a worldwide, emerging economy. Without doing so, the nation runs the risk of losing its technological edge to regions like Europe, China, and Singapore that have already implemented crystal-clear cryptocurrency legislation.

The post Coinbase files to have the lawsuit by the SEC dismissed for lack of merits appeared first on CoinJournal.

Veröffentlicht am

Binance’s EUR banking partner announces plan to halts support

  • Paysafe is Binance’s current EUR banking partner.
  • Paysafe will not provide services to Binance users from 25th September 2023.
  • The announcement comes, weeks after Binance.US announced its banking partners had warned to discontinue their services.

According to a notification to Binance users, the exchange’s EUR banking partner, Paysafe Payment Solutions Limited, will stop offering services to Binance users starting September 25th this year.

The development comes barely three months after Paysafe decided to stop offering Binance customers its embedded wallet solution in the UK in a move it blamed on the complex regulation in the country as reported here. As a result Binance suspended GBP deposits and withdrawals for all users on May 22. At the time, the UK had just unveiled its plan to regulate crypto trading and lending aiming to introduce stricter rules.

Paysafe had promised to continue working with Binance in other parts of Europe and Latin America after discontinuing its services for UK customers. And just as was the case then, Paysafe’s plans to discontinue services for Binance customers starting in September comes right on the heels of the newly adopted Markets in Crypto-Assets Act, MiCA, by the European parliament.

EUR SEPA bank deposits to be interrupted

In its notification to users, Binance stated:

“We are contacting you to let you know that we will be changing the provider for EUR deposits and withdrawals. Our current EUR fiat payment partner, Paysafe Payment Solutions Limited (Paysafe), will stop offering SEPA deposit services to Binance users from 25th September 2023. Following this date, you will be required to use new banking details to make UER deposits into your Binance Fiat wallet and may be required to accept new terms and conditions.”

While Binance promises to find a new payment partner for EUR settlements, Binance.US, its US subsidiary has also been having issues with its banking partners who had issued a warning that they would stop offering USD banking services. Although Binance.US reached an agreement with the banking partners and announced the resumption of USD withdrawals, the exchange was quick to note that the solution may not last long.

The issues with banking partners come at a time when Binance and its subsidiaries in various parts of the country continue facing regulatory scrutiny. On June 26, Binance Austria GmbH chose to withdraw its license application in Austria just days after a similar move in the UK. Binance.

Brazilian authorities are also investigating Binance Brazil for pyramid schemes in the country while the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) has sued Binance, its US subsidiary, and its CEOChangpeng Zhao for violating the securities laws in the country.

The post Binance’s EUR banking partner announces plan to halts support appeared first on CoinJournal.

Veröffentlicht am

ARK amends spot Bitcoin ETF filing to include surveillance sharing agreement

  • ARK’s amended 19b-4 includes a surveillance sharing agreement with CBOE and a US crypto exchange.
  • ARK Invest founder and CEO Cathie Wood says the Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF is first in line for approval as “oldest” filing before the SEC.
  • BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF also included a SSA with Coinbase.

ARK Invest and 21Shares have amended their 19b-4 for the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF  refiled in April and which is due a decision from the SEC in August.

Specifically, the companies have informed the SEC that they have entered into a surveillance sharing agreement (SSA) with the CBOE BZX Exchange and a US-based crypto exchange provider of spot trading for Bitcoin.

Speculation is that the exchange in question is Coinbase, the largest US-based crypto platform that incidentally was sued by the SEC over allegations of securities violations.

What does ARK’s amended 19b-4 mean?

The amended filing means the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF now has a similar structure to that of BlackRock, and puts the ETF first in line for approval as the “oldest filing” before the regulator.

“Since 2015, with increasing conviction, ARK has researched the crypto space and has invested in crypto related equities. On April 25, 2023, in partnership with 21Shares, we filed for the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF and are proud to have the oldest active filing before the SEC and expect to be first in line to be considered for approval,” Cathie Wood, founder and CEO of ARK Invest said.

Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg, has noted that ARK’s move adds a new twist to the spot ETF plot. He points to the anticipated decision on the ETF in August and the fact that BlackRock would likely want to be first to market. 

A decision on the Grayscale lawsuit against the SEC is also due around the same time.

BlackRock filed their spot Bitcoin ETF on June 15, including an SSA. Other asset managers have followed suit and the industry is buzzing on the prospects of an approval. Bitcoin price has reacted higher in the wake of the bullish sentiment, hitting highs above $31k.  

The post ARK amends spot Bitcoin ETF filing to include surveillance sharing agreement appeared first on CoinJournal.

Veröffentlicht am

ZEN will no longer be a privacy coin after Horizen update

  • Horizen is removing privacy from mainchain shielded pools
  • ZEN will no longer be a privacy coin when the deprecation is activated.
  • The upcoming deprecation of the Horizen mainchain shielded pools comes after the adoption of ZenIP 42204

Horizen is going ahead with plans to remove support for shielded transactions on the mainchain, a move that will see the native ZEN token no longer considered a privacy coin.

The blockchain platform announced on Wednesday that an upcoming deprecation of the mainchain shielded pools will proceed after the community approved ZenIP 42204. The change is expected to activate via a hard fork and will see shielded transactions with transparent inputs prevented at the consensus level.

“After the deprecation of mainchain shielded pools, all privacy features will be removed from Horizen main blockchain at the consensus level. This also means ZEN will no longer be a privacy coin after this change,” the announcement read.

Horizen explains deprecation

According to the Grayscale-backed layer 0 blockchain platform, the deprecation is being taken as a step to driving sustainable and growth for the ecosystem while mitigating against regulatory threats.

The goal is to ensure privacy technology is handled the right way, with the topic a hot one and which continues to impact the leading privacy-focused coins Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC) and Dash (DASH).

Horizen also notes that its shielded transactions rely on Sprout, an “outdated” privacy technology by ZCash. With the original Zcash release deprecated for sapling and blossom, the platform suggests its move allows it to improve and innovate.

Timelines for the removal of the mainchain shielded pools are put around August 2023 for the testnet and September 2023 for the mainnet.

The post ZEN will no longer be a privacy coin after Horizen update appeared first on CoinJournal.

Veröffentlicht am

Binance opens trading for Maverick Protocol (MAV)

  • Binance opens trading for Pantera Capital and Coinbase backed Maverick Protocol (MAV)
  • Maverick’s native token will trade against Bitcoin, USDT and TUSD.
  • Binance added Maverick Protocol to its launchpool incubator earlier this month.

Binance has opened trading for Maverick Protocol (MAV), the native token of a DeFi project backed by Founders Fund, Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures and Binance Labs among others.

According to an announcement by the leading crypto exchange, support will initially be for three trading pairs: MAV/BTC, MAV/USDT and MAV/TUSD. Maverick trading on Binance went live on June 28, 2023 at 08:00 (UTC).

Traders will benefit from zero fee trading on the MAV/TUSD pair “until further notice,” the exchange announced. 

Binance’s listing of Maverick Protocol comes a few weeks after the exchange added the token in its Launchpool. Apart from Binance, MAV can also be traded on Bitget and DigiFinex.

What is Maverick (MAV)?

Maverick Protocol is a composable decentralised exchange (DEX) powered by the Maverick AMM (automated market maker). As a DeFi infrastructure provider, Maverick focuses on improving capital efficiency for liquidity providers (LPs).

“Maverick’s goal is to eliminate inefficiency from DeFi by helping users put their liquidity where it can do the most work,” the protocol recently posted on its Twitter account.

MAV is live on the Ethereum mainnet, zkSync and BNB Chain and has seen significant growth since it launched its Dynamic Distribution AMM. Trading volume on the DEX has hit over 2.5 billion.

The price of MAV rose to its all-time high above $0.58, with market cap rising to over $141 million. Circulating supply currently stands at 250 million MAV, and total supply at 2 billion tokens.

The post Binance opens trading for Maverick Protocol (MAV) appeared first on CoinJournal.