Kategorie: Crypto News

• Dutch Central Bank announces a $3.6 million fine on Coinbase.
• It says the crypto exchange has been in a regulatory violation.
• Shares of Coinbase Global Inc ended roughly flat on Thursday.

Coinbase Global Inc seems to be up for another regulatory fine.

On Thursday, the Dutch Central Bank forced a $3.60 million penalty on the cryptocurrency exchange for failing to comply with the domestic regulations.

What regulation did Coinbase not comply with?

In May 2020, Netherlands made it mandatory for businesses wanting to launch crypto-related services to register with the DNB first.

But Coinbase, as per the central bank, did not go through such a registration and, therefore, was in regulatory violation for nearly two years; between November 2020 and August 2022. The DNB said:

Coinbase has enjoyed a competitive advantage in that it has not paid any supervisory fees to DNB or incurred other costs in connection with DNB’s regular supervision activities.

Last year, the regulator had hit its peer Binance with a $3.35 million fine as well.

Coinbase recently settled with the NYDFS as well

According to the Dutch Central Bank, the said non-compliance might have made the Financial Intelligence Unit miss a bunch of suspicious transactions through September of 2022.

Nonetheless, Coinbase can appeal the penalty until March 2^nd. Earlier in January, it signed a $100 million settlement with the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) as well.

A day earlier, Mizuho analyst Dan Dolev warned of a potential 40% downside in Coinbase stock (as Coin Journal reported HERE) that ended roughly flat on Thursday.

Analysts expect the crypto company to report a $2.39 per share loss in its current quarter. A year ago, it had $3.32 of EPS instead.

The post Coinbase fined for operating in the Netherlands: here’s why appeared first on CoinJournal.

• SEC has denied the Ark Investment and 21 Shares joint spot Bitcoin ETF application.
• The agency says proposal failed to meet requirements as per securities laws, citing fraud and manipulative practices once again.
• It’s the second time the SEC has rejected an ETF proposal by the two firms, after denying the first one in April last year.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has disapproved a proposal seeking to list a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) for the US market.

In a document published on Thursday, the US securities market watchdog said it had rejected the application by Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment and Swiss cryptocurrency investment firm 21Shares. 

The Ark 21Shares spot Bitcoin ETF had been proposed for listing on the Cboe BZX Exchange.

SEC denies Ark 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF again

The Commission’s order disapproving the two companies’ ETF application noted that BZX did not “demonstrate that its proposal is consistent with the requirements of Exchange Act Section 6(b)(5).” 

Specifically, the exchange failed to demonstrate that it could prevent fraud and other manipulative practices as well as protect those looking to invest in the product.

“The Commission further concludes that BZX has not established that it has a comprehensive surveillance-sharing agreement with a regulated market of significant size related to spot bitcoin, the underlying bitcoin assets that would be held by the Trust,” reads part of the SEC’s reasoning for disapproval.

This is the second time the agency has rejected a spot Bitcoin ETF proposal by Ark Investment Management and 21Shares. The SEC dismissed a similar application in April, a move that prompted the two firms to submit a fresh one last May.

The SEC has also disapproved of multiple other spot bitcoin ETF applications, including one by Grayscale Investment, which sought to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to a BTC spot ETF. The asset manager filed a lawsuit against the agency following the agency’s move in June 2022. 

The post SEC rejects Ark 21Shares’ spot Bitcoin ETF again appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Toncoin (TON) options went live on the crypto derivatives exchange BIT on Thursday, 26 January.
• TON is now the third cryptocurrency available for options trading on BIT, adding to Bitcoin and Ethereum.
• The options product will also go live on institutional liquidity network Paradigm in early February.

Crypto derivatives exchange BIT has launched options trading for Toncoin (TON), the cryptocurrency native to The Open Network (TON) ecosystem. 

Options, which is a contract that allows a trader the right to buy or sell an asset, is one of the most popular crypto derivatives products in the market.

According to details shared with CoinJournal via a press release on Thursday, trading options for the digital token will also go live on Paradigm in early February. Paradigm is a leading institutional-focused derivatives liquidity network.

BIT adds TON to product suite

Until BIT’s launch of the TON options trading, market participants could only access options pegged on the world’s two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap – Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

The product is a result of a partnership between BIT, leading crypto market maker DWF Labs and liquidity provider Darley Technologies,, the BIT team noted in the press release.

According to the derivatives exchange, the launch of Toncoin options could see the digital token attract more institutional investors and other big money players, offering a low-risk avenue for this group of investors to gain exposure to the market.

Data from CoinGecko shows that TON ranks 23rd among the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. At the time of writing, the Toncoin market cap stood at around $3.5 billion, with the price of TON token changing hands near $2.38 and up 6.4% in the past 24 hours.

The post Toncoin (TON) options goes live on Bitcoin exchange BIT appeared first on CoinJournal.