Kategorie: Crypto News

• US DOJ has hit KuCoin and two founders with money laundering charges.
• KCS price fell sharply after the news.

The US Justice Department has charged KuCoin and two co-founders of the crypto exchange for operating “an unlicensed money transmitting business and for Bank Secrecy Act violations.

An announcement the US released on Tuesday, March 26 indicated the US had charged Chun Gan and Ke Tang for flouting US anti-money laundering laws as they sought to grow the exchange into one of the largest in the world today.

“As today’s Indictment alleges, KuCoin and its founders deliberately sought to conceal the fact that substantial numbers of U.S. users were trading on KuCoin’s platform,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in a press release.

Williams added”

“KuCoin allegedly took advantage of its sizeable US customer base to become one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency derivatives and spot exchanges, with billions of dollars of daily trades and trillions of dollars of annual trade volume.”

As well as the DOJ’s criminal charges, KuCoin has also been sued by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The CFTC says KuCoin has operated an illegal crypto derivatives trading platform. Per the filing, the exchange allegedly offered commodity futures and swaps among other commodity related services without the approval of the commission.

KuCoin is the latest crypto exchange to face charges in the US, with Binance agreeing a $4.3 billion settlement for related violations. Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao stepped down as part of the agreement. He pleaded guilty to charges and will be sentenced on April 30.

KuCoin price

Following today’s news, the price of KCS, the native KuCoin token, plummeted sharply. At the time of writing, KCS traded at $12.6, falling from highs of $14.50.

KuCoin posted on X shortly after the news release, assuring users that all assets were safe.

#KuCoin is operating well, and the assets of our users are absolutely safe. We are aware of the related reports and are currently investigating the details through our lawyers. KuCoin respect the laws and regulations of various countries and strictly adheres to compliance…

— KuCoin (@kucoincom) March 26, 2024

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• Portugal data regulator CNPD has asked Worldcoin to halt activities for 90 days.
• Worldcoin also recently received a similar order in Spain.

Worldcoin is in the news again, this time due to regulatory orders in Portugal.

On March 26, Reuters reported that Portugal’s data regulator CNPD had ordered Worldcoin to halt all activity related to collection of biometric data in the country.

The AI related project, co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, should not collect any data for the next 90 days, CNPD ordered, with the move pegged on privacy concerns that have plagued Worldcoin’s operations in several countries since its launch in July 2023.

Worldcoin data collection raises concerns

According to Reuters, the crackdown on Worldcoin in Portugal relates to concerns over high risk to collected data, which stands at over 300,000 people across the country.

Amid the need for data protection, the regulator also cited multiple complaints filed in February alleging unauthorised data collection from minors.

There are also concerns that the project, which requires people to scan their iris for a digital ID and the native crypto WLD, does not provide adequate information to those that join the project. It’s also not possible for people to withdraw consent, the regulator noted.

Portugal’s move comes weeks after Spain also halted Worldcoin’s activities in the country for three months. The project has also faced hurdles in the UK, France and Kenya, which suspended all Worldcoin activities last August.

WLD price

Despite today’s news, WLD price traded higher. The token’s value reached highs of $9.43 as Bitcoin rose to above $71k. At the time of writing, WLD traded at around $8.83, up more than 12% in the past week.

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• SolvBTC will catalyse further growth for the burgeoning Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem, Solv said in a press release.
• Initial launch will be across Ethereum, Arbitrum, BNB Chain and Merlin Chain.

Solv, an on-chain fund platform that offers native yield strategies across the blockchain ecosystem, has launched the first yield-bearing BTC token.

SolvBTC is an omnichain yield-bearing token that benefits from a diverse delta-neutral portfolio and will provide BTC-based yield of between 5-10%.

Solv, which provides asset-yield for over 35,000 DeFi users, shared the news in a press release shared with CoinJournal on Tuesday.

SolvBTC to boost Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem

The new BTC-based token provides both exposure to Bitcoin as well as the benefits of holding a yield-bearing asset.

How does this work?

According to Solv, the omnichain token taps into a secure Trading Strategy Vault, with delta-neutral strategies executed across top DeFi protocols like GMX, Curve, and Aave.

SolvBTC integrates into DeFi protocols to allow for the creation of new unique products around it, with more upside for yield possible.

The team at Solv believes SolvBTC will help transform the Bitcoin ecosystem. Specifically, it’s now possible for BTC worth billions of dollars to explore opportunities in the DeFi space.

SolvBTC will initially go live on Ethereum, Arbitrum, BNB Chain, and Merlin Chain.

Future expansions are targeted across the blockchain ecosystem as the protocol looks to unlock earn opportunities for native yield for more users. Solv says its users have earned more than $6.7 million in real yield so far.

As part of its plans to boost adoption and expand Bitcoin DeFi, Solv will launch a rewards system where early SolvBTC users earn points.

Solv, which is also backed by Binance Labs, raised $6 million in a funding round led by Nomura in August last year.

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• Bitcoin (BTC) price surges to above $71k again as spot Bitcoin ETFs record $15 million in net inflows.
• Stacks (STX) reached a new all-time high of $3.80 and analysts are bullish on its potential.
• New NFT and game project Bitcoin Dogs (0DOG) nears market launch; it captivated the community with its first-ever ICO on Bitcoin.

Bitcoin has soared to above $71,000 again as spot BTC ETFs see net inflows for the first time in nearly a week.

Meanwhile, analysts are bullish on Bitcoin L2 project Stacks (STX), which hit a new all-time high as BTC broke above $71k. There’s also great anticipation around Bitcoin Dogs (0DOG), a new project whose ICO on Bitcoin attracted over $13.4 million.

Bitcoin price surges as spot ETFs see net inflows

The spot Bitcoin ETFs market has witnessed a flip in flows following a streak of net outflows. 

On Monday, March 25, the spot Bitcoin ETFs market recorded net inflows of over $15 million, the first positive return for the US-listed ETFs that had extended their net outflows to a five-day streak.

While Grayscale’s GBTC continued to see outflows, recording over $350 million on the day, the rest of the ETFs turned green. Fidelity’s FBTC beat BlackRock’s IBIT to the top of single day net inflows on the day with approximately $261 million compared to $35.48 million.

The turnaround came as Bitcoin’s price raced to above $70,000. Incidentally, BTC has dropped to lows of $60,000 last week as net outflows increased, with over $836 million in outflows recorded in the week to March 21.

Stacks (STX) reached a new all-time high

With Bitcoin price retesting levels above $71,000, the market optimism is back as greed & fear index returns to extreme greed levels.

Analysts say altcoins will take up fresh bids and could explode in coming weeks.

Muneeb Ali, the CEO of Trust Machines and co-creator of Bitcoin L2 protocol Stacks, says this could be the wrong time to bet against Bitcoin. Muneeb shared the opinion via a post on X, pointing to events surrounding the highly anticipated BTC halving.

Three events around Bitcoin halving:

1) Bitcoin’s daily supply drops by 50%
2) Runes, assets on Bitcoin L1, launch
3) Stacks Nakamoto L2 instantiation

And you’re bearish on Bitcoin, anon?

— muneeb.btc (@muneeb) March 26, 2024

As Bitcoin soared above $71k on Monday, Stacks (STX) price jumped to a new all-time high of $3.80. 

The token’s price trajectory has echoed BTC movements over the past year. It soared as markets rallied on spot ETFs approval in January and mirrored the bellwether crypto again as it roared to its all-time high above $73k earlier this month.

Investors await Bitcoin Dogs market debut

Analysts predict that STX price could seek a new ATH as crypto markets extend their bullish outlook beyond the Bitcoin halving. The launch of new projects within the Bitcoin ecosystem adds to the positive forecast for BTC.

The outlook is also similar for new tokens native to an emerging era of NFTs, gaming and DeFi on Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Dogs (0DOG), the project that launched the first-ever BRC-20 presale and raised over $13.4 million, stands out as one of the most highly anticipated tokens in the wider Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20 market.

BRC-20 tokens currently have a market cap of $3.05 billion, but experts have forecast the new ecosystem on Bitcoin could be a $500 billion market in the next few years. 

The excitement around Bitcoin Dogs suggests 0DOG price could explode on its trading debut. Expectations for Bitcoin L2 and BRC-20 tokens also means there’s potential for long term traction for 0DOG.

After its token sale, the project is eyeing next steps including potential launch on major exchanges and debut of its game and NFTs. 

The Bitcoin Dogs roadmap outlines these milestones and the team has reassured presale participants that major announcements are on the horizon.

Learn more about Bitcoin Dogs here.

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