Schlagwort: crypto business

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Binance delisting major trading pairs including APT and AXS pairs

  • Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao resigns and pleads guilty.
  • Binance delisting of 10 major coins as regulatory response.
  • Binance restructures leadership and commits to compliance.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is making significant moves in response to a groundbreaking settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The exchange has announced the delisting of 10 major trading pairs, including notable cryptocurrencies such as Aptos (APT), Axie Infinity (AXS), and Filecoin (FIL).

Changpeng Zhao’s resignation and $4B Penalty

In a surprising turn of events, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, commonly known as CZ, has decided to step down from his role as CEO in the wake of a comprehensive settlement with the SEC we reported earlier.

The settlement stems from criminal charges against Binance, including breaking sanctions and money-transmitting laws. As part of the deal, CZ has pleaded guilty to charges related to violating the Bank Secrecy Act and causing a financial institution to violate it. The penalty for these charges is a staggering $4.3 billion, making it one of the largest settlements the US has ever obtained from a corporate defendant.

Delistings coincide with regulatory fallout

Binance’s decision to delist 10 major trading pairs, including APT, AXS, and FIL, is particularly noteworthy as it aligns with the regulatory turmoil surrounding the exchange.

According to the official announcement by Binance, the affected pairs are specifically tied to Binance’s stablecoin, BUSD. The delisting is in line with Binance’s phased termination of BUSD-related services.

This move, however, comes in the aftermath of revelations that Binance employees were aware the company was serving users in sanctioned countries, knowingly violating US laws. The SEC’s scrutiny has prompted a significant reshaping of Binance’s operations.

Binance’s pledge to restructure and compliance

In response to the settlement and regulatory challenges, Binance has acknowledged the resolutions reached with various agencies.

The exchange emphasized its commitment to restructuring over the past few years, highlighting its “new leadership with deep compliance experience.”

Richard Teng, a former Abu Dhabi regulator and Binance’s regional markets head, is set to take over as the new CEO. Despite the setbacks, Binance expressed confidence that it would emerge as a stronger company, laying the foundation for the next 50 years.

As part of the settlement, Binance will have to appoint an independent compliance monitor for three years and report its efforts to comply with US regulations.

These developments mark a significant moment in the cryptocurrency industry, underlining the increasing scrutiny and regulatory challenges faced by major players. As Binance navigates the fallout from the SEC settlement, the delistings are a strategic move to align its operations with regulatory expectations and pave the way for a new era under fresh leadership.

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Over $86M drained after HTX Global’s HECO Bridge security breach

  • Over $186 Million drained in a HECO Bridge-related hack.
  • The HECO Bridge is a crucial link for transferring funds between Ethereum and the Heco Chain.
  • Projects associated with blockchain entrepreneur Justin Sun are facing ongoing hacking challenges.

In a recent development, the HECO chain bridge, built by the HTX Global exchange has fallen victim to a major security breach, resulting in the unauthorized transfer of over $86 million.

On-chain security platform Cyvers Alerts identified the movement of funds, pointing to a potential exploit in the HECO chain.

HECO Chain Bridge exploit

According to Cyvers Alerts, suspicious addresses received more than $85 million from the HECO chain bridge, indicating a significant exploit.

The HECO Bridge is utilized for transferring funds between Ethereum and the Heco Chain. 

Wintermute Head of Research Igor Igamberdiev estimates the breach loss at $86.6 million.

Blockchain analysts PeckShield suspect the possibility of an exploit or rug pull, as the stolen funds were swiftly sent to decentralized exchanges and converted into other tokens. This exploit follows the recent trend of security vulnerabilities in blockchain projects related to Justin Sun.

Trail of hacks on Justin Sun-linked projects 

In 2022, Sun merged the TRON and BitTorrent bridge ecosystem with HECO. However, the ecosystem now faces significant hacking issues. Notably, the Poloniex exchange, linked to Sun’s projects, recently suffered a $117 million hack, while the HTX exchange, another Sun-affiliated platform, experienced an $8 million hack.

As investigations unfold, concerns are mounting over the security of the HECO chain and its associated projects. Users and investors are urged to exercise caution as the crypto community awaits further details and actions to mitigate the impact of this substantial security breach.

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Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao to resign as part of DOJ settlement: report

  • Crypto flips red, with Bitcoin falling below $37k and BNB tanking 7% to $240 amid reports Binance CEO may resign’
  • A report by Forbes suggest the DOJ will make an announcement to that effect today.

The cryptocurrency market was retracing sharply on Tuesday afternoon as reports surfaced that Changpeng Zhao, the founder and CEO of Binance, may step down as part of a settlement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

CZ’s resignation could be part of DOJ’s anticipated announcement later on Tuesday, according a report by Forbes. Richard Teng  is allegedly poised to take over.

Amid the rumours and allegations, Bitcoin price fell below $37k and altcoins took a dive as Ethereum lost the $2k mark.  BTC fell 3% to $36,797 and ETH 4% to $1,968, while Binance’s native coin that had rallied just a few hours earlier, had nosedived more than 7% to below $240 at the time of writing.

Overall, the crypto market cap was down 1.7% to $1.44 trillion.

As reported yesterday, the DOJ was said to be looking for over $4 billion from Binance as settlement. Now it appears Changpeng Zhao is likely to step down from the helm of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange as part of the deal to drop criminal investigations against the exchange.

An announcement by the US Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to reveal the bombshell, with reports suggesting CZ will plead guilty to charges levelled against him and the exchange.

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Fantom awards $1.7M to security researcher for averting $170M loss

  • The Fantom Foundation says the $1.7 million is bounty for a security researcher whose quick alert helped prevent a potential $170 million hack.
  • Fantom had lost $550k in October, with the hack targeting a reassigned wallet seeing an employee lose $7 million.

The Fantom Foundation, the non-profit organisation behind the crypto platform Fantom, rewarded a security researcher whose efforts helped foil a potential catastrophic hack.

Fantom’s award of $1.7 million was revealed in a blog post on Monday, November 20. 

Bounty relates to $550k hack

According to the Fantom Foundation, the bounty relates to the October 17 incident that saw an attacker drain over $550k from a Fantom wallet that had been reassigned to an employee. The “targeted attack” reportedly saw the employee lose over $7 million.

But while Fantom Foundation maintained its wallets were not impacted in any major way, with funds safe, a researcher found a vulnerability that exposed them to more damage.

“A security researcher identified an additional potential risk associated with the compromise and reached out promptly to alert us,” the platform noted in the blog post.

$170 million hack prevented

The alert by the unidentified researcher pointed to the potential risk posed to Fantom’s ERC-20 FTM contract. Apparently, the previous attack on the said wallet had left it vulnerable to an attack that could see the hacker(s) mint FTM tokens on Ethereum. The compromised wallet held “a dormant admin token.”

According to the Fantom Foundation, the blockchain researcher’s quick response helped avert a possible loss of $170 million. For his efforts, the researcher has been awarded $1.7 million.

That incident came roughly three months after Fantom suffered a $126 million exploit in July. 

The security breach and subsequent heist was related to the Multichain bridge hack. Efforts to prevent such losses have seen the Fantom team take a robust approach to network security

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CredixFinance (CREDIX) plunges 100% after Rug Pull

  • CREDIX token value has plunged by 100%.
  • The price drop is attributed to a Rug Pull as reported PeckShieldAlert.
  • The rug pull involved a wallet address that executed a swap transaction.

In a recent turn of events, the cryptocurrency CredixFinance (CREDIX) has experienced a staggering 100% decline, leaving investors and the crypto community in disbelief.

The sudden drop in CREDIX’s value was not a market-driven phenomenon but rather a result of a rug pull incident.

PeckShieldAlert, a reputable on-chain analysis company, reported that the wallet address 0x45aF…a448 played a pivotal role in executing a surprising swap. A massive 2,200,000,000,000 CREDIX tokens, equivalent to approximately $82,900, were replaced with 41.26 WETH, causing immediate concerns and speculations within the cryptocurrency field.

The CredixFinance Rug Pull

What adds a layer of complexity to the CredixFinance rug pull incident is the fact that the token involved shares the same name as legitimate tokens. This raises questions about the intentions behind the transaction. Was it a deliberate attempt to deceive investors by leveraging the similarity in names?

The consequences of this rug pull are clear – a 100% drop in CREDIX price, impacting both investors and token owners. As the crypto community navigates through this unfortunate incident, caution becomes paramount. This event serves as a stark reminder of the importance of comprehensive research and risk assessment in the dynamic and sometimes volatile world of cryptocurrencies.

Rug pull incidents not only have economic repercussions, causing significant financial losses for investors, but also contribute to a loss of trust within the crypto space. Such incidents may prompt investors to distance themselves from the industry due to heightened scepticism.

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