Binance hits back against ‘desperate’ commingling allegations
Crypto exchange Binance has hit back against a Reuters report that alleged it commingled customer funds with revenue in 2020 and 2020, labelling it as “desperate.”
“Let me explain just how desperate a journalist [at Reuters] is to publish a negative story, " Binance chief strategy officer Patrick Hillmann said in a Twitter post, saying that the story was based on how users purchasing the Binance USD stablecoin “were taken to a transaction page that had the term ‘deposit’ on it.”
“This story is so weak that they had to put up front, ‘Reuters found no evidence that Binance client monies were lost or taken’ in a transparent attempt to protect themselves from a libel suit,” Hillman continued, saying Binance had been very public about its regulatory shortcomings in the past.
The Reuters report cited three sources familiar with the matter, one of which said that the sums ran into billions of dollars and that commingling happened almost daily in Binance’s accounts with now-defunct US lender Silvergate Bank.
Binance has denied commingling, saying that the accounts were used to facilitate user purchases and that they were “100% corporate funds.”
Let me explain just how desperate a journalist @Reuters is to publish a negative story. The whole base of their story this morning, is that when users purchased BUSD (Paxos) from Binance, they were taken to a transaction page that had the term “deposit” on it. Users were making a…
— Patrick Hillmann (@PRHillmann) May 23, 2023
Winklevoss twins consider second HQ in London and decry US ‘headwinds’
The Winklevoss twins are considering setting up a second headquarter in London for their crypto exchange Gemini to escape the “headwinds” in the US.
“There are so many headwinds right now in the US it’s hard to get anything done there,” Cameron Winklevoss told The Telegraph as they met officials at the Financial Conduct Authority this week. “And so, in order to keep building our business and invest in hiring, we have to look elsewhere.”
By comparison, Cameron Winklevoss said that “the UK is a great market” with a “multi-century tradition” of running businesses.
However, his brother Tyler Winklevoss had reservations about the inconsistent attitude of British lawmakers and regulators, highlighting a report from last week where members of parliament said crypto should be regulated like gambling.
NOW READ: UK takes steps to regulate crypto like gambling — does that mean you can trade Bitcoin tax free?
Musk warns Dogecoin holders not to “bet the farm”
Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said investors shouldn’t “bet the farm on Dogecoin” in a virtual conference Tuesday, Fortune reported.
Musk has courted controversy surrounding the leading memecoin, in a series of tweets and public statements that coincided with large rallies and dips in the token’s price.
Most recently, Musk temporarily changed the Twitter logo to that of a Shiba Inu, the dog breed associated with Dogecoin, which preceded a 20% rally.
Despite his Tuesday warning, Musk still calls Dogecoin his favourite token, thanks to its humour and inclusion of dogs.
"Dogecoin is my favorite cryptocurrency because it has the best humor and has dogs" — Elon Musk
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) May 23, 2023
📹 @WSJLive pic.twitter.com/sMGv1AbzQC
NOW READ: Cosmos’ legal fight against strategy exec poised to turn nastier
Solana integrates ChatGPT
The Solana Foundation has created an open-source plugin that lets users query ChatGPT directly to interact with the Solana network.
Solana Las CEO Anatoly Yakovenko said that AI integration presents “a new paradigm” for interacting with computers and the blockchain.
Users will be able to tap the new plugin for a variety of uses, from conducting transactions to summarising on-chain data.
Solana has seen an uptick in total users this month— the most since June 2022— as users seek lower fees than can be found on Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Coinbase says ‘SEC is talking out of both sides of its mouth’
Crypto exchange Coinbase slammed the US Securities and Exchange Commission in new court filings, saying that its petition for a response for a response about new digital asset regulation was still warranted.
“The SEC is talking out of both sides of its mouth, and it is wrong at each end,” Coinbase said, The Block reported.
The legal mudslinging between Coinbase and the regulator comes after the exchange sued the agency in April, trying to force the SEC to answer a 2022 petition about the new rules.
It also comes after the market watchdog served Coinbase with a Wells notice in March.
US judge tosses Binance ‘pig butchering scam’ case
A US judge threw out a lawsuit against crypto exchange Binance on Monday, in which the firm was allegedly linked to a pig butchering scam.
Plaintiff Divya Gadasalli filed the claim against Binance and a few others on grounds that she had lost over $8 million in the scam.
The judge presiding over the case stated in the verdict that Gadasalli could not identify “a single fact” that pointed towards Binance’s complicity, and granted the firm’s motion to dismiss.
A pig butchering scam utilises various forms of phishing — texting, emails, and even phone calls — to increase a scam victim’s financial contribution to the scam’s efforts until the scammer finally extracts all of the funds at once.
NOW READ: ‘Not over yet’: Tornado Cash attack rages on with $1m in jeopardy
USDT flirts with supply ATHs at $83bn in circulation
Stablecoin issuer Tether neared all-time highs in the supply of its USDT stablecoin on Monday, with over $83 billion worth of coins in circulation.
The asset is just shy of the $84.1 billion high seen on May 10 of last year, the very day of the Luna/Terra collapse that would usher in a bear market that would paint the year.
USDT has scooped up a significant portion of stablecoin market share from runner-up Circle (USDC), which is down to $27.8 billion in tokens since a recent wave of bank collapses saw billions in USDC trapped in insolvent institutions such as Silicon Valley Bank.
‘Airdrop farming’ could be behind jump in trading volumes at zero-knowledge blockchains
Trading volumes and investor deposits on zero-knowledge blockchains have soared over the past week, but some attribute the increased activity to users attempting to game new airdrop.
So-called “airdrop farming” has been identified by many in the DeFi community as a primary driver behind the jump in activity.
This is a process that allows users to create multiple wallets and engage in small transactions
“Airdrop and token speculation is always something protocols and application development teams have to be aware of,” Anthony Rose, senior vice president of technology at Matter Labs, the company behind the zkSync Era blockchain, told DL News.
Zero-knowledge proofs are a cryptographic technique that enable blockchains to process information while maintaining privacy and security by not revealing the actual data.
NOW READ: DeFi users pile into Ethereum zero-knowledge chains in hope of airdrop riches
More news from around the web...
‘Not over yet’: Tornado Cash attack rages on with $1m in jeopardy — DL News
‘Chinese Ethereum’ conflux draws spotlight as Hong Kong welcomes retail traders — CoinDesk
Chinese fentanyl precursor producers ‘fueling’ US epidemic received millions in crypto: Elliptic — The Block
