Binance has announced that Indian crypto exchange Wazirx can no longer use Binance wallet services. Zanmai, the operator of Wazirx, has until Feb. 3 “to remove the funds from the accounts that they used for Wazirx’s operations.” The move followed a public dispute regarding the relationship between Binance and Wazirx. Binance Ends Wallet Services to…
Users’ subscriptions to cloud mining products have been extended for three days due to the power outage.
The severe winter storm in North America shut down Binance’s cloud mining products from Dec. 24-26, according to an official announcement on Dec. 28. As a result of the power outage, the company announced that users’ subscriptions to cloud mining products were extended for three days.
Binance has noted that further outages as a result of the weather conditions will extend the duration of cloud mining subscriptions.
The exchange’s cloud mining service, launched nearly a month ago, allows users without mining equipment to earn mining rewards from Binance Pool. Subscriptions are required to buy hashrates and Bitcoin mining on Binance’s cloud.
During the days leading up to Christmas, a “bomb cyclone” unleashed extreme temperatures across the United States, leaving millions without electricity and claiming dozens of lives.
Related: Microsoft bans cryptocurrency mining on cloud services
Weather conditions in Texas drove Bitcoin miners to voluntarily curtail operations to give power back to the grid, allowing residents to keep their homes warm. Disruptions have impacted Bitcoin’s hash rate, which dropped to 170.60 Exahashes per second (EH/s) on Dec. 25, from a more typical rate of around 225-300 EH/s, Cointelegraph reported.
Bitcoin transactions worldwide have been slowed by 30% as a result of the Texas miners’ decision. Texas is among the top states for Bitcoin mining in the U.S., along with New York, Kentucky and Georgia. All states were affected by the bomb cyclone in the past few days.
Since FTX’s collapse in November, Binance has been surrounded by fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD), resulting in billions of dollars in withdrawals. While fighting rumors, the crypto exchange has continued to work on diversifying its business model. Last month, the company also announced that its venture capital arm, Binance Labs, has invested in Belgian hardware wallet company Ngrave and will lead its Series A funding round.
Binance France and Binance Holdings Limited are being sued over alleged misleading commercial practices and fraudulent concealment.
Binance France and its parent company Binance Holdings Limited are being sued by 15 investors in France over alleged misleading commercial practices and fraudulent concealment, according to local media reports.
In a complaint filed on Dec. 14, the plaintiffs claimed that Binance violated French laws by advertising and distributing crypto services before receiving registration from the country’s authorities. As reported by Cointelegraph, France’s financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers, has granted Binance a license as a digital asset provider in May 2022. The license allowed the crypto exchange to offer services such as assets custody and crypto trading.
The complaint reportedly contains screenshots showing Binance’s social media activity prior to its license, including a Telegram channel dubbed “Binance French”. The plaintiffs also claim to have lost over 2.4 million euros following the TerraUSD (UST) collapse, while Binance advertised the token as United States dollar-backed.
Related: France may oblige crypto platforms to obtain licenses
In a blog post, Binance France responded to questions about the case. According to it, the company did not conduct any promotional communications in France during the period in question, and noted that “Telegram groups are global community forums”, thus allowing users to create and join channels voluntarily.
Binance also addressed questions regarding Terra stablecoin advertisement in the country. The company noted that its communication presents staking with Binance as “safe, and not the underlying tokens.” The exchange also noted that it always includes market risk warnings for crypto products, and has further strengthened its descriptions.
As reported by Cointelegraph, a series of dramatic events in May 2022 resulted in an unprecedented decline in the price of the LUNA token and its associated stablecoin TerraUSD (UST), which was designed to maintain algorithmic parity with the United States dollar, but lost its peg and plunged to below $0.30.
The world’s largest centralized crypto exchange will be able to provide digital asset custody to institutional clients in Abu Dhabi.
The leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance US just launched its own investigation unit and as part of forming the departmental force, the company has appointed former FBI special agent BJ Kang as the new head. Kang with extensive experience in securities fraud will lead the company’s first paramilitary force to focus his efforts on detecting and […]
The post Binance US Appoints Former IRS Special Agent BJ Kang As New Head Of Investigation Unit appeared first on Blockonomi.
The new digital economic zone will assist companies make the switch to blockchain. Collaboration would attempt to establish a “virtual
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly investigating Binance’s BNB token, which could be an unregistered security. If the cryptocurrency is found to be a security, it could put Binance in a similar position to Ripple Labs which has been in an ongoing lawsuit with the SEC over the sale of the XRP […]
Downside risks for BNB also come from a recent Reuter exposé that claims Binance laundered “at least $2.35 billion in illicit funds.”
Binance Coin (BNB) price dropped by nearly 7.3% on June 7 to below $275, its lowest level in three weeks.
What’s more, BNB price could drop by another 25%–40% in 2022 as its parent firm, Binance, faces allegations of breaking securities rules and laundering billions of dollars in illicit funds for criminals.
BNB was issued as a part of an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017 that amassed $15 million for Binance.
The token mainly behaves as a utility asset within the Binance ecosystem, primarily enabling traders to earn discounts on their trading activities. Simultaneously, BNB also functions as a speculative financial asset, which has made it the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
As a result, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating whether the ICO of BNB tokens in 2017 was a sale of securities that should have been registered with the regulator, according to sources contacted by Bloomberg.
So, will all exchanges including binance delist $BNB like they did with $XRP?
— Crypto Mark ❄️ (@MarkCrypto8) June 6, 2022
This risks putting downward pressure on BNB’s price, which has already lost more than half of its value after peaking out in May 2021 at around $700.
In addition to the bad news, BNB’s plunge also came as a part of a broader correction trend elsewhere in the crypto market, with top coins Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) dipping by 7% and 7.25% on the same day.
$BNB aggressively shorted because of the FUD. pic.twitter.com/BzvGtPcK3d
— Byzantine General (@ByzGeneral) June 6, 2022
Now, BNB tests the 61.8 Fib retracement level (near $274) of the Fibonacci retracement graph sketched from its $10-swing low to $700-swing high. Interestingly, the same level was instrumental as support during the May–July 2021 session that preceded a 170% price rally.
But weak fundamentals, including the Federal Reserve’s hawkish policy, have raised BNB’s possibility of dropping below the 61.8 Fib line.
Related: The crypto market dropped in May, but June has a silver lining
If this happens, then BNB’s next downside target could be its 200-week exponential moving average (200-week EMA; the blue wave) near $200, down about 25% from June 7’s price.
The BNB/USD pair’s weekly relative strength index (RSI), now at 34, also shows more room to drop until the reading hits 30, an oversold level that indicates buying sentiment.
Meanwhile, a further drop below the 200-week EMA could have BNB eye the 0.786 Fib line near $160 as its support, down by 40% from June 7’s price.
Conversely, if BNB manages to hold strong above $274, it could rebound toward the area defined by its 0.5 Fib line around $355 and its 50-week EMA (the red wave) near $380, up over 20% from the current price level.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
The SEC is reportedly suspicious that the world’s biggest crypto exchange sold unlicensed securities in its ICO, and the news agency tallied up some old cases.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating whether Binance Holdings broke securities rules when it launched its BNB token in an initial coin offering (ICO) five years ago, Bloomberg reported on June 6.
Binance is the world’s largest crypto exchange, and BNB is the fifth largest cryptocurrency.
The BNB ICO took place in July 2017 on several platforms, during the height of the so-called ICO boom, and the Binance exchange opened just days afterward. According to Bloomberg, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, at least one U.S. resident claimed to have taken part in the ICO, which could be a crucial fact for an SEC case, if the agency chose to pursue one. The SEC has claimed most cryptocurrencies are securities and brought cases against a number of ICO projects.
Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao, often known as CZ, said in a 2020 blogpost that the wording of the BNB whitepaper was changed in January 2019 because “the potential for being misunderstood as a security is higher in certain regions.” Binance’s American arm, Binance.US, was created later that year.
Related: Binance wins dismissal of class action over 2018 tokens that tanked
Also on May 6, Reuters published a lengthy special report alleging that Binance processed at least $2.35 billion of transactions from hacks, investment frauds, and narcotics sales between 2017 and 2021, and had weak KYC/AML protections for those years.
Among other cases, Reuters mentions the hacking of Eterbase, with some of the proceeds being laundered through Binance by North Korean hacker group Lazarus, and Binance’s association with Russian-language drug mart Hydra.
A Binance spokesman disputed Reuters’ findings, and the exchange told Forbes in a statement that the report is a “woefully misinformed op-ed that uses outdated information from 2019 and unverified personal attestations.”
Binance is already the object of several U.S. federal investigations, include another SEC probe. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) began an investigation of the exchange’s trading practices last year.
Binance Markets, its United Kingdom branch, was ordered by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to cease activities in that county after a review of its operations last year. Additionally, Binance was ordered to cease operations in Ontario last June, although it remained active in the Canadian province until March of this year.
