Day: June 8, 2023

Circle hires former CFTC, US Treasury executive as chief legal officer

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Stablecoin issuer Circle has loaded its arsenal to fight the ongoing regulatory crackdown on crypto. By July 1, the role of chief legal officer and head of corporate affairs will be filled by Heath Tarbert, a top attorney with a background in all three branches of the United States government. According to a June 8 announcement, Tarbert has served in leadership positions in all three branches of the federal government and across key regulatory agencies, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the International Organization of Securities Commissions, the U.S. Treasury,…

US DOJ opposes bankrupt Bittrex’s plan to repay customers ahead of credited fines

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The United States Justice Department (DOJ) has filed an objection to a motion by bankrupt cryptocurrency trading platform Bittrex to allow customers to withdraw their crypto and fiat. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) is Bittrex’s biggest creditor, but its claim would be subordinated under the Bittrex proposal. Bittrex was charged in October by both OFAC and the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) with sanctions violations for allowing individuals based in Crimea, Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria to carry put transactions from 2014 to 2017. The…

Enjin Launches NFT-Focused Blockchain, Migrates Native Token and Merges Efinity Token

Singapore-based Enjin, a pioneer in the blockchain ecosystem for Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and digital assets, has launched the Enjin Blockchain. The innovative new blockchain, dedicated to NFTs, is built on the open-source Substrate framework, distinguishing it from others by integrating NFT-related transactions directly into its foundational code, rather than relying on smart contracts. Incorporating NFT transactions at the protocol level enhances scalability and prepares projects for future-proofed digital assets. Notably, Enjin Blockchain features like Fuel Tanks and Discrete Accounts simplify end-user interaction by subsidizing transaction fees and eliminating the need…

SEC Seeks To Freeze Binance.US Assets Hours After Filing Lawsuit Against the Crypto Exchange

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Just a day after filing a 136-page complaint against Binance, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to freeze assets tied to the US arm of the world’s largest crypto exchange. On Monday, the SEC filed 13 charges against Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao over what the federal agency’s head, Gary Gensler, called “an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law.” After filing the lawsuit, the regulator on Tuesday submitted a new…

SEC’s Gensler Rebuffs Crypto Complaints, Says Gave Ample Warning Before Hitting Binance, Coinbase

“Some additional utility does not remove a crypto asset security from the definition of an investment contract,” Gensler said, though he added that tokens built for exclusive use in their blockchain ecosystems can be exempted from such accusations. “The investing public generally buys these crypto assets, at least in part, anticipating profit based on the efforts of those token issuers.” Source

Binance.US Suspends Trading for Several Crypto Pairs Following a Lawsuit Filed by the SEC – Blockchain News, Opinion, TV and Jobs

Binance.US, the US arm of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has suspended trading for several crypto pairs and reduced its supported convert trading pairs following a lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Binance entities and their leadership. The move is seen as a precautionary measure to address potential securities concerns raised by the SEC. This move came after the SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance on June 5, accusing the exchange of offering unregistered securities. The charges include unregistered offers and sales of BNB and BUSD…

Ethereum Developers Cement Final Lineup of Changes in ‘Dencun’ Upgrade

Dencun includes simultaneous upgrades happening on the two sides of the blockchain. The “Cancun” upgrade will happen on the execution layer, where all protocol rules reside, while the consensus layer, which makes sure that blocks are validated, will go through its own fork known as “Deneb.” The name “Dencun” is a portmanteau of the names of the simultaneous upgrades. Source

Binance may have lied to US lawmakers, argue senators: Report

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Binance may have misled lawmakers in the United States about its business dealings and relationship with its local unit in a letter sent in March, Bloomberg reported on June 8.  In a letter sent to United States Attorney General Merrick, senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Binance made a false statement to Congress earlier this year. In a lawsuit filed on June 5, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that Binance’s global entity and American unit were commingled.  Today we charged Binance Holdings…

Circle Rolls Out Support for $USDC Stablecoin on Arbitrum $ARB

Businesses that have an account with Circle can now access Arbitrum USDC and “readily swap USDC across supported chains – avoiding the costs and delays associated with bridging,” said Circle’s official Twitter account. Several key applications will support Arbitrum USDC like Aave, Balancer, Camelot, Coinbase, Curve, GMX, Radiant, Trader Joe and Uniswap, according to the announcement. Source