Day: June 27, 2023

FTX splurged on cartoon, book about humans and ‘Pineapple House,’ alleges CEO

boss

Former FTX executives allegedly splurged millions on funding niche projects unrelated to crypto or Web3, including a uniquely named $1.8 million “Pineapple house.” A June 26 report from FTX restructuring chief and CEO John Ray laid out the uses of the allegedly misappropriated customer funds. According to the report, this included “charitable” donations made by the exchange’s co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried and other former executives under the nonprofit FTX Foundation. Detailed were $700,000 worth of FTX Foundation “grants,” $400,000 of which were given to “an entity that posted animated videos on…

Crypto travel rule fails to meet FATF standards, says report

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has issued a renewed call urging countries to adopt and implement the “Travel Rule” as a vital measure to combat money laundering and terrorism financing facilitated through cryptocurrencies. On June 23, the United Nations body responsible for promoting strategies against money laundering and terrorist financing highlighted that a significant number of member states have yet to implement the rule. Addressing anonymity A survey conducted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in March 2022 has revealed concerning levels of compliance with the travel rule…

Australian banks claim 40% of scams ‘touch’ crypto as it defends restrictions

boss

Australia’s cryptocurrency industry banking woes will likely continue, with the government and major banks signaling no intention to back down against scams that “touch” crypto. During a panel at the Australian Blockchain Week on June 26, Sophie Gilder, managing director of blockchain and digital assets at Commonwealth Bank (CBA) shed light on the bank’s restrictions on crypto exchange payments, noting it was put in place after seeing an alarming rate of scams that ended up involving cryptocurrency. “One in three of the dollars that are scammed from Australians touch crypto,…

Ethscriptions launched on Ethereum, tradecurve prices up 20%

Launched on June 17 and inspired by Bitcoin Ordinals inscriptions, Ethscriptions offer a new way to mint non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on Ethereum. As Tradecurve enters stage 4 of its presale, TCRV, its native token, is already up 80% since launch. The hybrid exchange offers borderless market access without users complying with the know-your-customer (KYC) requirements.  >>Buy TCRV tokens now<< What are Ethscriptions? Developed by Tom Lehman, also a co-founder of Genius.com, nearly 30,000 Ethscriptions were created within the first 24 hours after the protocol went live. Ethscriptions assets utilize the data within…

$27 trillion AUM is perched over Bitcoin and crypto: CoinShares CSO

boss

There is at least $27 trillion of assets managed by major U.S. financial institutions that are also “actively” seeking to provide clients with exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto.  On June 26, CoinShares chief strategy officer Meltem Demirors highlighted at least eight major financial institutions that have signaled moves in the digital assets space, including BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF filing and Fidelity’s crypto wealth management solutions. Others include JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, Invesco and Bank of America. “Many of the largest financial institutions in the US…

Binance revises stance on privacy coin listings in Europe

In response to feedback from its user community, Binance has retracted its previous decision to delist certain privacy coins in select European nations, opting instead for a reclassification strategy. In a major shift in policy, Binance, the globe’s premier cryptocurrency exchange, has announced its decision to maintain listings for specific privacy coins for European traders, following earlier signals of their impending removal. The reversal came about after rigorous consultations with the community and various projects, prompting a change in the classification of privacy-focused digital currencies. Seven such cryptocurrencies, namely decred,…

Binance Australia got 12 hours’ notice before it was debanked, says exec

boss

In the middle of the night, Binance Australia’s team was suddenly told it would be “cut off” from Australia’s banking system. There was no prior warning, consultation or redress, the exchange’s regional manager Ben Rose has claimed. On May 18, Binance Australian announced its dollar services were suspended after its payments provider Zepto was told to stop support for Binance from Cuscal — Zepto’s partner banking and payments provider. Rose told an audience at the Australian Blockchain Week on June 26 that the move impacted around 1 million customers based…

Over $83m flows into crypto market as liquidity unlocks

According to the data provided by Token Unlocks, the market for cryptocurrency tokens saw a substantial injection of liquidity this past week that amounted to more than $83.38 million. The liquidity was divided over the following projects: SUI, OP, YGG, AGIX, ACA, GAL, and 1INCH. Unlocking a certain part of the total supply of tokens was a need for each one, and this requirement contributed to the volume as a whole. SUI, a layer 1 blockchain smart contract system, is one of the projects that has distributed tokens worth $44.4…

Robinhood to axe 7% of full-time staff in latest round of layoffs: Report

boss

Online brokerage firm Robinhood Markets will reportedly lay off roughly 150 full-time staff — 7% of its total workforce — in its third round of layoffs in just over a year.  According to an internal company message seen by The Wall Street Journal, Robinhood Chief Financial Officer Jason Warnick reportedly wrote that the cuts were being made to “adjust to volumes and to better align team structures.” A Robinhood spokesperson did not confirm or deny the layoffs in comments to Cointelegraph, but stated: “We’re ensuring operational excellence in how we…