Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) ordered Monday the ban on cryptocurrency exchange Bybit from engaging in the securities brokerage business.
In a statement released on Monday, the CVM ordered the suspension of ByBit’s “public offering of any securities intermediary services, directly or indirectly, to Brazilian users, including through the use of websites, applications or social networks.”
According to CVM, ByBit is seeking to raise funds for securities investments from investors residing in Brazil, and the company is not authorized to act as a securities intermediary.
Bybit has become one of the most stable crypto trading platforms in Europe and Asia. With an estimated 6 million daily active users (dau) and $10 billion in trading volume, the exchange said it has built the necessary liquidity for the Brazilian cryptocurrency market.
However, the Brazilian government said that only the Brazilian stock exchange B3 can provide securities trading, and ByBit is not eligible.
The Brazilian government said breaking the ban could result in a fine of 1,000 Brazilian reals (equivalent to $194) per day.
On July 6, the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission ordered cryptocurrency trading platform Binance to immediately stop derivatives trading services in Brazil. Brazilian law treats all derivatives as securities.
Recently, Brazilian esports team MIBR announced a partnership and sponsorship deal with crypto exchange Bybit for the next three years.
Data from digital asset management firm Coinshares showed that outflows from cryptocurrency investment products reached $9.2 million last week, with the majority of inflows coming from short investment products.
Bitcoin (BTC) accounted for the lion’s share of these outflows with 11 million outflows, driving a 4-week streak of outflows throughout August.
However, declining Bitcoin short positions reached a record short inflow of $18 million, bringing total assets under management to an all-time high of $158 million.
Altcoins had small inflows, notably Solana and Avalanche, which each had a combined inflow of $500,000.
Source: CoinShares
Coinshares statistics show that capital inflows are distributed across regions. Canada’s inflows totalled $4.7 million, while the U.S.’s total inflows of $0.8 million were only a fraction.
Corresponding capital outflows from other regions are not particularly large. Brazil, Switzerland, and Germany saw total inflows of $3.2 million, $1.7 million, and $1.6 million, respectively.
According to a report by CoinShares investment strategist James Butterfill:
“In a similar fashion to last week, this week saw multi-year low weekly trading volumes totalling US$915m. Recent price declines have pushed down total assets under management (AuM) to $27.9 billion, their lowest point since early July this year, having begun the year at $64 billion. “
Bitcoin has gained 1.05% over the past 24 hours and rebounded by $$20,119.71, according to CoinMarketCap. Over the same period, Ethereum rose 5.45% to $1,659.
Binance cryptocurrency exchange announced on Monday that it has introduced “BUSD Auto-Conversion”.
The latest program will, therefore, allow customers to convert any existing user balances and new deposits of four stablecoins such as USD Coin (USDC), Pax Dollar (USDP) and True USD (TUSD), into its own native stablecoin BUSD, effectively delisting trading of the three rival stablecoins.
The company disclosed the reason behind the move: “In order to enhance liquidity and capital-efficiency for users, Binance is introducing BUSD Auto-Conversion for users’ existing balances and new deposits of USDC, USDP, and TUSD stablecoins at a 1:1 ratio.”
Binance further said it will remove and stop any trading on spot pairs, including USDC, USDP and TUSD.
The conversion is scheduled to start on September 29. “With effect from 2022-09-29 03:00 (UTC), users will trade with a consolidated BUSD balance on the Binance Platform that reflects their balances of these four stablecoins (BUSD, USDC, USDP and TUSD) post-conversion”.
USDC is the second largest stablecoin by market cap at $51 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Binance’s BUSD stablecoin comes third, with a market cap of $19 billion, while USDP and TUSD are far smaller.
The move will effectively remove direct custody of USDC, USDP and TUSD for Binance’s 120 million users worldwide.
However, the firm said the move will not affect users’ choice of withdrawal. “Users will continue to withdraw funds in USDC, USDP and TUSD at a 1:1 ratio to their BUSD denominated account balance”, the company explained.
The exchange said customers will be able to see the converted balance on their accounts within 24 hours. And further stated that the minimum amount for manual conversion is 1 USDC, USDP, or TUSD while accounts with lower balances auto-convert to BUSD.
Binance also said it may expand or amend the list of stablecoins eligible for auto-conversion.
The exchange further said it will remove the support for USDC, USDP, and TUSD products, including spot trading, futures, and margin lending.
USDC products affected include crypto loans, saving accounts, and DeFi staking subscriptions, which will be closed and liquidated on September 23rd.
The news is met with some scepticism, as some users have faulted the decision to convert rival stablecoins into Binance stablecoin.
“Crypto monopoly 101, Binance will remove $USDC as a tradable asset by Sep 25 to push their $BUSD.” a Twitter user by the name ‘@BloodgoodBTC’ said.
A Circle spokesperson also commented about the development: “Based on market activity, it would seem much of this transition has already passed, and while optimizing dollar liquidity on the world’s largest exchange may carry benefits, the paradigm does raise potential market conduct questions.”
Tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin that has a market cap of $68 billion, will remain accessible on the Binance platform.
Stablecoins, a newer breed of cryptocurrency, are gaining popularity for their commitment to minimising the price volatility that has limited the use of Bitcoin and other digital assets as a medium of exchange.
Since Tether (USDT) was launched in 2014 as the first stablecoin, the list has grown to include the likes of USD Coin (USDC), Dai (DAI), True USD (USDT), Binance USD (BUSD), Paxos Standard, Digix Gold, Havven’s Nomin, among others.
Move-to-earn app STEPN announced that is opening an office in Hong Kong despite COVID-19 restrictions and a tough regulatory environment.
Co-founder Jerry Huang told the South China Morning Post that STEPN will move its regional headquarters to Cyberport in Hong Kong.
Cyberport is a tech hub with over 1,800 start-ups and companies.
According to Huang, the motive behind opening an office in Hong Kong had come about following a conversation with former Cyberport chairman George Lam. During the talk, they had discussed creating a web3 startup ecosystem in Hong Kong.
However, the company has not released dates for its big move.
STEPN rewards users with crypto for walking, jogging or running and to participate, a user must purchase an NFT and start either walking, jogging or running outdoors to earn tokens. It also allows users to either spend their earnings within the Web3 ecosystem or withdraw the amount to an external account and cash out a profit.
STEPN is currently based in Adelaide, Australia.
The move to Hong Kong has come at a time when several other companies have exited the city.
FTX moved its headquarters from Hong Kong to The Bahamas last year, attributing the move to regulatory uncertainty. FTX CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried also tweeted his frustration at strict quarantine procedures.
“Who would have thought two years ago that a significant consideration for where to live would be ‘it’s actually legal to enter and leave the country,'” he said.
While PwC global crypto leader Henri Arslanian also shifted bases for his new crypto asset management firm to the Cayman Islands and Dubai from Hong Kong due to regulatory approval times and travel restrictions.
Another major issue for companies exiting Hong Kong has been Beijing’s influence over the city, especially after the legislation of the National Security Law in June 2020. Also, adding to that is the Chinese capital’s antagonistic stance on non-government crypto projects and ban on several crypto activities.
in China, STEPN itself enjoyed a following in China until it turned off its GPS services there in July. It caused the app’s token, GST, to drop 10% following the announcement.
STEPN will be joining the remaining Hong Kong holdouts, including Cyberport-based Animoca Brands.
Facing the bear market of cryptocurrencies, Singapore’s largest bank DBS Bank (DBS), still plans to expand its cryptocurrency and digital asset business and provide cryptocurrency and digital asset services to 300,000 high-net-worth clients in Asia, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Investors nowadays are looking for a safe haven to trade and store their digital assets amid ongoing market volatility.
DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said in an interview, “On the one hand, we want to be a global crypto hub. On the other hand, we’re also very worried about our domestic population getting burned with this speculative asset class,”
DBS chief Executive Piyush Gupta said the bank currently has less than 1,000 members on digital exchanges.
Gupta said the bank’s cryptocurrency services would soon be available to DBS’s 300,000 clients in Asia, including private banks, accredited investors, other exchanges, and funds.
DBS Bank launched its digital exchange in December 2020, which serves institutional investors and family offices.
The Financial Times reported that DBS’ brokerage arm received a cryptocurrency license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore last year and has since allowed fewer than 1,000 institutional and wealthy clients to access its digital currency by invitation.
In February, DBS Bank announced plans to expand its cryptocurrency exchange beyond its existing institutional client investor base.
While the bank confirmed that it would focus on scaling up its crypto exchange business in 2022, it hinted that it would not be able to roll out digital asset trading to retail investors.
The bank delayed plans to offer crypto trading to retail investors, citing technical challenges and resistance from regulators.
In contrast to the massive global digital asset market downturn, the multinational bank said its bitcoin trading volume more than doubled in June from the previous two months, accounting for 90% of cryptocurrency trading activity.
Poolin, a cryptocurrency mining pool provider headquartered in Beijing, China, announced Monday that it had suspended withdrawals from its crypto wallet service, which signals serious trouble within the firm.
Established in 2017, Poolin offers a multi-cryptocurrency mining pool, custodial wallet, block explorer and transaction accelerator, which enable users to invest in digital assets like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and ZCash with ease.
While Poolin’s mining pools continue operating normally, the Poolin Wallet announced to its users that it paused all withdrawals, flash trades, and internal transfers within Poolin systems from 10 a.m. EDT on September 5 as part of efforts to preserve assets and stabilize liquidity.
“This imperative serves our goal of preserving assets, stabilizing liquidity and operations amid the dull crypto market. Meanwhile, we continue to explore strategic alternatives with various parties,” the firm said.
The company went further and stated that all assets in PoolinWallet are safe and will provide more details and solutions within a week.
Poolin Wallet said it is “currently facing some liquidity problems due to recent increasing demands on withdrawals.”
On Sunday, Kevin Pan, the company’s CEO and founder, said that Poolin is experiencing liquidity issues but assured customers that assets are safe. Pan’s statement echoed that the firm would soon come up with a way to fix the issues. As per Pan’s post, that plan might include debt.
In a separate announcement on Monday, Poolin said that it is providing its users with zero transaction fees for Bitcoin and Ethereum mining from September 8 through to December 7, and for 12 months for customers with more than 1 BTC or 5 ETH in their pool balance or in Pool Account.
Terror in Crypto Markets
Poolin has become the latest crypto firm facing liquidity issues. Suspending withdrawals has become a source of fear this year. The issue signals deep trouble at companies that have tried to create a modern version of banking through digital assets.
Three months ago, lenders including Celsius Network, Voyager Digital, Babel Finance, CoinFLEX, Vauld, and Zipmex halted withdrawals and transfers. Others like Finblox and CoinLoan allowed withdrawals to continue but at a reduced limit.
Poolin, a cryptocurrency mining pool provider headquartered in Beijing, China, announced Monday that it had suspended withdrawals from its crypto wallet service, which signals serious trouble within the firm.
Established in 2017, Poolin offers a multi-cryptocurrency mining pool, custodial wallet, block explorer and transaction accelerator, which enable users to invest in digital assets like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and ZCash with ease.
While Poolin’s mining pools continue operating normally, the Poolin Wallet announced to its users that it paused all withdrawals, flash trades, and internal transfers within Poolin systems from 10 a.m. EDT on September 5 as part of efforts to preserve assets and stabilize liquidity.
“This imperative serves our goal of preserving assets, stabilizing liquidity and operations amid the dull crypto market. Meanwhile, we continue to explore strategic alternatives with various parties,” the firm said.
The company went further and stated that all assets in PoolinWallet are safe and will provide more details and solutions within a week.
Poolin Wallet said it is “currently facing some liquidity problems due to recent increasing demands on withdrawals.”
On Sunday, Kevin Pan, the company’s CEO and founder, said that Poolin is experiencing liquidity issues but assured customers that assets are safe. Pan’s statement echoed that the firm would soon come up with a way to fix the issues. As per Pan’s post, that plan might include debt.
In a separate announcement on Monday, Poolin said that it is providing its users with zero transaction fees for Bitcoin and Ethereum mining from September 8 through to December 7, and for 12 months for customers with more than 1 BTC or 5 ETH in their pool balance or in Pool Account.
Terror in Crypto Markets
Poolin has become the latest crypto firm facing liquidity issues. Suspending withdrawals has become a source of fear this year. The issue signals deep trouble at companies that have tried to create a modern version of banking through digital assets.
Three months ago, lenders including Celsius Network, Voyager Digital, Babel Finance, CoinFLEX, Vauld, and Zipmex halted withdrawals and transfers. Others like Finblox and CoinLoan allowed withdrawals to continue but at a reduced limit.
A decentralised community-owned NFT marketplace has launched an integrated intellectual property (IP) marketplace.
X Marketplace will allow users to list NFT IP and license projects to IP for zero fees.
“The problem today is that IP rights are a large part of the NFT value proposition but with limited opportunity to monetise it. We are making the IP discovery process easier by integrating an IP marketplace within our existing platform,” said Bradley Zastrow, X Marketplace’s Co-founder.
The company announced that creating an IP listing is entirely free and the only ownership verification requirement for the underlying NFT is the user’s signature. Users select the NFT they wish to list for IP licensing and include any additional commercial specifics.
The launch has made it the first to provide collectors holistic access to a broader part of the NFT economy.
Users can also manage their NFTs through the existing customer portfolio management and valuation solutions. The company announced they could also monetise their NFT Ip and trade their NFTs within a single marketplace.
“The NFT economy will be more than just buying & selling NFTs; it will include multiple ways for NFT owners to monetise their assets. The launch of our IP marketplace is only on stage one; we are just beginning,” said Zastrow.
According to the company, the initial launch will consist of support for applicable Yuga Labs, Azuki, CloneX, IlluminatiNFT, Finiliar, Stickmen Toys and Swampverse collections.
The company plans to add more collections regularly and by community request shortly.
NFTs in terms of IP have been moving ahead at a smart pace.
According to a recent report from Blockchain.News, owners of CryptoPunk and Meebits NFTs can now create commercial projects and products based on their NFTs.
The announcement comes following Yuga Labs’ release of its long-awaited IP licensing deal for CryptoPunk and Meetbits NFT holders on August 15.
The new IP licensing agreement has put these NFT holders on the same level as the IP rights enjoyed by the Bored Ape Yacht Club’s holders, as the deal will give them full commercialisation rights to create projects and products based on their NFTs.
Some Bored Ape Yacht Club’s holders have already used the IP in projects.
For instance, American actor, producer, writer and director Seth Green is launching a show based on his recently-returned Ape. He reclaimed his stolen bored ape avatar NFT by spending over $300,000.
While restauranteur Andy Nguyen also opened Bored Ape-themed restaurant Bored & Hungry in Los Angeles in June 2022.
Copper.co, a cryptocurrency custody firm based in the UK and registered in Switzerland, announced Monday the appointment of Mastercard executive Tim Neill as the company’s new Chief Risk Officer.
At Copper.co, Neill will oversee the company’s risk management and will be in charge of building and scaling the company’s risk function as it continues growing its presence in Europe.
Neill is a finance veteran with over 20 years of experience in operations and risk, focusing on payments, open banking, financial services and technology.
Most recently, he worked at Mastercard, serving as Chief Risk Officer (CRO) for the company’s new payments platforms division and Head of Risk for product and engineering, covering new payments platforms, digital banking, and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs).
Before joining Mastercard, Neill served several senior risk and operations positions at the London Stock Exchange Group, Standard Chartered Bank, and Deutsche Bank.
Neill talked about his hiring at Copper.co: “I’m delighted to be joining Copper, which has set such high industry standards for safety and security in the digital asset space. At such a critical time for risk and compliance in the crypto asset ecosystem, I look forward to applying my digital finance security management experience at Copper to help ensure institutional investors and asset managers can continue to transact and store cryptocurrencies transparently and securely.”
Neill will be reporting to Sabrina Wilson, Copper.co’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), and his appointment starts immediately.
Wilson commented about Neill’s appointment: “We are excited to welcome Tim to the Copper team. Tim brings a wealth of experience managing enterprise risk within large-scale global financial services institutions. Prudential risk management is an essential pillar of the Copper strategy, and we look forward to working closely with Tim in his chief risk officer capacity.”
Despite the current crypto market downturn, the growing industry is helping related companies poach out-of-reach executives from some of the largest companies in mainstream finance.
In May, Coinbase hired Durgesh Kaushik – the former Managing Director in charge of Snapchat India and South Asia market development – to lead the exchange’s growth in emerging markets.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has launched a new unit to help focus its fight against crimes that are perpetrated in the digital currency ecosystem.
According to a report from the Australian Financial Review, the move from the AFP comes after it has surpassed its seizure target of $600 million, showing how organized crime in Australia has continued to grow in the ranks.
“The environment was such that we felt a standalone team [was required], rather than a lot of officers picking up some of this skill set as part of their overall role,” said Stefan Jerga, the national manager of the AFP’s criminal asset confiscation command “So we’ve now got a dedicated team that continues to grow.”
Crypto crimes abound in many jurisdictions, but the Australian government has a functional avenue to track some of the losses recorded by its citizens to crypto crimes. As reported earlier by Blockchain.News, a total loss of $84 million was reported to the ScamWatch website in 2021, up from $27 million in 2020.
The AFP and the Federal Government are committed to ensuring these criminal ventures do not succeed. While the crypto seizures made by the AFP pales in comparison to the cash and properties, it noted that its investigations into crypto crime rings have yielded fruits thus far.
“It’s targeting assets, but it’s also providing that valuable, investigative tracing capability and lens for all of our commands across all of our businesses, whether they’re national security-related, child protection, cyber – or the ability to trace cryptocurrency transactions across the relevant blockchains is really, really important,” Jerga noted, emphasizing the broad capabilities and functions the new crypto unit will showcase.
Several governments are exploring different avenues to tackle crimes that are connected to the digital currency ecosystem.
With billions of dollars lost thus far this year through hacks and rug pulls, most watchdogs are enforcing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance checks that will aid in the easy identification of criminals.
