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| 1 | | The Australian arm of Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has suspended Australian dollar (AUD) deposits and withdrawals through bank transfer, citing that the local payments services provider, Zepto, stopped supporting the exchange. The move has mainly affected the transactions made through PayID. More: - A PayID is a memorable piece of information unique to the user, such as the mobile number or email address, used to receive payments by linking to the bank account.
- The AUD deposits through PayID were immediately halted following the announcement.
- However, AUD withdrawals will remain available for an unknown period, and Binance will inform users of the timeline when it is confirmed.
- The popular crypto exchange said it has started looking for an alternative third-party service provider in Australia to continue offering the suspended services.
- Users will be able to continue to purchase and sell crypto using their credit or debit cards.
- Both Binance and Zepto emphasized that all customer funds are safe.
Zoom Out: - The move came nearly one and a half months after Binance permanently halted the operations of its Australian Derivatives unit.
- The halt stemmed from the cancellation of the unit's financial services license by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the country's financial regulator.
- Shortly before the decertification, ASIC launched a targeted review of Binance over the concerns around the exchange's Australia Derivatives business' classification of retail and wholesale clients in the country.
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| 2 | |  What the numbers say: Recent research from GWI has shown that Turkey is the country with the highest growth rate in crypto ownership, with a 27.1% increase from July-September 2021 to the same period of 2022. In the top five, Turkey was followed by Argentina, the Philippines, Thailand, and Brazil. The global average in crypto ownership growth was 11.9%. GWI has pointed out that the study was conducted with individuals aged between 16 and 64.
Relevance: The higher growth rates were mainly attributed to skyrocketing inflation in certain countries last year. The top two countries, Turkey and Argentina, were also among the top 10 countries with the highest annual inflation rates in 2022. Argentina closed last year with a whopping 94.8% consumer price index (CPI) as the second country of the top 10, while inflation increased by 72.3% YoY in Turkey within the same year, making the country sit in third place. Why it matters: The results demonstrate that people in the countries witnessing a significant economic downturn embarked on a quest for alternative financial instruments to the traditional ones in 2022. Argentinian and Turkish people showed this tendency with increased crypto adoption. Zimbabwe, the country with the highest inflation rate last year, also recently had to gravitate toward tokenized assets as an alternative to fight hyperinflation and economic volatility. In April, the southern African country's central bank announced that it would issue a gold-backed digital currency to serve as legal tender in the country. Brands that should care: The increased crypto ownership in these countries also caused crypto exchanges, including Binance, OKX, and Gate.io, to see a strong rise in trading volumes. In response, many platforms expanded their services and deepened their presence in the countries where the growth was highest, such as Turkey and Argentina. Most recently, OKX announced plans to open an office in Turkey in the upcoming months, while Gate.io unveiled GateTR, and Binance launched its first customer service center in the country last year. The largest crypto exchange by trading volume, Binance, recently made a similar move for Argentina, expanding in the country with a direct fiat-to-crypto service. | | | |
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| 3 | | U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles has approved the bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital's self-liquidation plan at a court hearing in Manhattan. The decision authorized the firm to repay $1.33B in crypto assets to customers through its own platform, allowing creditors to recover about 35% of their crypto deposits. More: - Voyager customers are expected to be able to withdraw their funds by June 1.
- The creditors will be repaid with the same type of cryptocurrencies as their account balances.
- Voyager will refund the balances in its native token, VGX, using USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin.
- Further repayments beyond the initial 35% portion of the deposits will depend on the aftermath of the other ongoing legal proceedings, especially with the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX.
- The recovery rate will increase to 63.74% if Voyager fully prevails in the FTX litigation.
- The court's decision came nearly one month after Binance.US, the U.S. arm of the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, terminated its $1.3B acquisition deal with Voyager, citing the hostile and uncertain regulatory climate in the U.S.
- Binance.US' deal faced opposition from many regulators in the U.S., including the Department of Justice (DOJ), the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), the Texas State Securities Board, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
- The objections were mainly based on concerns about a potential relationship of Binance.US with Binance.com and the transaction's potential to include the sale of unregistered securities, including VGX.
Zoom Out: - Voyager Digital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2022, nearly four years after its launch, citing volatility in the crypto market and its exposure to the bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC).
- With the move, the firm joined other crypto-related companies, including Celsius Network, BlockFi, and Genesis Global Capital, going bankrupt after a prolonged crypto winter.
- Before the deal with Binance.US, Voyager sold its assets to FTX's U.S. arm, FTX US, in September 2022 with a $1.42B agreement, which then failed with FTX's bankruptcy.
- The sales deal with Binance was expected to compensate 50%-73% of Voyager creditors' holdings and result in a $100M larger gain for customers than a possible liquidation.
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| 4 | | Ripple, the payment protocol most famous for its native token XRP, has launched a new central bank digital currency platform (CBDC) that central banks, governments, and financial institutions can use to issue their own digital currency. The platform will allow the state-level institutions to manage and customize each phase of a CBDC, including minting, distribution, redemption, and token burning. More: - Managing and participating in inter-institutional settlement and distribution functions of a CBDC will also be possible for financial entities through the platform.
- Central banks will be able to issue both wholesale and retail CBDCs.
- The CBDCs issued on the platform will enable offline transactions.
- Ripple's new CBDC platform, powered by the XRP Ledger, will be an advanced version of its Private Ledger platform launched in 2021 to allow for issuing CBDCs.
- Ripple will display the use cases for its new platform as part of the pilot program of e-HKD, the CBDC of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
Zoom Out: - In April, Ripple also signed a deal with the Central Bank of Montenegro for a project regarding the nation's digital currency.
- The collaboration will see the pair jointly developing a strategy and pilot program of a Montenegrin digital currency in the form of a CBDC or a national stablecoin.
- At the time, RippleX's vice president for central bank engagements and CBDCs, James Wallis, said they were in negotiations with dozens of central banks worldwide for CBDC projects.
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| 5 | | Singapore-based crypto exchange Crypto.com has recently updated its fiat-to-crypto on-ramp service, Pay, which allows customers to buy cryptocurrencies using a credit or debit card. The update added support for Polygon (MATIC), USD Coin (USDC), and Dai (DAI) tokens to the service. More: - The service has already supported Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Crypto.com's native token, CRO.
- The update also enabled CRO purchases in the Ethereum network or Crypto.com's own blockchain, Cronos, to allow customers to deposit the token on the network they choose after the payment.
- Crypto.com plans to add support for more tokens soon.
- The firm also expanded the Pay service to more countries, bringing the total number of locations to 108.
- In addition, the platform's interface was simplified with the new update to allow users to purchase crypto with fewer taps.
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| 6 | | Coinbase Cloud has recently become a node operator on Chainlink, a real-world data provider for blockchains. The move mainly aims to enhance capacity and security on Chainlink's network. More: - With the move, the platform joined other operators on the system, such as Swisscom, Deutsche Telekom, and Associated Press.
- Chainlink Labs executive William Reilly said Coinbase Cloud would bring extensive experience, strong infrastructure, and security commitment to their system.
- Users can currently access 974 data feeds on Chainlink.
- The platform has also provided $7.8B of transactions since the beginning of 2022.
Zoom Out: - The node in the blockchain ecosystem refers to a type of computer that operates a blockchain's software to verify and store the transaction history.
- Node operators track blockchains for data requests, collect the off-chain data, and send it to the smart contract making the request.
- Coinbase Cloud is a platform under the roof of the U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase that offers blockchain infrastructure to build crypto projects.
- The platform already caters to several blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, and Aptos.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - The Hong Kong Monetary Authority's CEO, Eddie Yue Wai-man, has announced the launch of the pilot program of e-HKD, the digital version of the region's local currency.
- Pakistan's finance minister, Aisha Ghaus Pasha, has stated that the country does not plan to legalize crypto trading.
- Greenland Holdings has become the first Chinese state-owned company to apply for a virtual asset trading license in Hong Kong.
- Speaking at a recent podcast, Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman Rostin Behnam argued that the decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms offering derivatives services should be regulated by the CFTC.
- Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX's lawyers have sued the company's former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), over a $220M acquisition deal made by the exchange's U.S. arm, FTX US, with the stock-clearing platform Embed before the bankruptcy.
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Term of the Day Put option: A put option gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to sell an underlying asset at a specified price within a specified period of time. Question of the Week How do you approach networking, and what advice can you give others looking to build their professional connections? Join the conversation |
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 | Staff Writer | | Doga is a tech and science editor who has been writing news for nearly 10 years. She worked for leading tech platforms and mainstrem media channels as an editor and presenter throughout his career. Then, she carried her know-how to more than one platform. She is a part-time cat lover and binge-watcher, and also fond of science, space, and emerging tech. She always has a story to tell. She is a bit addict to the laughter and -unfortunately- the '90s culture. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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