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| Hey Insider! Welcome to the Inside Cryptocurrency newsletter! Today's issue includes several great stories from the crypto industry, such as Binance.US' reconciliation attempts with U.S. regulators, Bittrex's schedule to open customer withdrawals, Puma's new 3D Web3 experience, and more. I hope you enjoy your reading! Doğa
p/dogayurduneri | |
| 1 | | U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson has directed Binance.US, the U.S. arm of the largest crypto exchange, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to a magistrate judge to work on a reconciliation about a potential asset freeze. As part of the ruling, the two sides will work on a compromise deal to prevent a total asset freeze at Binance.US. More: - Jackson will not need to make a decision on the SEC's request to freeze Binance.US' assets if the two sides agree upon a deal.
- Last week, the SEC filed an emergency action application for a temporary restraining order, requesting the court to freeze the assets of Binance.US.
- Binance.US recently asked the court to reject the SEC's request, saying that such a move would harm both its business and customers.
- The company also stated that its operations would quickly come to a stopping point when it could not pay employees, vendors, suppliers, and professionals and maintain the trading platform, and a potential freeze could be misunderstood by its banking partners.
- Judge Jackson agreed with Binance, pointing out that shutting the firm down would create significant consequences for the company and the digital asset markets in general.
- To compromise, Binance proposed the transfer of U.S. customers' crypto assets to new wallets with new private keys under the control of U.S.-based officers at Binance.US.
- During the hearing, an SEC attorney said the agency is open to a freezing process that would allow Binance.US to cover its operating costs.
- The judge ordered the exchange to file a list of its business expenses and professional fees so that the regulator could better understand the requirements to let the platform keep operating.
Zoom Out: - On June 5, the SEC also sued Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) over U.S. law violations with 13 charges through a 136-page complaint.
- The allegations in the complaint include mishandling customer funds, misleading investors and regulators, violating securities laws, creating an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, wash trading, and calculated evasion of the law.
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| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: BitInfoChart's data has shown that Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has made 47,994 people crypto millionaires in 2023. The number of Bitcoin addresses holding more than $1M of Bitcoin increased to 76,078 as of June from 28,084 in January, with a 170.89% surge in just five months. Among these millionaire wallets, 70,747 addresses hold more than $1M of BTC, while 5,331 possess at least $10M of BTC. In January, these figures were 24,279 and 3,805, respectively. Relevance: The increased number of addresses with more than $1M of BTC was mainly attributed to the price increase BTC saw since the beginning of the year. The popular cryptocurrency gained over 55% value year-to-date. Bitcoin spent the first half of the year more successfully than last year, capturing an upward trend, and it even surpassed the $30,000 barrier in April for the first time since June 2022. However, the leading cryptocurrency then retreated below this level again, and it is still down around 60% from its all-time high in November 2021. Brands that should care: On the other hand, earlier in June, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) consecutively filed two separate lawsuits against Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, and Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, over alleged U.S. securities law violations. This resulted in a slight price decline in Bitcoin and 6.4% of the Bitcoin supply leaving major crypto exchanges over the last week. Eventually, Bitcoin supply on crypto trading platforms retreated to its lowest levels since February 2018. | | | |
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| 3 | | The bankrupt U.S. arm of the crypto exchange Bittrex has announced that it would open the platform for customer withdrawals as of June 15. The decision followed a ruling by U.S. Judge Brendan Shannon, who has given Bittrex U.S. and its affiliates permission to allow their customers to withdraw their funds in crypto and fiat currencies from the trading platform. More: - The ruling pointed out that there could be clawbacks in the future since the judge did not determine who legally owns the assets or whether customer claims are prioritized over the government's.
- In early May, Bittrex filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S., nearly one month after it decided to gradually halt its operations in the country.
- The bankruptcy followed the U.S. regulators' charges that Bittrex violated sanctions and federal law by operating an unregistered securities exchange.
- The platform still owes millions to the U.S. government due to law violations.
- In the bankruptcy filing, the company reported more than 100,000 creditors, and the firm's U.S. arm said it held $300M of customer assets in cash and crypto.
- The bankrupt exchange asked the court to allow its customers to access their funds without prolonged litigations, though bankruptcy proceedings generally freeze the transactions.
- The U.S. government initially objected to Bittrex's repayment plan for refunding customers in cash and crypto.
Zoom Out: - On the other hand, Bittrex's bankruptcy filing concerns its Seattle-based entity, two entities in Malta, and an affiliated entity dubbed Desolation Holdings LLC.
- The exchange's Liechtenstein-based global entity, Bittrex Global GmbH, was excluded from the bankruptcy process, and the company said it does not plan to halt its global operations.
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| 4 | | Speaking at a conference in Texas, the U.S. Treasury Department's Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, Graham Steele, has shared the institution's stance on a potential central bank digital currency (CBDC), or a digital dollar. Steele said the main challenge regarding a retail CBDC would be minimizing illegal transactions while protecting user privacy. More: - The Treasury official added that the considerations about how to maintain user privacy should go on.
- Steele also stated that a retail CBDC could promote a competitive payment environment and provide a safer alternative for consumers during bank runs.
- The government official underlined that access to alternatives outside of the banking system could have changed the nature and speed of bank runs during the recent U.S. banking crisis.
- Besides, Steele pointed out that the U.S. has yet to make a final decision on whether it would issue a CBDC.
- However, the official said a Treasury-led group is currently evaluating the potentiality of a digital dollar in many aspects, including national security, consumer privacy, illicit finance, and financial inclusion.
Zoom Out: - In 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order for the federal government to explore the potential use cases and risks of a CBDC, igniting debates from many lawmakers in the U.S.
- Most recently, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis officially banned the use of a CBDC issued by the Federal Reserve (Fed), the central banking system of the U.S., as money in the state.
- While proposing the law, DeSantis cited the risks of hindering innovation and promoting government surveillance.
- A survey conducted by the Cato Institute also recently showed that most Americans are still skeptical about a potential CBDC, with only 16% supporting the idea.
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| 5 | | Troubled crypto custodian Prime Trust's subsidiary Banq has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. District Court of Nevada. The firm reported $17.72M in assets and $5.4M in liabilities in the court filings. More: - Banq offered mobile software development kits (SDKs) to allow for easy integration of all funding services in crypto and fiat currencies.
- The bankruptcy filing pointed out that Banq's three former executives unauthorizedly transferred its trade secrets, confidential data, and $17.5M of technological assets to Fortress NFT Group, which they founded.
- The company also previously hit the headlines when it sued Fortress NFT Group over the launch of the NFT platforms Fortress NFT and Planet NFT through stealing its confidential trade information and fraudulent activities.
- In the lawsuit, Banq claimed that its former CEO, Scott Purcell, initially tried to direct Banq's focus to the NFTs but faced opposition from the board and shareholders.
- Earlier in 2023, a U.S. judge ordered the case to go to arbitration.
Zoom Out: - The bankruptcy filing came shortly after Prime Trust reached an acquisition deal with rival BitGo after it faced financial difficulties due to its exposure to the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius.
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| 6 | | Germany-based sportswear brand Puma has launched a 3D metaverse experience dubbed Black Station to provide Puma Pass NFT holders access to new product releases. The platform will be open until June 23. More: - Anyone seeking to explore Black Station can currently access the platform.
- However, only the RB token holders can buy a digital Rulebreaker sneaker and claim two digital wearables.
- RB tokens were airdropped to Puma Pass NFT holders.
- Those possessing RB can also burn their tokens until June 20 to allow their digital wallets to access several other product drops in the metaverse.
- The digital collectibles on Black Station will also be able to be purchased through credit cards or Ether (ETH) by connecting a digital wallet.
- Black Station will host a few more general events and NFT drops this year, followed by new events in 2024.
- Puma has also decided to continue to develop its Web3 experiences on the Ethereum blockchain, though it had previously announced that it was exploring alternative networks.
Zoom Out: - Several rival sportswear brands, including Nike and Adidas, have also developed their own Web3 experiences for customers, such as NFTs and metaverse spaces.
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- Crypto exchange Binance's CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), has denied rumors that the platform sold Bitcoin (BTC) to prevent its BNB token from retreating to certain levels in price.
- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked the court to give it four additional months to respond to crypto exchange Coinbase's rule-making petition.
- A Bahamian court has banned the country's government from accepting the charges added to the U.S. indictment against the former CEO of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), after his extradition to the U.S.
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INSIDE CRYPTOCURRENCY LEADERBOARD (7 DAYS) |
 | 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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