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| Hey Insider! Welcome back to the Inside Cryptocurrency newsletter! As the week is halfway through, the traditional iPhone-Bitcoin index came to the fore again as in every year following Apple’s debut of the new iPhone series. Today’s issue covers the details of this index as well as several other of the biggest stories from the crypto market, including the Binance.US CEO stepping down, Telegram’s new crypto wallet built on The Open Network, Huobi’s decision to rebrand to HTX, and more. Enjoy your reading, and if you find this newsletter useful, please do not forget to share it with your friends and colleagues! Doğa
p/dogayurduneri | |
| 1 | | Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder has stepped down from his role at the company nearly two years after he joined the U.S. arm of Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume. The firm's chief legal officer, Norman Reed, has been appointed as the interim CEO. More: - The company also decided to reduce one-third of its workforce, accounting for 100 employees.
- The move marked the second round of layoffs at Binance.US in 2023 after the one conducted in June as the firm faced regulatory challenges.
- The restructuring within the company came three months after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a 136-page complaint against Binance, its CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ), and Binance.US over U.S. law violations with 13 charges.
- The company is also under scrutiny by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and federal prosecutors in the U.S.
- Speaking on the latest mass layoff, a Binance spokesperson said the SEC's aggressive attempts to cripple the crypto industry have impacts on their business and real-world consequences for American jobs and innovation.
- Binance.US started operations in 2019 after U.S. residents were prohibited from using Binance's global services.
Zoom Out: - Over the last several months, Binance also faced increased crackdowns by regulators in many other countries, including Australia, Belgium, and France.
- Besides, the platform recently had to withdraw from several markets in the West, such as Canada, Austria, the Netherlands, Cyprus, the U.K., and Germany, mainly due to compliance issues.
- The heightened regulatory pressure resulted in many senior executives parting ways with Binance, including the global head of product, chief strategy officer, senior vice president for compliance, general counsel, chief business officer, Asia-Pacific head, and two other regional heads.
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What the numbers say: The data compiled by a Bitcoin Talk forum user has revealed the remarkable change in the Bitcoin (BTC) equivalent of iPhone prices in U.S. dollars (USD). Back in 2011, an Apple customer needed to pay a whopping 162 BTC to buy an iPhone 4S. The figure declined to as low as 0.031 BTC with the new iPhone 15, whose starting price stands at $799. The massive decrease was mainly caused by the rapid increase in Bitcoin's price over the years. The data also pointed out that the last time a brand-new iPhone could be bought over 1 BTC was in 2016. Relevance: Apple unveiled the new iPhone 15 smartphone series on Sept. 12 at a special event dubbed Wonderlust. The series came with four models: The standard iPhone 15, the iPhone 15 Plus, the iPhone 15 Pro, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max. One of the most notable changes became the replacement of the 11-year-old Lightning port with a USB-C port for faster charging and data transfer. Apple said the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are powered by the A16 Bionic chip, while the other two high-end models are equipped with the A17 Pro chip. All the models will be available for pre-orders starting as of Sept. 15 and put up for sale in online and physical stores after Sept. 22. Brands that should care: On the other hand, buying an iPhone through Bitcoin has gone beyond a contemporary legend over the last several years. Some service providers, such as BitPay and AppleBTCS, have already built gateways to allow customers to purchase an iPhone using the leading cryptocurrency, though it is still not a common practice. | | | |
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| 3 | | Popular instant messaging app Telegram has integrated a self-custodial crypto wallet, TON Space, built on The Open Network (TON) blockchain project. The wallet will allow Telegram's 800 million monthly active users worldwide to store and manage their digital assets through the infrastructure jointly developed by Telegram and The Open Network. More: - As of Sept. 13, TON Space was made available via Telegram settings for the users of the Telegram Wallet bot, a payment solution letting users buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
- The bot currently only supports Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT), and The Open Network's native token, TON.
- The payment solution is actively used by 3 million of 800 million Telegram members worldwide.
- All global Telegram users will also be able to access TON Space after November, except for those living in the U.S.
- Besides, Telegram announced that it would give priority access to its advertising platform, Telegram Ads, for the projects built on The Open Network.
Zoom Out: - The blockchain project TON was initially developed by Telegram as the platform's first big step toward Web3.
- However, the firm had to abandon the project in 2020 due to legal conflicts after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Telegram for offering unregistered securities through a $1.7B initial coin offering.
- At the time, the platform paid a $18.5M fine to settle the SEC's allegations and promised to pay back investors.
- Since then, TON has been run by the TON Foundation, an open-source project embodying community members.
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| 4 | | U.S. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan has denied a request from the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX's former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), for a pretrial release, ruling that the former executive will continue to prepare his defense in jail. Kaplan said SBF catapulted himself into this situation. More: - SBF was initially released on a $250M bail in December 2022 after being arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the U.S.
- However, his bail was revoked by Judge Kaplan in August since he tried to influence two witnesses in his case over the FTX's collapse by speaking to the press.
- Following the decision, SBF was taken from house arrest at his parents' home in California to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn pending trial.
- Last week, his legal team requested a pretrial release twice, citing that poor internet connection in the jail hinders his defense preparation since discovery materials are only accessible through online databases.
- SBF currently has access to laptops and hard drives daily and the internet twice a week, which was also found insufficient by the SBF's lawyers.
- However, Kaplan stated that SBF or any other defendant does not have a right to review every piece of evidence that is produced, adding that the former FTX CEO is already represented by extremely talented lawyers.
- U.S. Judge also underlined that the defense can make a further application if it is grounded on more persuasive facts.
Zoom Out: - FTX, previously the third-largest crypto exchange, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2022, with all the 130 entities under the roof of FTX Group.
- The downfall followed the claims that SBF used customer funds in FTX to compensate for losses at the sister company Alameda Research.
- The 31-year-old former executive will appear in court in October to defend himself against a bunch of charges, including money laundering and misappropriation of customer funds, to which he pleaded not guilty.
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| 5 | | Seychelles-based crypto exchange Huobi has been rebranded as HTX to celebrate its tenth anniversary. The platform's new name quickly faced backlash, especially on social media, since it reminded many users of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. More: - The usernames of the firm's social media accounts have already been changed to match the new branding better.
- The platform has also shifted the names of some of its products and services, including Huobi Earn rebranding to HTX Earn.
- The company said "H" in the new name stands for Huobi, while "T" represents its affiliate Tron network, and "X" refers to the exchange.
- The firm also stated that the combination of H and T symbolizes the ticker of its native token, HT.
- Besides, the exchange pointed out that the letter X, also the Roman numeral for the number 10, is a reference to the platform's 10th anniversary.
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| 6 | | Ripple Labs, the firm behind the payment protocol Ripple, has announced that it would hire 80% of its new employees outside the U.S. this year. The decision followed the developments around the company's ongoing legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). More: - Speaking at a crypto conference in Singapore, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse criticized the heightened scrutiny in the U.S. over the crypto market, saying that governments are partnering with the industry in jurisdictions like Singapore, Hong Kong, the U.K., and Dubai.
- Garlinghouse also added that they see leadership, growth, and clear rules in those markets.
- Ripple and the SEC have been in a legal conflict since 2020, when the regulator sued the company and some of its executives over the unregistered sale of nearly $1.3B of Ripple's native XRP tokens.
- In June, the firm won a partial victory in court after U.S. Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP is not a security when sold to the general public, opposing the SEC's view that classifies the token as a security.
- Torres' ruling also contradicts SEC Chair Gary Gensler's argument that all crypto assets other than Bitcoin (BTC) are securities.
- Most recently, the SEC requested to file an interlocutory appeal to the ruling and saw opposition from Ripple in the court.
Zoom Out: - Despite their accelerated global expansion efforts and partnerships outside the U.S., earlier this year, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the firm would remain committed to the U.S. as a hub for its global operations.
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- Crypto exchange CoinEx has been reportedly hacked by the North Korean cybercrime organization Lazarus Group, with losses reaching more than $55M.
- The largest U.S. crypto exchange, Coinbase's CEO, Brian Armstrong, has reiterated their plans to integrate Bitcoin's Layer-2 scaling solution, Lightning Network, for faster and cheaper transactions, stating that Bitcoin is the most important asset in the crypto space.
- HSBC, one of the largest banks in the world, has reportedly started working with the blockchain security service provider Fireblocks.
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Term of the Day Return on investment: Return on investment measures the amount of realized value produced minus the cost to achieve that result. Question of the Week Do you share details about your salary with your coworkers? Join the conversation |
INSIDE CRYPTOCURRENCY LEADERBOARD (ALL-TIME) |
 | 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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