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| Take a look at the hits from the week's latest Inside Cryptocurrency newsletter: - Stablecoin issuer Tether's plans to invest $500M in crypto mining over the next six months,
- The departure of Binance's senior counter-terrorism financing official,
- Blockchain technology firm Aave Companies' rebranding to Avara, and more.
Have a great weekend, and enjoy your reading! Doğa
p/dogayurduneri | |
| 1 | | Binance's senior counter-terrorism financing official, Jennifer Hicks, has recently stepped down from her role at the largest crypto exchange by trading volume. The departure came nearly two years after Hicks joined the exchange. More: - Despite her two-year working experience at Binance, Hicks was appointed as the exchange's first-ever counter-terrorism financing official only two months ago.
- The former senior executive also previously worked for several high-profile institutions like the U.S. Navy and Chainalysis.
- Through her resignation, Hicks joined other senior executives who recently departed their ways with Binance, including the chief strategy officer, senior vice president for compliance, general counsel, chief business officer, global head of product, the CEO of the U.S. arm, and some regional heads.
- Hicks' departure also followed some reports claiming that terrorist groups, including the Palestinian militant group Hamas, raised massive crypto donations through crypto trading platforms like Binance to fund their attacks.
- In response, some blockchain data analysis platforms, such as Elliptic and Chainalysis, pointed out that the articles might be overstating metrics and using faulty analysis.
- Still, Binance has come under fire following these reports many times over its potential role in facilitating terrorism-linked crypto transactions.
Zoom Out: - The consecutive senior executive departures at Binance started amid a time when the exchange faced heightened regulatory scrutiny in many countries, including the U.S., Australia, France, Belgium, and Brazil.
- The company also recently withdrew from several markets in the West, such as Canada, Austria, the Netherlands, Cyprus, the U.K., and Germany, mainly due to compliance issues.
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| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: The data compiled by analyst Daniel Batten has shown that Bitcoin (BTC) mining surpassed many leading industries in the use of sustainable energy by contrast with popular wisdom. The analysis revealed that the Bitcoin mining industry uses sustainable energy resources in 52.6% of its total energy consumption. In the ranking, Bitcoin mining was followed by the banking sector, industrial sector, agricultural sector, gold industry, iron and steel industry, and zinc recycling industry, respectively. Batten also pointed out that carbon emissions produced by Bitcoin mining have not increased in the last four years, which makes it the only global industry where industry growth has not caused an increase in emissions. Relevance: On the other hand, the Bitcoin network uses the proof of work (PoW) model to confirm transactions and mint new coins, which requires computers to perform complex algorithms, needing massive amounts of computing power and electricity. This situation caused the network to come under fire many times over the years due to concerns about the use of fossil fuels to produce the electricity needed for mining operations. In 2021, Elon Musk-led electric vehicle (EV) giant Tesla even halted accepting Bitcoin as a payment method for car purchases amid environmental concerns around the network, several months after adding the token to its payment options. However, the recent data showed that the network uses much more sustainable energy than thought. Brands that should care: Many crypto-related firms, including Marathon Digital and Tether, recently made investments in sustainable mining operations to make them more environmentally friendly. Most recently, Marathon Digital launched two new projects to mine crypto using renewable hydro energy and methane gas generated from landfill waste. | | | |
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| 3 | | The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the international securities watchdog, has published a final report on its recommendations for regulating the crypto industry. The report came after a consultation period in which the agency collected public opinion on the proposed regulations consisting of 18 measures. More: - The agency first proposed the standards in May, marking the first global attempt to regulate crypto assets and digital markets.
- The regulations aim to establish a coordinated global regulatory response to the risks posed by crypto asset service providers, including conflicts of interest, market manipulation, insider trading, and fraud.
- The chair of IOSCO's financial task force, Tuang Lee Lim, said the crypto service providers' activities and the associated risks reflect the ones in the traditional financial industry, and hence, their approach is consistent with the standards set for securities markets.
- The report pointed out that many respondents sought greater accountability for financial influencers.
- In response, IOSCO stated that regulators should ensure crypto promotions accurately disclose the product and services provided for the related risks.
- The final report also revealed that some respondents demanded a separate regime for stablecoins, claiming that the existing requirements would be burdensome.
- However, IOSCO denied this demand, reiterating that its current rules would also apply to stablecoins.
Zoom Out: - IOSCO is an umbrella group of securities commissions and regulators worldwide.
- The watchdog's members include the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA), Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).
- The agency's members regulate more than 95% of the securities markets in 130 jurisdictions.
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| 4 | | Stablecoin issuer Tether's CEO, Paolo Ardoino, has announced that the firm plans to invest $500M in crypto mining operations over the next six months to become one of the top Bitcoin (BTC) miners. Ardoino said the allocated amount would be spent on constructing new mining facilities and investing in other mining companies. More: - The move is expected to help Tether expand its business beyond stablecoin issuance.
- Ardoino pointed out that the company is currently building Bitcoin mining facilities in Uruguay, Paraguay, and El Salvador, with a capacity ranging from 40 to 70 megawatts.
- The firm expects the capacity across its direct mining operations to reach 120 megawatts by the year's end and 450 megawatts by the end of 2025.
- The company also aims to grow its share of the total computing power needed to run the Bitcoin network to 1%, which could allow it to become one of the world's 20 largest Bitcoin mining companies.
- Tether's CEO underlined that they need to learn crypto mining and grow over time, and they are not in a rush to become the biggest miner in the world.
Zoom Out: - Ardoino also recently announced that Tether will launch five new projects in 2024 as part of its plans to expand its business beyond issuing stablecoins.
- Over the last few months, the company has already made several attempts to expand its presence beyond the stablecoin market, including investing in mining startups like Volcano Energy and contributing to industry-related research fields.
- Tether is the issuer of the largest stablecoin by market cap, USDT.
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| 5 | | Crypto infrastructure firm Singapore has obtained in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the city-state's financial market regulator, to establish a new local entity dubbed Paxos Digital Singapore Pte. Ltd. and offer its digital payment token services in the region. The firm also plans to launch a new stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar (USD) through the new entity in Singapore. More: - The U.S.-pegged stablecoin will be fully compliant with Singapore's proposed stablecoin regulations.
- Once it receives the full approval, Paxos will partner with enterprise clients to issue the new stablecoin.
- The MAS is most famous for its strict stance on the crypto market and stingy attitude toward approving a license.
- Several crypto-related firms have managed to obtain full approval in the city-state, including Coinbase, Crypto.com, Blockchain.com, and Circle.
- However, some other crypto companies, like Upbit and Ripple, are still in the preliminary stage with their in-principle approvals from the MAS.
Zoom Out: - A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to another reference asset, mostly a fiat currency.
- Customers generally use these assets to trade with different cryptocurrencies without converting their funds back into fiat currencies.
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| 6 | | Blockchain technology firm Aave Companies has announced that it rebranded to Avara. The company also acquired the U.S.-based Web3 software developer Los Feliz Engineering, the firm behind the Ethereum (ETH) crypto wallet Family. More: - The move will see the new entity dubbed Avara becoming the parent company of several brands, including Aave, Lens, the GHO stablecoin, and Sonar.
- As part of the acquisition, Family's founder, Benji Taylor, will join Avara as the senior vice president of product and design.
- Los Feliz Engineering's entire engineering team will also continue to carry out their roles under the roof of Avara.
Zoom Out: - Los Feliz Engineering has become the second acquisition of Aave Companies in its history.
- In 2022, the firm acquired the Web3 social gaming app Sonar to expand the decentralized social media platform Lens' ecosystem.
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- The head of Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), Henson Orser, has resigned from his role after less than a year on the job.
- Bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital's (3AC) co-founder, Kyle Davies, who is evading law enforcement authorities, has recently been seen in Bali.
- Crypto custody firm BitGo's CEO, Mike Belshe, has stated that he expects the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reject an additional series of spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications.
- Web3-based social network Sleek has raised $5M in funding in a Seed round from investors, including Binance Labs, the venture capital (VC) arm of the crypto exchange Binance.
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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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