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| Take a look at the hits from today's Inside Cryptocurrency newsletter: - Standard Chartered's digital yuan exchange services in China,
- Spanish tax agency's new declaration form requiring citizens to report their crypto holdings on foreign platforms,
- Canadian crypto mining firm Hive Digital Technologies' data center acquisition in Sweden, and more.
Enjoy your reading! Doğa
p/dogayurduneri | |
| 1 | | Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, has disclosed that it was recently served a subpoena by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The subpoena requested the platform to provide information about some of its users' accounts and transaction activity. More: - The exchange has informed its users of the issue through an email.
- The title of the email suggested that the subpoena is related to an ongoing investigation over Dubai-headquartered crypto exchange Bybit and its CEO, Ben Zhou.
- The information request is predicted to help the CFTC determine if Bybit had any U.S. users, impacting customers who made transactions between Coinbase and Bybit in the past.
- Bybit, launched in 2018, is not authorized to serve users in the U.S. since it is not a regulated or registered entity in the country.
- The firm pointed out that the recipients do not have to take any action.
- If Coinbase does not receive a motion to quash or an objection against the subpoena, it will have to respond to the request before Nov. 30.
Zoom Out: - Over the past year, many other crypto exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, and Bittrex, also came under scrutiny in the U.S. as the country's top regulators have increased their crackdown on the crypto industry.
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| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: Controversial coin-mixing service Tornado Cash's native token, TORN, plummeted by more than 58% in price over the past day. The token's value retreated to as low as $1.66, down from $4.07 within the previous day. Then, the cryptocurrency saw a slight recovery, hovering around the $1.90 level. However, the token has not managed to return to its average price. Relevance: The massive decline in TORN's price came shortly after Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, announced that it would delist the token. In the announcement, the platform said it periodically reviews digital assets listed on its exchange to ensure that they continue to meet the high level of standard. The firm also underlined that when a token no longer meets this standard, it conducts a more in-depth review, potentially delisting it. TORN reacted to the announcement negatively, with a price decrease of over 58%. Brands that should care: Tornado Cash came under scrutiny by regulators in various countries many times, especially in the U.S., since it is highly used by malevolent actors like terrorist groups and hackers. The service makes it harder to track digital assets, claiming to provide untraceable financial transactions for the sake of anonymity and privacy. In 2022, the service was even sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) with the accusations of laundering billions of dollars of crypto assets since its launch in 2019. However, this year, a lawsuit funded by the largest U.S. crypto exchange, Coinbase, argued that the department exceeded its authority by sanctioning the service. | | | |
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| 3 | | The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has begun looking for proof of an FTX-style fraud at Binance.US, the U.S. arm of the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal. The report pointed out that the agency's investigators are inquiring whether Binance and its former CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), had a backdoor to control assets held with Binance.US as in the FTX case. More: - The SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance and CZ in June over U.S. law violations in 13 charges, including mishandling customer funds and misleading investors.
- Last week, Binance agreed to pay a $4.3B fine to settle money laundering, unlicensed money-transmitting business operations, and sanction violations charges after admitting that it allowed terrorist groups to make crypto transactions on the platform.
- Under a plea deal, CZ was also ordered to pay a separate $50M penalty and not to engage in Binance's management for three years, stepping down as the CEO.
- However, the settlement deal did not resolve the SEC's case since it was made with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Treasury Department, and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
- Besides, the deal did not include any allegations related to the misappropriation of user funds or market manipulation.
- At a recent hearing related to the SEC's lawsuit, U.S. Judge Zia Faruqui said the latest guilty pleas decrease the potential for Zhao to misuse U.S. customers' assets moving forward.
Zoom Out: - FTX, previously the third-largest crypto exchange, filed for bankruptcy in November 2022 following the claims that the former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), used customer funds to compensate for losses at the sister company Alameda Research.
- Earlier in November, SBF was found guilty of all seven criminal charges, including wire fraud, money laundering, and misappropriation of customer funds, after a month-long trial process.
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| 4 | | The U.K.-headquartered banking giant Standard Chartered's Chinese unit has started offering exchange services for China's central bank digital currency (CBDC), or the digital yuan, to its customers. The move will allow clients to purchase, exchange, and redeem the CBDC through their bank accounts. More: - The bank has partnered with City Bank Clearing Services to offer the new service, enabling customers to access the digital yuan's interconnection platform.
- Standard Chartered has also joined China's digital yuan business pilot, becoming one of the first foreign banks participating in the trials in the country.
- During the pilot phase, the firm will mainly focus on cross-border merchant payments, trade financing, and supply chain financing.
- China is currently piloting the digital yuan, also known as e-CNY, in 26 cities and 17 provinces.
- The country has offered many use cases for its CBDC so far, including payments for public transport, salaries to public sector employees, medical expenses, groceries, gas, and water, since its launch in 2019.
- The digital currency surpassed $250B in transactions at the end of June.
Zoom Out: - CBDCs are issued and controlled by a country's government or central bank and backed by the local currency.
- The Chinese Communist Party, the country's ruling political party, pushes for CBDC adoption mainly because it is subject to the direct control of the state.
- Cryptocurrencies, any kind of crypto transactions, and all crypto mining activities have been forbidden in China since 2021.
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| 5 | | Spain's Tax Administration Agency has announced that it would require citizens holding crypto assets on non-Spanish platforms to report these funds until March 31, 2024, under the new laws related to the taxation of digital assets. The submission period for a dedicated declaration form will start on Jan. 1, 2024. More: - The agency has already published the form for virtual assets abroad on its official website.
- The related law was first announced in July this year.
- After Jan. 1, individual and corporate taxpayers will have three months to report the amount of crypto assets held with foreign platforms.
- Only the citizens whose balance sheets exceed €50,000 (~$55,000) in crypto will be obliged to declare their holdings.
- The residents storing their crypto assets in self-custodial wallets will be able to report their holdings through the standard wealth tax declaration form.
Zoom Out: - Spain has made many attempts to increase its regulatory control over the crypto industry within the last several years.
- Most recently, the country announced that it would begin implementing the European Union's (EU) upcoming region-wide crypto regulations, Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), six months ahead of the official deadline.
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| 6 | | Canada-based crypto mining firm Hive Digital Technologies has finalized a property transfer agreement with Turis AB as part of its plans to further expand its operations in Sweden. The deal will allow the company to take over a data center in the European country. More: - The firm will pay up to $750,000 in cash and $1.5M in equity for the acquisition.
- The data center is located near Hive Digital Technologies' existing facility in Boden, Sweden.
- The facility was previously a part of the European Union's (EU) research and innovation funding project, Horizon 2020.
- The company aims to use the site to boost its Bitcoin (BTC) production capacity.
- The acquisition deal still needs regulatory checks and approval from the Canadian stock exchange, TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV).
Zoom Out: - The new property acquisition came more than four months after the Canadian mining firm rebranded as Hive Digital Technologies from Hive Blockchain, dropping the blockchain phrase from its name.
- At the time, the company said the rebranding aims to represent its evolving focus on revenue opportunities in graphics processing units (GPUs), cloud computing, AI, and the new Web3 ecosystem.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Competitors are killing your efficiency. Read how Greenhouse gained $85mil in revenue from reps who used Klue over non-Klue users.*
- A new class-action lawsuit has accused the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 (F1) team and Major League Baseball (MLB) of helping the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX conduct fraud through promotional deals.
- The U.K.-based crypto mining firm Argo Blockchain has hired the former head of CBOE Digital, Thomas Chippas, as its new CEO.
- Malevolent actors pretending to be Forbes journalists have attempted to steal a collector's Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs through a Zoom meeting.
- Taiwan-based crypto trading and investment firm Kronos Research has offered a 10% bounty to the hacker who stole around $25M from its treasury to receive 90% of the stolen funds back.
*This is a sponsored post. | | | |
 | 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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