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| Here is a quick look at the hits from the week's latest Inside Cryptocurrency newsletter: - Two U.S. states' decision to suspend Binance.US' local license following the former CEO's guilty plea,
- Swan Bitcoin's crypto mining unit in stealth mode,
- U.S. government's plans to sell $130M of Bitcoin seized as part of the Silk Road investigation, and more.
Enjoy your reading, and have a great weekend! Doğa
p/dogayurduneri | |
| 1 | | The U.S. states of Alaska and Florida have recently notified Binance.US, the U.S. arm of the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, that the platform can no longer cater to their residents. The state regulators pointed out that former CEO Changpeng Zhao's guilty plea makes him ineligible to control Binance.US. More: - Florida's Office of Financial Regulation suspended Binance.US' money transmitter license that allows it to serve users in the state, issuing an emergency suspension order.
- The Alaska Division of Banking and Securities also denied the renewal of the firm's license.
- In November 2023, Changpeng Zhao (CZ) pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering requirements and sanctions in the U.S. by allowing terrorist groups to make crypto transactions on Binance.
- Following the guilty plea, the co-founder stepped down as Binance CEO and chairman of Binance.US, transferring his voting rights to the new CEO.
- At the time, the former executive was also ordered to pay a $50M penalty and blocked from engaging in Binance's management for three years.
- However, Zhao still has a significant economic interest in the company as he holds 80% of the shares.
- A company spokesperson stated that the exchange is in active dialogue with state officials, declining to comment on whether Binance.US plans to appeal to the regulators in Florida and Alaska and what the actions mean for users.
Zoom Out: - CZ currently faces up to 10 years in prison and awaits his sentencing hearing in February, though he is expected to get no more than 18 months under a settlement agreement with U.S. regulators.
- Under the same deal, Binance also agreed to pay a $4.3B fine, one of the largest corporate penalties in U.S. history, in late November to settle money laundering, unlicensed money-transmitting business operations, and sanction violations charges.
- The settlement deal allowed Binance to continue its operations in the country.
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| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: Crypto data platform CoinGecko has recently compiled leading industry experts' Bitcoin (BTC) price predictions for the next six years. Crypto advocate Cathie Wood-led investment management firm Ark Invest took the lead on the ranking, predicting the token's price to reach as much as $1.5M by 2030. Layer One X, BitQuant, Bernstein Research, Matrixport, and Bloomberg Intelligence also revealed notable predictions, putting their estimations above $100,000 for the next couple of years. Relevance: Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has recently started hovering around $41,000, with a slight recovery from a downward trend. The recent approval of the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications in the U.S. was considered a significant indicator of the increase in the price of the popular cryptocurrency. Analysts also expect the upcoming halving event to be another indicator. The inflation-easing procedure will be the fourth halving in Bitcoin's history. The process, anticipated to happen in April or May, will decrease the Bitcoin mining reward by half, reducing the number of new Bitcoins entering the network by 50%. The event is also expected to trigger a price increase in Bitcoin in the long term since it would ultimately reduce the total amount of tokens in circulation. Brands that should care: On the other hand, many crypto mining companies, such as Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, Canaan, and Hive Digital Technologies, currently make attempts to increase the computing power of their facilities or their total mining capacity ahead of halving to ensure that they are well-prepared for the drop in rewards, and indirectly, in revenue. | | | |
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| 3 | | The U.S. government has recently filed a notice announcing its plans to sell around $130M of Bitcoin (BTC) seized from convicted individuals involved in drug trafficking on the now-shuttered darknet market Silk Road. The assets will be sold in two lots, including 2874.9 BTC and 58.7 BTC. More: - The funds were seized from 38-year-old Ryan Farace, his 72-year-old father Joseph Farace, and Sean Bridges, a former special agent of the U.S. Secret Service involved in Silk Road investigations.
- Ryan Farace was originally convicted in 2018 for illegally manufacturing and selling Xanax pills on Silk Road using the name Xanaxman in exchange for Bitcoin.
- However, earlier this month, Ryan Farace and Joseph Farace were sentenced to an additional 54 months and 19 months in federal prison for money laundering, respectively.
- The latest notice asked people in the case who claim an interest in the seized assets, except for the defendants, to file a petition within the 60 days following Jan. 10.
- The government pointed out that the U.S. will have a clear title to the funds when the specified period expires if no such petitions are filed.
- Some analysts have warned that selling such a large amount of Bitcoin could impact the popular cryptocurrency's prices.
- The U.S. government held about $9B of Bitcoin as of December 2023.
Zoom Out: - Silk Road hosted the anonymous sale of large amounts of drugs and weapons in exchange for Bitcoin between February 2011 and July 2013 as the first modern darknet marketplace.
- In its lifetime, the sales facilitated by the platform amounted to 9,519,664 BTC.
- In 2023, the site was shut down by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) following its founder Ross Ulbricht's arrest in 2013.
- Ulbricht is currently serving a life sentence in prison without the potential of parole.
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| 4 | | Bitcoin-focused financial services company Swan Bitcoin has disclosed that it launched a crypto-mining unit dubbed Swan Mining, expanding its operations to Bitcoin mining last summer. The company also said it expects to go public within the next 12 months, listing its shares on a stock exchange and making them available for purchase by the general public. More: - Swan Bitcoin pointed out that the mining unit has been operational since July 2023 in stealth mode and already produced more than 750 Bitcoins.
- The unit currently has 160 megawatts (MW) of computing power and 4.5 exahashes per second (EH/s) worth of mining power across seven operational sites.
- The company plans to increase this capacity by 44% and onboard three more mining sites, which it already purchased and took delivery of, by March.
- Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten stated that the mining sites are located both in the U.S. and overseas, and their long-term goal is to be 50% in the U.S. and 50% outside their home country.
- The mining unit is led by the parent firm's chief investment officer, Rapha Zagury.
- The new business was funded by institutional investors with more than $100M of capital and will keep its balance sheet separate from other units.
- The firm said the move aims to help it build a more comprehensive Bitcoin company.
Zoom Out: - Swan Bitcoin, offering Bitcoin purchases, asset management, and financial advisor services, raised $205M in funding in December 2023.
- The firm generated $125M in revenue over the last 12 months and doubled its headcount.
- The company plans to raise additional funding through a Series C financing round in the upcoming months and split the funding equally among its financial services business, mining unit, and acquisitions.
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| 5 | | Eco, the firm behind the crypto wallet Beam, has acquired the Web3 shopping app Join. The acquisition will pave the way for Eco to integrate Beam into Join, allowing Beam wallet users to make purchases on e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Shopify. More: - The integration will officially go live in February.
- Eco has already set up a waitlist that would offer participants initial access to the integration.
- Join CEO Tom Dean said the integration will allow stablecoin payments to become mainstream.
- On the other hand, the Beam wallet operates on the Optimism and Base Layer-2 blockchain networks.
- The wallet lets customers sign up using just a login through X, formerly known as Twitter, eliminating the need for seed phrases that give access to a crypto wallet.
- The platform uses stablecoins for payments and gas fees.
Zoom Out: - Join was co-founded by Tom Dean, Jawad Ayoub, and Brad Crook and backed by investor Balaji Srinivasan and a grant from Base.
- Eco is financially supported by well-known venture capital (VC) firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures, Founders Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Pantera Capital.
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| 6 | | Polygon Labs, the entity behind the popular Polygon blockchain, and the American multinational entertainment conglomerate Warner Music Group (WMG) have announced that they selected the two recipients of the grants provided as part of their Web3 Music Accelerator program. The announcement also pointed out the program received more than 120 applications from the Web3 projects. More: - The two companies partnered in June 2023 to launch the accelerator program.
- At the time, Polygon Labs and WMG said the program would prioritize companies and initiatives operating at the intersection of music, technology, and Web3 space.
- The two projects were chosen based on certain criteria, such as creating decentralized music production and distribution platforms, encouraging artist-fan communities, developing ticketing solutions, exploring music-related products and digital or physical collectibles, and integrating music with interactive technologies and gaming.
- At the end of the selection process, the first recipient has become the fan engagement platform MITH, which allows artists to access AI-powered analytics through the first-party data of their audiences.
- Muus Collective has become the other recipient, with its platform building fashion-centric experiences like mobile games, entertainment, and digital collectibles.
- In addition to funding, the program also provides mentorship and networking opportunities from professionals in the blockchain and music industries, strategic advising, marketing, and promotion.
Zoom Out: - WMG and Polygon Labs also partnered in December 2022 to release a series of music NFTs on the NFT marketplace LGND.
- Polygon Labs launched a similar accelerator program for musicians that could be only joined through an NFT in collaboration with the payment processing giant Mastercard.
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- Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has released a new video of famous soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo while playing football with his fans and the holders of the digital collectibles in his NFT collection.
- Seychelles-based crypto exchange OKX has announced that it would gradually wind down the operations of its mining pool as of today, citing adjustments in its business.
- Web3Intelligence, the developer of the Web3 investment app Dopamine, has raised $4.5M in funding in a recent private financing round that saw participation from DAO MAKER, Shima Capital, and Gate.io.
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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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