The promise of the blockchain and cryptocurrency still remains strong. Globally, there continues to be growing interest in the blockchain and peer-to-peer exchanges. We are seeing the institutional adoption of crypto and a rise in interest in retail adoption, too. We have seen the example in the approval of ETFs for bitcoin. However, with every […]
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The Nigerian government has reportedly slapped the cryptocurrency exchange Binance with a $10 billion fine. According to a Nigerian government official, Binance is being punished for causing the local currency’s recent plunge against major currencies. Binance’s Alleged Influence on the Exchange Rate The Nigerian government is reportedly demanding a $10 billion fine from the crypto […]
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Bayo Onanuga, a special adviser to the Nigerian president, has leveled accusations against Binance, blaming it for exacerbating the local currency’s depreciation against major currencies. Onanuga called for immediate action against Binance, warning that its activities could potentially undermine the economy. Binance, however, has refuted these allegations, attributing the naira’s depreciation to “complex factors” that […]
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A Binance representative confirmed in a Jan. 30 email statement sent to CryptoSlate that the platform is now allowing institutional investors to secure their trading collateral through a third-party banking partner.
Binance’s solution, described as a “banking triparty” arrangement, has been under development for the past two years and directly addresses the primary concern of counterparty risk, a significant consideration for institutional investors. This model enables investors to manage risk effectively while optimizing capital efficiency by pledging collateral in traditional assets.
While details about the specific banking partners remain undisclosed, Binance emphasized active engagement with various banking entities and institutional investors expressing interest in the arrangement.
The platform introduced the pilot scheme for this solution last November, allowing collateral held with the banking partner to be in fiat equivalents, such as Treasury Bills.
Before this development, Binance clients were limited to holding their assets on the exchange itself or through its custodial service provider, Ceffu. However, concerns arose following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against Binance, questioning the exchange’s crypto wallet custody practices and its relationship with Ceffu.
Binance market share recovers.
Binance market share is steadily growing to previous heights after its run-in with several financial regulators across different jurisdictions impacted its operations last year.
Last year, the platform strategically withdrew from Canada, the United Kingdom, and several European nations, including Austria, Cyprus, and the Netherlands, due to regulatory non-compliance issues.
Furthermore, it faced a substantial $4.3 billion settlement with U.S. authorities, leading to a market share dip to 44.5% by the close of the same year.
However, recent findings from Kaiko Research indicate a noteworthy comeback for Binance this year.
Data reveals that Binance’s trading volume has climbed to 49.44% from its previous multi-year low, while 23 other centralized exchanges collectively account for 50.56% of trading activities.
In response to this significant turnaround, Binance CEO Richard Teng expressed his optimism with a succinct “Keep Building” post on social media platform X.
The post Binance allows customers to custody trading collateral off exchange as market share recovers appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Binance Smart Chain (BSC) has demonstrated notable growth in key metrics during the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023, as highlighted in a comprehensive report by Messari.
As the third-largest Layer-1 protocol by market capitalization, BSC experienced positive progress across its financial indicators, signaling a productive quarter for the blockchain ecosystem.
The report reveals that BSC’s market capitalization witnessed a 48% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) surge. This surge reflects renewed interest in BNB (Binance Coin), the native asset of BSC, following two consecutive quarters of decline.
Moreover, BSC’s revenue measured in USD experienced a significant QoQ growth of 27%. This revenue surge, amounting to over $39 million in Q4, indicates increased activity on the protocol and the implementation of various initiatives throughout the year.
Gas fees burned in BNB, a metric reflecting network activity, also saw a notable QoQ increase of 21%. The rising number of transactions and smart contract interactions contributed to increased gas fees burned, further reinforcing the Binance Smart Chain ecosystem.
In addition to financial metrics, BSC showcased impressive improvements in other areas. The number of active validators increased by 25% QoQ, highlighting growing trust and participation in securing the network. BSC’s commitment to decentralization was evident as the protocol experienced a 54% YoY increase in active validators.
According to Messari, throughout 2023, BSC demonstrated its ability to handle heightened activity while simultaneously reducing costs for users. Daily transactions on the network witnessed a 35% year-over-year (YoY) increase and a 30% QoQ surge, averaging around 4.6 million transactions per day in Q4.
These spikes in transaction volume were attributed to inscription-related activity, with BSC processing a record-breaking 32 million transactions on December 7, 2023.
Despite a decline in daily average active addresses and new unique addresses, primarily due to users exploring alternative chains like opBNB, BSC’s on-chain activity remained robust.
The protocol’s ecosystem of stablecoins, dominated by Tether’s USDT, reached a total value locked (TVL) of $4.6 billion in Q4, showcasing a 33% QoQ increase in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) TVL.
While Non-Fungible Token (NFT)- related metrics declined in Q4, Binance Smart Chain and Ethereum (ETH) witnessed a resurgence in activity toward the end of the quarter, indicating a potential upward trend in the next market cycle.
In addition to BSC’s growth, BNB also experienced notable price movements. After a sharp drop, BNB surged from $238 to reach the $338 level. However, it later retraced to $287 following a correction.
In the past 24 hours, BNB has recorded a growth of 3.7%, pushing its current trading price above $302.
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com
Disclaimer: The article is provided for educational purposes only. It does not represent the opinions of NewsBTC on whether to buy, sell or hold any investments and naturally investing carries risks. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use information provided on this website entirely at your own risk.
Today’s court hearing between Binance and the SEC has been postponed, according to a minute order published on Jan. 19.
That order reads:
“It has just been announced that the courthouse will now be closed to in person proceedings due to inclement weather. Accordingly, today’s motions hearing is reset to Monday, January 22, 2024 at 10:00 a.m.”
A separate report from Reuters indicates that Binance is expected to argue for dismissal of the SEC case during the upcoming hearing.
According to one of Reuters’ sources, Binance is unwilling to settle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) out of court as it did with other U.S. agencies. Binance might need to admit that certain cryptocurrencies named in the case are securities to settle with the SEC, that source said, and doing so could affect the company’s business model.
Binance also believes it has a strong case that SEC is overreaching and that the regulator has not proved fraud, another source stated.
The SEC originally filed charges against Binance and its former CEO, Chagpeng Zhao, on June 5 2023. At that time, the securities agency alleged that Binance operated unregistered exchanges, broker-dealers, and clearing agencies and engaged in the unregistered offer and sale of securities.
It also alleged that the company was responsible for misrepresenting trading controls and oversight on its American platform, Binance.US.
The SEC filed similar charges against another exchange, Coinbase just one day after charging Binance. In Coinbase’s latest hearing, a judge addressed the possibility of dismissing the case but declined to rule from the bench. She told each side to take this as a “compliment,” implying that each side’s argument has merit.
The SEC also filed similar charges against Kraken in November. That case has not progressed to the extent that the two others have.
The post SEC v. Binance hearing delayed until Monday appeared first on CryptoSlate.
The Blockchain Engineering program is a 20-week course. It covers a range of topics such as Web 3.0, distributed ledger technology, Solidity development, and Chain fundamentals.
Binance Academy, the educational arm of Binance, is going the extra mile to ensure that Web 3.0 and blockchain education reaches every part of the world. However, achieving this has been quite tasking despite the immense efforts of Binance to bring it into reality.
Nonetheless, in a fast-evolving world of digital finance, the company has highlighted blockchain education as a way to foster financial innovation sustainably. First for its community, and then for the broader crypto ecosystem.
In a recent move in that regard, Binance Academy recently tapped Blockchain Center, an independent non-profit organization. Per an official announcement, the collaboration is aimed at formally integrating blockchain education into the global school curriculum. Over 200 universities spread across more than 50 countries will begin to offer blockchain-based courses.
In forward-thinking, the initiative plans to have educated at least one million students in blockchain engineering and compliance by 2026.
As of publication, the Blockchain Engineering program is a 20-week course. It covers a range of topics such as Web 3.0, distributed ledger technology, Solidity development, and Chain fundamentals. Then there is also a 13-week Compliance program that explores the crosspoints of blockchain and regulations.
For Binance, helping users to gain a robust knowledge of crypto is a two-edged sword. That is, while users are updating themselves with information on trading risks and various other insights into the crypto industry, the crypto industry will also experience massive growth as adoption skyrockets as well.
Since launching in 2018, Binance Academy has been involved in several educational programs. However, it was initially designed as a learning hub for any kind of user regardless of their level of baseline knowledge.
The platform offers free learning materials in various languages, with articles ranging from beginner to intermediate. While the beginner level is focused on guidance for crypto trading, the intermediate explores deeper topics like cryptocurrency, blockchain, and dApps.
Binance Academy did not stop there. It says it has over 500 educational articles and glossary entries, in English alone, to its name. According to the learning hub, these articles have served more than 27 million people around the world who have been interested in topics like crypto security, tokenomics, and technical analysis.
Furthermore, Binance Academy currently runs another program in the form of blockchain-based workshops. It carries these out at top educational institutions worldwide and has delivered to more than 19,000 students at over 200 universities.
Overall, the efforts of Binance further reinforce its commitment to driving innovation and onboarding billions of people to Web 3.0. Interestingly, it means that education may just be at the center of it all.
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Crypto exchange Binance said it could delist three privacy tokens, including Zcash (ZEC), Monero (XMR), and Horizen (ZEN), because they are at risk of no longer meeting its listing criteria, according to a Jan. 4 statement.
As such, the exchange placed a “Monitoring tag” on these privacy tokens and other digital assets like Aragon, Firo, Keep3rV1, MobileCoin, Reef, and Vai.
Binance’s decision, alongside the broader market drawdown, has significantly impacted these digital assets as the privacy sector is down more than 6% during the last 24 hours and by nearly 10% in the past week, according to CryptoSlate’s data.
During the past day, Monero, Zcash, and Horizen are down 5%, 12%, and 16%, respectively.
Meanwhile, Binance now requires users interested in these assets to take quizzes every 90 days to ensure they understand the inherent risks of trading them on its spot and/or Margin platforms.
Binance stated that:
“Tokens with the Monitoring Tag exhibit notably higher volatility and risks compared to other listed tokens. These tokens are closely monitored, with regular reviews conducted. Keep in mind that tokens with the Monitoring Tag are at risk of no longer meeting our listing criteria and being delisted from the platform.”
The exchange further clarified that its decision was part of a periodic project review, assessing criteria like team commitment, trading volume, network security, and liquidity.
Last year, Binance said it would delist several privacy coins in compliance with European local laws and regulations. At the time, market observers pointed out that the move was attached to the high regulatory scrutiny privacy coins have attracted globally.
OKX, another top cryptocurrency platform, revealed intentions to delist several privacy-focused cryptocurrencies, including Zcash and Monero, by Jan. 5 because they do not align with its listing criteria.
As of press time, Binance has yet to respond to CryptoSlate’s request for additional commentary.
CryptoSlate’s recent analysis paints a vivid picture of Bitcoin futures’ open interest across key exchanges.
The past 24 hours have seen a significant repositioning of open interest in Bitcoin, with a notable surge and subsequent drop of around 10%. The primary contributor to this fluctuation was Binance, which saw an 18% open interest decrease in the past 24 hours.
This shift has further widened the gap between Binance and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the latter experiencing a contrary trend with a 2% increase in open interest in the past 24 hours. Consequently, CME recorded an all-time high of 126,000 Bitcoin in open interest, while Binance has 93,000 BTC.
Amid these dynamics, Coinglass noted a sizable wipeout of nearly $3 billion in Bitcoin open interest, marking the largest long liquidation event in a year, coinciding with Bitcoin’s hovering around the $42,200 mark.
The post Binance sees 18% Open Interest drop as CME Bitcoin futures hit record levels appeared first on CryptoSlate.
