In a recent announcement by Binance on April 4, 2024, the firm disclosed its decision to halt support for Bitcoin-based Ordinal non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles within its NFT marketplace. The directive from Binance calls for users of its NFT marketplace to withdraw their Ordinal inscriptions by May 18, 2024. Binance NFT Marketplace to End Ordinal […]
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LONDON — McDonald’s suffered a system failure Friday that left customers in some parts of the world unable to order food.
“We are aware of a technology outage, which impacted our restaurants; the issue is now being resolved,” a McDonald’s spokesperson said. “We thank customers for their patience and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
The spokesperson added that the incident “is not related to a cybersecurity event.”
The outage was first flagged by the the Australian unit of the U.S.-based fast-food chain which said it was working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. At around 6.45 a.m. ET, McDonald’s Australia said on X that most of its restaurants had reopened.
McDonald’s Japan took to social media to say that operations at stores nationwide were temporarily suspended. “We apologize for any inconvenience caused to our customers,” it said.
On Downdetector, a website which tracks when apps and websites are having technical difficulties, there was a spike in reports of issues with the McDonald’s app in Australia around 2 a.m. ET on Friday.
People stand in front of a temporary closed McDonald’s in Shimbashi district of Tokyo on March 15, 2024. Hungry McDonald’s customers in parts of Asia had trouble ordering at stores, on cellphones and at electronic kiosks after a system outage.
Philip Fong | AFP | Getty Images
There was also a spike in reports of issues with the McDonald’s app in the U.K. around the same time, with further reports of issues at around 5 a.m. ET, according to Downdetector. A map on the website also showed outages reported in U.S. cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Seattle.
McDonald’s has around 40,000 restaurants globally. Just over 1,000 are in Australia and there are more than 1,450 in the U.K. Japan has nearly 3,000 restaurants, making it one of the largest markets for McDonald’s.
(Bloomberg) — The world’s two biggest diamond miners are selling stones again after the industry all but halted supplies in a desperate attempt to stop a collapse in prices.
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This year’s rout that was driven by swelling inventories forced the sector to take radical steps to support the market. Russia’s Alrosa PJSC in September halted all sales for two months, and was followed by buyers in India — the dominant cutting and trading center — voluntarily banning imports. De Beers allowed its customers to refuse all gems they’re contracted to buy.
There are now signs that the market is starting to pick up. Alrosa began selling rough diamonds again at the end of November, offloading more than $100 million, according to people familiar with the matter. De Beers, which held its last sale of the year at the start of December, sold a similar amount, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the details are private.
The industry has been whipsawed since the start of the pandemic. It had been one of the great winners as stuck-at-home shoppers turned to diamond jewelry and other luxury purchases. But demand quickly eased as economies reopened, leaving many in the trade holding excess stock that they’d paid too much for.
That cooldown rapidly became a slump as the US, by far the industry’s most important market, wobbled under rising inflation. Plus key growth market China was hit by a property crisis that hurt consumer confidence. And to make things worse, lab-grown diamonds started making big gains in some key markets.
That left the industry with little choice but to choke off supply. Those efforts so far seem to be working, with some price gains for rough diamonds, though concerns still linger that fresh supplies from miners’ large stockpiles could test the recovery.
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Alrosa’s recent sale saw it sell to just a handful of mostly India buyers, the people said. Many in the industry refused to deal with Russian gems following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as Western retailers said they didn’t want to buy the stones. Before the war, Alrosa sold to about 50 customers each month.
And while De Beers has resumed sales, it still allowed buyers to reject goods they’re contracted to buy, the people said. The unit of Anglo American Plc has a long history of managing supply by stockpiling goods to prevent prices falling.
De Beers and Alrosa declined to comment.
India’s diamond industry earlier this month also announced that it would lift the voluntary ban on imports on expectation that demand will recover and prices of polished items to stabilize.
The miners’ sales have been small compared with what the dominant producers usually expect to sell at this time of year. The rebound has also been driven by buyers who are short of stones and need new supplies to keep factories open, rather than strong demand for polished gems, the people said.
A more lasting recovery will demand on how robust jewelry sales are during the crucial holiday season, which spans from Thanksgiving to the Chinese New Year.
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Binance, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, has announced it will halt Russian ruble (RUB) deposits, effective Nov. 15, 2023.
According to the announcement, despite the cessation of deposits, withdrawals of Russian rubles will continue to be available until January 31, 2024, ensuring users have ample time to manage their holdings.
Users holding a fiat balance in Russian rubles may transfer their funds to the CommEX platform without fees. More so, users are encouraged to either register for a CommEX account or log into their existing CommEX account and connect it to their corresponding Binance account. Once the connection is established, users may transfer their Russian rubles from Binance to CommEX. In addition, users may withdraw their Russian rubles via Binance’s fiat partners before the stipulated deadline, convert Russian rubles into crypto on Binance Convert, or trade Russian rubles for crypto on the Binance Spot market.
CryptoSlate had reported Binance’s sale of its entire Russian business to the crypto platform CommEX. Notably, this sale was due to compliance reasons, according to Binance’s Chief Compliance Officer, Noah Perlman, who stated that “operating in Russia is not compatible with Binance’s compliance strategy.” CommEX launched on Sept. 26.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao previously disclosed that CommEX would not service customers from the European Union or the United States due to a contractual condition tied to the sale of Binance’s Russian business. This decision aligns with the recent regulatory issues Binance has faced, demonstrating the exchange’s commitment to compliance and regulation.
This development follows a series of complexities surrounding Binance’s operations in Russia. As previously reported by CryptoSlate, Binance allegedly maintained ties with blacklisted Russian banks despite Western sanctions. Binance was reportedly processing transactions for at least five Russian lenders blacklisted by Western powers, a move that directly contradicted their public statements on the matter.
The post Binance to halt ruble deposits effective Nov. 15 appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Decentralized exchange (DEX) THORSwap has resumed operations after briefly going into maintenance mode due to detecting illicit funds on its platform.
THORSwap took to X (formerly Twitter) on Oct. 12 to announce that the platform is back online. The platform asked users to resume their regularly scheduled swapping of over 5,500 assets across 10 blockchains from their own self-custody wallets.
The protocol initially halted swaps on its platform on Oct. 6 as an immediate measure to counter the potential movement of illicit funds. THORSwap acknowledged that its DEX platform encountered illicit use and decided to pause to find a permanent solution to the misuse.
According to the latest announcement, THORSwap hasn’t applied any big changes on its platform other than the “shiny new terms of service.”
Updated on Oct. 11, THORSwap’s new terms of service read that users must comply with applicable laws like Anti-Money Laundering and agree to not engage or assist in any activity that violates sanctions programs or involves any unlawful financial activity. The updated terms also state that THORSwap reserves may restrict users from using the platform in case of violations, stating:
“THORSwap reserves the right to terminate your access to the THORSwap Services at any time, without notice, for any reason whatsoever, including without limitation a violation of these terms.”
The cryptocurrency community expressed outrage about THORSwap’s updated terms of use, with many questioning the platform’s “decentralized” status in the context of its new rules, which sound more like those on a centralized exchange.
“Is there any reason to use your services instead of a regular CEX? Did you just copy – paste their terms of service?” one X user asked.
According to ShapeShift founder Erik Voorhees, THORSwap is different from THORChain — the network it’s built on — in terms of centralization. THORSwap is a “centralized company that made a decision about their own interface,” while THORChain is decentralized.
You’re referring to Thorswap which is not Thorchain.
The former is a centralized company that made a decision about their own interface.
The latter is a decentralized protocol that isn’t censoring anything and can be accessed in myriad ways.
— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) October 12, 2023
In addition to updating the terms of service, THORSwap said it has partnered with an “industry leader” to put some additional protections to prevent the flow of illicit funds. The protocol may still need to “fine tune things over the coming days,” the announcement added.
Related: Trader swaps 131K stablecoins for $0 during USDR depeg
THORSwap’s return came on the same day blockchain analytics firm Elliptic reported that the hacker of the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX had started moving the stolen funds in late September 2023. The transactions marked the first time those funds have been moved since the attack.
According to Elliptic, the anonymous hacker used THORSwap to convert 72,500 Ether (ETH), or about $120,000 million, into Bitcoin (BTC) before sending crypto to sanctioned cryptocurrency mixers like Sinbad.
A spokesperson for THORSwap stressed in a statement to Cointelegraph that FTX exploiter’s funds can be traced easily once they have been swapped to BTC. But once cryptocurrencies have gone through a mixer, they are no longer traceable.
Magazine: Blockchain detectives — Mt. Gox collapse saw birth of Chainalysis
Crypto asset businesses in the United Kingdom could now begin withholding certain crypto transfers to comply with the new Travel Rule for crypto that came into effect on Sept. 1.
The rules targeting virtual asset service providers were first introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority on Aug. 17, requiring that VASPs based in the U.K. “collect, verify and share information” relating to crypto-asset transfers.
If an inbound payment is received from a person or entity from an overseas jurisdiction that hasn’t implemented the Travel Rule, the VASP must make a “risk-based assessment” as to “whether to make the cryptoassets available to the beneficiary.”
The Travel Rule is designed to bring greater transparency to cryptoasset transfers, making it harder for criminals to use #crypto for illegal activity.https://t.co/kmB6rgMn5e
— Financial Conduct Authority (@TheFCA) August 17, 2023
The same rule would also apply to Brits looking to send payments outside of the U.K.
The Travel Rule was created by the UN agency Financial Action Task Force in June 2019. The U.K. passed legislation to begin enforcing the Travel Rule in July 2022.
It attempts to enforce Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing rules on activities carried out on-chain.
Other countries that have adopted the Travel Rule include the U.S., Germany, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, Canada, South Africa, the Netherlands and Estonia, according to Sygna.io.
Related: Crypto ads face stricter rules, referral bonus ban by UK FCA
On June 23, the FATF called out member states for failing to sufficiently implement the rule after a survey revealed more than half of them have failed to take any action towards implementing the rule.
A March 2022 survey by FATF found only 29 of 98 jurisdictions at the time passed the requirements needed as part of the travel rules and a small subset of these jurisdictions had started enforcement.
Ian Andrews, the chief marketing officer of blockchain forensics platform Chanalysis, explained in April 2022 that coordinating the exchange of information between VASPs cross-borders will be a “pretty hard problem” to solve — at least at the onset.
Collect this article as an NFT to preserve this moment in history and show your support for independent journalism in the crypto space.
Magazine: Deposit risk: What do crypto exchanges really do with your money?
On Sunday, Binance announced that it will halt 39 liquidity mining pools this week following the latest assessment. As a result of a supposed failure to pass this assessment, these 39 liquidity pools are expected to stop operating on September 1, 2023.
This decision was made due to the platform’s recent liquidity mining performance. The announcement said Binance Liquid Swap will “periodically review listed liquidity pools to concentrate liquidity for our users and ensure optimized trading experience, price and slippage.”
As a result of the most recent review, the 39 liquidity pools listed below are expected to cease operation on Friday:
ADA/BNB, ALICE/BTC, APE/BTC, AVA/USDT, AVAX/BNB, BTC/TUSD, CHZ /BNB, CHZ/BTC, CTSI/BNB, DOT/BUSD, ENJ/USDT, FIL/BNB, FRONT/BUSD, GALA/BNB, ICP/BNB, ID /BTC, KDA/USDT, LIT/USDT, MATIC/BNB, NEO/BNB, PAXG/USDT, PEPE/USDT, SANTOS/USDT, SUSHI/BNB, SUSHI/BTC, SXP/BNB, SXP/BTC, THETA/BNB, THETA/BTC, TKO/USDT, TLM/USDT, TRX /BNB, TRX/ETH, WBTC/ETH, XMR/ETH, XMR/USDT, XVS/BTC, XVS/USDT, ZEN/USDT.
For now, users will not be able to add liquidity to these liquidity pools from today. However, the liquidity of the liquidity pools listed above will still remain accessible to ensure that users are provided with a trading experience.
Users will also still be able to redeem and withdraw their assets from the respective pairs on Binance Spot before the closing date on September 1, 2023. User deposits in the liquidity pool will be calculated following the current composition of the respective pool and then it will be converted to the user’s Spot wallet automatically.
According to the announcement, the removal of the liquidity pools listed above will not hinder other trading respective pairs on Binance Spot and users will still be able to trade on other liquidity pools that are currently available on Binance Liquid Swap.
This marks the second time Binance has eliminated liquidity pools this month. On August 9, 2023, Binance also announced that the exchange would stop about 38 liquidity pools on August 18, 2023.
BNB price remains above $215 support | Source: BNBUSD on Tradingview.com
Amid these developments, the Binance crypto exchange continues to deal with regulatory pressures that seem to be affecting its business. Firstly, Visa and Mastercard are slowly cutting their ties with Balance due to the multiple regulatory actions from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against the exchange.
One of the allegations brought against Binance is that the exchange has been operating under an unregistered business and misled investors about the company’s risk.
Also, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in May brought multiple charges against the exchange for what it calls a “willful evasion” of US law.
Among the hurdles the exchange is also facing include allegations that the US Department of Justice is looking into the exchange and is considering charging Binance for fraudulent activities.
On August 23, 2023, Binance announced on X (formerly Twitter), that the exchange’s card known as the Binance Card will no longer be available to users in Latin America and the Middle East.
Featured image from The Information, chart from Tradingview.com
Russia is scrambling to keep its ruble from falling further in value.
The nation’s central bank announced it would stop foreign currency purchases through the end of 2023.
It has also begun to pilot program for a digital ruble in an attempt to prop up its currency.
Russia is halting its purchases of foreign currencies, and is launching a digital version of its ruble as it scrambles to prevent its currency from spiraling even further as war drags on in Ukraine.
The nation will no longer purchase currencies on the global market from August 10 through the end of the year, Russia’s central bank said in a statement on Wednesday. It will, however, continue to sell foreign currencies located in its sovereign wealth fund worth up to 2.3 billion rubles or $23 million dollars a day, which it has been using to help fund its war against Ukraine.
In a separate statement, the central bank added it had begun pilot testing a digital version of the ruble, which it has planned to do since July to prop up its weakening currency.
The digital ruble will be tested with a limited number of clients across 13 banks, though the Russian central bank aims to launch the currency for public use by 2025.
The moves are part of Russia’s efforts to prop up its weakening economy, with the ruble recently plunging to its lowest level since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The nation has been slammed by sanctions which have slashed Moscow’s energy revenue.
In July, the ruble blew past a key “comfort zone” for the Kremlin in the aftermath of Wagner’s short-lived rebellion, sparking concern as Russia’s purchasing power in international markets grew weaker.
Russia’s currency slipped further on Thursday, trading at 97 to the US dollar. That’s about a 30% decline from what the ruble was worth in January, making it one of the worst-performing currencies this year.
Read the original article on Business Insider
