Blockchainreporter Weekly News Roundup, Binance Suffers
This week in the crypto space has been echoing the impact of a huge stir caused recently. A significant drop in the market capitalization of Binance following the boost in regulatory measures has concerned the community. Additionally, Terra founder Do Kwon reportedly cashed out up to 10,000 Bitcoin from his platform which was noticed by the SEC. As a result, the regulator has sued him.
On the other hand, the Bank of Japan intends to start a pilot for the digital yen. Apart from that, the biggest Singaporean DBS Bank is applying to offer crypto. Along with this, the crackdown by NYDFS on Paxos has compelled Binance to say that the client funds are safe.
Binance Witnesses $2.5B of Its BUSD Slumped after Stringent Regulatory Scrutiny
As the US officials have focused their attention on crypto, almost $2.5B was considered to have gone from the market cap of the BUSD stablecoin of the top crypto exchange Binance. This event was recently disclosed by Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of the exchange, that most of the funds have been transacted from BUSD into USDT – a stablecoin issued by Tether. The respective price slump was witnessed after the reports about the regulatory crackdown by NYDFS on Paxos Trust Company, the issuer of Binance USD (BUSD).
Do Kwon of Terra Reportedly Extracts 10,000 Bitcoin, SEC Sues Him
Do Kwon, the founder of the well-known Terra ecosystem, has been on the run following the enormous collapse of his platform. The regulatory agencies have been after him as a result. Recently Bloomberg reported that he illegitimately extracted 10,000 Bitcoin from the project via a bank based in Switzerland. Keeping this in view, the US SEC sued him. The regulator mentioned in its lawsuit that Kwon promoted the algorithmic TerraUSD (UST) without disclosing its vulnerabilities. SEC also claimed the withdrawal of nearly 10,000 by Kwon in its lawsuit in addition to his attempts to mislead the clients and defraud them.
Japan’s Central Bank Starts Pilot Project in April to Test Digital Yen’s Use Cases
Bank of Japan’s executive director “Shinichi Uchida” has recently declared that the central bank of Japan will initiate a pilot project for checking the CBDC use cases of its digital yen in April. The pilot project has a twofold objective taking into account the verification of the technical viability as well as the use of functional and technological proficiency of private entities. Nonetheless, the pilot will not include any real transfers done by retail customers, due to its experimental nature.
DBS Bank Pursues Moving to Hong Kong
DBS Holdings, the biggest Singapore-based bank, is endeavouring to grasp worldwide attention by expanding its services to consumers belonging to Hong Kong. The platform intends to submit a license application for the provision of crypto services in Hong Kong. This move is witnessed in line with the efforts made by Hong Kong to be transformed into a local crypto hub, as per Paul Chan – the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong. He added that many more crypto licenses will also be issued in line with international standards.
Changpeng Zhao Says Binance Clients’ Funds Are Safe amid the Regulatory Clampdown on Paxos
The recent regulatory crackdown on Paxos Trust, the issuer of Binance Coin (BUSD), has raised a lot of concerns among the community of Binance. New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) targeted Paxos while referring to its BUSD stablecoin as an unregistered digital security. The regulatory agency also directed the stablecoin issuer to stop releasing new BUSD. In its response, Paxos said that it will be compliant with the order. Nonetheless, the Binance community has become much concerned about their funds in BUSD. In this respect, Changpeng Zhao (the CEO of Binance) claimed that the funds of clients are safe.
