Binance's efforts to improve transparency of its reserves also exposed red flags in the crypto exchange's finances, according to accounting and financial specialists consulted by The Wall Street Journal. As noted by a former Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) member and investment manager, the report released by the audit firm Mazars does not bring investors confidence about the exchange's finance as it lacks information related to the quality of internal controls and how its systems liquidate assets to cover margin loans. Another red flag raised by the newspaper's sources is regarding the lack of information about Binance's corporate structure. As …

Crypto exchange Binance began investigating suspicious behavior on its platform after noticing abnormal price movements for certain trading pairs involving Sun Token (SUN), Ardor (ARDR), Osmosis (OSMO), FUNToken (FUN) and Golem (GLM) tokens. Nearly 40 minutes into the investigation, Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao revealed that the price movements “appears to be just market behavior.” On Dec. 11 at 3:10 am ET, Binance issued a notice about abnormal price movements for some trading pairs. The exchange began an investigation to narrow down suspicious accounts responsible for the issue. To investors’ relief, Binance’s investigation did not point to the possibility of …

Tether executives and Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao worried that Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), former FTX CEO, was attempting to destabilize the crypto market aiming to save the now-bankrupt exchange, according to reports on Dec. 9. Messages seen by The Wall Street Journal of a Signal group chat named "Exchange coordination" reveals an argument between CZ and SBF on Nov. 10 about Tether's stablecoin USDT. Members in the Signal group include Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell, Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer of Tether, among others. According to the report, CZ and others in the group worried that trades made by Alameda Research …

Crypto exchange Binance closed a trader account on Dec. 9 after a user complained about the exchange's response for alleged funds theft. Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said the firm does not want to service "unreasonable" clients. A user by the name of CoinMamba on Twitter started complaining about the lost funds on Dec. 8, claiming that a leaked API key tied to crypto trading firm 3Commas was used "to make trades on low cap coins to push up the price to make profit." The trader claims in a series of tweets that Binance was unable to provide him with …

Since their inception, cryptocurrencies have seen rapid growth and widespread market adoption, as evidenced by the assets tied to crypto assets that have started to appear in the portfolios and trading methods of numerous asset managers. The process of purchasing and selling cryptocurrencies to profit is known as cryptocurrency trading. Trading in cryptocurrencies can be defined in terms of its objective, mode of operation and trading approach. For example, the asset being exchanged, or cryptocurrency, is the goal of cryptocurrency trading. The manner in which cryptocurrencies are traded depends on the type of transaction, such as futures, options or perpetual …

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, or CZ, and former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, or SBF, have revealed new details about the failed agreement between the exchanges during FTX’s liquidity crisis in November. In a Dec. 9 Twitter thread, CZ referred to Bankman-Fried as a “fraudster,” saying Binance exited its position in FTX in July 2021 after becoming “increasingly uncomfortable with Alameda/SBF.” According to the Binance CEO, SBF was “unhinged” at the exchange pulling out — a claim that prompted an online response from the former FTX CEO. Bankman-Fried criticized CZ for his public admonition of FTX, adding details about the negotiations …

United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has asked its customers to convert their Tether-issued USDT (USDT) stablecoin to USD Coin (USDC), a USD-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle and co-founded by Coinbase in 2018. The cryptocurrency exchange suggested that USDC is a much more secure alternative in the wake of the FTX collapse saga and has also exempted any fee on the conversion of USDT to USDC on its platform. The firm said: “We believe that USD Coin (USDC) is a trusted and reputable stablecoin, so we’re making it more frictionless to switch: starting today, we’re waiving fees for global retail customers …

The parallel development of payment processors for digital currencies is taking place along with the implementation of blockchain technology in various industries like healthcare, academics, supply chain and among others. Businesses willing to accept cryptocurrencies as a payment method rather than fiat currencies rely upon crypto payment gateways to operate. Without the trouble of needing to keep a cryptocurrency wallet and convert digital currency into fiat money, a crypto payment gateway can offer a straightforward solution for a merchant to adopt crypto. This facilitates the broader acceptance of digital currencies and makes it simpler for a vendor to provide cryptocurrency …

According to a new document published on Dec. 7, South-African auditor Mazars confirmed that cryptocurrency exchange Binance possessed control over 575,742.42 of customers' Bitcoins (BTC) worth $9.7 billion at the time of publication. Through the process, Mazars stated that "Binance was 101% collateralized." The scope of the inquiry included customers' spot, options, margin, futures, funding, loan, and earn accounts for Bitcoin and wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC). Aside from the Bitcoin network, BTC wrapped on Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Binance Smart Chain were also included in the inquiry. As part of its proof-of-reserves pledge, Binance requested an agreed-upon-procedures (AUP), or an audit …

Bitcoin (BTC) has been stuck below the $18,600 resistance for the past 19 days and while bears successfully breached the $16,000 support on Nov. 21, the 8% range is pretty narrow for an asset class with 60% annualized volatility. This gives investors good reason to doubt that BTC price will hold its current gains leading into the $430 million BTC options expiry on Dec. 2. Investors are still unsure about whether $15,500 was the Bitcoin bottom and the consequences of the FTX and Alameda Research demise continue to emerge. The latest contagion victim was Auros Global, an algorithmic trading and …

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is working with accounting firm Mazars as part of its proof-of-reserve (PoR) audits triggered by the fall of FTX. Mazars, the accounting firm that worked for former United States President Donald Trump’s company, was appointed as an official auditor to conduct a “third party financial verification” as part of Binance’s PoR updates, The Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 30. The accounting firm is reportedly already reviewing all Binance’s publicly shared information on Bitcoin (BTC) PoR and will also be verifying future updates and tokens, a spokesperson for Binance reportedly said. “The first verification update for BTC …

Bitcoin (BTC) price gained 6.1% between Nov. 28 and Nov. 30 after briefly testing the $17,000 support. Favorable regulatory winds might have helped fuel the rally after the Binance exchange announced the acquisition of a regulated crypto exchange in Japan on Nov. 30. Binance shut its operations in Japan in 2018 after being warned by the Japan Financial Services Agency for operating without a license. The acquisition of Sakura Exchange BitCoin would mark the re-entry of Binance in the Japanese market. Furthermore, Gemini exchange announced new regulatory approvals in Italy and Greece on Nov. 30. The exchange was granted registration …