NatWest, a major United Kingdom-based retail and commercial bank, has blocked all credit and debit card payments to crypto exchange Binance until further notice, the bank confirmed to Cointelegraph on Thursday. "All credit and debit card transactions to Binance have been blocked. We have been limiting payments to Binance for a number of weeks," a spokesperson for NatWest said, adding that resuming Binance support will be continually under review. The representative said that the bank has seen a high level of cryptocurrency investment scams targeting its customers across retail and business banking, particularly through social media sites. "We’re temporarily reducing …

Three Arrows Capital CEO Su Zhu has announced the launch of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Tranchess. Tweeting on Thursday, Zhu described Tranchess as a “Tokenized Asset Management & Derivatives Trading protocol.” While the project aims to become a multi-chain and multi-asset DeFi protocol, with designs on becoming a decentralized autonomous organization, the first iteration of Tranchess focuses on Bitcoin (BTC). Tranchess 1.0 offers access to a BTC price performance tracker on a correlated basis. Since the project’s initial launch is on the Binance Smart Chain, users will need to have BTCB — the BEP-2 version of Bitcoin. According to the …

The Australian branch of leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has increased the ability for users to accurately report tax liabilities amidst increased pressure from local tax authorities. Binance has partnered with cryptocurrency tax startup Koinly to assist users grappling with ever-increasing tax obligations down under. Binance users in Australia have been offered access to Koinly’s tax reporting solution through the integration. Koinly was founded in 2018 and supports over 600 exchanges and wallets, enabling users to sync their full crypto trading history with one central ATO-compliant platform. The move comes as the Australian Tax Office (ATO) increases its effort to collect …

Bitcoin (BTC) breaking below $30,000 has cost it almost all of its 2021 bull run gains — but a historic silver lining is ready to rescue bulls. Data from crypto exchange Binance's order book confirms that BTC/USD has almost dipped to the strongest support zone ever seen. BTC price arrives at "biggest bid ever" It has been a rough 24 hours for Bitcoin hodlers, and the rout doesn't seem to be over yet. After losing 6% overnight, BTC/USD hit lows of $29,300 — $300 below where it opened at the start of the year. With that, despite reaching lofty highs …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance has completed its 16th quarterly Binance Coin (BNB) burn, destroying over $390 million worth of BNB. On Sunday, Binance reported that it had destroyed 1,296,728 BNB tokens valued at just under $400 million at the time. The exchange noted an additional 5,163 BNB that were destroyed through its Pioneer Burn Program — an incentive that aims to help users who have lost tokens through honestly mistaken transactions to smart contracts. Binance covers the losses, returning the tokens to users under specific circumstances. These token numbers are then deducted from the quarterly burn totals by the exchange. …

Binance’s highly popular stock tokens, a relatively recent offering, are being wound down immediately. In an announcement published on Friday, the exchange announced that “effective immediately,” stock tokens are unavailable for purchase on Binance.com. As of October 14, 2021, at 7:55 pm UTC, the exchange will no longer support stock tokens at all. Existing stock token holders will have some time to adjust: “Users who currently hold stock tokens may sell or hold them over the next 90 days. Users will no longer be able to manually sell or close their positions after 2021-10-14 19:55 (UTC). Thereafter all stock token …

Italy’s securities market regulator, the Italian Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB), has issued a statement, in which it said that Binance Group and affiliated companies are unauthorized to provide investment services and operate in Italy. The regulator specified that the warning refers to Binance.com, the main website of the global crypto exchange. CONSOB went on to warn the public about potential implications of Binance’s legal status in Italy, advising to exercise caution in making investment choices. Italy has joined the growing number of countries to issue a public warning regarding Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. “In …

It's not yet known whether Binance's recent news of being temporarily suspended from the U.K.’s financial system is the main driver behind today's Bitcoin (BTC) price drop. As Cointelegraph reported, the exchange sent emails to affected customers but has not given any details. Regardless of the reason behind the price weakness, derivatives contracts started to display some oddities, and this could be a troubling sign. Bitcoin quarterly futures are the preferred instruments of whales and arbitrage desks. Although it might seem complicated for retail traders due to their settlement date and price difference from spot markets, their most significant advantage …

Binance customers in the United Kingdom are once again left without a fiat currency withdrawal option on Binance. According to Financial News on Tuesday, the crypto exchange giant sent emails to affected customers informing them of the problem. However, the exchange reportedly has not given any details as to the reason for the latest suspension of pounds sterling withdrawal but assured customers that it was working to resolve the situation. Back in June, Binance had temporarily suspended cash payouts via Faster Payouts amid warnings from the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority about the exchange operating in the country without a license. …

Gemini exchange co-founder Cameron Winklevoss has stated that the company expects to overtake the current largest crypto exchange by volume, Binance, predicting its emphasis on compliance will win out as regulators increasingly crack down on unregulated exchanges. As reported by Bloomberg on Monday, Cameron Winklevoss emphasized the importance of adhering to regulators’ demands, stating that Gemini is “playing the long game:" “We’re trying to be the fastest tortoise in the race. The long game pays off over time.” The comments come as Binance faces increasing regulatory pressure, with the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority telling Binance that it wasn’t authorized …

Binance has faced a number of regulatory issues in recent weeks. Payments player Clear Junction has suspended activity with Binance after similar moves from Barclays and Santander. “Clear Junction can confirm that it will no longer be facilitating payments related to Binance,” Clear Junction said in a statement that was tweeted out by Adam Samson of the Financial Times on Monday. “The decision has been made following the Financial Conduct Authority’s recent announcement that Binance is not permitted to undertake any regulatory activity in the UK.” The Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA, heads up regulatory overwatch of finance in the …

Immunefi, a security service outfit that specialized in decentralized finance (DeFi) projects, has inked a collaboration with the Binance Smart Chain. According to a release issued on Friday, Immunefi will work in collaboration with BSC to improve the security of projects on the Binance chain. As part of the partnership, ethical hackers who take part in a campaign to discover vulnerabilities in BSC-based projects will earn rewards. As a security outfit, Immunefi has reportedly paid more than $3 million in bug bounties to ethical hackers. Major BSC protocols such as PancakeSwap, DODO, and Zapper among others are already deploying the …