Binance has overtaken Huobi and OKEx to become the largest crypto derivatives exchange by volume in the September figures with $164.8 billion across the month, according to the latest report published by U.K.-based data firm CryptoCompare, CryptoCompare looked at the trading volume of the top-tier exchanges and determined that Binance had seen around $8 billion more volume than its closest competitors, Huobi at $156.3B, and OKEx at $155.7B. BitMEX came in fourth with $56.4 billion in monthly volume for September. The figures show that BitMEX was in trouble even before its leaders were charged with failing to prevent money laundering …

Japan's largest on-line financial conglomerate, SBI Holdings, now owns two licensed cryptocurrency trading platforms with its new acquisition of TaoTao exchange. According to an official announcement on Oct. 7, SBI’s foreign exchange and derivatives arm SBI Liquidity Market has acquired all shares of TaoTao, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company. Formerly 40% owned by internet giant Yahoo! Japan’s YJFX, TaoTao launched its crypto trading service in May 2019. With the new acquisition, SBI now has two crypto trading platforms as the company is already offering crypto trading services through its crypto-focused venture capital arm, SBI VC Trade. Operating …

Japan-based digital asset trading platform Tao Tao ended negotiations with Binance, setting back the timeline for the crypto exchange to launch trading services for users in the Asian nation. According to an Oct. 5 update from Tao Tao, the platform stated it had “decided to end negotiations” with Binance after nine months. Binance had been discussing a collaboration with the digital asset trading platform as well Z Holdings’ daughter company Z Corporation — formerly Yahoo Japan — since Jan. 17 as part of its goal to enter the Japanese market. The digital asset trading platform is currently licensed by the …

On August 28, Binance Futures launched its DeFi Composite Index, a basket of DeFi tokens that initially comprised 27% Chainlink (LINK) and 11% Aave (LEND) alongside nine other prominent DeFi tokens that made up between 6% and 9.5% of the index each. Updated weekly, the index now tracks 19 different crypto assets. However the Binance Futures’ DeFi index has dropped more than 50% from an all-time high of $1,189 on its first day of trading, with the basket now changing hands for just $507. Indexes tracking decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens have taken a beating over recent weeks following the popping …

Over 45,000 Bitcoin has been withdrawn from BitMEX since the U.S. government levied charges against the exchange and its leadership. October 1 brought two devastating blows to BitMEX. First, the CFTC and DOJ brought charges against the exchange. Shortly thereafter, its founders (including CEO Arthur Hayes), were indicted by the U.S. government. The market reacted to the news with a sharp decline across many of Blockchain's biggest assets. This isn't the first time in recent months that BitMex has contributed to a downward turn. The exchange first began losing the trust of its participants following a blackout on Black Thursday …

Swipe, a Binance-owned cryptocurrency debit card provider, is expanding its offering with a new crypto Visa card that allows users to borrow funds using blockchain technology. Dubbed the “LendFi Visa Card,” the new product deploys major decentralized finance protocols to provide “near-instant access to lending balances.” The card is integrated with the LendFi app — a decentralized lending platform that is connected with the borrower through their mobile device. At launch, the platform will support major DeFi protocol Compound, a spokesperson for Swipe said. According to an announcement, the new blockchain-based lending platform approves loans for users and disburses them …

2020 will forever be remembered as the year of COVID-19, but there is no telling what the long-lasting effects of the pandemic will be on the global economy. Around the world, countries have been forced to shut down their local economies, with people having to shelter in place in order to observe the social distancing measures needed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The immediate result of these measures has varied from country to country, but a common trend has been many companies and businesses having to fundamentally change their regular ways of operating. Those lucky enough to stay …

The hype around DeFi is not fading away and is only just beginning, said Neo founder Da Hongfei, during a live stream on China’s Hub on Sept. 25. Da said DeFi created a process in just a few years that traditional finance took hundreds of years to perfect. DeFi projects are now experimenting with all sorts of financial products and services. He added that: “Lending and borrowing, decentralized exchanges, insurance and all kinds of derivatives are on the rise in DeFi. The initial stage DeFi infrastructure has a solid good start, and now it is time to see more and …

Lately, in the crypto scene, everything related to decentralized finance is being considered a gold mine. While DeFi has brought solid projects to the industry, there’s also a hot new craze, and it’s related to food. Everything from yams to burgers is now being converted to a coin and sold like a tasty meal at a food fair, and investors can’t seem to get enough of these food-themed coins. However, there are growing concerns over the sustainability of these DeFi projects. At the beginning of the month, Hotdog, a food-themed project, shed 99% of its value within minutes. The occurrence …

Authorities in Russia appear to be going after Binance — the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange — as its domain is now in the list of prohibited websites in the country. On Sept. 24, Binance officially announced on its Russian Telegram channel that Russian telecom regulator Roskomnadzor has added the website to the register of platforms disseminating prohibited information. According to the announcement, Binance has been placed in the list due to distribution of data related to the acquisition of digital currencies like Bitcoin (BTC). Gleb Kostarev, Binance’s head of operations for Russia and the CIS, told Cointelegraph that the exchange …

A recent post from Glassnode has called Uniswap's decentralization into question, while insinuating that the platform's developers might have intentionally misled the community about how the team's allocation of UNI tokens will vest over time. Uniswap’s team, investors, and advisors have been allocated 40% of all UNI tokens, with 21.51% of that figure going to the latter two. It seems that the distribution of these tokens, which was meant to take place over four years, currently lacks a public schedule however. It also appears that the team and investor tokens are not locked. Glassnode elaborated: “While the distribution schedule pictured …

Decentralized finance is in full swing, and one of its biggest supporters appears to be the exchange Binance. The platform's United States branch recently joined the Chicago DeFi Alliance, with the aim to further develop the U.S. DeFi industry. Additionally, Binance's support for new DeFi projects continues to grow. Most recently, the exchange has demonstrated close ties with BurgerSwap, a new decentralized exchange that aims to improve upon Uniswap. While it's clear that Binance has taken a tremendous amount of interest in DeFi, it's notable to point out that Binance's CEO, Changpeng Zhao, has been bullish on DeFi for a …