Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is collaborating with law enforcement authorities in Ukraine to take down some large-scale money laundering schemes. Working with the exchange, Ukraine’s cyber police identified and arrested a group of criminals involved in a $42 million ransomware and money laundering operation, Binance told Cointelegraph in a criminal investigation report on Aug. 18. According to the report, the criminal group has been laundering millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies since 2018. A Binance representative said that the suspects were all Ukranian nationals, and were arrested in June 2020. According to Binance, the group was primarily operating in …

With Decentralized Finance (DeFi) gaining steam, exchanges like Binance find ways to co-exist with innovations like DeFi. Binance Co-Founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said DeFi is an innovative space and investing decentralized exchanges will not be a challenge for regular exchanges. In an interview at the Boxmining Youtube channel, CZ said DeFi makes the space more attractive. In particular, he pointed to automatic market makers (AMM) as a fascinating invention. “I think DeFi is a really innovative space and I think that’s really good. Initially, when people talk about DeFi they think about lending so you can lend your …

Swipe wallet and crypto debit card platform has integrated Chainlink (LINK) data oracles to improve the accuracy of reward issuance and token burns. Swipe CEO Joselito Lizarondo said Chainlink’s decentralized price feeds will provide more accurate and fair token conversion prices for users and was an important step towards greater decentralization: “This is important to us to bring transparency to our users, especially as we're kind of leaning towards starting to migrate from custodial products to noncustodial products in the future. So this is a starting point of decentralization in our system to ensure that our users are seeing a …

Bitcoin (BTC) may have recovered to $11,700 but miners could soon spark a price plunge, data warns. In an update on Aug. 14, on-chain monitoring resource CryptoQuant identified a spike in mining pool outflows. BTC price: CryptoQuant expects a “little pullback” Aftering remaining stable this month, mining pool outflows have begun to grow, with 802 BTC in aggregated flows recorded by CryptoQuant on Friday. Describing the event as “unusual” in an automated alert, CryptoQuant noted that if the Bitcoin leaving pools were being sent to an exchange, selling pressure could quickly mount, pushing down price. Alternatively, an over-the-counter transaction popular …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) project Curve has been forced to launch its DAO and governance token CRV prematurely after an anonymous developer deployed the contracts without the knowledge of the official team. The developer tweeted from a brand new Twitter account that he thought the contracts were ready and had jumped the gun “Yo, @CurveFinance ! Saw your DAO is ready to rock and I gots to MAXIMIZE MY ALPHA ! So I went ahead and deployed it for you. Get at me in DM to verify and let’s get this party started!!” In a preliminary response the Curve team confirmed …

Liechtenstein’s Financial Market Authority (FMA) has reportedly pulled the plug on an alleged application to bring Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao on as a major shareholder in a distressed domestic bank. As reported by Swiss financial news outlet Inside Paradeplatz on Aug. 10, the FMA rejected the purported application and also declined to approve an extension for further expert opinion that could intercede to save the rumored deal. In November 2019, Zurich-based commercial lawyer Wolfram Kuoni had reportedly addressed Union Bank AG’s shareholders, claiming: “The FMA is likely to accept Binance as shareholder. However, given that [Union Bank] as of now …

Satoshi Nakamoto years ago envisioned an ecosystem that would be independent of the centralized financial system that dominates the global economy today. His creation sparked a global community of enthusiasts and an entire industry surrounding blockchain — the solution enabling individuals to turn their money away from centralized legacy institutions and toward transacting on a decentralized, distributed ledger. The ultimate goal was a world in which people could pay for goods and services with these novel financial instruments. Many payment companies and exchanges already claim to offer services that enable crypto users to buy goods and services with cryptocurrency. Upon …

Global crypto exchanges have reportedly seen a significant increase in web traffic in July as cryptocurrency prices gained momentum. According to data from crypto analytics startup ICO Analytics, web traffic on global crypto exchanges increased by 13% on average in July 2020. Illia Kmez, head of content at ICO Analytics, told Cointelegraph that centralized crypto exchanges added 26% in web traffic since December 2020. In order to provide calculations, the startup analyzed web traffic of around 100 exchanges including international trading platforms and exchanges that only operate in one country, Kmez said. While the average stands at 13%, some crypto …

Binance.US, the United States branch of major crypto exchange Binance, began suffering unforeseen platform issues on Aug. 7 around 15:26 UTC time, resulting in the company temporarily shutting off exchange features. "Please rest assured that all customer funds are safe, and we will provide a further update soon,” a Binance.US representative told Cointelegraph. "At 11:26am EST, we noticed our systems not functioning as intended," Binance.US tweeted on Aug. 7. The tweet added: "To protect our users, we will be stopping trading, order processing, buy crypto, deposits, and withdrawals. We will let users cancel their orders 30min before we reopen trading. …

In the past couple of weeks, the Bitcoin (BTC) price has resurged after months of apparent monetary stagnation. Since July 23, the value of a single Bitcoin has risen by around 20%. Not only that, after trading sideways since its supply squeeze in early May, the premier currency broke through its all-important $10,000 psychological threshold, thus leading many casual investors to once again jump back on the crypto hype train. Bitcoin’s recent price hike has also resulted in a retail boom, with a whole host of trading platforms across the world reporting sky-high Bitcoin trading volumes. As a result of …

Blockchain-powered gaming experience, The Sandbox, will hold a $3 million token sale for the ecosystem’s main utility token, SAND. The sale will be held through the Binance Launchpad platform. The initial exchange offering, or IEO, will start on Aug. 13. This follows a private round investment by Binance Labs and will be only the third token sale held on Binance’s token launch platform so far this year. Sandbox already making big waves The Sandbox is a community-driven platform that allows users to play, create, and monetize gaming experiences within its metaverse. It has already held a number of presales for …

Research firm Hurun published a list of global unicorns, or companies worth more than a billion dollars, in 2020. This ranking features all billion-dollar tech startups founded in the 21st century that are not listed yet listed on public exchanges. The report, named “Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2020,” shows that there are a total of 586 unicorns globally — up from 494 companies listed in the 2019 ranking. The blockchain industry represents 2% of the list. Ripple takes the top spot as the company with the highest valuation in the sector. It ranks at #23, which is up from last …