The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a “limited objection” to crypto exchange Binance.US’s proposed $1 billion takeover of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital, citing a lack of “necessary information.” The limited objection was filed on Jan. 4, with the SEC pointing to a lack of detail regarding Binance.US’s ability to fund the acquisition, what Binance.US’s operations would look like following the deal, and how customer assets will be secured during and after the transaction. A limited objection is similar to a normal objection but only applies to a specific part of the proceedings. Additionally, the regulator …

During a year plagued by crises such as the collapse of FTX and Celsius, data shows that crypto exchange Binance has emerged as the clear “winner” of 2022 according to Arcane Research. A Jan. 3 report from Arcane highlighted that Binance saw its market dominance soar throughout 2022. As of Dec. 28 last year it had captured 92% of the Bitcoin (BTC) spot market and 61% of the BTC derivatives market by volume: “There are no other evident ‘winners’ of 2022 other than Binance when it comes to the crypto market structure and market dominance. No matter how you look …

Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy is showing no signs of backing down on its Bitcoin gambit. Right around the time that Sam Bankman-Fried was being exposed as a fraud, MicroStrategy was scooping up more Bitcoin (BTC) — this time, the firm bought as close to the bottom as it’s ever gotten. While Bitcoin can always go lower, seeing a MicroStrategy buy around $17K is refreshing. Interestingly, MicroStrategy also sold some BTC earlier this month — but not for the reason you think (more on that below.) The final Crypto Biz newsletter of 2022 discusses MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin buy, Fidelity Investments’ foray into …

Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao took to Twitter on Dec. 23 to share his perspective on the reasons behind the recent fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) surrounding the crypto exchange. According to CZ in the thread, Binance's FUD is primarily caused by external factors - not by the exchange itself. One of the reasons mentioned by the CEO was that part of the crypto community hates centralization. "Regardless if a CEX helps with crypto adoption at a faster rate, they just hate CEX," he noted. CZ also pointed out that Binance has been seen as competition by many industry players, …

Binance has joined the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a United States crypto industry lobbying group, according to a Dec. 20 press release from the exchange. The move comes after Binance has been criticized for allegedly being unregulated. Binance’s vice president of public affairs Joanne Kubba expressed hope that the partnership would help lead to clear regulations for the crypto industry in the U.S., stating: “As an organization at the crux of the industry's rapid growth and complex regulatory environment, working hand in glove with policymakers, regulatory bodies and industry groups like the Chamber is imperative for Binance. Such work is …

Kazakhstan, the world’s third-largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining hub after the United States and China, found feasibility in launching its in-house central bank digital currency (CBDC), a digital tenge. The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) revealed the finding following the completion of the second phase of testing. In late October, Binance CEO Changpeng' CZ' Zhao announced that Kazakhstan's CBDC would be integrated with BNB Chain, a blockchain built by the crypto exchange. The country's primary motivation for conducting studies on CBDC was to test its potential to improve financial inclusion, promote competition and innovation in the payments industry and increase the …

A decentralized social network project called Mithril (MITH) was recently delisted from Binance and in return, the crypto project asked for the 200,000 Binance Coin (BNB) it had to deposit as insurance for listing on the exchange. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao aka CZ responded to MITH’s demand on Twitter with a screenshot of their contract that suggests if the listed token price falls below a certain threshold, the exchange has the right to deduct the insurance fund partially or fully as an additional fee. CZ said that the said project’s token price fell below the trigger threshold on multiple occasions …

Crypto exchange Binance has seen its proof-of-reserve (PoR) audits removed from the auditor Mazars’ website. Mazars’ official website shows they fully discontinued Mazars Veritas, a section dedicated to cryptocurrency exchange audits. The tool was developed by Mazars in order to bring “trust and transparency to the digital asset sector,” using Silver Sixpence Merkle Tree Generating tool to complement PoR reports. The news comes amid Bloomberg reporting that Mazars stopped doing PoR for cryptocurrency companies. Some other auditing firms like FTX’s auditor Armanino have also reportedly stopped working with crypto exchanges like OKX and Gate.io. Mazars is widely known as the …

Blockchain analytics provider CryptoQuant has released a report analyzing the recently released proof of reserves audit of the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance. Centralized exchanges have been cast into the spotlight over the past month following the collapse of FTX, none more so than Binance which has been scrambling to reassure customers and investors that it has sufficient reserves and is fully backed. A report by CryptoQuant released on Dec. 14 says its analysis confirms that Binance reserves are accounted for. Earlier this month, Binance released its proof-of-reserves report but it was criticized as being an “Agreed-Upon-Procedure” and not a …

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has cautioned the crypto community about self-custody, suggesting that 99% of people choosing to self-custody their crypto will likely lose it one way or another. CZ has been been a supporter of self-custody for years, referring to its as a “fundamental human right” but has always urged users to “do it right.” He published a “CZ’s Tips” on self-storing crypto in Feb. 2020. During a recent Binance-run Twitter Spaces on Dec. 14, the Binance CEO continued to urge caution for those using self-custody wallets — suggesting that more often than not, security keys are not …

United States crypto exchange Binance US has finally rolled out its Binance Pay service — some 22 months after the feature was launched by the global exchange to its customers outside the U.S. in 2021. The service, which was rolled out a beta version globally in Feb. 2021 for peer-to-peer payments before expanding to include merchant transactions on Mar. 12, allows mobile users of the Binance app to instantly transact nearly 150 supported cryptocurrencies without fees. A Dec.13 blog post from Binance US clarifies that Pay transactions will feature zero gas or transaction fees, and notes that the app is …

Binance appears to be suffering from a decline in liquidity. A report from crypto analytics firm, Nansen, indicates that Binance has had net withdrawals of more than $3.6 Billion from Dec. 7 to Dec. 13. Binance gross outflows have been approximately $8.8 billion, while gross inflows have been around $5.1 billion. Binance Netflow 7D ($) -3,660,311,347 8,783,380,428 - Outflow 5,123,069,081 - Inflow Exchange Flows dashboard ⤵️https://t.co/CYrBQLryQ0 pic.twitter.com/vV6vcqoWKK — Nansen (@nansen_ai) December 13, 2022 In addition, daily net inflows of Ethereum ERC-20 tokens to Binance were more than $2 billion per day back in November, but have reversed into outflows of …