It might seem like forever and a day ago when the Bitcoin (BTC) price was trading below $18,000, but in reality, it was 40 days ago. Generally, cryptocurrency traders tend to have a short-term memory and, more importantly, they attribute less importance to negative news during bull runs. A great example of this behavior is BTC’s 15% gain since Feb. 13, despite a steady flow of bad news in the crypto market. For instance, on Feb. 13, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) ordered Paxos to "cease minting" the Paxos-issued Binance USD (BUSD) dollar-pegged stablecoin. Similarly, Reuters …

Financial Stability Board (FSB) chair Klaas Knot has outlined how the organization plans to address key threats to financial stability this year in a Feb. 20 letter sent to the G20’s Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors. Crypto assets and decentralized finance (DeFi) had a prominent place on the list of challenges the FSB saw. The G20 ministers and bankers group is meeting Feb. 24-25 in Bengaluru, India. The FSB has an “ambitious work programme” for finalizing a crypto asset regulatory framework in 2023, Knot said. The FSB is an advisory body created by the G20 and affiliated with the …

Decentralized finance yield platform Stablegains has been sued in a Californian court for allegedly misleading investors and failing to comply with securities laws. On Feb. 18, plaintiffs Alec and Artin Ohanian filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the central district of California. In it they alleged that Stablegains, a DeFi platform launched in August 2021, diverted all of its customer funds to the Anchor Protocol without their knowledge or consent. Anchor Protocol offered yields of up to 20% on the Terraform Labs algorithmic stablecoin, Terra USD (UST). “As an early supporter of and investor in TFL [Terraform …

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has denied a report that the company is considering cutting ties with United States business partners. Binance has been the object of increasing scrutiny from U.S. regulators in recent weeks. Bloomberg reported on Feb. 17 that Binance Holdings “is looking at whether to sever ties with intermediary firms such as banks and services firms and is reassessing venture-capital investments in the US,” citing an unnamed source. The source added that tokens from U.S.-based projects, such as Circle’s USD Coin (USDC), may be delisted. On the same day, in response to a report on the Bloomberg report, …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC's) lawsuit against Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon could be seen as an SEC “roadmap” to taking down other stablecoins, according to a lawyer. Gabriel Shapiro, general counsel at investment firm Delphi Labs, explained to his 33,800 Twitter followers on Feb. 16 that the SEC’s arguments in its complaint against Kwon and Terraform were “more thorough than usual.” whew lad, lots to digest in the SEC lawsuit vs Do Kwon and Terraform Labs right off the bat, a very interesting fact is that the SEC is being more thorough than usual--specifically …

Only days after reports of United States regulatory scrutiny of Paxos and Binance USD (BUSD), cryptocurrency exchange Binance has minted nearly $50 million worth of TrueUSD (TUSD). The transaction took place on Feb. 16, according to data from Etherscan, and also comes two days after Binance CEO Chanpeng 'CZ' Zhao said in a Feb. 14 Twitter Spaces that Binance would look to “diversify” its stablecoin holdings away from BUSD. We're live! Tune-in to our Twitter Space AMA with @cz_binance below https://t.co/bXIztCKdry — Binance (@binance) February 14, 2023 Despite minting nearly $50 million in TUSD from the TrustToken platform’s smart contract …

In this week’s episode of Market Talks, Cointelegraph welcomes Michaël van de Poppe, a full-time day/swing trader in cryptocurrencies based at the Amsterdam Stock Exchange who’s interested in everything related to blockchain in combination with the current financial system. He is also the CEO and founder of Eight Global, a cryptocurrency education and consultancy platform. We kick things off by getting van de Poppe’s take on the current market and how he’s feeling about things at the moment. Generally, everyone’s views on external macro factors that impact crypto prices are mostly United States-centric. Since van de Poppe is based in …

The Financial Stability Board (FSB), the financial regulator funded by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), is pushing international regulations for decentralized finance (DeFi). The FSB on Feb. 16 issued a report on the financial stability risks of DeFi, highlighting major vulnerabilities, transmission channels and the evolution of DeFi. Despite providing many “novel” services, DeFi “does not differ substantially” from traditional finance (TradFi) in its functions, the authority said in the report. By trying to replicate some functions of TradFi, DeFi increases potential vulnerabilities due to the use of novel technologies, the high degree of ecosystem interlinkages and the lack …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wants to sue Paxos for issuing and listing stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD) to the benefit of its top-rival stablecoin Tether (USDT), whose market capitalization has risen to multi-month highs. BUSD market cap drops by $2 billion The SEC asserts that BUSD, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, is a security, noting that Paxos has violated investor protection laws by white-labeling it. Related: Paxos ‘categorically disagrees’ with the SEC that BUSD is a security Since Feb. 13 when the news broke, the BUSD market cap has lost roughly $2 billion, down to around $14 billion as …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has started ramping up its crackdown on the crypto industry and recent enforcement actions had a negative impact on crypto prices last week and at the start of this week. The SEC is focusing on stablecoin issuers. The most recent SEC stablecoin crackdown was on Feb. 13 through the issuance of a Wells Notice to Paxos Trust Company, the issuer of Binance USD (BUSD). While Paxos denies that BUSD is a security, which would place it outside the SEC’s jurisdiction, some lawyers say the answer is not so simple, which creates fear …

On Feb. 13, Binance's native token, BNB, recorded its worst daily performance since November 2022, falling 8.5% to below $285. BNB price has since recovered to over $298, but its possibility of facing another selloff remains high. Let's take a look at a few reasons why. BNB price rising wedge breakdown The ongoing decline in BNB's price came as a part of a broader rising wedge breakdown. Notably, on Feb. 9, BNB broke out of its rising wedge pattern, a bearish reversal setup that forms as the price trends upward inside a range defined by two ascending, converging trendlines. As …

The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) behind Lido — the largest Ethereum staking pool — is deliberating whether it should sell or stake the $30 million in Ether (ETH) from its treasury. A proposal was submitted on Feb. 14 by the DAO’s financial unit, Steakhouse Financial that considers four choices, one of which contemplates staking part or all of its ETH on Lido in the form of Lido Staked ETH (stETH). Another would see LidoDAO selling a part or all of its 20,304 ETH for a stablecoin, with the purpose being to extend the DAO’s runway. The proposal comes as ETH …