Tag: binance

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao Sues Bloomberg’s Chinese Subsidiary for Defamation: Report

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has reportedly filed a defamation case against Bloomberg’s Chinese subsidiary called the Modern Media Company. The crypto mogul has raised a legal objection against a story by the media company titled ‘Changpeng Zhao’s Ponzi Scheme’ by filing this lawsuit. The legal team representing Binance has claimed that Zhao has faced distress and embarrassment among other consequences of this article. Zhao has reportedly demanded a formal apology from Modern Media Company for publishing derogatory comments about him.

The Chinese edition of Bloomberg Businessweek put Zhao on the cover of its 250th issue recently. In the backdrop of Zhao’s defamation case against this controversially titled story, the media firm has reportedly tweaked the headline to “The Mysterious Changpeng Zhao”.

Screenshots of the original headline and the changed title, written in Mandarin, have found their way to social media.

As per a CoinDesk report, the world’s richest crypto billionaire has demanded a retraction of the edition from the newsstands.

Zhao’s legal team is also looking to obtain  a restraining order to stop the publication from further spreading “hate, ridicule, and contempt” against Zhao.

In addition, Zhao’s lawyers have filed a separate motion of discovery against Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Inc. in New York for editorially approving “defamatory allegations” in the profile piece.

While Zhao has not released public comments on his legal action against Bloomberg, the 44-year-old cryptopreneur did post a cryptic tweet a day ago that appears to take a dig at the publication.

As of now, Bloomberg is yet to issue public comments on the reported case.

This is not the first time however, that Zhao has taken a rather aggressive approach towards defending his reputation, that also impacts his company.

Binance sued venture capital firm Sequoia in 2019 and then Forbes in 2020 for defamation.

The company recently appointed Krishna Juvvadi as the vice president and head of its legal team. The Indian origin official has previously served as a trial attorney at US’ Department of Justice (DoJ) and as the global head of operations compliance at Uber.

The company is laying special focus on strengthening its legal teams in different parts of the world, to ensure that its business and operations are protected and well represented globally.

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Binance Actively Monitoring Indian Market to Identify Best Approach: Ken Li

The engineering talent and the emerging Web3 community of India has caught the eye of Binance, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world. The company’s incubation and venture capital arm called Binance Labs, which is gearing up for the fifth season of its incubation program, is expecting to onboard promising blockchain projects from around the world, including India, under its wings. The US-based crypto mammoth is actively monitoring India’s local market environment to identify the best market approach, Ken Li, the investment director at Binance Labs, told Gadgets 360 in an interview.

“We are currently fielding applications for the fifth season until the end of July. We focus on fundamentals and long-termism to select projects that will bring a direct impact on the blockchain industry. Web3 start-ups in India have great potential to grow,” said Li, who leads the incubation program for Binance.

One project that Binance Labs boasts about having supported in its initial stages is Polygon. The eco-friendly blockchain, which has recently been picked by Disney to participate in its accelerator program, is an Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution developed by Indian co-founders Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, and Anurag Arjun.

As per Li, his team keeps close connection with Polygon’s investment team for ecosystem value creation and deal synergy.

In the fourth instalment of its incubation program, Binance had closed a funding of $500 million (roughly Rs. 4,000 crore) with 14 selected teams that were developing products and services around DeFi, metaverse, as well as crypto fintech.

“The criteria that Binance Labs seeks before onboarding projects in its incubation program include business model, product innovation as well as team quality and overall background,” Li noted.

Navigating through innovative projects year after year, the Investment Director at Binance Labs believes that the DeFi space has the potential to create more open and free financial markets.

As per a recent analysis by Emergen Research, the global DeFi market size is expected to reach $507.92 billion (roughly Rs. 40,49,200 crore) by 2028.

Meanwhile, Li expects that building more projects aligning metaverse with other elements of the Web3 sector could decentralise the virtual economy sooner than later.

In his advice to the up-and-coming crypto founders, Li said they need to stay ahead of the curve by constantly learning about new technology trends and having a clear product vision to ensure long-term viability.

“Web3 is a budding industry that holds a lot of potential for start-up founders. I would also advise founders getting into the Web3 space to be focused on growing the ecosystem by spreading awareness to not just users, but to the overall consumer base of fintech in their countries. This may not immediately facilitate any short-term gains in user growth. Yet, it is important to invest in quality research-based education to counter common misconceptions and misinformation in this space,” the Binance Labs honcho added.

Binance has been taking initiatives to educate people about the crypto and Web3 sector via means of online and offline programs.

For now, Binance Labs is gearing up to meet the teams which qualify to be part of its incubation initiative that kick offs between October and December.

As for projects made by Indian minds, Binance Labs is expecting to see more options to pick from.

Earlier this year, the entity made a strategic investment in pStake Finance, a liquid staking protocol, created by Indian developer Tushar Aggarwal and his team at Persistence, a company aiming to build an ecosystem of decentralised apps.

“India has established itself as a fintech innovation hub globally. We believe the same level of innovation can be unlocked in the world of crypto and blockchain. PStake, for instance, allows users to stake their proof-of-stake assets while earning DeFi yields. This project has brought additional innovation into the BNB Chain ecosystem and the broader DeFi space,” Li said.

In recent times, other big names in the crypto sector have also put their bets on Indian talent amid regulatory uncertainties around crypto still prevailing in the nation.

Back in April, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong had visited India, expressing interest in hiring Indian developers to be part of the Coinbase team.

In May, Indian blockchain e-sports firm ‘STAN’ bagged investments from OpenSea and Coinbase super angels.

The same month, CoinTracker, a global cryptocurrency tax compliance and portfolio tracking firm, announced its entry into Indian shores in a bid to help crypto users wade through tax complexities and gauge deductions with ease.

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Christie’s NFT Specialist Noah Davis Joins CryptoPunks Project With Yuga Labs

Noah Davis, a key member at auction house Christie’s non-fungible token (NFT) project, has stated that he’s leaving the position as specialist and head of digital in July to take up a post as brand lead for the CryptoPunks NFT collection with Yuga Labs. Announcing the move on Sunday in a Twitter thread, Davis said in one of his tweets “If you’re a Punk holder and you care about the legacy/future of the brand I wanna talk one on-one. I’ll be at the Punks Brunch during NFT NYC and will begin scheduling sit-downs immediately. Wherever Punks go, the community will help guide us.”

Davis was in charge of Beeple’s record-breaking “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” NFT auction, which sold for over $69 million (roughly Rs. 536 crore) in March 2021. The sale created a lot of buzz and spotlight regarding NFTs. It was validation that digital art could be bought and sold at high valuations from respected auction houses that deal with world-class art and luxury products for high-end clientele. With the success of its first NFT sale, Christie’s decided to auction more digital tokens afterwards.

Yuga Labs acquired the intellectual property of the CryptoPunks collection from Larva Labs in March, saying it would transfer full commercial rights to the owners, a promise yet to be realised.

But Yuga Labs co-founder Wiley Aronov, also known as “Gargamel,” signalled the stoppage in a series of tweets on 19 June, writing that it was “too important to rush” and that the new terms “will be in place in the next couple of weeks.”

With the announcement of Davis’ move and the new terms coming into effect soon, some claim insiders knew ahead of time the collection’s growing sales volume.

According to OpenSea, 39 sales of the CryptoPunks collection have taken place since the announcement, with 101 sales in total on Sunday, up from the only 19 sold the day prior, on Saturday.

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Binance Suspends Transactions in Brazil Blaming Central Bank Policy



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TRON DAO Withdraw 2.5 Billion TRX From Binance to Re-Peg USDD Stablecoin

TRON DAO Reserve, which manages the USDD stablecoin, says it is withdrawing 2.5 billion TRX out of Binance to “safeguard the overall blockchain industry and crypto market” after USDD went on to trade for less than $1 (roughly Rs. 78) for a third consecutive day. USDD first lost its peg on 13 June amid a broader market decline that saw the market cap of the industry dip below $1 trillion (roughly Rs. Rs. 77,68,270 crore). The sustained capitulation has led to a comparison with Terra’s UST, which was also an algorithmic stablecoin.

Justin Sun, the founder of TRON, had vowed the lost peg of the stablecoin would be soon recovered, and injected $220 million (roughly Rs. 1,709 crore) on Wednesday to purchase TRX on Binance.

The TRON DAO Reserve has since revealed plans to pull 2.5 billion TRON (TRX) tokens, worth about $125 million (roughly Rs. 971 crore), from the Binance exchange as it attempts to prop up the price of its USDD stablecoin against the US dollar.

TRON DAO Reserve had announced the move on Twitter at a time when USDD had fallen as low as $0.95 (roughly Rs. 74).

Tron DAO’s Binance withdrawal could limit the ability of short sellers to open up positions against the token — a move that appears to be having its desired effect as the token’s value hasn’t dipped further following the withdrawal. That said, USDD is yet to regain its peg and as per CoinGecko, is currently priced at $0.97 (roughly Rs. 75).

According to the official website, the collateralisation ratio of USDD, which aims to demonstrate how secure the stablecoin is, is sitting at 283 percent.

Following the collapse of Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin in May, TRON had announced a plan to significantly increase the amount of capital backing up its own stablecoin. USDD which is a near carbon copy of [Terra’s](https://gadgets360.com/tags/terra algorithmic stablecoin UST — arrived on the TRON blockchain on May 5. Initially designed to maintain its peg to the US dollar algorithmically, albeit, with some backing, USDD was over-collateralised to maintain a minimum collateral ratio of 130 percent, according to founder Justin Sun.



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Binance Announces Crypto Awareness Tour in Africa as Adoption Numbers Spike in 2021

Major global crypto exchange Binance is launching the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Awareness Tour (BCAT) in Africa, a crypto awareness tour within a set location as crypto adoption continues to become a popular trend in the continent. The goal of the tour is to spread blockchain and cryptocurrency awareness as well as educate people across Africa. Besides, it is expected to facilitate the driving of real-world adoption, empowering millions of people across the continent to take to crypto in the process.

The campaign will start on June 4 from South Eastern, Nigeria. Then, it will move across Africa to countries such as Uganda, Ghana, Cameroon, etc. According to Binance’s post, the event will host as many as 5000 Africans.

Binance has been a sponsor of the Blockchain and Crypto Awareness Tour since 2019 when the program was first introduced. It was backed by CryptoTVPlus, a popular blockchain and cryptocurrency media house from Nigeria. At that time, the program was mainly targeting students. Students as a whole would be better positioned on how to make lasting impacts on their societies with the myriad opportunities the blockchain technology affords its enthusiasts.

In 2020, the BCAT took place online because of the coronavirus pandemic. So far, Binance claims the educative tours have reached over 60,000 people. Among other sponsors this year, major entrants include a global decentralised finance (DeFi) platform Xend Finance, decentralised esports and betting platform Sportrex, crypto wallet service Lead Wallet, and crypto payments provider BoundlessPay.

However, the edition of this year’s tour would lean heavily towards the popular play-to-earn economies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and the metaverse. Although Africa is still far behind when it comes to crypto being a contributor to the economy, users have been able to use the assets as a close substitute for the failed payments systems across the region.

In a survey published in late 2021 by Chainalysis, the major drivers of adoption across Africa have been peer-to-peer payments and savings among others. Like in major developing countries, Nigerians are looking at crypto as a means to escape several policies announced by the government and inflation. The awareness tour will also seek to establish a mutual space where crypto discussions will be carried out.

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Binance Has Halted Crypto Derivatives Trading in Spain: Here’s Why

Binance, one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges by transaction volume has decided to disable its derivatives services in Spain while seeking regulatory approval from the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV), a government agency responsible for the financial regulation of the securities markets in the country. Binance’s website in Spain has removed its derivatives drop-down and local newspapers report that the company has temporarily suspended derivatives offerings to comply with regulations and eligibility criteria set by the government agency.

As per a report from local Spanish news outlet La Informacion, Binance has been asked to completely abandon the sale of crypto derivatives in Spain because the authorities believe that such offerings “trigger the complexity of operations for investors and increase the possibility of suffering losses greater than the initial investment” per a joint statement by the CNMV and the Bank of Spain — the country’s central bank.

The report adds that Binance has so far held several meetings with the officials from CNMV in the past few months, and after the warning from the financial regulator, the crypto exchange has decided to drop the derivatives offering from its website.

It is also worth noting that Binance hasn’t been granted an official certificate from the Bank of Spain, which is necessary for every exchange to have in order to operate within the nation. The company applied for the same in January but hasn’t been approved as a crypto broker in the nation for now, which means that Binance lies on the ‘grey list’ of CNMV, which includes those firms that do not yet have the endorsement of the financial regulator, but that cannot be classified under illicit businesses either.

A host of other crypto exchanges including Coinbase and Bit2Me are also part of CNMVs ‘grey list’.

The move does arrive as a bit of a hurdle for Binance in Spain within a week after receiving official approvals from the authorities of France to operate in the country. The cryptocurrency exchange has been listed as a registered virtual assets service provider by AMF, the stock market watchdog of France and is now cleared to provide crypto trading and custody services for crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ether, among others, to French citizens.

Meanwhile, Binance also has operational licences in three UAE regions including Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai.

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Elon Musk’s Latest $7 Billion Twitter Funding Could Face US Regulator Scrutiny: Experts

Elon Musk’s decision to accept some foreign investors as part of his $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,37,000 crore) buyout of Twitter runs the risk of inviting the kind of regulatory scrutiny over US national security that social media peer TikTok faced, legal experts say.

Musk disclosed on Thursday that Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange founded by Chinese native Changpeng Zhao, were part of a group of investors that will help him fund the acquisition of Twitter.

This could give the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) an opening to scrutinize the deal for potential national security risks, six regulatory lawyers not involved in the transaction and interviewed by Reuters said. CFIUS is a panel of government agencies and departments that reviews mergers and acquisitions for potential threats to US security.

“To the extent that Musk’s proposed acquisition of Twitter includes foreign investment, it very well could fall under CFIUS jurisdiction,” said Chris Griner, chair of law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP’s national security practice.

A spokesperson for the US Treasury Department, which chairs CFIUS, declined to comment on whether the national security panel planned to scrutinize Musk’s Twitter deal.

Spokespeople for Musk, bin Talal, Qatar and Binance did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Former President Donald Trump’s administration turned to CFIUS in 2020 in a bid to force TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance to divest the short video app. His successor Joe Biden abandoned that effort after ByteDance agreed to changes on how the data of US users are stored and protected.

The regulatory lawyers interviewed by Reuters said the risk of CFIUS blocking Musk’s deal is small because he will control Twitter under the proposed takeover and the foreign investors are acquiring relatively small stakes.

They added that their assessment would change were Musk to give the foreign investors influence over the company, through a seat on its board or other means.

The risk is not negligible, however, given that the business of handling personal data by social media companies such as Twitter is typically viewed as critical infrastructure by CFIUS, the lawyers said.

“One of the items that’s considered sensitive personal data, is non-public electronic communications. So that would be email, messaging or chat communications between users. Twitter allows you to do that,” law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP partner Richard Sofield said.

One area of potential scrutiny for CFIUS, the lawyers said, could be Musk’s business dealings with foreign governments hostile to free speech or keen to overtake the United States technologically. Tesla, the electric car maker he leads, relies heavily on China, for example, to manufacture and sell its vehicles.

China blocked Twitter in 2009 but many Chinese officials have been active on the social media platform. Some of them have complained that the company’s efforts to restrict misinformation have targeted them unfairly.

“One of the considerations would be whether or not there will be an opportunity for China to leverage its business activity in order to achieve a desired outcome,” Sofield added.

BROADCOM PRECEDENT

There is precedent for CFIUS shooting down a deal based on the risk that an acquirer’s business ties could compromise them, the lawyers said. Trump blocked chip maker Broadcom $117 billion (roughly Rs. 8,99,595 crore) acquisition of US peer Qualcomm 2018 after CFIUS raised concerns about the deal.

Broadcom was a publicly listed company with US shareholders that was headquartered in Singapore, but the White House fretted that Broadcom’s relationship with “third-party foreign entities” would set the US back in its technology race with China.

Nevena Simidjiyska, a regulatory lawyer at law firm Fox Rothschild LLP, said it was possible CFIUS would look into whether Musk or other US investors in the Twitter deal can be influenced by foreign entities in a similar way.

“CFIUS may determine that even US investors in Twitter fall under CFIUS review if they are controlled by foreign parties,” Simidjiyska said.

Musk’s Twitter deal does not face the most common type of regulatory risk seen in mergers and acquisitions — pushback from antitrust regulators. The world’s richest man has no media holdings, and regulatory experts have said they do not expect the deal to face significant antitrust scrutiny.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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Opera’s Web3-Focussed Crypto Browser Now Supports BNB Chain to Enable Asset Trading, dApps

Opera web browser has added support for the BNB blockchain on its ‘crypto-friendly’ platform. The integration will allow Opera users to buy and sell the Binance token and store their assets in its in-built crypto wallet. The integration will also open access to decentralised apps (dApps) such as PancakeSwap, 1inch, and BiSwap among others. As per Opera, this partnership with Binance blockchain will escalate the Web3 adoption among more people. The web browser team has also released an official update on the Opera blog.

“Opera boasts 350 million monthly active users globally, making this a partnership that has the potential to take Web3 adoption to the next level,” the blog post said. “Onboarding to crypto and interacting with dApps, gaming, cryptocurrency, and metaverse platforms on Opera’s browser is customised for new adopters and experienced Web3 users alike.”

Web3 is the next leg of Internet as we know today. Largely based on the blockchain network, Web3 will support 3D experiences such as the metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) among others.

The Norwegian platform, last month, released the beta version of its Web3 browser for iOS devices. It first announced its crypto browser in January.

In March, Opera announced its plans of incorporating more blockchain networks in its in-built crypto wallet. These include Solana, Polygon, StarkEx, Ronin, Celo, Nervos DAO, IXO, and Bitcoin.

Presently, Ether is already supported by the crypto-focused browser’s crypto wallet.

“Opera continues to streamline mainstream access to Web3 and beyond. With the Opera Crypto Browser, existing users of BNB Chain dApps and token holders alike can now join the hundreds of millions of Windows, Android, and Mac users worldwide in having unique Web3 access functionality at their fingertips,” the platform noted.

Opera’s crypto browser also displays a special ‘crypto corner’ that shows related information on the home page including crypto updates, crypto asset price reporting, crypto events as well as token airdrops.

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