Cryptocurrency

The Decrypt report was subsequently updated to reflect Zhao’s assertion. Despite this correction, Zhao maintained that the report contained substantial inaccuracies, though he did not provide specific details regarding these inaccuracies.This development follows closely behind another contentious issue involving Binance.US and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC has leveled accusations against Binance.US, operated by BAM, regarding the management and safeguarding of customer assets. A pivotal court hearing is set for October 12.The SEC’s dispute with Binance.US centers around an entity referred to as “Ceffu,” which the SEC alleges is a newly rebranded Binance entity involved in customer asset custody. Zhao has vehemently denied these allegations, labeling them as baseless.Amidst these controversies, Binance has also seen a significant drop in its Bitcoin trading volume. Reports indicate a 57% decrease in the platform’s 7-day average spot trading volume for Bitcoin since the start of September. This decline coincides with intensifying regulatory scrutiny on Binance across multiple jurisdictions.In addition to US-based concerns, French authorities conducted an investigation into Binance’s office in France last month over allegations of illegal provision of digital-asset services and aggravated money laundering. The exchange has also been ordered to cease operations in Nigeria by the country’s SEC and faces regulatory challenges in several European countries such as Belgium and Austria.Despite these challenges, Binance continues to operate while addressing regulatory concerns and correcting public misinformation.This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C. More

On Tuesday, the hackers managed to move a portion of the stolen funds to the MEXC exchange and bridged funds to Ethereum and Bitcoin. The decentralized exchange Balancer’s domain names were compromised in a Domain Name System (DNS) attack on Monday, redirecting users or their transactions to a malicious destination. Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT reported a loss of $238,000, while Arkham’s inflow data indicated that tokens worth $253,044 had been stolen in total. The Balancer team first alerted users about the issue on Monday evening and has since been working toward full recovery of the Balancer UI. Users have been advised not to interact with the Balancer UI until further notice. Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) alerts have also been set up to warn users about interacting with the platform.This breach comes just weeks after Balancer warned its users of a critical vulnerability in its system. Shortly after this revelation, the protocol experienced an exploit related to this vulnerability which reportedly cost them an estimated $2 million.Despite these incidents, Balancer contributor Cosme Fulanito assured users that Balancer’s vault remains “100% fine.” However, many in the community are anxiously waiting for more official clarifications from the platform.These breaches serve as stark reminders of the risks associated with the rapidly evolving DeFi sector. With the complex smart contract mechanisms that underpin it, even seemingly secure platforms like Balancer can become targets for sophisticated cyber-attacks. As such, users and platforms alike must exercise extreme caution and regularly review and update their security protocols.This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C. More

Announcing the news on Sept. 18, Grayscale said that the firm has “irrevocably abandoned” all the rights to ETHPoW tokens on behalf of the record date shareholders of each product.Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More

The large-scale transfers began on Friday, September 3, when Ripple unlocked 1 billion tokens from escrow for the month. The first transfer involved a Ripple-controlled wallet sending 29.7 million XRP ($15 million) to the U.K.-based exchange Bitstamp. The same Ripple-controlled address was responsible for 11 more transfers, each involving an excess of 29 million tokens. The last two transactions saw the movement of 29.6 million XRP ($14.5 million) on Friday, September 17, and 30 million XRP ($15.1 million) on Saturday, September 18.Another Ripple-controlled address carried out the remaining transactions, moving a total of 175 million XRP tokens in two transactions on Monday, September 11, and Saturday, September 18. These tokens were sent to another Ripple-affiliated wallet and subsequently routed through several addresses to exchanges.These transactions have stirred up intense speculation within the XRP community due to their repetitive nature and targeted destinations. Notably, most of the transferred tokens were moved to Bitstamp, an exchange in which Ripple acquired a stake back in May for an undisclosed amount.The magnitude of these transactions has caused ripples in the market, leading to speculations about potential systemic selloffs. The recent acquisition of financial services entity Fortress by Ripple has further added fuel to the fire. Questions are being raised about whether Ripple could potentially be leveraging its XRP holdings to facilitate such acquisitions.However, it is important to note that Ripple has a history of moving large amounts of XRP for various operational reasons. In August, the firm transferred 31 million XRP and in March, it moved 120 million XRP in a single transaction. Ripple also transferred 100 million XRP in February and January to several addresses.As of press time, neither Ripple nor Bitstamp has provided any official insight into these recent transactions. The crypto community awaits an official response, perhaps in Ripple’s next quarterly report on its XRP sales. At time of writing, XRP was trading at $0.5139.This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C. More

This move by Grayscale is significant in light of the SEC’s approval of Bitcoin futures ETFs registered under both acts. Furthermore, about a dozen other financial firms including Volatility Shares, Bitwise, ProShares, VanEck, Roundhill, and Valkyrie Investments have also recently applied for Ethereum futures ETFs. Nasdaq’s Hashdex joined the race as well on September 13 with its filing for Hashdex Nasdaq Ethereum ETF.Grayscale’s latest filing follows a court ruling that reversed the SEC’s earlier decision to deny Grayscale’s application to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot Bitcoin ETF. The SEC had initially rejected Grayscale’s proposal citing concerns about investor protection against fraudulent and manipulative practices in the Bitcoin market.In response to this denial, Grayscale criticized the agency’s stance as “illogical” and “discriminatory”, arguing that the SEC’s reasoning was inconsistent as they have used similar arguments to reject numerous Bitcoin-focused ETFs in the past. Moreover, four affiliations – The Blockchain Society, The Chamber of Digital Commerce, the Chamber of Progress, and Coin Center – filed an amicus curiae expressing their support for Grayscale and criticizing the SEC’s decision.The recent court ruling is considered a significant victory for Grayscale in its legal battle against the SEC. It allows them to move forward with their plans for a Bitcoin spot ETF. This development comes amidst the backdrop of Grayscale’s GBTC fund currently trading at a 20.3% discount, as reported by Ycharts.On the same day of the Ethereum futures ETF filing, Grayscale also published a market update detailing its thoughts on US monetary policy. With the Federal Reserve meeting on September 20 to discuss rate hikes and fiscal policy for the last quarter, Grayscale analysts expressed confidence that the outcome will be positive for crypto markets. They anticipate that either the Federal Reserve will signal the end of rate hikes or one more increase in Q4, which they believe will likely drive crypto and traditional assets over the short run.This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C. More

According to Glassnode’s Bitcoin supply last active chart, inactive BTC that has not moved from an address for more than one-, three- and five-year time frames has been at all-time highs since July 2023.Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More

The network upgrade and hard fork for Neo is scheduled to occur upon reaching the 4,120,000th block height, projected to be around 13:00 GMT (09:00 ET). In preparation for this event, Binance has imposed a temporary suspension on deposits and withdrawals on the Neo network, starting from approximately 12:00 GMT today.Neo, an innovative blockchain project founded in 2014 by Da Hongfei and Erik Zhang under the name AntShares, was designed to fully digitize assets and identities using smart contracts. This approach aims to promote a smarter economy where digital assets and identities serve as key components to enhance individuals’ quality of life. By establishing a distributed, network-based, intelligent economic system using decentralized applications, Neo seeks to automate the management of digital assets through smart contracts.In June 2017, AntShares underwent a rebranding process and took on its current name – Neo. The platform operates with two native tokens: NEO and NEO Gas. It distinguishes itself from other blockchain platforms like Bitcoin and Ethereum by emphasizing compliance and serving as a development platform for decentralized applications. Notably, it uses a unique consensus mechanism known as Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance (dBFT).This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C. More

As of Wednesday, the trading volume of XRP in the U.S. is nearing $30 billion for the first nine months of the year, according to data from Kaiko. This figure signifies a remarkable comeback for XRP, which was barred from many American cryptocurrency exchanges until mid-July.In the wake of the court ruling, large U.S. traders were keen to regain access to altcoin trades. Major U.S. exchanges such as Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), Gemini, and Kraken quickly moved to relist XRP following the court’s decision.The effects of XRP’s growth have been felt globally. Kaiko’s data reveals that in August alone, the average daily trading volume for XRP was $462.8 million. This figure is 3.6 times higher than that of Solana, which came second on the list with $128.4 million across all exchanges. In the week following the July ruling, XRP’s trading volume even surpassed those of Bitcoin and Ethereum. This trend appears to be continuing into September with daily trading volumes averaging over $1 billion, making XRP one of the most traded cryptocurrencies after Bitcoin and Ethereum.Kaiko also reports an increase in XRP’s liquidity, with the market depth of XRP rising following the Ripple/SEC case ruling in July. Prior to the ruling, XRP’s monthly average depth was $8 million, but it has since risen to $12 million by early September.Despite this heightened market activity, XRP has seen a decrease in its price from its peak in mid-July. The price of XRP reached a high of $0.938 but has since fallen to $0.515, although it appears poised to continue its rally.This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C. More