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Gwadabe reportedly emphasized that Binance trading has increasingly established itself as a central point for both the Investor and Exporters window as well as the parallel market. Binance continues to experience an increase in regulatory heat as the Federal Government of Nigeria is being urged by the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) to prohibit the activities of Binance within the nation. ABCON is a self-regulatory body and an umbrella for all the central bank-licensed Bureaux de Change (BDC). This action comes in response to the association reportedly recognizing Binance as a significant contributor to the pressure on the naira. As reported by Nairametrics, a local news agency, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, president of ABCON, provided this counsel in an interview held on Aug. 8 in Lagos. Gwadabe reportedly emphasized that Binance trading has increasingly established itself as a central point for both the Investor and Exporters window as well as the parallel mar...

If BTC price consolidates in the $25,000 range, ETH, XRP, LDO and RNDR could be the first altcoins to break out with recovery rallies. Altcoin price s crumbled after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase at the start of the week. Apart from the action against the two biggest crypto exchanges, investors seem to be nervous because the SEC labeled 23 cryptocurrencies as securities in the two lawsuits. That brings the total number of cryptocurrencies termed as securities by the SEC to 67. Among the mayhem, a minor positive is that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) have held out relatively well. This suggests that institutional investors are not panicking and dumping their positions. Due to their outperformance, Bitcoin’s dominance has risen to a year-to-date high of 47.6% and Ether’s to 20%. Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360 The uncertainty in the near term is likely to keep several investors on the sidelines. ...

The Terra crash anniversary sparks reflections on the importance of liquidity, transparency and user protection in the crypto industry. On the anniversary of the Terra collapse, the cryptocurrency community reflected on the lessons learned from the event that wiped out the $40 billion ecosystem and caused Bitcoin (BTC) to drop from $28,000 to $19,000. While the incident was undoubtedly painful for those who lost money, it also served as a wake-up call for the industry to focus on liquidity, transparency and user protection.  Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao shared Bitcoin’s price movement history in a tweet on May 11, recalling the Terra crash one year ago and stating several valuable lessons to be learned from the event. Following the crash, CZ emphasized, through his messaging, the importance of transparency and safeguarding users, including his “poor again” tweet. To prevent governance attacks after the significant devaluation of the network’s Terra (LUNA) token, validators of th...

Binance announces plans to embrace the Lightning Network; which large crypto exchanges are Lightning ready, and which are yet to be struck? The recent surge in Bitcoin (BTC) transaction fees has lit a fire under one of the largest crypto exchanges to upgrade to the Bitcoin Lightning Network. Following a second halt in withdrawals, Binance announced it would work on “enabling BTC Lightning Network withdrawals, which will help in such situations.” To prevent a similar recurrence in the future, our fees have been adjusted. We will continue to monitor on-chain activity and adjust accordingly if needed. Our team has also been working on enabling BTC Lightning Network withdrawals, which will help in such situations. — Binance (@binance) May 8, 2023 The Lightning Network (LN) is a federated system for cheap, near-instant payments built atop Bitcoin. When the Bitcoin mempool (where transactions waiting to be confirmed gather) is full or busy, the Lightning Network is unaffected. Severa...

Bitcoin and select altcoins are showing a continuation pattern, indicating indecision among the bulls and the bears. Investors seem to have priced in a 25 basis points rate hike by the United States Federal Reserve on May 3. Next, they will look for clues on the Fed’s actions for the rest of the year. Will the Fed maintain its hawkish stance as inflation still remains well above its target range or will the bank troubles and the looming recession make the central bank signal a pause in its rate hikes? The World Economic Forum Chief Economists Outlook report released on May 1 shows that 80% of the chief economists believe that central banks have to maintain a delicate balance between “managing inflation and maintaining financial sector stability.” The economists anticipate that the central banks will find it difficult to bring down inflation to their target levels. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 Arthur Hayes, the co-founder and former CEO of crypto derivative...

Crypto P2P users in Nigeria worry over using various platforms to launder funds as the country's central bank cracks down on bank accounts that receive a share of Flutterwave’s rumored stolen funds. Nigerian crypto investors using peer-to-peer (P2P) services have expressed concerns about the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) flagging their bank accounts. CBN's decision to flag accounts is believed to be in relation to the near $6.3 million (2.9 billion nairas) Flutterwave hack, as the bank accounts have yet-to-be-proven affiliations with the hack. According to local news sources, on February 19, 2023, Albert Onimole, legal counsel for Flutterwave, a Nigerian fintech company, allegedly reported a case to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, in Yaba, Lagos, of almost $6.5 million (3 billion nairas) that had been illegally transferred from the accounts of his client. On February 27th, a motion ex-parte was filed and granted in support of Flutterwave's claims. According to the motio...

Kraken has put an end to staking as a service and Coinbse could eventually be forced to follow suit. Will this create opportunities for LDO, FXS and RPL? The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is ramping up pressure on the crypto sector. On Feb. 9, the SEC reached a $30 million settlement with Kraken over the centralized staking program offered to its users. The news of the crackdown sent Bitcoin (BTC) price to a 3-week low as investors became fearful of the regulatory enforcement. On the news, Ether's (ETH) price also corrected, cementing the token’s worst-performing day of 2023. While the overall crypto market was down after the SEC announcement, bright spots arose with decentralized liquid staking tokens Lido (LDO) and Rocketpool (RPL) and Frax (FXS) quickly rebounding from their sharp corrections. According to crypto-Twitter analyst Korpi, Kraken and Coinbase represent 33% of all staked Ether, and if US-based centralized exchanges are “forced” to cease offe...

Binance says it has already unblocked 90% of crypto accounts that were suspended due to the Bitzlato investigation. Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has been silently shutting down multiple accounts on the platform in relation to the Bitzlato investigation, according to several users. On Jan. 18, a group of Russian-speaking Binance clients complained about blocked account s and not being able to withdraw their funds from the exchange. The affected users created a Telegram group chat to report about the issues, stating that the account s were blocked without a warning. The members of the group — now counting more than 1,000 members — promptly drew parallels between the blockages and enforcement action against the crypto firm Bitzlato by the United States Department of Justice. The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network also listed Binance among the top Bitcoin (BTC) counterparties of Bitzlato. Many chat members have openly admitted that they used Bitzlato, including incoming and outg...

Crypto-related stocks, ETFs and tokens have all surged in price so far in 2023 despite experts expecting the Federal Reserve to continue hiking interest rates. The share price of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has surged by 69% since its all time lows and other crypto-related stocks including business intelligence firm MicroStrategy have recorded similar jumps with green candles all around since the start of 2023. The share price of Coinbase fell as low as $31.95 on Jan. 6, before shooting up to $54.14 by the close of trading on Jan. 17. Coinbase’s share price for the last month. Source: Yahoo Finance The rising share price will likely be accompanied by a huge sigh of relief for Coinbase executives after a challenging 2022 saw it cut 20% of its workforce and decide to wind down its Japanese operations. Despite the surge , COIN remains more than 84% below its all time high. Other crypto-related stocks such as MicroStrategy and digital payments company Block Inc. have also posted stro...

The Thai securities regulator now requires crypto custodians to have a contingency plan in case of occurrence of any unforeseen events. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Thailand is working to better protect cryptocurrency investors by introducing new rules for crypto custody services. Thai SEC on Jan. 17 issued regulations requiring virtual asset service providers (VASP) to establish a digital wallet management system to guarantee efficient custody. The new rules target crypto custodians, or VASPs that provide crypto storage services. The regulations include three major requirements, including provision of policy and guidelines for overseeing risk management of digital wallets and private keys. The rules require VASPs to communicate with regulators regarding such policies and provide action plans to ensure compliance. Additionally, the SEC requested crypto custodians to provide policy and procedures for design, development and management of digital wallets and keys. T...