Top Stories This Week Binance founder CZ must stay in US until sentencing, judge orders Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has been ordered to stay in the United States until his sentencing in February, with a federal judge determining there’s too much of a flight risk if the former crypto exchange CEO is allowed to return to the United Arab…
Binance compliance commitments with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) were unsealed on Dec. 8, revealing a significant government oversight of the crypto exchange operation and business activities. In an analysis shared on X (formerly Twitter), John Reed Stark, a former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official, classified the “exhaustive list” of Binance’s new compliance commitments as a “consulting…
Stablecoin issuer Tether has announced another step toward cooperation with law enforcement and regulatory agencies by initiating a voluntary wallet-freezing policy, according to a blog post on Dec. 9. Since Dec. 1, Tether has been offering on the secondary market controls to freeze activity connected with Sanctioned persons on the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Specially Designated…
Decentralized exchange (DEX) Lifinity had its LFNTY-USDC pool drained by an arbitrage bot on Dec. 8. According to Lifinity’s Discord channel, an unexpected response to a failed trade caused the $699,090 loss. A Lifinity’s core member known as Durden explained that a bot attempted an arbitrage trade following the route USDC > xLFNTY > LFNTY > USDC, trying to profit…
Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt. Bitcoin continued to rally this week—and pushed up meme coins while it was at it. The biggest cryptocurrency by market cap is now trading for $44,021 per coin, according to CoinGecko. Over the past 24 hours, that’s a rise of less than 1%. But over the week, it has shot up by 13.4%. Experts…
How do crypto protocols incentivize and reward early users and contributors? Token airdrops. By handing out protocol tokens, the early users who helped build and propel a network or app are typically given a say in decentralized governance—and the tokens have value, too. Not every airdrop will fill your wallet with a sizable bag of tokens, but you never know—users…
Bitcoin (BTC) risks “rolling over” to cancel its latest uptrend, new analysis warns as altcoins surge. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Dec. 9, popular analyst and social media commentator Matthew Hyland flipped cautious on BTC price action. Bitcoin dominance risks violating key level Bitcoin bulls kept momentum hot into the end of the week’s Wall Street trading…
Blockchain technology in Christmas giving From enhancing transparency and trust in charitable donations to introducing the concept of tokenized gifts, blockchain is infusing a new spirit into the season. As the festive lights begin to twinkle and the scent of pine fills the air, the season of giving takes center stage. The tradition of exchanging gifts during Christmas has long…
In four days, wallets linked to defunct crypto trading firms FTX and Alameda Research moved $23.59 million worth of digital assets to top cryptocurrency exchanges. Blockchain analytics firm Spot On Chain identified the movement, estimating that the defunct entities have transferred $591 million since Oct. 24 using 59 different cryptocurrency tokens. The wallets linked to FTX spread the latest transfer…
Asset manager VanEck filed a fifth amended application for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Dec. 8. According to the regulator’s database, the amended filing to the S-1 Form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) highlights updates to the VanEck Bitcoin Trust, a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. A spot Bitcoin ETF is an investment vehicle that lets people…
