Tag: Binance

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Binance Crypto News FTX Markets

Binance to Liquidate FTX Token Holdings Following a Balance Sheet Report on FTX’s Sister Company

Speculation about the financial position of the Sam Bankman-Fried backed companies FTX and Alameda Research has led to Binance dumping its FTT and shaken the value of the crypto tokens. 

On November 7, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao tweeted that the company would liquidate the FTT it holds “due to recent revelations that have came to light…” and would aim to avoid impacting the market.

Those “revelations” arise from a recent report by CoinDesk that raised concerns about the ties between Sam Bankman-Fried’s two companies and how Alameda Research’s financials indicate its biggest asset is unlocked FTT.

FTX Financial Concerns “Unfounded”: SBF 

CEO of trading firm Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison, claimed on Twitter that the balance sheet that sparked the concern was incomplete and did not reflect more than $10 billion of assets held by the company. 

FTX founder and CEO of crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried took to Twitter to thank supporters and especially “those who stay level headed during crazy times” in light of what he describes as the “unfounded rumours” circulating. 

In his tweet about liquidating Binance’s FTT tokens, CZ Zhao said Binance encouraged industry collaboration and had no intent to hurt users or other platforms, stating: “Regarding any speculation as to whether this is a move against a competitor, it is not.”

The taint of scandal has already had an impact, with FTT down more than 12 percent in the past seven days, currently trading at $22.35. Many social media users are wary of the token’s collapse.

Bankman-Fried said the exchange would keep going:

“And in the end you should do what you want, and trade where you want.  We’re grateful to those who stay; and when this blows over we’ll welcome everyone else back.”

Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX CEO
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Binance Crypto News Terra

Class-Action Lawsuit Launched Against Binance US for UST Collapse

An unprecedented class-action lawsuit numbering more than 2,000 plaintiffs has been filed against Binance.US in the aftermath of the Terra collapse, accusing the exchange of “misleading investors”.

First Terra Class-Action in the US

Filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the lawsuit marks the first Terra class-action in the US. Roche Freedman LLP will be championing the investors’ case in alleging that Terra’s US dollar-based UST was marketed with higher stability than claimed and promoted by misleading advertising.

Roche Freedman also alleges that Binance.US is not registered as an exchange, nor as a broker-dealer, meaning it could have been violating securities law by listing an unregistered security in UST:

Binance.US has responded to these claims in stating that “Binance.US is registered by FinCEN [US Treasury’s financial intelligence unit] and adheres to all applicable regulations. These assertions are without merit, and we will defend ourselves vigorously.” The lawsuit also names Binance’s chief executive, Brian Shroder, as a co-defendant.

Binance Challenges Money-Laundering Allegations

Only a week ago, Binance challenged allegations regarding the laundering of US$2.4 billion. According to a Reuters report, the stolen funds had been laundered through the exchange between 2017 and 2021. The report, which Binance labelled a “woefully misinformed op-ed”, followed previous investigations into unreported crypto income.

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Bitcoin Crypto Exchange

Major Crypto Exchanges Goes Down as Bitcoin Exceeds US$20,000

Major Crypto Exchanges Goes Down as Bitcoin Exceeds US$20,000

Two leading digital currency exchanges, Coinbase and Binance, reportedly went down following the latest Bitcoin (BTC) move to US$20,000. These exchanges usually face connectivity issues due to high demand and influx of traffic whenever there is a price rally in the crypto market. The new Bitcoin price holds quite an exciting time for Bitcoin investors as the leading crypto makes price discovery.

Coinbase, Binance Surfers Server Downtime

On Twitter, a crypto user noted that Coinbase was experiencing connectivity issues due to high traffic. A further glance at Downdetector showed a spike in new reports of downtime on the exchange at 3:17 PM UTC. This was after the cryptocurrency crossed the long-awaited US$20K level.

It’s worth noting that Coinbase also experienced a downtime last month during the market rally. At that time, the founder of the exchange, Brian Armstrong, assured that they will “add additional capacity (both in servers and customer support) to deal with increased traffic.” Judging by this, the exchange may have seen bigger traffic to cause another downtime again, same with Binance.

The largest exchange by market capitalization briefly went down amid the spike in Bitcoin. The downtime was also caused by massive traffic on the exchange, as CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ) confirmed, saying that they are working to add more servers to handle the traffic.

Bitcoin at Over US$20,000

As Bitcoin broke through the US$20K resistance, a majority of addresses holding BTC were reported to be in a state of profit. At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency is trading at the price of US$20,644 on Coinmarketcap. The surge today also pushed the crypto’s market capitalization to another all-time high this year, thereby strengthening its position as the “king crypto.” At the moment, Bitcoin’s market capitalization sits around US$383 billion.

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Binance

Leading Exchange, Binance Files Defamation Lawsuit Against Forbes Media

Leading Exchange, Binance Files Defamation Lawsuit Against Forbes Media

On October 29, Forbes published a viral report, “Leaked ‘Tai Chi’ Document Reveals Binance’s Elaborate Scheme To Evade Bitcoin Regulators,” asserting that the leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance planned to evade US regulations by establishing an exchange in the country. Shortly after the publication, the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), took to his Twitter handle to refute the claims. He argued that the statements and accusations in the report were incorrect.

Today, the exchange took things a little further by opening a defamation lawsuit against the American business magazine, Forbes.

All Statements are “Highly Defamatory,” Says Binance

According to the information, Binance filed the complaints with the United States District Court in News Jersey, seeking compensatory and punitive damages. The crypto exchange hired a popular media litigation attorney, Charles J. Harder of HARDER LLP in New York, to represent them in the ongoing case. Binance also wants the article to be taken down because it has tarnished the exchange’s reputation.

Charles J. Harder, the attorney for Binance, commented:

“Forbes’ misleading story has done great harm to Binance’s reputation. Binance demanded Forbes’ retraction or correction, but it has refused. This lawsuit therefore became necessary. Binance intends to see this lawsuit through to the end, to ensure the truth and protect its reputation.”

Forbes Stands on its Report

Basically, the statements and claims in the Forbes document were drawn from a document which is assumed to have been created by a senior executive in Binance. The document was more like an outline of how Binance allegedly planned to evade regulations in the US by establishing a subsidiary in the country. 

As Forbes staff writer Michael del Castillo reported, Binance allegedly plotted to “distract regulators” with such a strategy in order to “move revenue in the form of licensing fees and more to the parent company, Binance.”

Although Binance flagged the statement as defamatory, Forbes is holding ground on the report. “We stand by our reporting,” said Forbes Chief Communications Officer Matthew Hutchison.