Binance stablecoins are shut down, OpenSea is going zero fees, and guess what A-lister just came out to back cryptos. These stories and more this week in crypto.
BUSD minting halted due to regulators
New York State Regulators ordered Paxos, the company behind Binance’s dollar-pegged BUSD stablecoin, to stop issuing more of the coin. The regulator explained that the order stemmed from several unresolved issues related to Paxos’ oversight of its relationship with Binance. BUSD is the third largest stablecoin in the world, backed by $16 billion in assets.
OpenSea NFT market becomes zero fees
The world leader in the NFT market, OpenSea, removes fees from its platform. For a limited time, OpenSea will not charge any marketplace fees, defaulting to optional creator fees. The move comes as OpenSea faces increased competition from popular fee-free marketplace Blur, whose trading volume just overtook OpenSea for the first time since Blur launched in October.
Robinhood’s Crypto Trading Volume Soared
Robinhood Crypto Trading Volume jumped to $3.7 billion in January, which represents a 95% increase over December figures. Although the figure is well below the $9.1 billion recorded in January of last year, Robinhood’s share price rose almost 6% after this week’s announcement.
SEC proposes new rules for crypto assets
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new rules to strengthen safeguards around investors’ assets, including cryptocurrencies. After the collapse of several top crypto companies last year, the SEC determined that client funds were not as safe as advertised. The proposed rules would require investment advisers to obtain or maintain state registrations to obtain approval as qualified custodians.
Financiers prosecuted for promoting FTX
Disgruntled FTX customers are sue venture capital and private equity firms, alleging that they fraudulently promoted the failure of the cryptocurrency exchange. San Francisco lawsuit claims Sequoia Capital, Thoma Bravo and Paradigm were enticed to promote FTX by the $550 million they invested to give FTX an “air of legitimacy” by saying they had it thoroughly examined.
Do Kwon and Terra accused by US regulators
Do Kwon and Terraform Labs have been charged by the SEC with the orchestration of a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud as the crashed stablecoin TerraUSD caused a major crypto crash last year. In a statement, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said Kwon and Terraform failed to provide full, fair and truthful disclosure to the public.
Rapper Drake wins $1.2 million in Bitcoin bets
high profile rapper, Drake revealed he won $1.2 million in bitcoins after making several bets on the Super Bowl. The bets were made using the crypto sports betting platform, Stake, where Drake placed a “psychotic” $700,000 bet on the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Lombardi Trophy.
Keanu Reeves: Crypto is amazing
Keanu Reeves came out in support cryptocurrencies, saying that they are incredible tools for exchanges and the distribution of resources. In a recent interview with Wired to promote his new movie, John Wick 4, Reeves said the idea behind an independent currency is amazing, adding that volatility will only make it better in terms of protection.
That’s what happened this week in crypto, see you next week.
