Brewing Binance cup of trouble 🍵 🙅
Binance’s $3.8B outflows in June and shrinking market share. Black Rock's CEO Larry Fink bats for Bitcoin - an international asset and digitisation of gold. Twitter's rival - Meta's Threads is here.
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Things are looking dice for Binance
$3.8 billion exodus
Regulators are circling
Financial giants are making their moves
In June, investors said, "See ya later, Binance."
$3.8 billion flowed out of the exchange - more than double the outflow in May and the worst since December.
Binance is under attack from US regulators and has been forced to halt operations across Europe. If that's not enough to make your head spin, there's even talk of potential criminal charges in the US.
After the FTX fiasco last year, doubts have emerged about the stability of opaque exchanges. Investors are growing sceptical, and they're starting to look elsewhere. Competitor exchanges like OKX have been quick to pounce on the opportunity, witnessing a surge of $4.1 billion in deposits since FTX's demise. And as if that's not enough, traditional finance giants like Fidelity, BlackRock, and Charles Schwab have decided to jump into the crypto game.
Binance is getting cornered from all sides.
Binance stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD), is also feeling the heat. Since the SEC ordered Paxos to stop issuing BUSD, its circulating supply has dwindled from over $16 billion to a measly $4 billion.
Dips Below 60%
The exchange's grip on the perpetual crypto futures market slipped below 60% in Q2. What caused this rollercoaster dip? Investigations by the CFTC and SEC, lawsuits, delisting of contracts, and exits from wealthy jurisdictions. The exchange has lost a significant 11% of global spot trading volumes due to all of this.
Asian rivals Bybit and OKX have swooped in to capture the lost trading volume.
What CZ says
Binance CEO CZ is embracing the entrance of big players like BlackRock into the crypto realm. In his Twitter Spaces he said:
"We welcome more players, the larger the better," said Zhao, adding that "it will offer more coverage."
He stated that these entities serve a clientele that is currently underserved by the industry. However, he noted that many of these institutions are not comfortable using pure crypto platforms like Binance and may prefer existing relationships with legacy firms.
Binance's European Adventures🦸♂️🌍
Binance is hiring a policy officer for its European operations.
The new hire will develop and write new policies, standards, guidelines, and procedures for the firm.
Binance has faced setbacks in Europe recently
Authorities in France are investigating the company, with officials visiting Binance's offices in June.
The UK's financial watchdog has stated that Binance's local division is not permitted to offer services in the country.
Binance has departed from the Netherlands after failing to secure a license from the central bank.
The policy officer will be responsible for articulating complex information clearly and persuasively. Binance has posted various job ads globally, including positions for a government affairs associate director in Spain and a compliance director in Thailand.
Pause button on multichain-bridged tokens
Binance is temporarily suspending deposits and withdrawals for ten Multichain-bridged tokens. These tokens were previously part of a deposit suspension after transactions on the Multichain protocol froze in May. The ten tokens are bridged to Binance Chain, Ethereum, Avalanche, and Fantom.
While users can still withdraw these tokens using other supported networks, the move highlights the challenges cross-chain bridges face. Multichain's bridge encountered problems when users reported stuck transfers, leading to rumours of executive arrests in China. The crypto industry emphasises caution in relying on cross-chain bridges, with security and original chain holding being recommended.
In the midst of all this chaos, Binance has a secret weapon up its sleeve—liquidity! With daily trading volume exceeding $8.2 billion and $59 billion in assets, Binance remains the go-to marketplace for crypto enthusiasts. Investors just can't resist the allure of liquidity, which keeps them returning for more.
Now, when it comes to Binance staff, they're the least happy, along with Gemini and Coinbase employees.
TTD Blockquote 🔊
Larry Fink, BlackRock's CEO.
“Bitcoin is digitisation of gold."
BlackRock has been on headlines for its Spot ETF filing and now, CEO, Larry Fink, has some thoughts on Bitcoin. In a recent interview, Fink expressed his interest in working with regulators regarding BlackRock's filing for a spot Bitcoin ETF.
Fink emphasized BlackRock's commitment to collaborating with regulators and addressing any concerns they may have about the ETF filing. They want to ensure that they're considering all the important aspects and working within the regulatory framework.
“Let’s be clear: Bitcoin is an international asset. It’s not based on any one currency, and so it can represent an asset that people can play as an alternative.”
According to Fink, the role of Bitcoin is to democratise the world of crypto and make it more accessible and affordable for investors. Currently, the bid-ask spread in the crypto market can be quite costly, eating into potential returns.
TTD Threads 🧵
Another social media. Just what we needed.
The clash between these tech titans goes beyond a mere cage match between Musk and Zuckerberg. We're talking about Threads, Meta's new contender that's ready to take on Twitter in the ring!
What is Threads by Meta?
Created by Meta's Instagram team
Publish short posts or updates up to 500 characters
Add links, photos, or videos up to 5 minutes long
Linked to your Instagram account
Filter specific words and restrict mentions
5 million sign-ups in just 4 hours. 10 million in the next 4 hours. This rate 🚀
Mark Zuckerberg's following on Threads is growing, with 310,000 followers and counting. He aims to create a friendly space for conversations, taking a dig at Twitter's rowdy atmosphere.
Twitter in trouble?
With Threads' seamless integration with Instagram, gaining users in no time is as easy as pie. Sorry, Twitter, but your recent post limit changes ain't impressing anyone. 10,000 for verified users, 1,000 for unverified, and a measly 500 for newbies?
Even though Meta had some unsuccessful launches recently, Built-in connection to Instagram gives Threads an advantage.
TTD ETF ✅
The race for America's first spot Bitcoin ETF is on, and Valkyrie is in the mix.
Nasdaq wants to list the Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund, and guess who's on board? Coinbase, the "surveillance-sharing" partner.
The SEC has been tough on Bitcoin ETF applications, demanding solid plans to protect investors from fraud.
Following BlackRock's lead, other firms like Invesco, Wisdom Tree, Bitwise, and Fidelity are jumping in with their own applications.
Both Valkyrie and BlackRock are highlighting Coinbase's importance in the US Bitcoin market, with Nasdaq getting market data and investigating potential manipulation.
Valkyrie updated their filing and even changed their ticker name to "BRRR" for their ETF.
TTD Surfer 🏄
Twitter has been awarded three state money transmitter licenses in New Hampshire, Michigan, and Missouri.
DBS Bank, the largest bank in Southeast Asia, is adding support for China's central bank digital currency (CBDC) - e-CNY.
Bitcoin miners sees surge in revenue from transaction fees - $184 million in Q2 due to the popularity of BRC-20 tokens and Ordinals.
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