June 28: Binance Shuts Down Business In Ontario
This week, Binance announced that it would no longer operate in Ontario, Canada. This decision followed when the city amended its rules and regulations concerning crypto exchanges in the city. So, instead of complying with the standards introduced and file litigation like any other crypto exchange against the authorities, Binance decided to shut down its business completely.
Binance made its decision after last week’s news when the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) gave its Statement of Allegation against Bybit, claiming that the said crypto exchange violated the provincial laws related to crypto. For the last 30 days, the commission has been initiating litigations against KuCoin and Poloniex as these two failed to comply with the standards.
June 29: Renowned Crypto Tracer Nansen Made $12M Funding Through A16z
Nansen, a known crypto tracer in the industry, has raised about $12M funds through the initiatives of Andreessen Horowitz. The financing round was classified as Series A, and some of the big firms that participated were imToken, Skyfall Ventures, QCP Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and Mechanism Capital. Chris Dixon, the general partner of A16z, disclosed,
“As participation in the first truly open global financial markets grows, traders and collectors of all kinds – retail novices, institutional professionals, independent experts, and more – will want to understand what the smart money is doing across all blockchains.”
In the past week, crypto tracers like Nansen have been gaining attention from the market. The crypto tracking activities have been a sub-industry inside the blockchain. Since its inception, Nansen has been doing its job to track cash flows across smart contracts. Today, the network has more than 90 million addresses, and 70% of them are on-chain Defi volumes.
June 30: Binance Facing Challenges In Japan, United Kingdom, and Canada
Last week, Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency trading platform, has seen facing new regulatory challenges due to governments cutting off investors from using illegal exchanges and calling for people to avoid their usage. Regulators who want permits to provide financial services have shown little to no consideration for Binance branding their exchange as a “global” business.
Binance has reportedly been charged by Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) for running an unregistered business in the nation, which may lead to a prolonged legal battle with authorities. Japan established special regulations for bitcoin exchanges even before 2018, creating a separate registration and operational structure. Just as the Japanese FSA warned, Binance stated that it would suspend all activities in the province of Ontario, Canada, after the introduction of a series of stringent new regulations targeting cryptocurrency exchanges by the local securities authority.
July 1: Point72 Is Searching For A ‘Head of Crypto’
Point72 Asset Management is currently searching for a ‘head of crypto.’ This American hedge fund is run by Steven Cohen, a billionaire who is named the “Hedge Fund King.” In 1992, he established Point72 Asset Management with $22.1 billion in funds.
Today, the report stated that the firm is actively looking for a crypto head to lead the company’s ventures in the crypto market. If the news is sold, then it’s aligned to what has been reported in the past when he said that the company would be fully converted to cryptocurrencies.
“I have an old saying at the poker table; you got to pay to learn. There’s no way around it. You can talk all you want, but you’ve got to get in the game.”
July 2: China’s bitcoin crackdown sparks fears of crypto mining
Experts claimed China’s prohibition on cryptocurrency mining would increase bitcoin emissions unless other nations follow suit. Bitcoin’s value plummeted last week following the issuance of China’s central bank of new warnings to financial institutions in the nation, urging them to intensify their crackdown on cryptocurrency trade.
This is great news for environmentalists who have expressed worries about global warming from the energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining sector. In the same way, gold and other precious metals are mined, bitcoins, and other coins are “mined” by powerful computers vying to solve difficult mathematical problems.
With Beijing’s latest action, the Chinese sector has been almost paralyzed. According to reports, China now accounts for over 50% of global cryptocurrency production.
