Binance Restarts Bitcoin Withdrawals After Second Stop
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has resumed withdrawals of Bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD) and other cryptocurrencies after a second outage recently. Binance had stopped withdrawals for the first time saying higher fees were applied to pending transactions in order for them to be picked up by Bitcoin miners – the computer platforms that operate the network. Withdrawals fell for more than two hours on Monday in Asia. “To avoid a similar recurrence in the future, our fees have been adjusted,” the exchange said. “We will continue to monitor on-chain activity and adjust accordingly if necessary.” Binance also halted Bitcoin withdrawals on Sunday for about 90 minutes, blaming congestion on the token’s blockchain.
Coinbase Executives Explore UAE’s Potential as ‘Strategic Hub’
Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) executives visit the UAE to discuss the country’s potential as a “strategic hub” for international cryptocurrency operations. Coinbase is working with local regulators to expand its presence in the region, including the Abu Dhabi Global Marketplace and the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. “[The UAE is] exciting for us as a potential hub to build as well, an international hub for Coinbase that could serve not just the Middle East but also parts of Africa or other countries in Asia,” Armstrong said at the Dubai Fintech Summit on May 8.
About 400 crypto companies are expelled from Estonia due to new law
The new anti-money laundering and terrorist financing law resulted in an 80% drop in the number of cryptocurrency companies registered in Estonia. Of the 389 expired authorizations, only 100 virtual asset service providers have active authorizations. In addition, 200 companies voluntarily abandoned their permits and 189 were revoked due to non-compliance with the requirements of the new law. Estonia, which is known for being friendly to tech startups including cryptocurrency companies, is facing money laundering scandals and crypto scams, leading to a tightening of its money laundering laws.
Liechtenstein government plans to accept BTC for payments
The government of Liechtenstein is planning to accept Bitcoin as payment for state services, Bloomberg reports, citing Prime Minister Daniel Risch’s statement to Handelsblatt. Any cryptocurrency received would be immediately exchanged for Swiss francs in order to avoid currency risk. The franc is the official currency and Bitcoin would not have the same status, Risch said. The debt-free country saves up to three times its annual budget of 900 million francs (about $1 billion) by investing the money in bonds. He hinted at an openness to investing state reserves in crypto assets in the future, saying, “Crypto assets like Bitcoin are still too risky. But that assessment could change.”
NY State Attorney General Pursues Historic Crypto Law
New York State Attorney General Letitia James has proposed a law to ban cryptocurrency exchanges from trading their own tokens in order to protect customer funds. The law, called the ‘Cryptocurrency Regulation, Protection, Transparency and Supervision Act (CRPTO)’, aims to prevent exchanges from holding customer funds like a bank and prevent exchanges from lending customers’ digital assets. “Fraud and rampant dysfunction have become the hallmarks of cryptocurrency and it is time to bring law and order to the multi-billion dollar industry,” James said in the statement.
AiDoge Pre-Sales Approaches $4 Million Milestone
The AiDoge memecoin raised $1 million in just 24 hours on its crypto pre-sale, bringing the total to $3.8 million from the sale of the $AI token to early investors. The pre-sale quickly advanced to the sixth stage in less than a day, normally a stage takes about a week to complete. AiDoge (AI) is the crypto token at the intersection of the worlds of memes and artificial intelligence (AI). AiDoge is developing an encryption-based web3 platform that lets you share and vote on AI-generated memes. Users will be rewarded with AiDoge’s $AI token for the best memes created, creating a revolutionary concept of “meme-to-earn” (M2E).
Everledger collapses
Australian blockchain firm Everledger has filed for insolvency after failing to raise new funds from an undisclosed investor — it was quietly placed in voluntary administration because it couldn’t pay its debts, Financial Review reported. The move came despite securing support from the federal government and Chinese internet giant Tencent.
Cryptocurrency miners in Kazakhstan paid $7 million in taxes in 2022
Cryptocurrency mining entities in Kazakhstan paid around $7 million in taxes in 2022, following the implementation of a surcharge of 1 tenge per kWh in January last year. However, the numbers show a sharp decline compared to the same period last year, raising concerns about the future of cryptocurrency mining in the country, according to Cryptonews. Kazakhstan has become one of the top Bitcoin mining hubs worldwide, ranking third in terms of average contribution to the Bitcoin hash rate.
Vortex doubles mining capacity
US Bitcoin mining company Vortex Mining (USOTC:VTXB) is doubling its capacity to fight global inflation and reduce its carbon footprint. While BTC miners are earning more in fees than block rewards, Vortex sees an opportunity in the gap between inflation and BTC demand. The company reported net income of C$10,792 and net loss of C$104,855 for the nine-month period ended November 30, 2022. “We are very excited about the opportunities that bitcoin mining presents in this current economic climate. Our expansion plans reflect our confidence in the future of digital assets and our commitment to delivering strong returns to our shareholders,” said Vortex Mining CEO Todd Higley.
MetisDAO deploys Aave V3 protocol
The MetisDAO Foundation announced that the integration of the Aave V3 protocol into Metis Layer 2 has been completed with support from the Metis and Aave communities. The MetisDAO Foundation is an organization working on building a decentralized Tier 2 infrastructure to power companies in the Web3 industry. By integrating the Aave V3 protocol into the Metis marketplaces, decentralized finance (DeFi) users will be able to “enjoy the combined benefits of the speed and security of the Metis network and the industry-leading capabilities of the Aave Protocol,” while the deployment would unlock new liquidity on -chain and DeFi capabilities, the announcement said.
DEUS Finance suffers $6 million hack
Deus Finance (COIN:DEAUSD) lost over $6 million in a hack exploiting a vulnerability in the stablecoin DEI, but much of it has now been recovered. The attack targeted the DEI on BNB Smart Chain and Arbitrum, with a loss of over $1.3 million on the blockchain and over $5 million on the Arbitrum network. The recovered funds are now in a multi-signature wallet including 2,023 ETH tokens worth around $3.8 million, $158,857 in SEU tokens and $702,370 in stablecoin USDC.
Blocktrade launches new gamified universe
Blocktrade, an asset marketplace, has launched its new gamified cryptographic platform, Blocktrade 3.0. The aim is to merge games with cryptocurrency investments, providing users with a “comprehensive gamified user experience”. The platform has a 50-tier system, unique leaderboards and challenges, and users can advance to higher tiers by earning BTEX tokens and XP points, thereby unlocking benefits and rewards like trading bonuses and discount rates.
‘Worldcoin’ launches wallet without gas
The Worldcoin project has launched a zero gas crypto wallet for verified humans that uses its “World ID” system to distinguish humans from bots. Users wishing to take advantage of gas free transfers must register for a World ID by providing a phone number or iris scan. The project has partnered with regulated cryptocurrency exchanges to offer integration and deletion within the wallet. Worldcoin was co-founded by Sam Altman, co-founder of AI developer OpenAI.
First arrest made in China for the spread of fake news created with ChatGPT
A suspect known as “Hong” has been arrested in China for allegedly creating fake news using ChatGPT. Hong was arrested after discovering a baseless article related to a train accident posted simultaneously to 20 accounts on a popular blogging site. Although ChatGPT is banned in China, domestically developed generative AI models such as Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen have received the Chinese government’s blessing. Chinese laws are considered one of the strictest in the world, and Hong faces up to 5 years in prison, or up to 10 years if the crime is found to be flagrant, according to Cointelegraph.
South Korean politician allegedly involved in WEMIX trading fraud
According to CoinDesk Korea, South Korea’s financial regulator has informed local authorities that an opposition party lawmaker made a series of cryptocurrency transactions. Deputy Kim Nam-kuk of the Democratic Party of Korea is said to have withdrawn 800,000 WEMIX tokens (COIN:WEMIXUSD) between late February and early March 2022. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Financial Services Commission reported the suspicious transactions to the prosecutor’s office. “I transferred (the Wemix currency I had) to another exchange wallet. (The price of other coins purchased with the transferred currency) has dropped, so now there are only a few hundred million won, not 6 billion won.”, said Kim Nam-guk, “There is no suspicion of violation of any law” and “I am organizing my account to publish (this content) tomorrow”.