Crypto Twitter in shock over CFTC Binance lawsuit
A US Commodity Futures Trading Commission lawsuit against Binance has left crypto Twitter in a state of shock as the CEO hit back at the allegations.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday, levied insider trading and law dodging allegations against Binance.
Crypto Twitter lunged upon the lawsuit to dissect the claims and express bafflement at several supposed admissions of wrongdoing within the company.
Several prominent figures were rattled by claims that Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao owned 300 accounts that facilitated trading by employees on their own platform.
Very dark day for crypto.
— FatMan (@FatManTerra) March 27, 2023
You can call it naivety, but I've long considered CZ to be an upstanding and trustworthy ambassador of the space.
Learning that Binance had secret in-house trading accounts & access to proprietary client data is disheartening and jarring.
The CFTC also claimed Binance had “not subjected the trading activity” of these accounts to its “relatively new” insider trading policy, suggesting that they were exempt to anti-fraud and anti-manipulation surveillance.
In another example, an alleged transcript showed two employees discussing users affiliated with terrorism sending small amounts of crypto to avoid being flagged, with one employee joking about the cost of an AK-47 assault rifle.
‘Today’s enforcement action demonstrates that there is no location, or claimed lack of location, that will prevent the CFTC from protecting American investors’
“Today’s enforcement action demonstrates that there is no location, or claimed lack of location, that will prevent the CFTC from protecting American investors,” CFTC chairman Rostin Behnam said.
Zhao renounced the lawsuit in a blog post, expressing disagreement towards “many of the issues alleged in the complaint.”
Zhao highlighted a history of working with US and worldwide agencies to freeze illicit funds, citing $125 million and $160 million frozen in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
In regards to allegations of insider trading, Zhao addressed the matter directly, admitting to ownership of two personal accounts, but denied any coordinated effort by employees to actively trade on the platform, and outlining a 90-day trading policy for all employees.
NOW READ: Crypto Twitter battles mounting FUD with memes
there are many things for me to pull my hair out over in the binance lawsuit. i'm going to aggregate them in this thread, for organization's sake.
— Chairman Birb Bernanke (@Bonecondor) March 27, 2023
Judge grants US Gov’t emergency stay on Voyager-Binance.US deal
A judge has placed Voyager’s pending sale to Binance.US on hold following an emergency stay request.
The Department of Justice’s request for a stay pending appeal comes after a bankruptcy judge approved the sale earlier in the month.
The emergency stay request granted Monday took place as the CFTC announced its lawsuit against Binance’s global entity.
NOW READ: Pro-Russian neo-Nazis’ Telegram campaigns raise $5m in crypto – but it’s ‘significantly harder’
MakerDAO community approves ‘constitution’ in major overhaul
DeFi giant MakerDAO’s community approved its new “constitution” on Monday, which reforms many aspects of the protocol.
MakerDAO founder Rune Christensen drafted the proposal as part of a protocol-wide overhaul entitled “Endgame.”
The overhaul aims to diversify protocol reserves into a variety of real-world assets, break up governance into semi-private entities called subDAOs, and establish new leadership roles and groups.
While 76% of the community approved the constitution, a vocal minority has voiced concerns over the potential opacity of certain new governance rules.
UK treasury halts government-backed NFT project
In another setback for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plans to make the UK a “global crypto hub,” the Treasury has tabled plans for a government-backed NFT.
Sunak proposed the NFT project in April and charged the Royal Mint with launching it, but a year of collapses, crashes and chaos has delayed the plans.
“We have not yet seen a lot of evidence that our constituents should be putting their money in these speculative tokens unless they are prepared to lose all their money”
— Chair of the Treasury Select Committee Harriet Baldwin.
Harriet Baldwin, chair of the Treasury Select Committee, cited the volatility as a reason for suspending the project.
“We have not yet seen a lot of evidence that our constituents should be putting their money in these speculative tokens unless they are prepared to lose all their money,” said Baldwin.
“So perhaps that is why the Royal Mint has made this decision in conjunction with the Treasury.”
NOW READ: London’s crypto hub status may slip to ‘not even number three’ after Brexit deal
Microstrategy pays off Silvergate loan, buys $150m more Bitcoin
Bitcoin accumulator Microstrategy paid back its $205 million loan from collapsed Silvergate Bank and bought more $150 million in Bitcoin following a share sale.
Microstrategy filed details of the transactions Monday, revealing a $339.4 million raise accumulated throughout the year.
The company’s subsequent Bitcoin purchase is the latest in a long history of well-publicised accumulation, championed by co-founder and executive chairman Michael Saylor. Microstrategy acquired 6,455 tokens in the purchase, at an average cost of $23,238.
[DB] Microstrategy: Acquired 6,455 Bitcoins for Approximately $150.0 Million, at an Average Price of $23,238 Per Bitcoin
— db (@tier10k) March 27, 2023
More web3 news from around the web...
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