This Week in Crypto News: SEC is Saber Rattling, Binance is Shuffling, and Crypto Keanu

Crypto news: We bring you a round up of what’s been happening in crypto this week. And it’s more of the same. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cracks down (again), questions are raised over Binance’s finances (again), and MATIC falls for a Ponzi.

Like a tightly-coiled spring, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) exploded last week, targeting the stablecoin sector. And just when we thought the onslaught was over, the agency has now set its sights on Terraform Labs and its CEO Do Kwon.

On Thursday, the SEC charged the firm and its boss with “orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud.” The agency claims Terraform and Kwon “raised billions of dollars from investors by offering and selling an interconnected suite of crypto asset securities, many in unregistered transactions.”

Crypto – Socially Speaking

Data courtesy of Lunarcrush.com

Binance: Everyday I’m Shuffling

It wouldn’t be This Week in Crypto News without a Binance story. This week, the Changpeng Zhao-led exchange was accused of transferring $400 million from its Binance.US account to one believed to be tied to CZ himself – all without the knowledge of the then CEO of Binance.US.

The fear is that shuffling funds between entities and accounts echoes what happened with FTX. The now-bankrupt exchange was involved in shifting and interchanging funds across accounts managed by a single entity. Binance refused to comment on the report

Crypto Coin News

Top of the crypto charts this week was Astar (ASTR), which saw its price head to the stars with a 46% rise. Mina (MINA) and BinaryX (BNX) weren’t far behind – both up 44%.

Bringing up the rear, the biggest struggler was Frax Share (FXS), which fell by 14%.

Top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. Courtesy of BeInCrypto

Life’s a Gas

On Monday, we reported how a Chinese multi-level marketing (MLM) project has become the fifth-largest holder of MATIC. According to PeckShield data, the holder has accumulated 122 million in MATIC, surpassing even Binance’s hot wallet. Little is known about the “Avatar“project. Apparently offers a referral staking protocol with suspiciously high rewards.

MATIC gas prices cross 700 gwei.

To the annoyance of MATIC holders, the address has consumed over 100,000 MATIC in gas fees. The number of transactions hit 117,000 and led to fees crossing the 700 gwei threshold.

This Week in NFT Sales

The fevered excitement surrounding Blur.io shows no sign of abating. Global non-fungible token (NFT) sales hit over $300 million in the past seven days, with over 30% of volume occurring on Thursday. The Blur token airdrop on Tuesday probably led to the trading spike.

Courtesy of NonFungible.com

Crypto Keanu

The latest convert to the crypto causes comes in the shape of actor Keanu Reeves. The John Wick star said the principals behind cryptocurrencies are “amazing tools for exchanges and distribution of resources.” Which is rather appropriate for someone who starred in one of the first films to explore a persistent online world, The Matrix.

Reeves argued that a corporate agenda drives replacing creatives with computers.  “We’re listening to music already that’s made by AI in the style of Nirvana, there’s NFT digital art… But there’s a corporatocracy behind it that’s looking to control those things,” he observed.

Digging Deep for Turkish Earthquake Victims

Earlier this month a devastating earthquake struck Turkey and Syria leaving over 40,000 dead and many more injured or displaced. It was heartening to see the community set aside its differences and come together to support those in need. 

Ripple pledged as much as $1 million in its native coin XRP. The company initially donated $250,000 in XRP and then boosted it by a promise to match all donations to the Crypto for Charity fund 2:1, with a limit capped at $750,000.

Vitalik Buterin digs deep for charity.

And Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has sent over $228,000 in ETH to two Turkish earthquake relief organizations. Charities have raised over $75 million so far. If you want to help, you can find the details at the Ahbap website.

Top Doge

Senior analyst Valdrin Tahiri gives his Dogecoin (DOGE) price analysis, which shows a bullish weekly time frame and a major bullish divergence between the RSI and the price.

Disclaimer

All the information contained on our website is published in good faith and for general information purposes only. Any action the reader takes upon the information found on our website is strictly at their own risk.

Bookmark (0)
ClosePlease loginn

Related Posts

Bitcoin: The Best Performing Asset Class in Q1 2023

Bitcoin set for its best trading quarter in nearly 2-years.
The top cryptocurrency vastly outpaces stocks performance.
BTC is well placed for more gains in Q2 2023.

Bookmark (0)
ClosePlease loginn

USDC Supply Shrinks by $10 Billion in March, But Hits 6-Month High on Smart Contracts

USDC supply declined by $10 billion in March following its exposure to the US banking crisis.
However, the stablecoin use on smart contracts reached a six-month high of 42.08%.
Tether USDT is now the dominant stablecoin, accounting for over 60% of the market.

Bookmark (0)
ClosePlease loginn

Bittrex Quits US, Cites Unfavorable Regulatory Environment

Crypto exchange Bittrex said it was leaving the United States because of the regulatory environment.
The crypto company had had previous skirmishes with financial regulator in the country.
Crypto stakeholders have warned that the US regulatory landscape would force many firms out of the country.

Bookmark (0)
ClosePlease loginn

Solana overcomes FTX fiasco — SOL price gains 100% in Q1

The cryptocurrency market may have overreacted to Solana’s FTX links and its tainted boss, Sam Bankman-Fried.

Bookmark (0)
ClosePlease loginn

Elon Musk requests dismissal of $258B Dogecoin lawsuit: Report

The plaintiff’s brought up Musk’s Saturday Night Live appearance in 2021, where he portrayed “a fictitious financial expert” and called Dogecoin “a hustle,” resulting in a steep price decline minutes later.

Bookmark (0)
ClosePlease loginn

Here’s how the crypto industry is using artificial intelligence

The rise of artificial intelligence, though in its early stages, has found use cases in crypto through countless projects.

Bookmark (0)
ClosePlease loginn

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *