Binance, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, has experienced an exodus of key executives amid increasing regulatory troubles. In the first nine months of 2023, 10 executives from various departments have left the company. The most recent resignations came from Helen Hai, executive vice president, Gleb Kostarev, vice president of Eastern Europe, Turkey, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Australia and New Zealand, and Vladimir Smerkis, CIS general manager. These departures followed Binance’s response to the United States Department of Justice investigation, which led to the departure of four top executives on the same day.
Despite the departures, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao remains confident in the company’s stability. He assures that Binance’s balance sheet and employee retention remain robust, even in the face of recent market uncertainty. However, the ongoing exodus of executives has been a cause for concern within the crypto community, as it raises questions about Binance’s ability to navigate the regulatory challenges it currently faces.
In other news, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved Nasdaq’s request to operate its first AI-driven order type. The new system, called the dynamic midpoint extended life order (M-ELO), uses artificial intelligence to update and recalibrate itself in real-time. Nasdaq claims that the dynamic M-ELO has demonstrated significant improvements in fill rates and mark-outs during testing. This approval marks a significant step forward in the adoption of AI technology within the financial industry.
Meanwhile, former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried has lost an initial appeal to be released on bail prior to his criminal trial. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers argued that the current measures to allow him to prepare for his trial were inadequate due to limited internet access. However, an appeals court denied the motion, and Bankman-Fried remains in detention. He is scheduled to go to trial on October 3 and has approximately four weeks to prepare.
In the world of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), ARK Invest and 21Shares have filed a request with the SEC to approve the listing of shares of a spot Ether ETF. The investment vehicle, called the ARK 21Shares Ethereum ETF, will measure the performance of Ether based on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate. This proposal is one of many spot crypto ETFs that will be reviewed by the SEC in the coming months. The regulator has been delaying decisions on crypto investment products, especially Bitcoin spot ETF proposals.
Grayscale, the world’s largest digital asset manager, has asked the SEC to meet and discuss the next steps for the conversion of its flagship Bitcoin fund (GBTC) into a spot ETF. Grayscale’s lawyers argue that there are no legal grounds to treat the GBTC differently from Bitcoin futures ETFs that the SEC has previously approved. They believe that the fund’s conversion application has been pending for an unusually long time and should be allowed to proceed.
Moving onto market performance, Bitcoin is currently priced at $25,871, Ether at $1,635, and XRP at $0.50. The total market cap of all cryptocurrencies stands at $1.04 trillion. In terms of altcoins, the top gainers of the week are Synthetix, Stellar, and Render, while the top losers are Gala, Mantle, and Flare.
In a recent interview, Filbfilb, a veteran pseudonymous analyst, shared his predictions for Bitcoin’s price. He believes that Bitcoin has a chance to end 2023 at $35,000, with a possible high of $46,000 before the halving in Q1 2024. Filbfilb cites the contraction of new supply and increased speculative demand as factors that could drive the price higher.
In enforcement news, collapsed trading organization Mirror Trading International (MTI) has been ordered by a Texas court to pay $1.7 billion in restitution to victims. The court found MTI guilty of operating a fraudulent scheme involving digital assets and forex. MTI went into provisional liquidation in 2020 after one of its directors allegedly fled the country with approximately $1 billion in Bitcoin.
Additionally, the former CEO of Turkish crypto exchange Thodex, Faruk Fatih Özer, has been sentenced to 11,196 years in prison for various charges, including fraud and money laundering. Thodex was once one of the largest digital asset trading platforms in Turkey before its abrupt collapse, which saw Özer flee the country with customers’ assets totaling $2 billion in crypto.
Finally, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has announced that the $41 million hack of crypto gambling site Stake was carried out by the North Korean hacking collective Lazarus Group. The group has stolen over $200 million in crypto this year.
In conclusion, the cryptocurrency industry continues to face regulatory challenges and enforcement actions as it strives for mainstream adoption. The exodus of key executives from Binance highlights the difficulties faced by crypto companies in navigating these challenges. However, developments such as Nasdaq’s approval for an AI-driven order type and the filing of ETF proposals signal progress in integrating crypto into traditional financial systems. The future of the industry remains uncertain, but with ongoing innovations and improvements, it is poised to thrive in the long run.
