November 2023

Kraken, facing charges from the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), plans to fight and respond to the complaint in court, confirmed the company’s Chief Legal Officer (CLO), Marco Santori, in a conversation with CNBC on Nov. 30. Santori said: “The SEC alleges that … Kraken is a exchange clearing house and broker dealer for investment […]

The post Kraken legal chief dismisses SEC charges as ‘hollow,’ citing Ripple victory appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The requests are increasing in number and coming from more jurisdictions every year.

Crypto exchange Coinbase says it recorded a 6% rise in requests from law enforcement and government agencies compared to 2022, with the number of jurisdictions issuing requests jumping by 19, according to the exchange’s annual transparency report.

Four countries — the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain — made up nearly three-quarters (73%) of the 13,079 agency requests to Coinbase for information between Q4 2022 and Q3 2023.

The United States made 5,686 requests to Coinbase, up from 5,304 last year, with 90.4% of those from criminal enforcement agencies.

Meanwhile, Australia sent 262% more requests to Coinbase compared to the previous year, placing it in sixth place at 453.

The report covered the final quarter of 2022 and the first three of 2023.

“Our obligation is to respond to these requests if they are valid under financial regulations and other applicable laws. […] Under certain circumstances, we may ask the government or law enforcement agency to narrow their request.”

Coinbase said in a blog post in September that 83% of “G20 members and major financial hubs” have crypto regulations in force or passed legislation on crypto.

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The Shiba Inu volatility level has remained rather high through the ups and downs of the market which could bode well for the meme coin’s price. According to data from IntoTheBlock, the SHIB volatility levels are still holding firmly above 60%. So what could this mean for the price? Shiba Inu Volatility Above 60% Over […]

Hong Kong rocked by another $18.9 exchange fraud scandal, HTX offers airdrop in wake of $30M hack, and digital yuan takes off in HK and China.

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industrys most important developments.

Yet another crypto scandal in Hong Kong 

Scammers posing as investment experts allegedly enticed 145 victims to tip $18.9 million into the unlicensed Hong Kong crypto exchange Hounax.

According to reports earlier this week, the police said investors were allegedly promised up to 40% return per annum with “no risk” in its advertisements. After users deposited their funds, they were unable to withdraw them. On Nov. 1, the Securities & Futures Exchange (SFC) of Hong Kong listed Hounax on its billboard of suspicious crypto exchanges but clarified that because Hounax was unlicensed at the time of the incident, it was not subjected to the regulators enforcement actions.

This was the second scandal involving a crypto exchange in Hong Kong in recent months. In September, another unlicensed exchange, JPEX collapsed after allegations of a Ponzi scheme unsurfaced, leading to 66 arrests and an estimated $205 million in investors’ losses.

Despite the scandals, Hong Kong regulators appear to remain steadfast in their commitment to transforming the city into a major Web3 hub. On Nov. 27, SFC CEO Julia Leung explained that “even if the grace period ends tomorrow, fraud will still occur, so there is no intention to modify the grace period and other measures for the time being.”

Under current regulations, a grace period for crypto exchanges to operate without registration will end in June 2024. On Nov. 30, the SFC stated that it seeks to legitimize initial coin offerings in the city to create more revenue for the national budget.

In other Hong Kong crypto news, the financial institutions Interactive Brokers and Victory Securities this week announced they had secured crypto licenses, with the former partnering with licensed crypto exchange OSL to immediately provide Bitcoin and Ethereum trading services to its Hong Kong clients.

And on Nov. 29, Darryl Chan, deputy chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, announced a multinational effort to create a cross-chain bridge for Chinas digital yuan central bank digital currency. Dubbed “mBridge,” the protocol seeks to reduce transaction fees and improve speeds for cross-border uses of the digital yuan CBDC. The first pilot tests will begin in mainland China and Hong Kong.

Foreign banks join e-CNY pilot testing

Standard Chartered, HSBC, Hang Seng Bank, and Taiwan-based Fubon Bank have begun testing the digital yuan in cross-border transactions.

According to local news reports on Nov. 28, the four foreign banks will also integrate digital yuan transfer services for their clients and enable them to deposit and withdraw digital yuan. Personal banking accounts will also support the official digital yuan app and self-custody wallet. Yuesheng Song, president and vice-chairman of Hang Seng China, commented:

“The central bank’s launch of the digital RMB, a legal currency in digital form, is an important step for China to explore the development of digital currency and promote the internationalization of the RMB. Hang Seng China follows the national financial development policy advocacy and actively supports the application and development of the central bank’s digital currency.”

In the first three quarters of 2023, the use of the digital yuan in transactions was up 35% year-on-year, reaching $1.39 trillion, China Daily reported. On Nov. 29, the first-ever digital yuan student loans were issued in the province of Suzhou, with $26,230 worth of loans being issued directly into the digital wallets of 13 recipients.

HTX back to normal

HTX exchange (formerly Huobi Global) has reopened deposits and withdrawals after a devastating hot wallet hack that drained the exchange of $30 million on Nov. 22.

According to the Nov. 26 announcement, the exchange has since resumed deposits and withdrawals on the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tron networks.

“Huobi HTX once again promises to fully compensate for the losses caused by this attack and 100% guarantee the safety of user funds. The amount of funds lost by Huobi HTX this time accounts for a very small amount of the total funds of the platform,” the exchange said.

The firm has also announced that a special airdrop will take place in December designed to reward its “loyal users.” Airdrop tokens will reportedly come from “upcoming high-quality projects,” and the amount to be received will be determined by a users’ average net assets on the HTX exchange denominated in Tether (USDT).

Immediately after the incident, Justin Sun, founder of the Tron ecosystem and de-facto owner of the HTX exchange, commented, “we will cover the loss and all assets are SAFE.” Despite assurances, however, this was the fourth exploit involving the HTX ecosystem within the past two months. Around the same time as the HTX exploit, the HTX Ecosystem Chain (HECO) bridge was hacked for $87 million.

On Nov. 10, Poloniex, an exchange acquired by Sun in 2018, was hacked for $100 million due to allegedly compromised private keys. The exchange resumed withdrawals on Nov. 30. On Sept. 25, HTX was drained of $8 million in a security incident. The exchange has since clawed back $8 million in stolen funds and issued a 250 Ether bounty to the hacker.

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Australians are increasingly adding cryptocurrency to their “self-managed super funds” as a means to secure their retirement life, according to newly released data.

Australians are increasingly looking to cryptocurrency to secure a peachy retirement, with allocation to the asset class from self-managed retirement funds increasing 400% in just four years — and the growth rate surpassing stocks and bonds. 

As of the quarter ending in September, the nearly 612,000 self-managed super funds (SMSFs) are holding a total of $658.6 million (992 million Australian dollars) worth of cryptocurrencies, show statistics released on Nov.

The latest figure is a 400% increase from the same quarter in 2019, which closed out at just under $131.5 million (198 million AU).

In Australia, self-managed super funds — also known as private superannuation funds — allow individuals to control how their retirement funds are invested.

Crypto tax provider Koinly’s head of tax, Danny Talwar, told Cointelegraph this makes crypto the “largest growing asset class in SMSFs.”

In comparison, listed shares — representing the largest allocation category for SMSFs at the end of the last quarter — grew 28% over the same time.

However, total SMSF allocations to crypto saw a slight 0.8% drop from the quarter ending June 2023 and a 2.4% drop compared to the previous year.

Bitcoin (BTC/USD) worked to retain its November monthly gains early in the Asian session as the pair orbited key technical levels following renewed upside momentum above the 37225 level.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) met with Bitcoin ETF applicant Hashdex this week, according to a Nov. 29 memo from the agency. The discussion, which took place on Monday, Nov. 27., concerned a proposed rule change to allow NYSE Arca to list and trade shares of Hashdex’s Bitcoin ETF. According to the SEC […]

The post SEC meets with Hashdex to discuss its Bitcoin ETF proposal appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Our Community Contributor Mufa, explains why Argentines have lost trust in banks, and why it's one of the countries with the highest organic adoption of cryptocurrencies.

The post The Milei Experiment: How Did We Get Here? appeared first on BitMEX Blog.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, recently announced the successful execution of the world’s first cryptocurrency triparty arrangement in collaboration with a third-party banking partner.  According to the announcement, the solution allows institutional investors to securely store their trading collateral off-exchange with what Binance calls a “trusted bank.” Binance Expands Services With Triparty Solution The triparty […]