Alpaca Finance Institutional Newsletter #30
Highlights:
- Binance and CZ sued by CFTC
- Sam Bankman-Fried facing new charges from US authorities
- Controversy around Arbitrum token and its Foundation who have recently made major uni-lateral decisions that went around the DAO
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed suit against Binance and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao for trading violations. According to the CFTC, Binance failed to meet its regulatory obligations by not properly registering with the derivatives regulator. This added additional pressure on Binance which as of recently, has repeatedly been the target of regulatory agencies.
Yet, CZ has not been the only crypto notable taking regulatory heat. Sam Bankman-Fried, former CEO of FTX is facing a new 13-count indictment from US authorities. One of the new charges even alleges that SBF paid a $40Mn bribe to a Chinese government official to unlock funds in a Chinese exchange.
In on-chain news, Arbitrum has been receiving substantial criticism due to the Layer2 chain’s first token vote seemingly being a faux-vote, with the result ignored by the Foundation. The proposal that was voted on was about putting a $750Mn tranche of tokens under the centralized control of the Foundation. When the token holders voted no, the Foundation said it was already done and the vote’s result was moot, calling it a miscommunication after the fact. The Foundation also said they already sold a substantial amount of the tokens, which had been caught on-chain by observers. These events have led many to question the value of a governance token when its governance power is seemingly not respected.
News
- First Citizens snaps up Silicon Valley Bank — Branches open Monday
- Hong Kong crypto firms seeing interest from Chinese banks
- Sam Bankman-Fried charged with bribing Chinese officials: Court docs
- Optimism reigned at Paris Blockchain Week
Products
- Fujitsu interested in crypto trading services, trademark application reveals
- Coinbase wants devs to build inflation-pegged ‘flatcoins’ on its new ‘Base’ network
- Crypto exchange Binance launches new regional hub in Georgia
- Circle announces USDC launch for Cosmos via Noble network
- Arbitrum’s first governance vote result canceled by Foundation, result cited by Foundation as moot, causing controversy
Regulation
- G7 to collaborate on tighter crypto regulation
- Binance and CZ sued by CFTC over US regulatory violations
- EU lawmakers push for stricter rules on anonymous crypto transfers
- Australian senator introduces private bill to expedite crypto regulation
Funding
- Hong Kong fund plans to raise $100 million for crypto investment
- Crypto wallet provider Ledger raises $109M as demand for self-custody soars
- Canada to Ask Pension Funds to Disclose Crypto Exposure
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