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Reassuring Words and New Strategy from Binance CEO
Despite regulatory difficulties and major team changes, Binance is restructuring its corporate strategy.
In the midst of accusations of allowing Russian clients to access sanctioned banks and ending its partnership with Mastercard, the cryptocurrency exchange platform led by CZ has decided to move away from its own stablecoin, Binance USD (BUSD), in favor of a new stablecoin, FDUSD. Additionally, the company has parted ways with its product leader, Mayur Kamat, in a challenging regulatory environment.
In response to these developments, CZ spoke up to reassure users about the stability and security of Binance. He denied rumors of legal and financial issues, stating that all client funds were secure.
At the same time, Binance announced that it would distance itself from the Polygon ecosystem by ending support for it on its NFT marketplace. However, it has opened up deposits and withdrawals for the zkSync Era layer 2, a secondary Ethereum protocol that has quickly gained popularity.
Legal Battle Shakes Gala Games
Gala Games CEO Eric Schiermeyer and co-founder Wright Thurston are involved in a public legal battle that is affecting the financial health of their company.
Schiermeyer accuses Thurston of illicitly selling GALA tokens worth $130 million, while Thurston countersues, alleging mismanagement by Schiermeyer of up to $600 million. This quarrel has led to an 11% drop in the value of Gala Games’ native token and plunged the company’s operations into chaos.
The impact of these lawsuits goes beyond mere allegations, affecting the stability of Gala Games, a key player in the blockchain gaming sector. The case also involves associated companies such as True North United Investments and Blockchain Game Partners. As the internal conflict unfolds in public, the future of Gala Games remains uncertain, with potentially significant long-term implications for the company.
North Korea Allegedly Behind Stake Crypto Casino Hack
The FBI and Arkham Intelligence have identified the North Korean Lazarus group as the perpetrators of the recent $41 million hack at Stake, a major crypto casino platform.
This hack is just the latest in a series of attacks orchestrated by the group in 2023, totaling over $200 million in stolen cryptocurrencies. Despite the scale of the theft, Stake reassured its users that losses were limited to a fraction of its funds.
The FBI investigation also identified the crypto addresses to which the stolen funds were transferred, involving multiple digital currency networks such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, and Polygon. This case is just the tip of the iceberg of Lazarus’ criminal activities this year, which also include significant hacks of other platforms such as Alphapo, CoinsPaid, and Atomic Wallet.
SEC Counters Ripple’s Legal Case
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently counterattacked in its legal case against Ripple, accusing the company of tactical delay.
This comes after a July ruling, favorable to Ripple, which stated that the cryptocurrency XRP should not be classified as a security. Ripple had attempted to prevent the SEC from appealing this decision, claiming that the regulation did not present a “controlling question of law” and that the SEC was simply dissatisfied with the verdict.
The SEC refutes Ripple’s arguments and argues that Ripple seeks to “delay a final resolution” to continue selling XRP without the disclosure obligations associated with the sale of securities. The SEC states that this case will have an impact on other similar cases and highlights the importance of the “Howey test” in interpreting securities regulations. According to the SEC, the legal battle with Ripple is far from over and could last several months or even years.
In Brief
- Grayscale is the second-largest holder of Bitcoin and Ethereum globally
- The SEC fails to meet the requirements to appeal against Ripple
- The London Stock Exchange will create a platform for trading traditional assets on the blockchain
- The Senate rejects Senator Andrew Bragg’s crypto bill
- The court freezes the assets of former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky
- Former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets pleads guilty
