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Binance Crypto Exchange Reveals Fears Ahead of MiCA Regulation

Binance may be about to withdraw all stablecoin offerings from its crypto exchange platform for European investors. The news sparked fears about the potential losses the EU crypto market could suffer if Binance validated and followed through with the motion.

Binance will remove all stablecoin offerings in Europe

A prominent executive at Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, has revealed a new development that has shaken the crypto community. Marina Parthuisot, head of legal at Binance France, revealed in an online public hearing organized by the EBA that Binance fears it will have to withdraw the majority of its stablecoin offerings for the European market by June 2024.

Parthuisot revealed that the decision was taken to comply with the regulatory restriction that will soon be enacted in Europe by Crypto Asset Markets (MiCA). He stated that European markets could be affected by the loss of stablecoin offerings, which represents a considerable disadvantage for investors when transacting in cryptocurrencies.

“Our goal is to close all stablecoins in Europe on June 30th. This could have a significant impact on the European market compared to the rest of the world,” said Parthuisot.

MiCA, a European regulatory framework and banking authority, implemented a law that would subject stablecoin issuers to strict licensing and compliance regulations.

Elizabeth Noble, MiCA team leader at the European Banking Authority (EBA), stated that the regulatory system has not introduced additional requirements or restrictions on stablecoin offerings in the EU. However, the initial law will be enacted next year.

“There is no transition agreement for these types of tokens [stablecoins]. The rules will apply from the end of June next year,” Noble said.

Regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrency exchange Binance

Binance has been facing several regulatory hurdles since this year. The cryptocurrency exchange was sued by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which filed more than a dozen charges for allegedly misleading investors and operating an unregistered exchange.

In addition to US SEC limitations, Binance has also exited several countries due to regulatory issues.

The cryptocurrency exchange has delisted a significant number of cryptocurrencies from its exchange platform over the years, including major cryptocurrency trading pairs as well as altcoins like Tron, Helium, and others.

As the cryptocurrency industry continues to evolve, regulatory compliance plays a vital role in shaping the cryptocurrency industry and Binance’s proactive response to MiCA regulations is a demonstration of its commitment to maintaining a secure and sustainable crypto ecosystem.

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Coinbase expands in Europe with a new license from the Bank of Spain

Coinbase obtains approval from the Bank of Spain

In a blog post on September 22, Nana Murugesan, Vice President of International and Business Development at Coinbase, described the Bank of Spain’s approval as a significant achievement. Coinbase can now expand its services to retail consumers, institutional clients and developer partners in the region, she explained.

Murugesan further stated that it is worth noting that many countries are providing much-needed clarity and guidance to the crypto industry.

The SEC crypto attack and the MiCA regulation

In June, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed charges against Coinbase, claiming that the exchange operated as an unregistered stock exchange, broker-dealer, and clearing agency.

This allegation arises from Coinbase’s allegedly unlawful facilitation of the purchase and sale of cryptoasset securities by combining the functions of an exchange, a broker, and a clearing agency without obtaining the necessary records required by the Commission.

However, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has expressed vehement criticism of the SEC, characterizing its regulatory approach as unfair and irrational when applied to digital assets.

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Coinbase Launches 14-Month ‘Stand With Crypto’ Initiative to Lobby US Lawmakers on Digital Assets

Coinbase, the leading US cryptocurrency exchange, is launching a 14-month lobbying effort to convince D.C. lawmakers to pass clearer regulations for digital assets.

According to a new blog post, Coinbase’s “Stand With Crypto” initiative includes several strategies, such as asking tens of millions of Americans who own digital assets to contact their representatives and advocate for pro-cryptocurrency laws.

“We are asking more than 52 million cryptocurrency owners and advocates to use their voices to defend cryptocurrencies. Stand with Crypto Alliance is doing this through a 14-month campaign that will have three elements:

  1. Leverage the Coinbase platform to mobilize cryptocurrency owners and turn them into cryptocurrency advocates with a single issue. Since Stand with Crypto was formed just a few weeks ago, over 100,000 people have already taken action through the decentralized app Stand with Crypto (accessible through the Coinbase app).
  2. A comprehensive paid media campaign across all platforms, including launching digital ads and billboards in Washington, D.C. today. to show what will be distributed nationwide.
  3. The campaign will specifically focus on nine key states that are also overindexed with respect to the number of cryptocurrency owners, including local organizing with full-time field organizers, in key states. In recent weeks, Stand with Crypto has hosted successful events in Ohio, Nevada, Georgia, and Montana that tested its ability to organize cryptocurrency advocates.

The overall effort to mobilize the 52 million Americans who own cryptocurrency will include an intense focus on the following states: AZ, CA, GA, IL, NH, NV, OH, PA, and WI. While we will share more about each state, in Georgia we will look to build a crypto club of at least 11,779 members.”

In June, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Coinbase for allegedly “operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker-dealer, and clearing agency.” The case is ongoing.

Coinbase said in a recent blog post that the SEC is taking an enforcement-only approach to the crypto space and this is “costing the US millions of jobs and creating opportunities overseas.”

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Second Largest USDC Stablecoin Launches on Competitor Ethereum’s NEAR (NEAR) Protocol

The second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, USD Coin (USDC), is now available natively on Ethereum (ETH) competitor NEAR Protocol (NEAR).

In addition to NEAR, USDC is also available natively on Algorand (ALGO), Arbitrum (ARB), Avalanche (AVAX), Base, Ethereum, Flow, Hedera (HBAR), Noble, Optimism (OP), Solana (SOL), Stellar . (XLM) and Tron (TRX).

Explains the USDC issuing circle:

“Developers can now leverage the speed and scalability of the NEAR blockchain to create fast, easy-to-use applications using USDC and coded in popular programming languages such as JavaScript and Rust.”

Coinbase and Circle, the leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, jointly created USDC in 2018 and co-managed the asset, which aims to maintain peg to the U.S. dollar, through the Center Consortium until last month.

In August, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that Circle would bring all USDC governance and operations responsibilities in-house. The CEOs also noted that Coinbase planned to buy an equity stake in Circle.

NEAR is trading at $1.10 at the time of writing. The cryptoactive ranked 42nd in market capitalization rose more than 1.6% in the last 24 hours.

The NEAR protocol claims that it focuses on scalability and stability. The project aims to allow developers to create decentralized applications at low cost.

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Paxos confirms it is responsible for an erroneous $500,000 Bitcoin transaction

The account that paid $500,000 to move $2,000 worth of Bitcoin was a Paxos server, the company said.

The account that paid more than $500,000 in fees on Sept. 10 for a Bitcoin (BTC) transfer belonged to Paxos, according to a Sept. 13 company statement. Paxos stated that end users were not affected and that all user funds are safe. Paxos is best known as an issuer of stablecoins, including PayPal USD (PYUSD) and Pax Dollar (USDP), but it also runs a cryptocurrency exchange that trades Bitcoin.

The statement comes after Twitter users speculated that PayPal may have been responsible for the transaction, due to a related wallet account that was identified by analytics platform OXT as belonging to PayPal. A Paxos representative told Cointelegraph that PayPal was not responsible, as the error was theirs, stating:

   “Paxos overpaid the BTC network fee on September 10, 2023. This only affected Paxos corporate operations. Paxos customers and end users are not affected and all customer funds are safe. This was due to a single transfer error and has been fixed. Paxos is in contact with the mining company to recover the funds.”

The erroneous transaction was first discovered on September 10, shortly after it occurred. According to blockchain data, the sender paid fees of approximately 20 BTC (more than $515,000 at the time) to send just 0.07 BTC (worth less than $2,000 at the time). At the time, Casa Wallet co-founder Jameson Lopp stated that the sending account “looks like an exchange or payment processor with faulty software” as it had made more than 60,000 transactions at the same address.

The block containing the transaction was confirmed by the Bitcoin mining pool F2Pool. On September 10, the fund administration offered to return the funds to the sender of the transaction if the complaint was filed within three days. Otherwise, the exorbitant fee would be paid to the pool’s hash power contributors.

Before Paxos made its statement, Bitcoin enthusiast Mononaut claimed on Twitter that PayPal was responsible for the transaction.

According to Mononaut, the sender account bc1qr35hws365juz5rtlsjtvmulu97957kqvr3zpw3 exhibited behavior that “very closely resembles the behavior of a now-inactive wallet [bc1qhs3gptkxem5y7yaq2yg0un2m8hae6wt87gkx4n].” This inactive address has been marked as “Paypal” by blockchain analytics platform OXT.

To add further evidence to his hypothesis, Mononaut observed that this old wallet address transferred its funds to the new address through an intermediary account. Bitcoin blockchain data shows that the old address called “Paypal” by OXT transferred approximately 18.5 BTC to the address bc1qlm0xlahpysq2v9yh5rhcc430xjz3xknqqnyvaf on June 19. That account then sent around 5.37 BTC to the new address which then made the wrong transaction. Lopp shared the thread and wondered aloud whether PayPal would request his funds back.

Related: Coinbase Will Integrate Bitcoin Lightning Network: CEO Brian Armstrong

Paxos later issued a statement confirming that the error was theirs, not PayPal’s.

Paxos is not the first cryptocurrency user or company to pay potentially thousands of dollars in fees due to a bug. In 2019, an Ethereum user lost over $300,000 by mistakenly pasting values into the wrong fields. Fortunately for him, the mining pool agreed to return 50% of the funds he lost. In 2020, another Ethereum user mistakenly paid $9,500 for a $120 trade. The user claimed the error “destroyed [his] life.”

In its statement, Paxos stated that it has contacted the mining company that confirmed the transaction and is trying to recover the lost resources.