Binance

What is BNB auto-burn and how does it work?

Based on the price of BNB and the number of blocks generated on BSC during the quarter, the BNB auto-burn mechanism automatically modifies the amount of BNB to be burned.

BNB and its role in the blockchain ecosystem

Binance Coin (BNB) is the Binance ecosystem’s native cryptocurrency. Launched in 2017, BNB was originally presented as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain with a total supply of 200 million. In 2019, Binance started its mainnet swap and migrated all BNB tokens to BNB Chain.

Related: A beginner’s guide to the BNB Chain: The evolution of the Binance Smart Chain

BNB Chain is composed of two blockchains, both powered by BNB:

  • BNB Beacon Chain: Previously called Binance Chain, this blockchain handles BNB Chain governance functions such as voting and staking.
  • BNB Smart Chain (BSC): Once known as the Binance Smart Chain, this blockchain uses the Ethereum Virtual Machine to support smart contracts and is fully compatible with Ethereum’s tools and decentralized apps (DApps).

The native Binance Coin is now an essential part of the Binance ecosystem. It is used to power the operations of the Binance and Binance.US exchanges, including other applications built on the BNB Chain, such as:

  • PancakeSwap
  • Biswap
  • ApeSwap
  • Autoshark Finance
  • Avarice
  • Libera.Financial
  • Nominex/Nomiswap
  • The age of dinosaurs
  • DEX Finance
  • Open Leverage

These are just a few of the many dApps built on the BNB blockchain. Binance also remains the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume and is one of the most popular exchanges in the world.

What is a coin burn?

A coin burn is when a cryptocurrency project destroys some of its coins, often to reduce the circulating supply and increase the value of the remaining coins. The coins are sent to a dead crypto wallet with an unknown private key, which means that these coins can never be spent again.

Coin burns are often conducted on a quarterly or semi-annual basis. Binance, for example, has committed to burning BNB coins every quarter until 100 million BNB are destroyed. This will leave a total supply of 100 million BNB — the maximum possible supply of BNB.

Related: Buyback-and-burn: What does it mean in crypto?

Blockchains and crypto protocols do periodic coin burns and token burns for a couple of reasons, including:

How is BNB burned?

There are coin-burning mechanisms by which BNB is burned, as explained below:

Real-time burning mechanism (BEP-95)

The first is the Binance Evolution Proposal (BEP)-95 burning mechanism. Through BEP-95, BNB is burned in real-time by burning a portion of the gas fees spent on BSC. Since the 2021 upgrade of the BNB Smart Chain, BEP-95 has continued to burn around 860 BNB daily.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao implemented BEP-95 to accelerate BNB’s burn rate, which was going slower than planned. By burning part of the gas fees collected by each block’s validators, BEP-95 provides a constant stream of BNB to be burned.

BEP-95 is completely reliant on the BSC network, so it will continue to burn BNB after the 100 million burn goal has been reached. BEP-95 burn progress can be tracked via the BNB Burns Tracker Bot on Twitter:

Quarterly auto-burn

The second method is the scheduled quarterly burns conducted by Binance. In these burns, a specific amount of BNB is bought back from the open market and destroyed. The first burn was conducted in October 2017 and burned 986,000 BNB.

The quarterly burns are conducted using Binance’s profits and are announced well in advance. The specific amount of BNB to be burned is based on several factors including overall profitability, BNB circulating supply and the number of blocks produced per quarter. As of the most recent burn in April 2022, a total of 1,839,786.261 BNB have been burned:

What is BNB auto-burn?

BNB auto-burn was created alongside the launch and rebranding of Binance Chain and Binance Smart Chain into BNB Chain. According to Binance, the auto-burn mechanism was designed to maximize the BNB token’s value and provide a sustainable and safe long-term growth plan for the BNB ecosystem.

Binance used to do quarterly BNB burns based on the BNB trading volume on their exchange. However, quarterly burns were replaced by BNB auto-burn in December 2021.

The auto-burns are still done quarterly, but they are no longer based solely on the trading volume on Binance.

The BNB auto-burn mechanism is automated to adjust the quantity of BNB that will need to be burned depending on two factors:

  • BNB price
  • Number of blocks generated on BSC per quarter

According to Binance, the new BNB burning mechanisms provide better transparency and are more predictable than the previous quarterly burn method. According to the Binance team, the new auto-burn mechanism will help stabilize the BNB price and protect it from large fluctuations.

How does BNB auto-burn work?

From a technical perspective, BNB auto-burn uses on-chain information from the BNB Smart Chain to calculate how much BNB should be burned. This is how the mechanism “adjusts” the burn amount.

The burn amount is also influenced by supply and demand dynamics, which means that when the price of BNB declines, the burn rate increases. As previously mentioned, coin burns increase a cryptocurrency’s value.

BNB auto-burn was designed to remain independent of BNB trading volume on Binance (which used to be its sole basis). This is to assure the BNB community that the process is verifiable, objective and transparent.

The goal is to continue running auto-burn until the 100 million mark. It will do so automatically using the formula below:

In the equation above, B represents the total amount of BNB to be burned and N represents the number of blocks produced on the BNB Smart Chain during the quarter. The average block time is 3 seconds, setting the approximate value of blocks produced per hour at 1,200 blocks. A standard computation would yield the value of N as approximately 2,592,000 blocks. The value may fluctuate depending on exactly how many days there are per month during a specific quarter.

P is for BNB’s average price at the time. The average price fluctuates within a range of 10% to 20% per day, and the median value is determined by taking a sample based on an accepted oracle provider, such as ChainLink, for BSC. This is typically carried out every 10,000 blocks and takes around 8.3 hours to produce.

K is initially set at 1000 and is a constant price anchor. Its value is subject to change and largely depends on BNB Smart Chain’s community. Members can submit a BEP proposal as well as cast a community vote to update this value.

BNB quarterly burn

The older quarterly burn mechanism was updated to quarterly auto-burns. Auto-burn achieves the same objective but is more efficient and transparent. The chart below shows the anticipated quarterly BNB auto-Burn amount for a variety of BNB average prices:

How to check BNB auto-burn history?

BNB auto-burn history can be tracked. The website keeps a record of all previous burns including details of each burn:

For example, if we click on the latest burn, Burn #19, we can see the following details:

So, how much BNB has been burned till now? To date, the total BNB burned is 35,750,684.88. Per current price data, this is equivalent to $7,866,304,917.03. You can also follow real-time values and details about BNB burning events.

When is the next BNB burn?

The latest BNB Burn took place on April 19, 2022, destroying 1,830,382 BNB, or $772,363,806, via auto-burn. There is no specific date yet for the 20th burn, but it is expected to happen anytime between July 16-20, 2022.

Typically, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announces BNB burn dates on Twitter, so it’s worth watching that space for updates on the next auto-burn.

Layer-1 blockchains: How crypto winter could slow the challenge to Ethereum

A Chainalysis report analyzes the layer-1 blockchain ecosystem, questioning if alternative L1s will continue to challenge Ethereum this crypto winter.

Given Ethereum’s dominance coupled with the current crypto bear market, it remains questionable if L1s will flourish. This was recently highlighted in a Chainalsys blog post entitled “New layer 1 blockchains are expanding the DeFi ecosystem, but no ETH killers yet.” Ethan McMahon, an economist at Chainalysis, told Cointelegraph that Chainalysis published this report to raise awareness for the current L1 ecosystem:

While Ethereum allowed decentralized finance (DeFi) to flourish in 2020, a number of layer-1 blockchains (L1s) have since been developed to address the challenges associated with the network. For instance, as Ethereum’s proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism and high gas fees continue to impact transaction speed and scalability within its ecosystem, L1s like Algorand, BNB Chain, Avalanche and others aim to solve these problems.

“Chain comparison is important because it seems as if most crypto services are only offered on Ethereum, but this isn’t true. There are a few different blockchains with competitive offerings that have advantages Ethereum doesn’t provide.” 

In order to demonstrate this, McMahon explained that Chainalysis gathered data from different blockchains to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the networks. For example, the post points out that with gas fees running high on Ethereum, many developers have chosen to build decentralized applications (DApps) on Algorand. Binance Smart Chain, or BNB Chain, is also recognized for its capability to support new tokens and DApps without the high gas fees of Ethereum. “It’s interesting to see that people are paying exuberant gas fees on Ethereum’s network. Our findings show that transactions less than $1,000 result in a significant amount of money spent on gas fees,” McMahon said. 

Source: Chainalysis

Based on Chainalysis’s overall findings, however, the post concludes that none of the L1-blockchains analyzed have been successful in solving all challenges associated with the Ethereum network. This also raises the question if L1s will survive long-term. For instance, the current crypto winter may slow down investments in these ecosystems. In addition, the merge of Ethereum 2.0 — which is set to take place this year but may be pushed to 2023 — could lead to improvements in the Ethereum ecosystem that may impact alternative L1 uses. 

L1 developments to drive adoption 

In order to determine how L1s will advance, it’s important to take a closer look at recent developments within the various ecosystems mentioned by Chainalysis. For example, the report categorizes Algorand as a top-10 L1 blockchain by market capitalization, stating:

“During Q3 2021, Algorand saw its transaction volume grow 65%, while Bitcoin and Ethereum saw volumes drop 37% and 45% respectively. This may have reflected Algorand’s growing hype — having launched in April 2019, Algorand was a relatively new blockchain, and reached an all-time price high in September 2021.”

Findings also show that 10% of Algorand’s transaction volume comes from retail investors, compared with 5% for Bitcoin (BTC) and 8% for Ether (ETH). Given this, the report notes that this could signify Algorand’s success in enabling a high volume of smaller transactions.

Source: Chainalysis

Staci Warden, CEO of the Algorand Foundation — the organization behind Algorand’s monetary supply economics, governance and ecosystem — told Cointelegraph that Algorand uses a Pure proof-of-stake (PPoS) consensus mechanism, allowing the network to specifically solve problems that require scale. “The most fundamental difference between Algorand and other L1s is the network’s ability to deliver financial inclusion to the two billion people in the world that don’t have access to modern financial systems,” she said. 

Warden elaborated that Algorand’s PPoS consensus mechanism enables this due to its low staking requirements. According to the Chainalysis post, only 1 Algorand (ALGO) token is needed to stake on the network. Warden also pointed out that Algorand is very focused on decentralized finance (DeFi) development, noting that the network is capable of settling about 1,200 transactions per second, with gas fees equating to .001 ALGO.

Recent: Integrating blockchain-based digital IDs into daily life

“These requirements are necessary for networks to scale,” said Warden. In comparison, the Chainalysis report mentions that Ethereum can only handle roughly 15 transactions per second. Yet, it’s been noted that Eth2 aims to increase this considerably to about 150,000 once upgrades are completed.

In order to stay competitive, Warden shared that Algorand is in the process of rolling out a new feature that would allow the network to settle transactions in 2.5 seconds, compared with the 4.5 seconds it currently takes. Moreover, as multichain networks become more important, Algorand plans to deliver “state proofs” that will allow users to move tokens from one chain to another.

“Algorand could end up being a router for all transactions across chains, since it can handle fast transactions, with little carbon footprint for sub-penny fees,” explained Warden. While state proofs and other developments won’t be rolled out immediately, it’s notable that FIFA recently announced that it will use Algorand to develop its digital asset strategy. “FIFA is building their own wallet on Algorand and creating an NFT marketplace that can accomodate secondary ticket sales,” added Warden.

BNB Chain is also mentioned in the Chainalysis report and is praised for its capability to support new tokens and DApps without high gas fees. In fact, DappRadar found there to be more L2 projects built on BNB Chain than any other blockchain. Gwendolyn Regina, investment director of BNB Chain, told Cointelegraph that the goal behind the network is to help builders create DApps that scale for massive crypto adoption. She said:

“This year, BNB Smart Chain will have 30 times the computing power of Ethereum and will also work on decentralized storage solutions. As a result, blockchain technology will be increasingly integrated into real-world applications.” 

According to Regina, the key focus areas for BNB Chain’s 2022 roadmap include decentralization, faster transaction speed, multichain integration and an increased focus on supporting developers and sustainability. Specifically speaking, Regina shared that the BNB Chain community recently released plans for further decentralization via the BEP-131 proposal, which will introduce candidate validators to BNB Smart Chain. 

“This proposal would increase the number of BNB Smart Chain Mainnet validators from 21 to 41, providing more decentralization and incentives for validators to constantly innovate their hardware and infrastructure,” she said. While this may create more decentralization, there has been criticism regarding whether or not DeFi is decentralized following Solend’s spontaneous governance proposal related to one of the whale wallets at risk of liquidation.

Decentralization aside, it’s notable that BNB Beacon Chain — a blockchain developed by Binance and its community that implements a decentralized exchange for digital assets — recently became open-sourced. “BNB Beacon Chain is now accessible for developers to build on,” said Regina. She further explained that the benefits of the BNB Beacon Chain are broad, noting its high-speed order book based decentralized exchange to ensure quick transactions. “Harnessing native secure cross-chain support will open doors for blockchain interoperability, meaning users can seamlessly navigate the chains they use,” she remarked.

In addition to Algorand and BNB Chain, Avalanche was mentioned in Chainalysis’s findings. According to the report, Avalanche specializes in customizability, scalability and interoperability. John Wu, president of Ava Labs — the lead developer of the Avalanche blockchain — told Cointelegraph that the network specifically aims to solve a number of problems within Web3 ecosystems. He said:

“Avalanche has the fastest time to finality in the industry at about 500 milliseconds to 2 seconds. This means that all cross-chain and subnet transactions are immortalized in a blink. Financial institutions building DeFi products and Web3 gaming studios developing AAA shooters and RPGs need near-instant finality. It is a precondition to success. Without it, their apps cannot work.”

To Wu’s point, finality is extremely important as more institutions enter the DeFi sector. In fact, Avalanche’s quick finality time could be much greater in comparison with Eth2 finality time, which some believe may never reach under 15 minutes. Ethereum currently processes 15–30 transactions per second with over one-minute finality.

Wu added that regardless of market conditions, the Avalanche community will continue to build. For example, Wu shared that subnets — a set of validators working together to achieve consensus on the state of a set of blockchains — will open new doors for DeFi. For example, he mentioned that a subnet’s ability to incorporate Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements and circumvent the bottlenecking that might occur on a chain shared with third-party applications appeals to institutions. “The first Subnet engineered specifically for institutional DeFi is in production right now,” he said.

Survival of the fittest? 

Although L1 blockchains are advancing, the Chainalysis report still notes the possibility of Ethereum becoming the “dominant player” due to market conditions and expected upgrades to the network. For instance, Raul Jordan, one of the core devs working on the Eth2 merge, told Cointelegraph that soon anyone in the world will be able to run an ETH node, which demonstrates the true power of decentralization.

Alex Tapscott, author and co-founder of the Toronto-based Blockchain Research Institute, further told Cointelegraph that there are two reasons to question the longevity of L1s:

“First, bear markets generally see a drop in interest for crypto-native applications, so if gas fees drop on their own on Ethereum, why use a newer or less proven chain when you can use Ethereum? Second, the merge to proof-of-stake will improve Ethereum’s performance, so even if demand returns, it may be able to handle new growth.”

However, Tapscott added that he believes any decreasing interest in L1s will be short-lived. “Long term, there will be surging demand for block space, with some developers and users willing to trade off between security (Ethereum) for speed and convenience. Also, I think many alternative L1s for all their potential are still pretty early stage tech, and as they mature they will become more reliable, useful and broadly adopted.”

Recent: How to start a career in crypto? A beginner’s guide for 2022

Tapscott further pointed out that “L1s were initially successful not because they attracted investor capital, but because they drove user adoption and interest.” And, if history has taught the crypto space anything, it would be that bear markets are a perfect time for projects to build. “A bear market would be a fantastic way to assess and support projects that actually make a difference in the blockchain ecosystem as long as innovative teams keep emerging to solve real-world problems using blockchain technology,” Regina pointed out.

On the other hand, a number of projects also tend to fail in bear markets. Warden commented that there will indeed be fallout for several L1 blockchains: “Crypto winter is a time when every component of the crypto ecosystem is going to be questioned and tire-kicked, and not just DApps, but all aspects of crypto infrastructure, including L1s.”

However, Warden added that projects that can scale and handle transactions will continue to accelerate, posing a challenge to Ethereum: “Businesses or projects that are building for long-term utility and real-world adoption will accelerate and garner attention during this period.”

Binance to assist Cambodia in developing digital asset regulations

The crypto exchange has signed similar agreements with the governments of Kazakhstan, Dubai and Bermuda.

Crypto exchange Binance has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Securities and Exchange Regulator of Cambodia (SERC), according to a June 30 announcement.

Binance and SERC will work together to develop digital assets regulations in the country. SERC is looking to leverage Binance’s technical expertise and experience in the field to develop its own legal framework for the digital asset market.

Cryptocurrencies are not regulated in Cambodia, and any unlicensed activity involving these digital assets is highly prohibited. The partnership could prove pivotal for the South Asian country, where any crypto-linked activity has been deemed illegal since 2018.

Gleb Kostarev, Binance’s regional head of Asia, told Cointelegraph:

“Economically, Cambodia has been in the top 10 fastest growing countries over the last 10 years, and the annual economic growth has been consistent. Furthermore, the population of the young and tech-savvy is high. With all these advantages, we believe that Cambodia can be a forerunner in the Web3 and digital asset industry. It would be an honor to be part of that process.”

Asia has become a crypto hotspot over the years, with several nations in the region adopting a pro-crypto approach. Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines have come up with progressive regulations to promote the use of crypto assets in their respective countries.

Binance has paid particular attention to having good regulatory relations, especially since its 2021 debacle that saw nearly half a dozen countries issuing compliance warnings against it. The leading crypto exchange has mended its relations since then and has forged critical partnerships in Asia over the past year in countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

The crypto exchange has also made a name for itself in offering governments technical expertise in crypto and helping them regulate the nascent sector. The exchange signed a $15 million investment agreement in Bermuda to teach and educate the community about crypto.

Related: Binance U.S. makes BTC trading fee-free as competitors feel the heat

Binance’s regulatory in-roads in emerging markets have caught the attention of many, including Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer at the Human Rights Foundation. Gladstein lauded Binance’s recent expansion into emerging markets such as Asia, Africa and the Middle East, saying:

“While Western cryptocurrency companies are buying Superbowl ads and sports stadium rights, Binance is ruthlessly and custodial taking over emerging markets in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. They are winning.”

In May, Binance signed a similar memorandum of understanding with the government of Kazakhstan to help it with crypto adoption and regulations. Similarly, it signed an MoU with the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority in December 2021 and later bagged a license to operate in the country as well.

Kazakhstan to let crypto exchanges open bank accounts

Exchange platforms will get an opportunity to operate legally in the Astana International Finance Center in 2022.

In addition to its swift advances toward regulating crypto mining, Kazakhstan will launch a pilot project for crypto exchanges in the special economic zone of the Astana International Finance Centre. 

The Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry of the Kazakhstan Republic announced on Thursday a pilot project of cooperation between the crypto exchanges and some of the local banks.

The working group formulated the guidelines for that cooperation, consisting of the representatives of the Ministry of Digital Development, the National Bank, the Financial Monitoring Agency, the Association of Financiers, Astana International Finance Centre and the finance and crypto market stakeholders. 

The pilot project will be functioning until the end of 2022 and include the exchanges that have gained a license from the freshly-formed Astana Financial Service Authority (AFSA). It will make a blueprint for the subsequent development of Kazakhstan as a regional crypto hub. Close guidelines should soon be published on the AIFC webpage.

Head of AFSA Nurhat Kushimov declared that the mission of his committee is to create an environment for reliable and sustainable companies to operate:

“The Astana Financial Service Authority is the only entity responsible for regulating the fintech companies’ activities in Kazakhstan. Before handing out the license to a fintech company, we conduct a deep and thorough background check, and after that maintain its constant supervision.”

Bagdat Musin, the Minister of Digital Development, voiced Kazakhstan’s aim to profit off crypto exchanges:

“It is necessary to create a complete ecosystem, so the digital assets, that have been mined using Kazakhstan’s electric energy, would be traded at the local exchanges to the maximum extent and the profit would stay in the country”.

On May 25, the Kazakh parliament passed in the first reading the amendments to the national tax code to impose a crypto mining tax tied to the prices of the electricity consumed by mining entities.

Related: Bitcoin miners’ resilience to geopolitics: A healthy sign for the network

On the same day, largest crypto exchange Binance signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Digital Development and revealed an intention to advise on developing the legislative framework and regulatory policy for crypto-assets in the republic.

Biggest Bitcoin exchange inflows since 2018 put potential $20K bottom at risk

Traders are nervous, data suggests, and a further drop could spark a chain reaction as exchange users rush to liquidate their BTC holdings.

Bitcoin (BTC) could be on the verge of a retail major sell-off as exchange inflows spike to almost three-and-a-half-year highs.

Data from on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant shows users of 21 major exchanges sending coins to their wallets en masse on June 14.

Major exchanges finish up 83,000 BTC in a single day

As BTC/USD fell to lows of $20,800, panic appeared to set in among traders, and despite a reversal that at one point topped $23,000, few seemed willing to trust that the worst was over.

Since then, spot price action has returned to near $21,000, while 24-hour exchange inflows reached 59,376 BTC.

According to CryptoQuant data, this is the largest daily inflow since November 30, 2018. On that day, exchanges recorded 83,481 BTC of net inflows.

May 9, 2022 ended with 29,082 BTC in net inflows for the platforms monitored by CryptoQuant.

Concerns may now turn to whether even more sell-side pressure will emerge in Bitcoin markets over the coming days and weeks. Around a month after the 2018 influx, BTC/USD hit its cycle bottom of $3,100, 84% below its prior all-time high of $20,000.

Bitcoin exchange netflows chart. Source: CryptoQuant

As Cointelegraph recently reported, analysts are of mixed opinion when it comes to whether Bitcoin will repeat the trend this cycle. An 84% drawdown would mean a bottom of just $11,000.

In a separate analysis of the price situation, statistician Willy Woo concluded that macro market movements would dictate Bitcoin’s bottom.

“I think it’s simpler than this, IMO we’ll find a bottom when macro markets stabilise,” part of a Twitter thread contemplating various price support theories read.

FTX, Binance see particularly heavy selling

Analyzing who has been selling so far, meanwhile, CryptoQuant CEO Ki-Young Ju pointed the finger at derivatives traders and the largest global exchange Binance.

Related: ‘Too early’ to say Bitcoin price has reclaimed key bear market support — Analysis

Ki noted that the largest number of coin days destroyed — unmoved coins becoming active after a dormant period — came from those specific venues.

“This selling pressure came from Binance and FTX,” he wrote in a Twitter thread June 13:

“$BTC Exchange Inflow CDD(Coins Days Destroyed) indicates old whale deposits. Binance’s Inflow CDD reached a year-high before the drop.”

Bitcoin coin days destroyed for Binance, FTX (screenshot). Source: Ki Young Ju/ Twitter

Ki added that this was in contrast to other whales, who have been comparatively quiet throughout the price upheaval, which began with May’s Terra implosion.

Data from on-chain analytics resource Coinglass, meanwhile, shows the extent of downside bias on FTX, especially in recent days.

Bitcoin funding rates for Binance, FTX. Source: Coinglass

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Binance CEO plans to leverage crypto winter

The boss of the world’s largest crypto exchange said we’ve been through this before as a community.

Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao, commonly known as “CZ,” said in a recent interview that a potential crypto winter is good for business.

When asked how Binance will fare during the current crypto winter following reports of recruitment freezes at Gemini and Coinbase, he answered confidently.

“It’s not the first time we’ve gone through a crypto winter. If we are in a crypto winter, it would be my third and Binance’s second. So it’s not the first time we’ve been through this.”

Changpeng Zhao has undertaken what is, for many exchanges, a hairy endeavor — recruiting new staff during a bear market to take advantage of the next possible bull market. “Right now is much better to hire, during bull markets, everyone is starting their own projects, and everyone is getting paid a ridiculous amount of compensation,” he continued:

“Now the markets are more balanced, so top talents are available, and we want to hire them.”

The crypto-world has suffered through a period of decline these past few weeks, but the Binance boss still recommended that now is an excellent time for companies to expand and hire.

Related: Major crypto firms reportedly cut up to 10% of staff amid bear market

Meanwhile, however, many crypto exchanges such as Coinbase and Gemini have frozen new hires and laid-off employees. Companies such as Crypto.com and BlockFi have also laid off over 5% of their employees due to market conditions. Trading platform Robinhood also axed 9% of its staff in April.

Changpeng continued by stating, “Binance has always been very frugal on large spending, we didn’t sponsor the Super Bowl,” and ”we didn’t buy stadium rights.”

Binance temporarily paused BTC withdrawals due to a stuck transaction causing a backlog on Monday, but CZ confirmed that funds were “SAFU” and they were resumed a few hours later. 

Binance aims to become a super app with Splyt crypto partnership

The partnership with the “super app enabler” will allow users to pay for taxi services and food deliveries with crypto using Binance Pay.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance has partnered with Splyt, a “super app enabler,” to bring payment options to the Binance application. Payment options made for Splyt services include cryptocurrency. 

When live, the integration will allow Binance users to pay for ridehailing services, but “also bikesharing, scooters, airport transfers, public transport and even food delivery,” a Splyt spokesperson told Cointelegraph.

As per usual, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, better known as “CZ,” helped to break the news on Twitter:

The news comes as some relief to Binance, which suffered issues related to “stuck transactions” on Bitcoin (BTC) withdrawals on Monday. The problem was resolved eight hours later.

A Splyt spokesperson told Cointelegraph that it would be the “first partnership in the cryptocurrency space” and faced with perilous price action with Bitcoin sub $25,000, “Splyt is enthusiastic about its development.”

“Increasingly, users are turning to their crypto wallets to pay for everyday services. […] Fully integrating everyday services as an obvious next step for crypto wallets.”

For Binance, it’s no secret they’re keen to get a foothold in the crypto payments space. For CZ, payments and app integrations are meant to up the omnipresent Binance brand awareness. Since the world has gradually reopened following the depths of the COVI-19 pandemic, CZ has undertaken a world tour, pitching crypto and Binance Pay to countries and investors all around the world.

Related: Binance Australia CEO: Regulations will establish higher standards in crypto

The report says that Binance is already used by 90 million users in over 150 countries worldwide. For Splyt, the partnership opens the door to a broad customer base:

“The other perspective is equally important: mobility and other on-demand services can dramatically increase acceptance and transaction volumes, by being available through crypto platforms, who together have hundreds of millions of users.”

Critically, as companies such as BlockFi, Gemini and most recently, Coinbase report staff reductions, the news is further evidence that Binance is doubling down into the bear market. Another feather to its cap, Binance continues to expand operations and roll out capital expenditure.

Law Decoded, June 7–13: Lummis-Gillibrand bill is finally here

Senators confirmed that Bitcoin and Ether will be classified as commodities and regulated by the CFTC.

One can hardly name a document more long-hoped-for as the crypto bill, co-sponsored by United States Senators Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, was for the crypto community. And, it’s finally here. Last week, Lummis and Gillibrand introduced a 69-page bill in the U.S. Senate. What’s inside? The projects of study on the environmental impact of digital assets and advisory committee on innovation, a tax structure, a mandate for analysis of the use of digital assets in retirement savings and much more.

Should it become law, the bill would undoubtedly implement major changes to the current regulatory landscape. Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis have confirmed that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) will be classified as commodities and regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). At the same time, bill authors consider most altcoins securities subject to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations. “It will be a struggle to decipher what exactly is in the SEC bucket, but it could be the exception that swallows the rule,” a worried expert told Cointelegraph.

Legal troubles mount for Terraform Labs

Terraform Labs, the parent company behind the collapsed Terra ecosystem, continues its struggle with enforcement agencies and courts in both hemispheres. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency received an intelligence tip informing them of possible embezzlement of BTC by one of the firm’s employees, though not Do Kwon himself. But Kwon is still in enough trouble, as The United States Court of Appeals rejected his dispute of a subpoena by the SEC, ruling that it was served correctly.

Continue reading.

Bad week for Binance

Major crypto exchange Binance suffered some heavy blows last week. The SEC investigated whether Binance Holdings broke securities rules when it launched its native token BNB in an initial coin offering (ICO) five years ago. Then, Reuters alleged that Binance processed at least $2.35 billion of transactions from hacks, investment frauds and narcotics sales between 2017 and 2021. In its written statement, the company snubbed the journalists’ allegations as disinformation attempts by certain interested parties to “mislead the general public.” 

Continue reading

A letter from human rights activists

Writing letters is cool once again. A week after the open letter by tech scientists against the lobbying effort of the industry comes the new one, this time from human rights activists. Campaigners from 20 countries have submitted an open letter to the U.S. Congress in support of a “responsible crypto policy” and praising Bitcoin and stablecoins as essential tools aiding democracy and freedom for tens of millions. The human rights coalition lashed out at the authors of last week’s anti-crypto letter who come from countries with “stable currencies, free speech, and strong property rights” and that they most likely haven’t experienced hyperinflation or “the cold grip of dictatorship.”

Continue reading

Binance resumes withdrawals as many retail crypto investors monitor exchanges

Many social media users seem to be waiting for other crypto exchanges, including Coinbase and Kraken, to follow in Binance’s and Celsius’ footsteps by suspending withdrawals.

Major crypto exchange Binance has announced that it had resumed Bitcoin withdrawals after more than three hours amid extreme market volatility. 

In an update during what many are calling cryptocurrency’s “Black Monday,” Binance said on its website the exchange would be processing Bitcoin (BTC) network withdrawals within “the next couple of hours” following the resumption of activity. The platform announced Monday that it had temporarily paused BTC withdrawals, with CEO Changpeng Zhao saying on Twitter that all user funds were “SAFU.”

While BTC trading activity on Binance seems to have been restored, withdrawals for users on Celsius have remained frozen since Sunday, when the platform announced such actions put it “in a better position to honor, over time, its withdrawal obligations.” As of the time of publication, Celsius has not offered any indication as to if or when normal operations will resume.

The decision from two major trading platforms to halt Bitcoin withdrawals came amid extreme volatility across the crypto market. The BTC price has fallen to levels not seen since December 2020 — dipping under $23,000 on Monday — while Cointelegraph reported the price of Ether (ETH) dropped to as low as $950 on Uniswap following a whale dumping 93,000 ETH within six hours.

Many on social media seem to be waiting for the other shoe to drop, as it were, among other major crypto exchanges. Some have expressed concerns that Coinbase — with its roughly 98 million verified users — could go offline amid market volatility or otherwise announce the suspension of withdrawals, given the exchange’s history of outages.

Related: Tether: Celsius crisis has no impact on USDT reserves

United States-based crypto exchange Kraken, while not announcing any similar actions on withdrawals, reported funding delays for some tokens, including Solana (SOL). In March, the exchange started allowing users to withdraw funds from accounts using the Lightning Network. Kraken Bitcoin strategist Pierre Rochard said that the platform’s Bitcoin on-chain and Lightning withdrawals were “fully operational” as of Monday amid the market volatility while adding: “holding your own keys is best practice.”

Binance suspends Bitcoin withdrawals — CZ says funds are ‘SAFU’

A temporary pause on Bitcoin withdrawals has been imposed on the world’s largest exchange, Binance.

Crypto’s Black Monday continues to wreak havoc. Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, CEO of crypto exchange Binance, tweeted that there would be a temporary pause on Bitcoin (BTC) withdrawals.

CZ, who often lends his opinion on projects and the market, regularly tweets on behalf of Binance to his 6.4 million followers. He quickly updated the tweet to state: 

“This is only impacting the Bitcoin network. You can still withdraw Bitcoin on other networks like BEP-20.”

“SAFU” is a meme that plays on the word “safe,” first appearing in a YouTube video from 2018. It also refers to Binance’s trading protection fund, the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU). The fund was built during the previous bear market, but in light of Celsius’ potential insolvency, investors may be right to raise the alarm.

According to a follow-up tweet, the exchange setback may be worse than first thought:

“Likely this is going to take a bit longer to fix than my initial estimate. More updates soon. Thanks for your patience and understanding.”

Binance’s official Twitter account confirmed the delay, suggesting that the issue was due to a “stuck on-chain transaction.” According to some commentators, the Lightning Network on Bitcoin would have avoided such an issue.

Related: In this together: Musk and Saylor down a combined $1.5B on Bitcoin buys

Indeed, despite Binance’s size and global presence, it has yet to keep up with its competitors regarding Lightning integration. Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of competitor exchange FTX, recently tweeted that he would encourage developers to work on integrating the layer-2 protocol into the exchange, while Coinbase and Binance lag behind.

Kraken also recently allowed its customers to withdraw funds from accounts instantly, using the Lightning Network. In welcome, positive news, the total amount of Bitcoin on the network recently crossed the 4,000 BTC milestone.