The crackdown on crypto companies by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appears to have severely affected Binance's business. Over the past few weeks, the crypto exchange was reported to have laid off more than 1,000 employees and cut some benefits.
According to Binance, the โcurrent market environment and regulatory climateโ have caused a decline in profits, suggesting further cuts may be in the offing. A spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the firm would consider reducing โcertain products, business units, staff benefits, and policiesโ in response to business and regulatory concerns.
Binance has yet to face the courts and the 13 charges brought against it by the SEC, as well as the outcome of a US Department of Justice investigation targeting its activities and executives.
Despite the cloudy outlook ahead, Binance remains comfortably the world's most popular centralized crypto exchange, with assets worth over $63 billion. A breakdown of chips by DefiLlama shows that most of the assets held on Binance include Tether (USDT) (27.55%), Bitcoin (BTC) (26.95%), BNB (bnb) (12.82%) and wrapped ether (10.08%).
In remarks on Binance's anniversary on July 14, the exchange's CEO Changpeng Zhao recalled that the company day it was "never all smooth sailing".
This week's Crypto Biz looks at Binance's ongoing efforts to curb declining earnings, Ripple's expectation that US banks may soon adopt XRP (XRP) and the first signs of venture capital returning to cryptocurrencies.
Ripple CLO says court ruling could encourage banks to adopt XRP
Stu Alderoty, legal director at Ripple Labs, believes that US-based banks. you can turn to XRP for cross-border transactions after a recent court ruling. โHopefully this quarter will lead to a lot of conversations in the United States with customers, and hopefully some of those conversations will turn into actual business,โ he said during an interview. With the โsecurityโ label seemingly no longer hanging over XRP, the partnerships between Ripple and the banks weakened by the SEC lawsuit could find new life. Bank of America had been eyeing the blockchain firm in 2019, and American Express first partnered with Ripple in 2017.
#NEW: Presidents @PatrickMcHenry and @CongressmanGT issue a statement on the court ruling in SEC v. Ripple and the need for legislative clarity in the digital asset ecosystem to avoid further uncertainty in our financial markets.
Read more https://t.co/y1nITVmHvh pic.twitter.com/tn0dn0BDHd
โ Republican Party of Financial Services (@FinancialCmte) July 14, 2023
Binance cuts employee benefits, citing 'declining profits'
Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance is cutting certain employee benefits amid reassessment efforts at the firm. The company has reportedly stopped offering reimbursements to employees for certain expenses, including mobile phone use, exercise and working from home. Binance cited the โcurrent market environment and regulatory climate,โ which led to declining profits, suggesting that further cost-cutting measures may be needed. The report follows a mass layoff in June that affected more than 1,000 employees at the exchange. Binance and Zhao were the subject of SEC lawsuits for allegedly offering unregistered securities in the United States.
Marathon Shareholders File Lawsuit Against Company Senior Management
Crypto mining company Marathon Digital heads to court on charges that its CEO, Fred Thiel, along with other top executives, breached their fiduciary duties, became unjustly enriched and squandered corporate assets. According to the complaint, the company's management has been downplaying its problems, artificially inflating Marathon's valuation, receiving excessive compensation, conducting lucrative insider trading, and receiving unreasonably high bonuses based on false and misleading statements.
Polychain Capital and Coinfund raise $350 million for new crypto funds
Web3 ventures are preparing for new investments in crypto projects, as Polychain Capital raised $200 million for a new investment fund and Coinfund secured $152 million for a seed fund. Polychain still intends to raise $400 million in total for the new fund. It currently operates three funds with approximately $2.6 billion in assets under management. As for Coinfund, its CEO, Jake Brukhman, said the company set itself a goal of raising $125 million, but managed to raise an additional $27 million due to a resurgence of interest in the industry. The total volume of venture financing for crypto startups has decreased by 76% year-over-year due to the bear market and turbulence in the industry.
July is the eighth anniversary of CoinFund, celebrating the journey of @jbrukh @flexiblethought and equipment from the kitchen table to the table top. We are delighted to further this milestone with the announcement that CoinFund has closed its $158 million Seed Fund IV to support the leaders of the new Internet.
pic.twitter.com/6kwBFuIHiyโ CoinFund (@coinfund_io) July 18, 2023
Before you go: Bitcoin's rally will lead to a 'speculative explosion' in 2024, Mark Yusko predicts
BlackRock Application for a Spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund has sparked the beginning of a new crypto bull market, which will turn parabolic sometime closer to the scheduled April 2024 halving, according to Mark Yusko, chief investment officer and founder of Morgan Creek Capital.
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