- Crypto Exchange KuCoin to Introduce Mandatory ID Checks Next Month
Cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin said it will introduce mandatory know-your-customer (KYC) checks next month.
Starting July 15, new customers will be required to complete a KYC process to start using KuCoin’s services, the exchange said on Wednesday. Existing customers who do not complete KYC will not be able to trade or make deposits.
Crypto exchanges have been met with criticism for perceived lax KYC checks, with regulators saying that these help fuel fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing.
- Chibi Finance Exit Scam: $1 Million Cryptocurrency Heist Rocks Defi Platform on Arbitrum
On June 27, 2023, the blockchain analysis and intelligence firm Peckshield’s Twitter alert system notified the community about funds being drained from the DeFi application Chiba Finance. “Seems like Chiba Finance rugged,” Peckshield’s alert disclosed on Tuesday. “$1M worth of cryptocurrencies were drained. The stolen funds, which have been swapped for 555 ETH, were bridged from Arbitrum to Ethereum. They have already been transferred into Tornado Cash,” the notice added.
All traces of Chiba Finance, including the website, Twitter account, Discord server, Telegram channel, and Medium account, have been completely removed and eradicated from the internet. Chiba Finance promoted a “yield farming optimizer” on Arbitrum, offering users the opportunity to earn “auto-compounded yields at optimal intervals” by consolidating gas costs through their smart contracts. Users essentially entrusted their assets to Chiba’s vaults to accrue the project’s native token, CHIBI.
- Israel Seizes $1.7M From Crypto Accounts Linked to Iran’s Quds Force, Hezbollah: Report
Israel has seized as many as 40 cryptocurrency wallets linked to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force and the terrorist organization Hezbollah, The Times of Israel reported Tuesday.
This marks “the first incident of this magnitude” carried out by Israel, according to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“A few days ago, an extensive and precedent-setting operation—to expose a route for financing terror with digital currencies—was wrapped up,” Gallant said at a conference hosted by the ministry’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF).
All of the funds seized by NBCTF in this action are in the USDT stablecoin issued on the Tron network, according to blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis.
- Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Shares Rally to a One-Year High, Discount Dips to 30%
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust’s (GBTC) share price surged to a one-year high on Tuesday as a report about investment asset manager Fidelity Investments preparing to follow BlackRock’s application for a spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) with its own, renewed optimism about converting the trust into an ETF.
GBTC closed at $19.47 Tuesday afternoon, gaining 7.1% through the day. This was the highest closing price since last June, according to TradingView data. Meanwhile, BTC traded mostly flat, except for a brief spike to $31,000 following the Fidelity news.
The discount on the GBTC’s share price relative to its net asset value – a widely followed metric in the digital asset space – dropped to 30%, according to a CoinDesk calculation. The last time the GBTC closed the day around this level was last September, according to historic data by Ycharts.
https://www.binance.com/en/feed/post/706277
- Sui Foundation denies it sold locked staking rewards on Binance
The team behind the Sui network and its native SUI token has denied allegations that they unlocked SUI staking rewards and “dumped” them on cryptocurrency exchange Binance .
The Sui Foundation knocked back the claim in a five-part Twitter thread on June 27, stating that none of the locked or non-circulating tokens, including SUI staking rewards, had been sold:
“Sui Foundation has not sold staking rewards or any other tokens from locked and non-circulating staked SUI on Binance or otherwise.”
“All insider token allocations remain subject to and compliant with their lock ups and other restrictions on transfer,” the foundation added.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/sui-foundation-denies-dumping-staked-tokens-binance
- Bitcoin Bulls Getting Ready for Seasonal Surge: Matrixport
Bullish bitcoin (BTC) investors are preparing for the “seasonal surge,” as the world’s largest cryptocurrency tends to rally during the month of July, crypto-services provider Matrixport said in a report on Wednesday.
Over the last decade, bitcoin has gained by an average of more than 11% in the month of July, with 7 out of 10 months showing positive returns, the report said.
The last three years have seen returns of around 27%, 20% and 24% respectively in July, the note said.
“While summer tends to be a period of consolidation for bitcoin, a strong July tends to be followed by a mediocre August and a selloff in September,” wrote Markus Thielen, head of research.
Matrixport says it expects bitcoin to rally towards $35,000 before selling off and retracing to $30,000. It then predicts another move higher to the $40,000 level.
The year-end target for bitcoin is $45,000, Matrixport added.
- Report: Swiss Authorities Seize $26 Million in Cryptocurrency Linked to Terraform Labs and Do Kwon
Digital Asset, a South Korean news publication, has reported the seizure of approximately $26 million in cryptocurrency assets from an account linked to Terraform Labs and Do Kwon. The funds were held at Sygnum, a crypto bank based in Switzerland, and Swiss law enforcement authorities froze the assets following a request from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In late April, reports surfaced regarding Kwon’s purported funds held at Sygnum Bank, with prosecutors in Seoul claiming that Terraform Labs and Kwon retained $100 million in crypto assets. Further allegations suggested that Kwon, or “someone under his direction,” transferred $29 million, leaving investigators in Seoul unable to trace the funds. Digital Asset, a news outlet, reveals that the frozen assets are reportedly associated with Kwon, Chang-joon Han (CEO of Chai), and Nicholas Platias (researcher at Terraform Labs).
- FTX Halts Sale of $500 Million Stake in AI Startup Anthropic
Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX is putting the brakes on the sale of its stake in AI platform Anthropic, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday.
While no specific reason for the halt was given, FTX holds over $500 million worth of shares in Anthropic, according to a November 2022 report by the Financial Times.
FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November. A month later, FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was charged with several federal crimes, including money laundering, fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire.
https://decrypt.co/146495/ftx-halts-sale-of-500-million-stake-in-ai-startup-anthropic
- Bitcoin Bulls Getting Ready for Seasonal Surge: Matrixport
Bullish bitcoin (BTC) investors are preparing for the “seasonal surge,” as the world’s largest cryptocurrency tends to rally during the month of July, crypto-services provider Matrixport said in a report on Wednesday.
Over the last decade, bitcoin has gained by an average of more than 11% in the month of July, with 7 out of 10 months showing positive returns, the report said.
The last three years have seen returns of around 27%, 20% and 24% respectively in July, the note said.
“While summer tends to be a period of consolidation for bitcoin, a strong July tends to be followed by a mediocre August and a selloff in September,” wrote Markus Thielen, head of research.
https://www.binance.com/en/feed/post/708132
- Japanese and Singaporean regulators join forces on crypto pilot project
On June 26, Japan’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), announced a partnership with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for the joint regulation and pilot testing of cryptocurrency projects in accordance with the latter’s “Project Guardian” initiative. The participation will be limited to observer capacity for the FSA in its current phase. The regulators wrote:
“The project aims to test the feasibility of applications of digital technologies such as asset tokenization through pilot experimentations, while managing risks to financial stability and integrity. Current industry pilots include fixed income, foreign exchange, and asset & wealth management.”
