Binance Australia Derivatives sent an abrupt message to a select group of users on Feb. 23, saying it would be immediately closing their accounts due to a false classification of some users as “wholesale clients.” This incident caused a flurry of responses from users on social media, and the next day, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced it would be conducting a “targeted review” of Binance's local derivatives operations. According to a statement from a spokesperson of the regulator on Feb. 24, the review of Binance Australia Derivatives will include the company’s “classification of retail clients and wholesale …

Bitcoin (BTC) stands at the start of a "new regime" after its early 2023 price gains, and next year will prove pivotal. That is the opinion of Charles Edwards, founder of quantitative Bitcoin and digital asset fund, Capriole Investments. As investment behavior around Bitcoin recovers in line with network fundamentals and price action, Edwards, perhaps like many other institutional professionals, is gearing up for an explosive period of growth. The jury may still be out on whether the bottom is in for BTC price, but for long-term investors, the time to allocate is just beginning, he argues. In an extensive …

Australian residents have been identified as one the primary targets of a sophisticated network of cryptocurrency call-center scammers — which are suspected to be run by Israel-based crime bosses. Evidence uncovered after a full-scale raid of four Serbian call centers and 11 residences by Serbian, German, Bulgarian and Cypriot authorities found that Australians were among the top countries being targeted. The raids saw fifteen people arrested and $1.46 million in cryptocurrencies seized, among others. Dramatic police raids in Belgrade, Bulgaria and Cyprus, following investigations in Germany, have uncovered evidence Australia is in the top tier of countries being targeted: https://t.co/zWv7I3N5Kg …

A former facilities worker who allegedly set up a secret cryptocurrency mining operation inside a Massachusetts school’s crawl space is due for arrest after missing a scheduled court hearing to answer to charges. Nadeam Nahas was scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 23 facing charges of vandalizing a school and fraudulent use of electricity, according to media reports. JUST IN: an ex-town employee is accused of running a "Cryptocurrency mining operation" out of Cohasset High School. pic.twitter.com/cdBlMIxnnH — whalechart (@WhaleChart) February 24, 2023 A default warrant is a type if warrant issued by courts when a person fails to appear …

A cryptocurrency mining rights bill with laws that would prohibit the discrimination of crypto miners is one step closer to fruition after passing the Montana Senate. The proposed laws would enshrine a “right to mine digital assets” and would prohibit “discriminatory” electricity rates being charged to crypto miners, protect mining that occurs “at home” and strip local governments of the power to use zoning laws to stop crypto mining operations. It also prohibits additional taxes on the use of crypto as a payment method and would consider “digital assets,” inclusive of cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens (NFTs), as “personal property” alongside …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is not the appropriate regulator for stablecoins, says Circle founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire. In an interview with Bloomberg on Feb. 24, the Circle chief executive aired his views on the SEC and its recent moves to clamp down on the crypto industry, including stablecoin issuer Paxos. Allaire appears to have taken issue with the SEC's focus on stablecoins, arguing that dollar-pegged “payment stablecoins” should be under the oversight of a banking regulator, rather than the SEC. “I don’t think the SEC is the regulator for stablecoins,” said Allaire, adding: “There is …

The Ethereum community appears to have taken a bullish view of Coinbase’s newly announced layer-2 network, Base, which has been described as a “massive confidence vote” and a “watershed moment” for the blockchain network. Secured on Ethereum and powered by layer-2 network Optimism, Base aims to eventually become a network for building decentralized applications (DApps) on the blockchain. The layer-2 network is currently in its testnet phase, according to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. 0/ Hello world. Meet Base, an Ethereum L2 that offers a secure, low-cost, developer-friendly way for anyone, anywhere, to build decentralized apps. Our goal with Base is …

Jack Dorsey’s payment company Block Inc. reported $1.83 billion of Bitcoin (BTC) revenue from its Cash App business unit in the fourth quarter, representing a 7% fall from the same time last year. In its Q4 and full-year results announced on Feb. 23, Block cited the fall in Bitcoin revenue to the decline in BTC price in the year — which fell approximately 65% throughout 2022. This fall in revenue led to a 25% year-on-year drop in Bitcoin gross profit for Cash App, which fell to $35 million in the quarter. Cash App is a mobile phone payment processing app …

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industrys most important developments. Hong Kong moves bullish On Feb. 20, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong launched a consultation on its proposed regulatory requirements for digital asset trading platforms. The SFC requires the licensing of all cryptocurrency exchanges operating in Hong Kong, or soliciting services from Hong Kong investors, by June 2023. In addition, the SFC said it will seek feedback on whether licensed platform operators should be allowed to provide services to retail investors and what measures should be implemented to ensure suitability and token …

The United States Federal Reserve has denied a request from cryptocurrency bank Custodia Bank to reconsider its membership application to the Federal Reserve System. The Fed announced its denial on Feb. 23 saying the Federal Reserve Board previously decided that Custodia’s application “was inconsistent with the required factors under the law.” @federalreserve announces it has denied the request by Custodia Bank, Inc., for reconsideration of the Board’s decision last month on its application to be supervised by the Federal Reserve: https://t.co/ZYNUEoLeN1 — Federal Reserve (@federalreserve) February 23, 2023 In January, the Fed rejected Custodia’s application to become a member. Board …

The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has assessed a paper on crypto asset policy published by the fund and expressed its agreement with its proposed policy framework. The paper, titled “Elements of Effective Policies for Crypto Assets,” developed framework of nine policy principles that addressed macro-financial, legal and regulatory, and international coordination issues. The proposed principles were mainly quite broad, emphasizing analysis, monitoring and guarding. The paper explicitly said the proposals should be taken up by “the Directors.” The first principle did contain a concrete injunction. It read: “Safeguard monetary sovereignty and stability by strengthening monetary policy …

The original manuscript of Neil Stephenson’s Snow Crash — the book which coined the term “Metaverse,” — will be auctioned by Sotheby’s, according to a page on Sotheby’s official website. The auction is part of a Feb. 23 series called “Infocalypse” that includes six physical and six digital items related to the famous book. The original manuscript is in Lot 2 of the series. It is “wrapped in original Xerox 4200 Paper,” secured with masking tape and contains “corrections and notations throughout in Neal Stephenson's hand in blue ink.” It also has the title of the book written on the …