Binance crypto exchange announced on Nov. 17 that deposits of Solana-based USDT and USDC have been “temporarily suspended until further notice” on the platform. The exchange referred to the tokens as “USDT (SOL)” and “USDC (SOL),” as USDT and USDC stablecoins remain available for deposits on Binance on other blockchains. Binance did not provide more information on the measure, adding that Binance “reserves the right in its sole discretion to amend or change or cancel this announcement at any time and for any reasons without prior notice.” Other exchanges, including OKX and ByBit, are also among the platforms delisting Solana-based …

Tether issued a short statement Nov. 16 saying that it has no exposure to institutional crypto lender Genesis Global or the Gemini Earn program after the announcement that Genesis Global and the Gemini exchange were freezing withdrawals. Genesis Global is the lending partner for interest-bearing Gemini Earn. Eager to differentiate itself from contagion-stricken crypto organizations, Tether said: “It is important at a time like this to highlight that these [Tether’s] reserves have proved tried and true demonstrating consistent resilience during the black swan events that have characterized the market this past year.” Tether, operator of (USDT), the largest stablecoin and …

The Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) and Terraform Labs (TFL) commissioned a technical audit of their efforts to defend the price of TerraUSD (UST) between May 8 and 12, 2022. The audit was intended to answer “allegations posed in social media” about the fate of funds transferred during efforts to defend the UST dollar peg, according to the LFG blog. The audit found that LFG spent 80,081 Bitcoins (BTC) and $49.8 million in stablecoins (about $2.8 billion at the time) to defend the UST peg. That was consistent with what LFG indicated in its tweets on May 16. In addition, TFL …

Circle, the company behind the issuance of USDC Coin (USDC) said recent events have caused it to miscalculate its financial projections — referring to the collapse of FTX and a decision by rival exchange Binance. In September, crypto exchange Binance announced it will auto-convert USDC to its own stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD), last week saw the collapse of FTX. Circle’s 2022 miscalculated projection was noted in its amended S-4 registration statement which was filed to the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) on Nov. 14. The S-4 is a registration statement is a document that companies fill out and submit …

Circle, the issuer of the United States dollar-pegged stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), has added support for Apple Pay — with the intention of bringing the crypto and traditional payment systems closer together. Circle made the announcement in a Nov. 15 blog post suggesting it may boost sales for crypto-native businesses as they can facilitate traditional payments from non-crypto-using customers while enabling customers to “buy crypto with Apple Pay on their preferred exchange.” According to Circle, the addition of Apple Pay support will benefit traditional businesses by allowing them “to shift more retail payments to digital currency.” Apple Pay is available …

On-chain data from Glassnode show Bitcoin’s (BTC) movements hit a new record for the largest net decline in aggregate BTC balances on exchanges, reducing by 72,900 BTC in one week. A similar movement occurred in April 2020, November 2020 and June 2022 with the current outflow leaving around 2.25 million BTC on exchanges. Exchange exodus for Ether, but not stablecoins While Ether (ETH) did not see an all-time high outflow from exchanges, 1.1 million Ether were withdrawn from exchanges over the last week. According to Glassnode, this marks the largest 30-day exchange balance decline since September 2020 during the DeFi …

Plunging cryptocurrency prices are not the only consequence of this week’s FTX-induced crypto contagion. Significant market volatility this week induced by the collapse of the FTX exchange has impacted stablecoins with many of them de-pegging temporarily. According to CryptoQuant senior analyst Julio Moreno, nearly all leading stablecoins have experienced some level of peg volatility this week. The world’s dominant stablecoin, Tether (USDT) temporarily declined to $0.97 on Nov. 10 as redemptions surpassed $600 million over the past two days, he noted. CoinGecko currently reports that USDT is still slightly below its peg, trading at $0.998 at the time of writing. …

Stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings Limited published its latest quarterly attestation on Nov. 10, highlighting the “extremely liquid” nature of its assets at a time when crypto markets were reeling from news of FTX’s apparent insolvency. Eighty-two percent of Tether’s reserves were held in cash, cash equivalents and other short-term deposits as of Sept. 30, 2022, the company disclosed in its quarterly attestation report. Tether’s exposure to commercial paper — a form of short-term corporate debt with a higher risk profile — has fallen to just 0.07% of its holdings. The company claims to have incurred no losses from winding down …

Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto markets saw fresh volatility on Nov. 10 after stablecoin Tether (USDT) unpegged from the U.S. dollar. Tether exec: "No issues" with USDT Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed USDT hitting lows of $0.971 on Bitstamp on the day amid fears that the largest stablecoin by market cap may fall further. Those fears were stoked by evidence of embattled exchange FTX and sister company Alameda Research attempting to short USDT. Currently in the throws of a crisis reminiscent of the Terra LUNA debacle, both firms have fallen foul of the cryptocurrency community and beyond as …

In April 2022, the Tron network launched USDD, a token pegged to the U.S. dollar, as an "over-collateralized stablecoin," meaning its likelihood of slipping below $1 should be lower due to excessive reserves backing its valuation. USDD stablecoin slips below $1 peg But it was not enough to keep USDD's price anchored to $1 on Nov. 8 when some whales dumped over 11 million USDD tokens to seek exposure in rival stablecoins Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC). A day later, USDD's price fell to as low as $0.96, followed by a modest recovery to $0.98 on Nov. 10. The …

In one of the more striking early scenes from P.T. Anderson’s 2007 film, There Will Be Blood, there is a gas explosion that destroys the drilling rig set up by oil tycoon Daniel Plainview. Noticing one of his employees observing the situation dejectedly, Plainview rebukes the man, saying: “What are you looking so miserable about? There’s a whole ocean of oil under our feet. No one can get at it except for me!” Access to and possession of that oil would catapult Plainview, like it did many of his real-world counterparts, to the highest stratosphere of wealth. These days, rather …

Circle, the issuer behind USD Coin (UDSC), announced that it has now begun to invest part of its funds in Circle Reserve Fund, created earlier in a partnership with the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock. The move came as a part of Circle’s effort to minimize risks and guarantee its holders the redeemability of their coins. According to a corporate blog post from Nov. 3, the Circle Reserve Fund is a registered Rule 2a-7 government money market fund managed by BlackRock, with a portfolio consisting of cash and short-dated U.S. Treasuries. The fund is available only to Circle. The company …