Key Points
Happy Friday! Here’s a roundup of the latest crypto news:
- Bitcoin keeps around the 28K level amidst a week of regulatory challenges.
- Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon was apprehended in Montenegro.
- Binance employees reportedly assist users in evading KYC requirements in China.
Despite a week marked by negative regulatory developments and macroeconomic events, bitcoin has remained resilient. The digital currency experienced a 3% increase over the week and managed to keep around the $28,000 level on Friday, having reached a peak of $28,700 earlier in the week. Ether also made gains, rising 2% on the day and achieving $1,800 for the first time since August earlier in the week. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a cautionary statement to investors regarding crypto assets on Thursday and delivered a Wells notice to crypto exchange Coinbase earlier in the week. As a result, Coinbase’s stock experienced a downturn of up to 20% in early trading on Thursday.
Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon was arrested by authorities in Montenegro, shortly before U.S. federal prosecutors charged him with fraud. Montenegro’s Minister of Interior, Filip Adzic, announced on Twitter Thursday that Montenegrin police had detained the South Korean national, who co-founded and led Singapore-based Terraform Labs. Kwon had been the subject of multiple investigations and was even listed on Interpol’s red notice after the stablecoin terraUSD (UST) and its $40 billion ecosystem collapsed last year, causing significant disruption in the crypto market.
According to a CNBC report on Wednesday, some Binance employees and specially trained “volunteers” have been helping users in China and other nations circumvent the exchange’s Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols. Chinese-language messages from a Binance-managed Discord server and Telegram group revealed that these “Angels” shared methods such as falsifying bank documents, fabricating addresses, and concealing the country of origin to enable users to bypass controls and obtain a Binance debit card. China outlawed crypto exchanges in 2017 and cryptocurrencies as a whole in 2021.
Want to compare brokerages? Best place to buy stocks Forex, Commodities, Indices
Top 5 List
Find the best online trading platform in our top 5 ranking list.