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Binance.US to Remove Certain Trading Pairs and Pause OTC Trading

Binance.US announced today that it will be making significant changes to its trading structure. The changes, set to take place on June 8, 2023 at 9 a.m. PDT / 12 p.m. EDT, will involve the removal of select Advanced Trading pairs and a pause on their Over-The-Counter (OTC) Trading Portal.

The adjustments come as part of a broader effort to streamline the platform’s Buy, Sell & Convert offerings. While the OTC Trading Portal is paused, the remaining platform operations, including deposits and withdrawals, will continue to function as usual, ensuring that assets on Binance.US remain secure.

The changes in Advanced Trading will specifically involve the removal of certain USDT, BTC, and BUSD pairs. Meanwhile, the Buy, Sell & Convert offering will be downscaled, reducing the number of supported Convert trading pairs to 226. However, several assets including USDT, USDC, BNB, ETH, BTC, FET, ATOM, APT, MATIC, LTC, DOGE, SHIB, FTM, APE, SOL, LINK, ADA, DOT, GALA, and AVAX will still be supported, with the addition of USD for Convert. Additionally, the maximum trade amount for Buy, Sell & Convert will be updated to $10,000.

With respect to the OTC Trading Portal, Binance.US has assured its users that they will be notified if and when OTC trading becomes available again in the future. The pause in OTC Trading Portal services is part of Binance.US’s move to ensure a smoother and more efficient trading experience for its users.

The firm also urged its users to carefully review their trades and execute or cancel open orders on impacted Advanced Trading pairs before they are removed from the platform. It is worth noting that only select assets and trading pairs for Advanced Trade and Buy, Sell & Convert are impacted by this change. Deposits and withdrawals for all assets, along with trade functionality, will remain available.

Long-Term Bitcoin Holders Unfazed by Recent SEC Accusations Against Binance and Coinbase

Data provided by Glassnode reveals that the percentage of Bitcoin supply sent to trading platforms by long-term holders accounts for a mere 0.004% of the total. This figure underscores the significant inactivity of long-term Bitcoin holders amid intensifying market pressures, demonstrating an apparent indifference to the regulatory accusations faced by leading cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance and Coinbase.

Despite apparent market strain and uncertainty, these holders remain remarkably composed amidst these allegations. This could indicate a lack of concern over the potential impact of these charges, or perhaps a strong belief in the long-term value of Bitcoin, rendering them relatively immune to short-term market fluctuations and events.

On June 5, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lodged a lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance and its founder, CZ, for alleged violation of U.S. securities rules. On the subsequent day, June 6, the SEC proceeded to file charges against Coinbase at a federal court in New York.

The SEC contends that Binance-related tokens such as BNB and BUSD, alongside several other tokens including Solana’s SOL, Cardano’s ADA, and Polygon’s MATIC, are indeed securities. Apart from these, the SEC argues that other crypto assets traded on Binance.com and Binance.US, including Filecoin’s FIL, Cosmos’ ATOM, Sandbox’s SAND, Decentraland’s MANA, Algorand’s ALGO, Axie Infinity’s AXS, and Coti’s COTI tokens, were “offered and sold as securities.”

In its lawsuit against Coinbase, the SEC identified 13 cryptocurrencies which included the previously classified SOL, ADA, MATIC, SAND, and AXS, and six more: Chiliz (CHZ), Flow (FLOW), Internet Computer(ICP), Voyager Token (VGX), and Nexo.

Over the weekend, most altcoins, especially those alleged as securities by the SEC, experienced a significant crash. Yet, despite these market upheavals, the data suggests that long-term Bitcoin holders remain largely undeterred by the current climate, possibly indicating a steadfast belief in Bitcoin’s resilience and long-term prospects.

This news event will continue to be a focus of the cryptocurrency market, as the legal challenges and their potential consequences could shape the landscape of cryptocurrency regulation and adoption in the future.

Crypto Market Outflows Continue for 8th Week Amid Rising Rates and SEC Actions

The cryptocurrency market has recorded its eighth consecutive week of outflows, driven by ongoing monetary policy concerns and mounting regulatory pressures. According to a report by CoinShares, outflows from digital asset investment products reached US$88 million last week, cumulating an 8-week total of US$417 million. This ongoing trend is inching towards last year’s record 12-week run of outflows, primarily attributed to the uncertainty surrounding continuous interest rate hikes.

The outflows were largely focused on North America, with one provider accounting for 87% of the total outflows. In Europe, Switzerland bucked the trend with minor inflows of US$9.2 million, while Germany reported outflows of US$9.4 million.

Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two leading cryptocurrencies, were not immune to the trend. Bitcoin saw US$52 million in outflows last week, bringing the total for the past 8 weeks to US$254 million or 1.2% of total assets under management (AuM). Ethereum, despite experiencing its largest single-week outflow of US$36 million since last September’s Merge, has fared comparatively better with total outflows representing 0.6% of AuM.

The altcoin market has shown mixed results. Litecoin, XRP, and Solana experienced minor inflows, while Polygon suffered outflows. Notably, altcoins have, on aggregate, seen inflows year-to-date, contrasting the outflows from Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Regulatory actions are likely contributing to these market movements. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, and its founder CZ on June 5 for alleged violation of U.S. securities rules. The SEC proceeded to take similar actions against Coinbase on June 6.

The SEC has classified several tokens related to Binance, including BNB and BUSD, and other cryptocurrencies like SOL, ADA, and MATIC as securities. The SEC also argues that various other cryptocurrencies traded on Binance.com and Binance.US, and a group of 13 cryptocurrencies traded on Coinbase, were “offered and sold as securities”.

These regulatory moves have rocked the altcoin market. Over the weekend, many altcoins, particularly those identified as securities by the SEC, experienced significant value drops.

As monetary policy issues continue to affect investor sentiment, the added uncertainty from regulatory actions further underscores the volatility and risks inherent in the crypto market. These trends highlight the need for investors to remain vigilant and informed about these evolving challenges.

Equities Up, Crypto Down: Robinhood's May 2023 Trading Data and Upcoming Crypto Delisting

Robinhood Markets Inc., the popular trading platform known for democratizing investing, has released its operating data for May 2023, showing an increase in both equity and options trading but a decline in cryptocurrency trading.

In May, Robinhood’s Net Cumulative Funded Accounts (NCFA) reached 23.1 million, a growth of around 20,000 from the previous month. This figure, however, only represents unique users, as it does not count existing customers who have opened multiple accounts.

Despite the increase in the number of funded accounts, Robinhood reported a drop in Monthly Active Users (MAU), which fell by roughly 900,000 from April to May 2023, bringing the total to 10.6 million.

The trading platform experienced an uptick in Assets Under Custody (AUC), with a 6% increase from April to $81.8 billion by the end of May. Net deposits for the month of May totaled $1.6 billion, an annualized growth rate of 25% compared to April’s AUC. Over the past year, net deposits have reached $16.5 billion, reflecting an annual growth rate of 22% relative to May 2022 AUC.

However, when it comes to trading volumes, Robinhood’s report showed contrasting trends. While equity notional trading volumes rose 27% to $49.4 billion, and options contracts traded increased 29% to 97.5 million, cryptocurrency trading went down. Crypto notional trading volumes decreased significantly by 43% to $2.1 billion, reflecting a relative decline in the enthusiasm for cryptocurrency trading among Robinhood’s user base in May.

The company’s margin balances remained stable at $3.1 billion, showing no change from April 2023. Cash sweep balances, on the other hand, showed a marked increase, growing 16% from the end of April to $11.2 billion by the end of May.

The report provides insights into Robinhood’s performance in a volatile market environment, indicating the shifting preferences of its users. The contrasting trend in equities and options versus cryptocurrency trading may reflect changing investor sentiment in the evolving landscape of financial markets.

Adding to these dynamics that could significantly impact future trading volumes, Robinhood announced the delisting of cryptocurrencies Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and Polygon (MATIC). This decision follows recent charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Binance and Coinbase, alleging that these platforms traded unregistered securities. Given these circumstances, a further decline in cryptocurrency trading activity on Robinhood can be expected.

Solana Foundation Responds to SEC's Security Classification of SOL Token

The Solana Foundation has publicly objected to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent classification of its native cryptocurrency, Solana (SOL), as a security.

The SEC’s designation of the SOL token as a security is pivotal as it imposes an additional set of regulatory and compliance demands. The classification is hinged on several factors, such as the anticipation of profits originating from third-party efforts, as well as how the tokens are utilized and promoted.

In a statement, the Solana Foundation voiced its disagreement with the SEC’s view, expressing that it welcomes dialogue with policymakers to clarify the legal standing of digital assets. The Foundation also mentioned its active collaboration with legal experts and ongoing communications with the SEC to address their concerns.

Solana’s utility token SOL, which debuted in March 2020, serves multiple functions within its network. SOL holders can stake their tokens to validate transactions through its consensus mechanism, receive rewards, pay transaction fees, and engage in governance.

Notably, the SEC’s security label was attached to the SOL token in two lawsuits filed against crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase on June 5 and June 6 respectively.

In the past, the Solana Foundation engaged in private sales of tokens to institutional investors and venture firms, reportedly under a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT), which is a security issuance mechanism for transferring digital tokens from developers to investors. Following such sales, the Foundation filed private offering forms with the SEC.

Moreover, during Solana’s initial coin offering in March 2020, a public sale of SOL tokens took place, with 8 million tokens (1.6% of the initial supply) allocated to the public at $0.22 each, raising $1.76 million for the Solana Foundation.

Bloomberg contributor and legal expert, Matt Levine, offered his view on the controversy in the article titled “When Is a Token Not a Security?”,opining that earlier securities offers of SOL should not necessarily define the token as a security now. He argued that while the SEC might find the current public trading of SOL tokens without adequate disclosure and investor safeguards regrettable, it is not directly Solana’s liability.

This development highlights the ongoing debates and challenges in providing clear regulations for digital assets.

Bitcoin Leads Bullish Trend with $125M Inflows in Overall Crypto Market

CoinShares reports a significant increase in investor bullishness towards digital assets, with a total inflow of $125 million in the past week. In the last fortnight, inflows totaled $334 million, representing nearly 1% of the total assets under management (AuM).

Bitcoin remains the primary choice for investors, with a massive $123 million inflow over the past week. Bitcoin investment products have bounced back to a net inflow year-to-date, overturning a net outflow position of $171 million just two weeks prior. Despite the recent uptick in price, short-Bitcoin investment products experienced a tenth consecutive week of outflows, now representing 59% of AuM.

However, short-Bitcoin remains the second-best-performing asset in terms of year-to-date inflows, with $60 million. As for altcoins, Ethereum leads the pack with inflows totaling $2.7 million, followed closely by Cardano, Polygon, and XRP. Multi-asset and Solana experienced minor outflows of $1.8 million and $0.8 million, respectively. Blockchain equities have also seen a resurgence, with inflows of $6.8 million following a 9-week streak of outflows.

The surge in digital asset investment and blockchain equities indicates growing investor confidence in the crypto industry.

The total AuM reached $37 billion during the week, matching the highest level since early June 2022 and the average AuM for 2022. Trading activity remains robust, with a weekly volume of $2.3 billion, substantially higher than the year-to-date average of $1.5 billion.

Solana SOL Maintains $7.2 Billion Market Cap Despite SEC's Security Claim in Q2 2023

According to Messari, Solana, the high-performance, open-source blockchain, faced a challenging Q2 2023, marked by regulatory hurdles and a decline in its market cap and revenue. However, the network also saw a surge in fee-payer activity and an increase in non-vote transactions, indicating continued user engagement and network utility.

The market cap of Solana (SOL) declined by 9.2% after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that SOL is a security in its regulatory actions against Coinbase and Binance. This led to some exchanges, such as Robinhood, announcing plans to delist SOL. Despite these challenges, Solana concluded the quarter as the 10th largest cryptoasset by market capitalization, reaching $7.2 billion.

Solana’s revenue, measured in SOL, decreased by 15% QoQ as the utilization of priority fees cooled off during Q2. This decline was due to fewer users opting to pay priority fees, leading to a drop in the network’s average transaction fee.

Despite these setbacks, Solana saw a surge in fee-payer activity in May 2023, driven by user accounts interacting with an unknown program. This led to a 15.9% QoQ increase in the average Unique Fee Payer metric. Additionally, average daily non-vote transactions increased by 24.1% QoQ, suggesting sustained economic activity on the network.

Staking on the Solana network remained stable throughout Q2, while the average number of validators decreased by 21.1% QoQ. The Solana Foundation continued its growth initiatives, including Convertible Grants, a $10 million AI Fund, and the announcement of Grizzlython winners.

In terms of ecosystem development, Solana’s DeFi sector saw significant growth, with Solend surpassing Orca as the largest DeFi protocol on Solana. Solend’s TVL grew by ~59% QoQ, contributing to new capital inflow into the Solana DeFi ecosystem.

The NFT sector on Solana also saw continued development, despite a 41.5% decrease in secondary market sales volume denominated in USD. The Solana Foundation announced state compression, a cost-efficient method for storing data on-chain, which was quickly leveraged by various projects.

Looking ahead, Solana plans to continue its wide-reaching growth strategies, despite the regulatory challenges faced in Q2. Key developments to watch include the progress of Firedancer, the introduction of the new token standard Token-22, the launch of Neon EVM, and the expansion into AI.

In conclusion, while Solana faced significant challenges in Q2 2023, the network’s continued growth in user activity and ecosystem development indicate its resilience and potential for future growth. However, the outcome of the SEC actions remains a key factor that could impact Solana’s performance and market position.

Crypto Exchange Bitstamp to Suspend Trading AXS, CHZ, MANA, MATIC, NEAR, SAND, and SOL

Bitstamp, one of the world’s oldest cryptocurrency exchanges, has announced a suspension of trading for seven cryptocurrencies in the United States, effective from August 29, 2023. The affected cryptocurrencies include AXS, CHZ, MANA, MATIC, NEAR, SAND, and SOL.

In an official statement released on Bitstamp’s blog, the company explained that the decision was made “considering recent developments” and in alignment with their “comprehensive framework” to evaluate cryptocurrencies in light of the dynamic regulatory environment. The statement further clarified that as of the mentioned date, new orders involving these assets would be disabled, and all existing orders across the affected trading pairs would be canceled.

Customers in the U.S. will still be able to hold these assets within their Bitstamp accounts and withdraw them at any time. The company has urged users to execute any desired buy or sell orders involving the affected assets before the deadline.

The New York State agency of Financial Services has issued Bitstamp USA, Inc. a license allowing it to participate in Virtual Currency Business Activity. This same agency has also issued Bitstamp USA, Inc. a license allowing it to act as a Money Transmitter.

This move comes at a time when Bitstamp is actively seeking to raise funds for expansion. The delisting coincides with the company’s efforts to comply with the dynamic regulatory environment, as stated in their official announcement, though no direct connection to investor pressure has been publicly disclosed

According to a Bloomberg report, Bitstamp initiated the fundraising process in late June 2023, with Galaxy Digital Holdings acting as an adviser. The funds are planned to be used for launching derivatives trading in Europe next year, expanding into Asian markets, and enhancing operations in the U.K.

Bitstamp’s global chief executive officer, Jean-Baptiste Graftieaux, emphasized that the company is not for sale and that the priority is to “accelerate Bitstamp’s growth by providing new products and services to retail and institutional crypto customers.”

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Luxembourg, Bitstamp was once a primary venue for Bitcoin trading. It is now the world’s seventh-largest exchange, with about $126 million in trading volume in a recent 24-hour period. In 2018, Bitstamp was acquired by NXMH, a European investment firm owned by South Korean conglomerate NXC.

The suspension of trading for the seven cryptocurrencies is a significant indicator in Bitstamp’s operations, reflecting the ongoing challenges and complexities of regulations.

Tetra Partners with Kiln to Enhance Staking Service Including Ethereum and Solana

Tetra Trust Company (Tetra), Founded in 2019, Canada’s only licensed custody solution for digital assets, has announced the rollout of increased staking functionality through its strategic partnership with Kiln, a leading enterprise-grade staking platform.

The Tetra-Kiln Partnership

Starting today, Tetra clients can stake their assets with Kiln on the main Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains such as Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC), Cardano (ADA), and Tezos (XTZ). This collaboration aims to provide secure and efficient methods for institutional clients to actively participate in blockchain networks and earn rewards on their digital asset holdings.

Kiln is the leading enterprise-grade staking platform, enabling institutional customers to stake assets, and to whitelabel staking functionality into their offering. Kiln runs validators on all major PoS blockchains, with over $2.2 billion of stake under management and over 3% of the Ethereum network.

Kiln, known for its high standards of operational excellence, manages over $2 billion worth of staked assets and is SOC 2 Type II certified. “We are excited to offer our clients staking opportunities thanks to our collaboration with Kiln,” says Didier Lavallée, CEO at Tetra. “The solution Kiln brings to the table is quite impressive, not only does Kiln meet our security and technical requirements, their all-encompassing capabilities make it a robust solution to offer our clients.”

Laszlo Szabo, CEO at Kiln, stated, “We strive to enable institutions to access staking. Being our first enterprise-grade custodian partner in Canada, we’re thrilled to collaborate with Tetra, with whom we share common values.”

Understanding the Staking Opportunity

In PoS blockchains, staking consists of locking native tokens to earn the right to help secure the chain via a validator. Staking plays a crucial role in network security, governance, and contributes to the growth of the Web3 ecosystem. By staking, token holders can earn rewards and grow their digital asset holdings.

This collaboration marks a significant milestone in both companies’ commitment to delivering the highest standards of security and service for institutional and corporate clients.

ShIB and LPT Lead the Surge of Meme Coins as Bitcoin Stagnates at $29,400

In the recent cryptocurrency market trends, ShIB and PEPE have emerged as leaders in the meme coin pump, while Bitcoin has remained stagnant at $29,400 for three consecutive days.

Trading Volume on Binance Futures

On Binance Futures, the trading volumes of LPT (Livepeer) and 1000SHIB have reached $2.25 billion and $975.24 million respectively. These figures have surpassed Ethereum, ranking second and third, falling just behind Bitcoin. Other notable tokens like BLZ, APE, 1000PEPE, SOL, RUNE, and HIGH rank 6th to 10th, followed by DOGE and XRP.

Top Gainers in the Last 24 Hours

BLZ, LPT, and RUNE have been the top 3 gainers, with 36%, 19%, and 16% gains respectively over the last 24 hours. LPT is the native token of Livepeer, a decentralized live video streaming network protocol based on blockchain technology. BLZ represents Bluzelle, a censorship-resistant decentralized storage network, and RUNE is the native token of THORChain, a decentralized cross-chain liquidity protocol based on the Cosmos software development kit.

Open Interest Trends

1000SHIB’s open interest has seen a decrease of -9.16% over the last 24 hours, standing at $100.37 million.

Conversely, LPT’s open interest has surged to $975.24 million, marking a 43.58% increase. Both Top Trader Long/Short Ratio (Accounts) and Long/Short Ratio are on the rise, indicating that the pump has attracted more traders to short positions. The amount of liquidated short is around $300.

Indicators for LPT Price Trend Reversal

Several indicators are crucial for LPT’s price trend reversal, including:

1. Market makers and manipulators taking profits.

2. Short traders stopping loss or being liquidated in large numbers compared to the open interest scale.

3. A plunge in Bitcoin’s price.

As of now, there are no signs of these indicators, leading to the speculation that market makers and manipulators may choose to continue pumping for more profits.

Conclusion

The recent surge in meme coins, led by ShIB and LPT, has caught the attention of traders and market analysts. With Bitcoin’s price remaining static, the focus has shifted to these alternative cryptocurrencies.