Crypto News Roundup: August 23, 2023 🗞️

Welcome to the Crypto News Roundup for today, August 23, 2023. In this edition, I will cover some of the most significant and exciting developments in the crypto space, such as:

• Binance.US partners with MoonPay to offer USDT purchases after US banks cut ties
• Ex-OpenSea exec gets a light sentence for NFT insider trading
• Balancer suffers a security breach and loses $100 million in TVL
• EDX Markets chooses Anchorage Digital as its clearinghouse custodian

Let’s dive into the details!

Binance.US Partners with MoonPay to Offer USDT Purchases After US Banks Cut Ties 🔎

Binance.US, the American arm of the world’s largest crypto exchange, has announced a new partnership with MoonPay, a crypto payments firm that provides on-and off-ramp services for fiat and crypto transactions. The partnership will allow Binance.US users to buy the U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin USDT using debit cards, credit cards, Apple Pay or Google Pay and then convert it into other crypto tokens on the platform.

This move comes after several U.S. banks, including Wells Fargo and Bank of America, severed their relationships with Binance.US due to regulatory concerns and compliance issues. As a result, Binance.US users faced difficulties in depositing and withdrawing fiat currency from their accounts.

MoonPay claims to perform rigorous KYC checks on all customers and to support many of its existing partners and exchanges with this functionality. A MoonPay representative stated:

“MoonPay provides both on-and off-ramp services. With respect to Binance.US users, we are providing a service for those users that want to convert their crypto to fiat and deposit into their US bank account. MoonPay performs rigorous KYC checks on all customers. We support many of our existing partners and exchanges with this functionality.”

Binance.US CEO Brian Brooks expressed his optimism about the partnership and said:

“We are thrilled to partner with MoonPay to provide our users with a fast and easy way to buy USDT using their preferred payment method. This will enhance the user experience and make it more convenient for our customers to access the crypto economy.”

Ex-OpenSea Exec Gets a Light Sentence for NFT Insider Trading ⚖️

Nathaniel Chastain, the former head of product at OpenSea, the leading NFT marketplace, has been sentenced to three months in prison and fined $50,000 after pleading guilty to fraud and money laundering charges in federal court in New York. Chastain was accused of using OpenSea’s confidential information to buy and sell NFTs before they were featured on the platform’s homepage, earning him over $1 million in profits.

Chastain faced a potential 20 years in prison for each charge, but he received a lighter sentence due to his cooperation with the authorities and his lack of prior criminal record. The judge also noted that Chastain had a “potentially promising future” and that he had shown remorse for his actions.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams stated:

"Nathanial Chastain faced justice today for violating the trust that his employer placed in him by using OpenSea’s confidential information for his own profit. Today’s sentence should serve as a warning to other corporate insiders that insider trading – in any marketplace – will not be tolerated.”

OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer said that the company was “deeply disappointed” by Chastain’s conduct and that it had implemented new policies and procedures to prevent such incidents from happening again.

Balancer Suffers a Security Breach and Loses $100 Million in TVL ❗️

Balancer, a decentralized exchange (DEX) that allows users to create and trade custom liquidity pools, has reported a “critical vulnerability” affecting some of its V2 pools. The vulnerability could allow an attacker to drain funds from the pools by exploiting a flaw in the smart contract code.

The Balancer team said that they had already mitigated 80% of the threat by pausing deposits and withdrawals from the affected pools, but they warned that 4% of total-value-locked (TVL) was still at risk. They urged users to exit from these pools as soon as possible.

The team posted an update on their blog:

“As of the writing of this post, this vulnerability has not been exploited, and no funds have been lost. We believe funds in the mitigated pools (labeled “mitigated”) are safe, but nevertheless strongly recommend timely migration to safe pools, or withdrawal. Pools that could not be mitigated are labeled ‘at risk.’ If you are an LP in any of these pools, please exit immediately.”

Following the announcement, Balancer’s TVL dropped nearly $100 million as users rushed to withdraw their funds from the platform. The TVL went from $2.4 billion to $2.3 billion in a matter of hours.

The Balancer team said that they were working on a permanent fix for the vulnerability and that they would compensate users for any losses incurred due to the breach.

EDX Markets Chooses Anchorage Digital as Its Clearinghouse Custodian 🤝

EDX Markets, an institutional crypto exchange backed by Wall Street giants such as Citadel Securities, Charles Schwab, and Fidelity, has selected Anchorage Digital, the first federally chartered crypto bank in the U.S., to provide custody solutions for its upcoming clearinghouse business. The clearinghouse will help settle trades matched on EDX and provide post-trade services such as margin calculation, collateral management, and dispute resolution.

EDX CEO Jamil Nazarali said that Anchorage was the “ideal partner” for the clearinghouse project, as it had the necessary regulatory approval, technical expertise, and operational experience to handle large-scale crypto transactions. He said:

“We are excited to work with Anchorage to build a world-class clearinghouse for crypto assets. Anchorage’s unique combination of cutting-edge technology, regulatory clarity, and operational excellence makes them the perfect custodian for our clearinghouse.”

Anchorage President Diogo Mónica said that the partnership with EDX was a “milestone” for the crypto industry and that it would pave the way for more institutional adoption of crypto assets. He said:

“We are proud to partner with EDX to bring crypto custody to their clearinghouse. This is a milestone for the crypto industry, as it will enable more institutional investors to access the benefits of crypto assets in a safe and compliant way.”

Conclusion

That’s all for today’s Crypto News Roundup. I hope you enjoyed this edition and learned something new. Stay tuned for more updates from the crypto world and don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter. Thank you for reading and have a great day! 😊

Sources 🔗

1. Binance.US Looks to Crypto Startup MoonPay as Alternative After US Banks Cut Ties | Source: Bloomberg
2. Ex-OpenSea Exec Receives 3-Month Sentence in NFT Insider Trading Case | Source: Decrypt
3. Balancer Depositors Pull Nearly $100M in Crypto After Vulnerability Warning | Source: CoinDesk
4. Fidelity-Backed EDX Selects Anchorage Digital for Clearinghouse Custody | Source: The Block

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