What’s going on Listeners? Welcome to Crypto Unplugged 5-minute Friday Show.
Doc here on Friday 9nd June. I hope you’re all well, wherever you’re listening from.
So, what ‘s been happening this week in the Crypto Space:
* In a major development, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ).
* The SEC alleges that Binance violated several securities laws, including offering unregistered securities to the public.
* Altcoins, including Binance's BNB token, BUSD stablecoin, Solana SOL, Cardano ADA, Polygon MATIC, COTI, Algorand ALGO, Axie Infinity AXS, Filecoin FIL, Cosmos ATOM, Sandbox SAND, and Decentraland’s MANA, have been hit hard in the aftermath of the lawsuit.
In onother development
* Altcoins experienced a dip in value following the second Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit, this time targeting crypto exchange Coinbase.
* The SEC alleges that Coinbase violated federal securities law, leading to a 20% drop in the exchange's shares during pre-market trading.
* In addition to the coins listed in the Binance lawsuit, other coins were listed such as Chiliz, Internet Computer’s ICP, Voyager Token, NEAR protocol, NEXO, FLOW, and DASH.
* Coinbase (COIN) shares decline as much as 20% after being sued by the SEC for violating federal securities law.
* Major shareholders of Coinbase, including Vanguard Group, ARK Invest, Nikko Asset Management, Fidelity, and BlackRock, are affected by the stock slump.
* The SEC accuses Coinbase of operating as an unregistered broker, exchange, and clearing agency, soliciting customers and acting as an intermediary.
Coinbase had received a warning earlier this year and responded in April, but the SEC proceeded with the lawsuit.
In a related story
* SEC Chair Gary Gensler likens the current crypto market to the 1920s stock market, calling it a hub for scams and fraud.
* Gensler emphasizes the need for applying securities laws to the crypto market, similar to how these laws cleaned up the stock market in the past.
* He argues that crypto asset securities should not be exempt from securities laws, highlighting the importance of separating exchange, broker-dealer, and clearing functions to mitigate conflicts.
In our next news story:
On to our final story this week
* Circle has introduced its native stablecoin, USDC, on Ethereum's layer 2 scaling solution, Arbitrum, expanding liquidity transfer and accessibility.
* This move allows businesses and users to conveniently swap USDC across supported chains, avoiding bridging transaction costs and delays.
* The integration comes after a bug in Arbitrum's Sequencer software, and it enables faster settlement times and lower costs for developers, businesses, and users.
* Circle's deployment of USDC on Arbitrum aims to transition liquidity smoothly and offers diverse use cases, including trading, lending, payments, and participation in DApps.
Thanks for joining me and do tell your friends about crypto unplugged.
Have a great Friday and a lovely weekend and see you guys’ next time!