🔴 Extra Troubles for Binance

Binance’s stablecoins are halted, OpenSea moves to zero fees and guess which A-lister just came out in support of cryptos. These stories and more this week in crypto.

BUSD Minting Halted due to Regulators

New York state regulators have ordered Paxos, the company behind Binance’s dollar-pegged stablecoin BUSD, to stop issuing any more of the coin. The regulator explained that the order comes as a result of several unresolved issues related to Paxos’ oversight of its relationship with Binance. BUSD is the world’s third largest stablecoin, backed by $16 billion in assets.

OpenSea NFT Marketplace Goes Zero Fees

The world’s leading NFT marketplace, OpenSea, is removing fees from its platform. For a limited time OpenSea will charge no marketplace fees, defaulting to optional creator royalties. The decision comes as OpenSea faces increased competition from popular no-fee marketplace Blur, whose trading volume just overtook OpenSea for the first time since Blur launched in October.

Robinhood’s Crypto Trading Volume Shot Up

Robinhood’s crypto trading volume surged to $3.7 billion in January, which represents a 95% increase compared with December’s numbers. Even though the figure stands far below the $9.1 billion it recorded in January of last year, Robinhood’s stock price rose nearly 6% following this week’s announcement.

SEC Proposes New Rules for Crypto Assets

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new rules to toughen safeguards around investors’ assets, including cryptocurrencies. After several high-profile crypto companies collapsed last year, the SEC determined that customer funds were not as secure as was advertised. The proposed rules would require investment advisers to secure or maintain state registrations to be granted approval as qualified custodians.

Financiers Sued for Promoting FTX

Disgruntled FTX customers are suing venture capital and private equity firms, alleging that they fraudulently promoted the failed cryptocurrency exchange. A complaint filed in San Francisco claims that Sequoia Capital, Thoma Bravo, and Paradigm were incentivized to promote FTX by the 550 million dollars they had invested to give FTX an “air of legitimacy” by saying they had examined it thoroughly.

Do Kwon and Terra Charged by US Regulators

Do Kwon and Terraform Labs have been charged by the SEC with orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud as the collapsed TerraUSD stablecoin caused a major crypto crash last year. In a statement, SEC chairman Gary Gensler said, both Kwon and Terraform failed to provide the public with full, fair, and truthful disclosure.

Rapper Drake Wins $1.2M in Bitcoin Bets

High profile rapper, Drake, has revealed he won $1.2M worth of bitcoin after making multiple bets on the Super Bowl.  The bets were made using the crypto sports betting platform, Stake, where Drake had placed a ‘psychotic’ $700,000 bet on the Kansas City Chiefs to take home the Lombardi Trophy.

Keanu Reeves: Cryptos are Amazing

Keanu Reeves has come out in support of cryptocurrencies, saying they are amazing tools for exchanges and distribution of resources. In a recent interview with Wired to promote his new film, John Wick 4, Reeves said, the idea behind an independent currency is amazing, adding that, the volatility is only going to make it better in terms of how it’s safeguarded.

That’s what’s happened this week in crypto, see you next week.