GS Partners, a European-based entity involved in multiple cryptocurrency investment schemes, has agreed to refund all funds to investors in a settlement with five U.S. states.

The agreement will see the firm pay back 100% of investor deposits in exchange for the dismissal of all civil claims and ongoing investigations.

Investors Will Get Full Refunds

This settlement was announced on Monday by the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) and includes the states of Texas, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, and Georgia. Any client who invested in GSB’s offerings will be eligible to recover their funds, provided their state or Canadian province participates in the settlement.

Joe Rotunda, enforcement director at the TSSB, explained in an interview with Bloomberg, “We have negotiated a settlement that will ensure that all clients in any state or province that joins the settlement receive 100% of their deposits, less any withdrawals,” he said.

“This is really a North American settlement. We don’t often have the opportunity to get pure financial relief on a broad scale. This is rare.”

According to the Bloomberg report, the alleged scheme was worth somewhere around $1 billion.

The claims process will be overseen by AlixPartners LP, a firm with experience in managing high-profile financial recovery cases, such as the aftermath of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and the 2022 bankruptcy of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

AlixPartners will conduct blockchain analysis to ensure that all affected investors are identified and able to claim their refunds.

“Our goal is to identify all of the clients and make sure they know about this process,” Rotunda added. “They have the opportunity to get their funds back,” said Joe.

Failed Investment Schemes

Among the various crypto-related ventures was a high-profile attempt to tokenize partial ownership of a 36-floor skyscraper in Dubai. Promoted as a way for investors to earn passive income from leasing units in the tower, each token represented one square inch of the building.

Described as “glorious” and “inspired by the winds of the desert,” the “G999 Tower” attracted significant interest. However, the project failed to raise the necessary $175 million through token sales, and the value of the vouchers soon plummeted, leaving investors with near-worthless assets.

Hundreds of thousands of investors across the U.S. and Canada were impacted by the collapse of this and other offerings, including crypto tokens tied to a staking pool in the “Lydian World” metaverse and a gold-backed cryptocurrency.

GS Partners, which operated as a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme, heavily relied on celebrity endorsements, including one from former professional boxer Floyd Mayweather, to promote these ventures.

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Binance plans to hire 1,000 new employees this year, with a substantial focus on compliance roles. A large portion of these hires is specifically aimed at expanding the company’s compliance team from its current 500 members to 700 by the end of 2024.

CEO Richard Teng, who is currently in the US for discussions with monitors and officials, shared these hiring targets in an interview with Bloomberg News in New York on Wednesday.

Focus on Compliance

Bloomberg’s report revealed that Binance is estimated to allocate over $200 million this year solely for regulatory compliance, including expenditures related to the US plea agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other agencies.

The 55-year-old exec disclosed plans that Binance has seen a surge in requests from law enforcement agencies across the world, with 63,000 inquiries so far this year, compared to 58,000 in 2023.

Hence, compliance-related spending, which was $158 million two years ago, is expected to rise further. Teng also mentioned that US-appointed monitors from Forensic Risk Alliance and Sullivan & Cromwell have started their oversight, focusing on assessing the company’s financial statements and transaction tracking. This monitoring is still in its early stages, the exec added.

For the uninitiated, Teng has served as a senior regulator at the Monetary Authority of Singapore as well as at the city-state’s SGX stock exchange. He was also appointed as the chief executive officer of the regulator at Abu Dhabi’s International Financial Center.

Highlighting his extensive background in regulation, Teng stated,

“I’ve been a regulator all my life. Government agencies are important.”

However, Teng refrained from confirming whether he had met with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) during his current trip, as the securities regulator had sued Binance in a separate lawsuit for allegedly offering financial securities without necessary registration.

Regulatory Woes in the US

Binance was ordered to pay $4.3 billion in fines after a US judge approved the plea agreement in February as a settlement with the DOJ and other US agencies for compliance failures that allowed criminals and terror groups to exploit the exchange.

As part of the agreement, Binance will undergo years of compliance monitoring by the DOJ and the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Last week, Binance announced resuming its full operations in India after agreeing to a $2.25 million penalty with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit. Additionally, the exchange reached a $1.75 million settlement with Brazil’s SEC, which had banned its derivatives products in 2020.

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President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 election race caused a significant stir in the crypto market. Bitcoin initially fell by 3% in response to the news but later recovered and even tapped a multi-week peak.

According to Bitfinex analysts, this was a knee-jerk reaction to temporary uncertainty in the market. By Monday morning, Bitcoin had climbed 0.9% over the past 24 hours, reaching over $68,000 for the first time since early June.

Now all eyes are on what Vice-President Kamala Harris’s crypto policies will entail who secured the support of a majority of Democratic delegates to become the party’s nominee for President.

Investors Cautious as Harris Takes Lead

According to a statement to CryptoPotato, analysts at Bitfinex said that the impact of Biden stepping down and Harris taking the lead on the crypto market could be “multifaceted and is likely to be perceived as neutral to slightly negative in the short term due to the uncertainty and potential for policy changes.”

For one, Harris’s stance on crypto isn’t well-documented, which makes it tough to predict the exact impact. However, her political focus on consumer protection and financial regulation might suggest continued scrutiny of the crypto industry.

The existing administration has been relatively conservative with its focus on regulating the crypto market despite the launch of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. If Harris continues this cautious regulatory approach, it may not be favorable for the market.

As such, analysts believe investors might adopt a “wait-and-see” approach until Harris’s policies become clearer. While talking about the effect of a contentious battle for the nomination on the crypto market, the Bitfinex analysts said,

“A contentious battle for the Democratic nomination could introduce significant uncertainty, potentially leading to market volatility. However, it is difficult to comment on a clear market direction as it would depend on how the market prices in odds of a Democrat or Republican win.”

An Opportunity for Harris?

In a recent conversation with Politico, Bitcoin proponent and billionaire investor Mark Cuban shared that Harris’s camp had contacted him with questions about crypto. He revealed that he had received multiple inquiries from her team about the asset class, which he viewed as a positive sign.

Cuban also emphasized that changing the policies would send a clear message, indicating that she is in control and receptive to new opportunities. By being “open, literally, for business,” Harris would demonstrate her willingness to embrace the industry to create a friendlier environment, especially since her rival and the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, already seems to have a head start in that department.

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A US court has granted Binance US permission to invest certain customer fiat funds, currently held at BitGo, in US Treasury Bills.

Earlier this week, the exchange requested court approval to invest about $40 million in $10 million increments over four weeks. These investments will be made through a trading account on TreasuryDirect in US Treasury bills that will mature on a rolling four-week basis.

On July 19, Judge Amy Berman Jackson approved the exchange to invest its customer fiat funds, provided it maintains enough funds on its platform to meet all expected customer withdrawal requests and updates its terms of use to notify customers accordingly.

Other requests

The judge also granted the exchange other requests which included the authorization to engage third-party investment advisors to manage its corporate assets and transfer its custodied assets to a non-affiliated third-party custodian in the United States.

Meanwhile, the Judge stated that the firm must ensure that the new private and administrative keys for those wallets are maintained and directed solely by its employees in the United States or by the third-party custodian located in the United States.

Additionally, the Judge ordered that the exchange must conduct reasonable diligence to ensure that the advisors that would be managing its assets do not qualify as Binance Entities.

Binance US, the subsidiary of the global Binance exchange, is currently embroiled in an ongoing legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Recovery

In a parallel development, the international Binance exchange said it assisted the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) San Diego in investigating a pig butchering scam that recovered $2.5 million in USDT.

Pig-butchering schemes are scams where fraudsters use manipulative tactics to gain victims’ trust online. Once trust is established, the unsuspecting victims are lured into investing in a fraudulent crypto scheme.

The scammer often persuades the victim to make additional payments before the fraud is discovered. The “butchering” happens when the scammer steals the victim’s assets, causing severe financial and emotional harm.

According to the US Department of Justice, these types of scams have become somewhat prevalent, and over $2 billion were stolen via the schemes in 2022.

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The Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) is a regulatory framework established by the European Union. It aims to standardize and supervise the digital asset market in the EU, creating a uniform regulatory approach across the EU. The regulation covers various digital assets, including stablecoins, and sets out rules for their issuance, trading, and custody.

While MiCA isn’t the first broad crypto regulatory framework in the EU, it’s the first one that specifically targets the fast-growing DeFi market in the region. The regulation has “extraterrestrial scope,” which means that it applies not only to EU member states but also to all businesses providing services to customers in the EU and to any businesses providing services using the Euro.

Although full implementation isn’t anticipated until December, MiCA’s impact is already noticeable in the global crypto market as stablecoin legislation went live at the end of June. As it applies to companies and exchanges headquartered outside of the EU, which constitutes a notable part of the global market, companies are already adjusting to the new reality of providing services in the EU.

The increased regulatory pressure in the United States has also affected the global market. With digital assets, especially Bitcoin, slowly becoming a new political frontier ahead of the 2024 Presidential elections, the political and regulatory uncertainty has put companies and exchanges in the country on edge.

Data from Kaiko showed a noticeable shift in the rate of new exchange listings, showing companies around the world are becoming more cautious.

Crypto exchange listings have slowed down significantly since the peak of the 2021 bull run. This slowdown is evident in the reduced growth rate in new trading pairs across major exchanges providing services to customers in the EU and US. Kaiko’s data found a decline from a 9% growth rate before Bitcoin’s ATH in 2021 to just 3% before its 2024 peak.

Diving deeper into the data reveals exchange-specific trends. The number of active trading pairs on Binance has increased at a slower pace compared to other exchanges and remains 14% below its 2022 peak. While a significant part of Binance’s slowdown can be attributed to MiCA, the exchange has been experiencing a global slowdown in the past few months. The regulatory troubles the exchange has faced in various countries around the world, coupled with the charges against its founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, have also contributed to this. The legal troubles Binance.US faced last year also played a massive part in reducing its global dominance.

In contrast, Bybit has seen a surge in active trading pairs, reaching an ATH during the market rally we saw in May. Most of Bybit’s customers come from countries outside of the EU, which is why the company seems largely unaffected by MiCA. The same trend is seen in Korean exchanges, especially Bithumb, all of which have experienced rapid growth in new listings. New listings on Bithumb have outpaced Upbit, which led to increased regulatory attention in the country whose authorities are still struggling to introduce a comprehensive regulatory framework to the industry.

The slow rate of new listings and the shift towards stablecoin pairs have contributed to a deceleration in the overall growth of the crypto market. Emerging markets, however, are showing resilience and increased demand for cryptocurrencies, driven by factors such as inflation, currency volatility, and a lack of strict regulation.

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The SEC’s enforcement division said it’s closing its investigation into Ethereum, though Consensys says the fight isn’t over yet.

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In a report released earlier this week, Coinbase expressed concerns over the declining crypto talent in the US amidst the ongoing increase in general corporate interest.

The largest US exchange highlighted the need for regulatory clarity around the crypto realm to keep the talent within the country.

Declining Developer Talent in the US

Coinbase notes a significant decline in US-based crypto developers, down by 14 points over the past five years to just 26% today. Top Fortune 500 executives have voiced concerns about a trusted talent shortage, seeing it as a greater obstacle to crypto adoption than regulatory issues.

On the other hand, smaller businesses have expressed interest in looking for crypto-savvy candidates to fill future roles in IT, tech, finance, and legal departments. About 68% of small companies believe blockchain and cryptocurrency can address major financial pain points: processing time and transaction fees.

As such, Coinbase asserts the need for clarity of rules and regulations around crypto to keep developers in the US.

Despite an apparent decline in crypto developers, the US is seeing a significant increase in on-chain projects. For instance, the number of Web3 initiatives by Fortune 100 companies has increased by 39%. Moreover, about 56% of executives of Fortune 500 companies mentioned that their entities are working on on-chain projects like consumer-facing payment applications.

The report highlights that following the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF earlier this year, assets under management for spot Bitcoin ETFs have surpassed $63 billion due to the entry of more trusted names in the crypto and blockchain industries.

Coinbase highlighted the vital need for clear-cut rules in crypto. The report noted that:

“The increased activity underscores the urgency for clear rules for crypto that help keep crypto developers and other talent in the US, fulfill crypto’s promise of better access, and enable US leadership on crypto globally.”

Senator Cynthia Lummis voiced concern regarding the strict stance of the Biden administration and Gary Gensler on Bitcoin and digital assets. She cautioned that this approach might lead the industry to move overseas, potentially impacting America’s leadership in financial innovation. Lummis called for a more accommodating environment to foster the industry’s growth domestically.

Other Key Highlights of The Reports

The Coinbase report also lauded the efforts by various payment companies, including PayPal and Stripe, to make crypto and, specifically, stablecoins more available.

Merchants using Stripe can now accept USDC payments, which autonomously convert to fiat.

PayPal also supports transaction-free cross-border transfers across 160 countries, compared to the global standard of 4.45% to 6.39% in average charges in the international remittance market.

Additionally, 48% of F500 executives believe crypto can potentially increase access to financial systems, hence banking for the underbanked and unbanked. However, all this can be achieved if the US takes leadership in the crypto space.

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Learn how PYUSD works, its benefits and how to buy, use and store this dollar-backed digital currency.

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Toncoin (TON), the native token of The Open Network blockchain, has emerged as one of the most popular Layer 1 cryptocurrencies. Since the beginning of 2024, its price has outperformed Bitcoin by a staggering 118%, as per the latest analysis by CryptoQuant.

The on-chain analytic company has now stated that while US traders appear to be bullish on TON, the same cannot be said for traders in Europe.

Diverging Sentiments on TON

By examining the price fluctuations across different trading sessions, CryptoQuant identified that certain investor groups are bullish on TON, and others are more bearish.

As per data compiled by CryptoQuant, the relative price performance of TON during different global trading sessions highlights American investors as the most bullish on the token with numerous instances of significant positive price changes occurring during the US trading session.

On the other hand, European traders appear the most bearish, as evidenced by multiple instances of negative price changes during the local session.

Meanwhile, Asian session traders seem to align with past price performance trends, with both positive and negative price movements.

TON’s had a rough start due to regulatory hurdles stemming from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, it has managed to expand its ecosystem and increase engagement by attracting both developers and users.

A project called Notcoin (NOT), designed to introduce users to Web3, has become the latest sensation on the TON blockchain. This web3 clicker game has issued its token on The Open Network blockchain and airdropped more than 80 billion NOT tokens to participants just this week.

TON’s Flurry of Partnerships, Integrations

Telegram took a major step towards integrating cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, specifically the TON blockchain, into its platform. In April, Telegram rolled out the ability for advertisers to pay using TON as well as enabling crypto payouts for content creators on the messaging app using the token.

The integration essentially allowed advertisers to pay with TON and content creators to earn TON payouts, effectively creating a new crypto-powered advertising ecosystem within Telegram.

Later that month, TON ecosystem partnered with HashKey Group, the parent company of the Hong Kong-licensed crypto exchange to ramp up provision for on- and off-ramping of crypto and fiat to Asia-Pacific users of the wallet service in messaging app Telegram.

More recently, the stablecoin issuer Tether announced the launch of USDT and XAUT tokens on The Open Network. The move targeted Telegram’s 900 million user base.

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Spot Bitcoin ETFs have caused a major stir in the cryptocurrency industry, unlike anything seen before. Following the US and Hong Kong, Australia is now gearing up for a series of launches of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.

The ASX has received applications from at least two organizations, and there’s another one in the pipeline

Australia Braces for Bitcoin ETF

ASX Ltd., which manages about 80% of the country’s equity trading, is expected to approve the first spot Bitcoin ETFs for the main board before the end of 2024, according to a recent report by Bloomberg.

These applications follow the success of US Bitcoin ETFs, which have gathered $53 billion this year. Despite outflows from Grayscale, BlackRock Inc. and Fidelity Investments’ offerings have topped the charts.

Funds directly investing in Bitcoin and Ether will also start trading in Hong Kong from April 30. Issuers are looking to take advantage of a significant crypto rebound that pushed BTC to an all-time high of nearly $74,000 last month.

Sydney-based BetaShares is actively working on launching a product on the ASX. The recent crypto inflows in the US signal a growing acceptance and longevity for the asset class, as per Justin Arzadon, head of digital assets at BetaShares. The company has even reserved ASX tickers for spot Bitcoin and spot Ether ETFs, indicating their confidence in the market.

Although ASX hasn’t confirmed a specific timeline, the entity is in discussions with various issuers interested in introducing crypto-based ETFs.

Demand for Spot ETFs

It is also important to note that Australia’s $2.3 trillion pension market could be a significant driver of these inflows, particularly with about a quarter of retirement assets in self-managed superannuation programs, where individuals have control over their investments.

VanEck, which offers similar ETFs in the US and Europe, resubmitted an application in February Jamie Hannah, deputy head of investments and capital markets for VanEck Australia, suggests these programs could become buyers of spot crypto funds. With a combination of self-managed super funds, brokers, financial advisers, and platform money, there’s considerable market potential for these ETFs to grow.

These recent applications mark the second wave of spot Bitcoin ETF launches in Australia, following initial listings two years ago on CBOE Australia. While some ETFs, like the one launched by Sydney-based Cosmos Asset Management in 2022, didn’t see significant inflows and were subsequently delisted, others, like the Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, have managed to accumulate notable assets.

Monochrome Asset Management, led by former Binance Australia CEO Jeff Yew, has also applied to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF on CBOE Australia.

BetaShares prefers ASX for listing due to its scrutiny over the custody of tokens. Meanwhile, another player, DigitalX Ltd., mentioned in its half-year results in February that it had submitted an application. Its CEO Lisa Wade believes Australians could allocate up to 10% of their portfolios to cryptocurrencies, recognizing their potential as financial infrastructure.

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