Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

EY’s global blockchain leader says that for the first time ever, crypto’s price swings do not have that big of an impact on the long-term growth of the industry. Nonetheless, he stressed: “It is also important that regulators crack down on obvious Ponzi schemes faster and with more severity.” EY’s Brody on Crypto Winter Paul Brody, global blockchain leader at EY, discussed the crypto winter, the need for regulation, and the collapse of crypto exchange FTX in an interview published by the Mint publication Thursday. He was asked whether he expects the current crypto winter to be over soon. “This is a much milder crypto winter than the last one,” he replied. “One of the major features of this winter is that there is a decoupling going on between the price of crypto assets and product and engineering development work that is going on in the crypto industry.” The EY executive opined: For the first time ever, price ups and downs don’t have that big of an impact on the long-term growth ...

Starling Bank has informed its customers that the bank no longer supports fund transfers to cryptocurrency platforms, including crypto exchanges. The bank stated that cryptocurrencies “are high risk and heavily used for criminal purposes and, as such, we no longer support them.” Starling Bank Blocks Fund Transfers to Crypto Exchanges London-headquartered Starling Bank recently notified its customers that the bank no longer supports money transfers to cryptocurrency platforms, including crypto exchanges. A number of people asked the bank for clarification on Twitter. Starling Bank provided the same response to all customers over the past couple of days, stating that crypto activity is considered high risk and it has decided to prevent all card payments to crypto merchants. The bank added that it is implementing further restrictions on outgoing and incoming transfers. Many people are unhappy with the bank’s decision. Some even said they’ve closed their accounts at the bank due to t...

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the regulator overseeing the crypto sector, has defended the action it took against crypto exchange Binance and not the collapsed crypto platform FTX. The central bank also warned that cryptocurrencies are “highly volatile and many of them have lost all value.” Singapore’s Central Bank Clarifies Its Stance on Binance and FTX The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s central bank, issued a press release this week “to address some questions and misconceptions that have arisen in the wake of the FTX.com (FTX) debacle.” The central bank explained: “A first misconception is that it was possible to protect local users who dealt with FTX … MAS cannot do this as FTX is not licensed by MAS and operates offshore.” The MAS proceeded to justify the action it took against Binance and not FTX. The former was placed on the central bank’s Investor Alert List (IAL) while the latter was not. The regulator clarified: While both Binance and ...

The Digital Asset Exchange Joint Consultative Body (DAXA), the South Korean association of crypto exchanges, announced on Nov. 24 that the WEMIX token would be delisted. In justifying the decision to delist WEMIX, the association claimed the information provided by the token’s issuer Wemade is false and has confused investors. Discrepancy Between WEMIX Circulating Supply and Token Distribution Plan An association of South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges, the Digital Asset Exchange Joint Consultative Body (DAXA), announced on Nov. 24 that the gaming platform Wemade’s token — WEMIX — would be delisted. According to DAXA, the decision to delist WEMIX came after the association claimed to have found a discrepancy between the token’s circulating supply and the submitted distribution plan. The announcement by DAXA, which is made up of five crypto exchanges, namely: Bithumb, Coinone, Gopax, Korbit, and Upbit, came just days after some local media reports suggested the delisting decision w...

Just days after reassuring concerned customers, Marius Reitz, the general manager of crypto exchange Luno Africa, recently reiterated the company has not been impacted by Genesis Capital’s decision to pause withdrawals. He added Luno customers still have access to funds in the savings wallet despite its lending partner’s decision to freeze withdrawals. Customers Retain Access to Funds in the Savings Wallet According to Marius Reitz, general manager of the crypto exchange Luno Africa, his company is operating normally and has not been affected by Genesis Capital’s suspension of “redemptions and new loan originations.” Reitz added that the Digital Currency Group (DCG)-owned exchange has so far not seen “any significant changes in deposits, withdrawals or trading volumes.” As reported by Bitcoin.com News, Genesis had paused customer withdrawals “in response to the extreme market dislocation and loss of industry confidence caused by the FTX implosion.” After the announcement by Genesi...

Ripio, an Argentina-based cryptocurrency exchange, has announced that it will expand its operations to the U.S. The company, which serves more than 4.5 million customers in Latam, received a license in the state of Florida to operate and will start offering its Ripio Select services to companies and institutional investors. Ripio Expands Operations to US Ripio, one of the largest exchanges in Latam, with more than 4.5 million customers on the continent, has announced it will expand its operations to the U.S. The company obtained a license granted by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, that will allow it to offer its suite of services to United States customers. With this endorsement, the company is ready to bring its products to customers in the country, including its custodial wallet and exchange services, and its newly launched Web3 wallet. Also, Ripio is planning to provide B2B integration with other companies. Ripio decided to first introduce its Select platform, whic...