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☆ Nomura's crypto arm wins Dubai licence
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - The crypto arm of Japanese investment bank and brokerage Nomura (8604.T) said on Tuesday it had won an operating licence in Dubai, the latest in a number of mainstream financial institutions this year to enter the crypto sector. Laser Digital, which is headquartered in Switzerland with officers in Dubai and London, said in a statement it had received the licence from Dubai's Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority, allowing it to offer crypto-related broker-dealer, management and investment services. Laser said it would launch its trading and asset management business in the coming months, allowing institutional investors access to over-the-counter crypto trading and other investment products. French bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) became last month the first company in France to obtain a licence for crypto services, underscoring resilient hunger among mainstream banks to embrace crypto as markets have rallied through 2023. Reporting by Tom Wilson, Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Nomura, Tom Wilson, Louise Heavens Organizations: Laser, Regulatory, Societe Generale, Thomson Locations: Dubai, Switzerland, London, France

Still, money market traders are split on the odds of another increase later in the year.FEDWATCH"The 25 basis point rise is a done deal. "The risk is that the Fed, looking at market bullishness, may not want to sound too dovish - they may want to keep the door open for more rate hikes." The MSCI world equity index (.MIWD00000PUS), which tracks shares in 47 countries, was flat. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index (.HSI) was down 0.3% and China's blue chip CSI300 index (.CSI300) was off 0.2%. Positive sentiment had returned to China's market on Tuesday, when the CSI 300 Index snapped a six-day losing streak.

Persons: Luca Paolini, Alison Rose, Nigel Farage's, We're, David Chao, Tom Wilson, Scott Murdoch, Jamie Freed, Kim Coghill Organizations: Fed, Federal, Pictet Asset Management, NatWest, BBC, Lloyds, CSI, ECB, Brent, Thomson Locations: SYDNEY, U.S, Germany, France, Britain, CHINA, Asia, Pacific, Japan, Hong Kong, London, Sydney

"We note the launch of WorldCoin in the UK and will be making further enquiries," a spokesperson for the Information Commissioner's Office told Reuters. Worldcoin launched on Monday with two million users from its trial, with the crypto project scaling up eyeball-scanning operations in 20 countries, including at sites in London. Described on its website as a "new identity and financial network", the Worldcoin project assigns people who sign up a digital ID which it says would distinguish humans from artificial intelligence online. Its cryptocurrency, called the Worldcoin token, will be allocated to users who sign up in some countries, according to the website. The Worldcoin token initially rose after its launch on Monday, hitting a peak of $3.30, and on Tuesday was at $2.01 according to market tracker CoinGecko.

Persons: Sam Altman, Worldcoin, Elizabeth Howcroft, Tom wilson, Louise Heavens Organizations: Commissioner's, Reuters, Thomson Locations: London

☆ Societe Generale obtains France's first crypto licence
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) - French bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) has become the first company in France to obtain a license for crypto services, as a growing number of mainstream financial companies embrace crypto globally this year. Societe Generale's crypto unit, Forge, is licensed as of Tuesday to offer services, including crypto custody, trading and sales, according to the website of France's AMF market regulator. A slew of crypto firms, including the world's biggest exchange Binance, have already registered with the AMF. Licensed firms, however, are subject to more onerous rules in areas including corporate governance, IT and compliance. Crypto markets have rallied in 2023, spurred by growing interest in the volatile asset class by major U.S. financial firms including BlackRock and Fidelity.

Persons: Tom Wilson, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Societe Generale, Societe, France's AMF, AMF, BlackRock, Fidelity, Thomson Locations: France, London

"We'll have a much better sense after we get another major data point on Friday with the jobs report and the inflation data next week." MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) closed 0.93% lower, while Japan's Nikkei (.N225) lost 0.25%. In currencies, the U.S. dollar edged higher against other major currencies after Fed minutes reinforced expectations of another interest rate hike at the end of the month. The dollar index rose 0.272%, with the euro down 0.22% to $1.0853. And market participants were awaiting demand data from the July 4 U.S. holiday weekend, which tends to mark the peak U.S. travel season.

Persons: Mike Segar, outstrip Brent, Michael James, Jack Janasiewicz, Janasiewicz, ”, Paul Nolte, Sterling, Brent, Sinéad Carew, Lewis Krauskopf, Tom Wilson, Stella Qiu, Dhara, Sam Holmes, Helen Popper, Will Dunham, Christina Fincher Organizations: Wall, New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, . Federal Reserve, Wedbush Securities, U.S . Commerce, Companies, U.S, Solutions, Traders, Murphy, Sylvest Wealth Management, “, Dow Jones, Nasdaq, Japan's Nikkei, Treasury, Brent, Thomson Locations: Manhattan, New York City , New York, U.S, Los Angeles, United States, China, Washington, Europe, Asia, Pacific, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Russia, New York, London, Sydney

"There's a lot of data we're going to see here over the next several weeks as we head to the end of July Fed meeting. The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) lost 0.78% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS) shed 0.39%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) closed 0.84% lower, while Japan's Nikkei (.N225) lost 0.25%. The U.S. dollar was holding steady against other major currencies as traders awaited the Fed minutes. The dollar index rose 0.097%, with the euro down 0.04% to $1.0873.

Persons: Mike Segar, Tim Ghriskey, Ingalls & Snyder, Data, Sterling, Brent, Sinéad Carew, Tom Wilson, Stella Qiu, Dhara, Sam Holmes, Helen Popper, Christina Fincher Organizations: Wall, New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, U.S . Federal Reserve, Treasury, Federal, Investors, Tuesday's, Independence, Ingalls &, Dow Jones, Nasdaq, Japan's Nikkei, Traders, U.S, Brent's, Thomson Locations: Manhattan, New York City , New York, U.S, Tuesday's U.S, New York, Asia, Pacific, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Russia, London, Sydney

European stocks (.STOXX) slipped 0.6%, heading for their first daily loss in eight sessions, with German shares (.GDAXI) down the same amount. The MSCI world equity index (.MIWD00000PUS), which tracks shares in 47 countries, fell 0.2%. Earlier, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) dropped 0.8% after the China data. Japan's Nikkei (.N225) also fell 0.3% on profit-taking after climbing to three-decade highs. Brent crude futures fell 0.3% to $75.97 a barrel after climbing 2.1% overnight.

Persons: Michael Hewson, Guy Miller, Brent, Tom Wilson, Stella Qiu, Dhara, Sam Holmes, Helen Popper, Christina Fincher Organizations: Global, Federal, Independence, CMC Markets, Reuters, Zurich Insurance Group, U.S, Japan's Nikkei, Thomson Locations: SYDNEY, China, U.S, Europe, United States, Asia, Pacific, Japan, Tokyo, Saudi Arabia, Russia, London, Sydney

Wall Street was set for losses, too, with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures down 0.2%-0.4%. The MSCI world equity index (.MIWD00000PUS), which tracks shares in 47 countries, fell 0.2%. The U.S. dollar drifted near the middle of its range of the past three weeks against major peers, with the dollar index down 0.1% to 102.99, after tracking between 103.75 and 102.75 since early June. Earlier, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) dropped 0.7% after the China data. Brent crude futures fell 0.2% to $76.05 a barrel after climbing 2.1% overnight.

Persons: Michael Hewson, Guy Miller, Brent, Tom Wilson, Stella Qiu, Dhara, Sam Holmes, Helen Popper Our Organizations: Nikkei, Global, Federal, Nasdaq, CMC Markets, Reuters, Zurich Insurance Group, U.S, Japan's Nikkei, Thomson Locations: SYDNEY, U.S, United States, Asia, Pacific, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, London, Sydney

☆ Global markets in H1: Banks vs the machines
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Marc Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Linking it all has been the relentless rise in interest rates, which was exactly what battered markets in 2022. But just that this time has been different due to an unshakeable view that the end of the cycle is near. A 12%, or $6 trillion, rally in value of world stocks (.MIWD00000PUS), (.FTAWORLDSR) although it has been ominously top heavy. Thanks largely to ChatGPT, the AI boom has seen the 'Big Tech' giants enjoy a combined surge of 70%. There have also been around a total of 90 interest rate hikes this year by central banks globally versus just 17 cuts.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Lehman, Trevor Greetham, Gold, Viktor Szabo, Tayyip Erdogan's, haven't, bitcoin, Binance, Milla Savova, Dhara Ranasinghe, Tom Wilson, Rashmi Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Nikkei, LONDON, Big Tech, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Netflix, Meta, Nvidia, Royal London Asset Management, Japan's Nikkei, U.S . Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of Japan's, Silicon Valley Bank, behemoth, UBS, Treasury, Wall, BlackRock, Commodities, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, El Salvador, Sri, Zambia, Ukraine, Pakistan, Argentina, Japan, Egypt, Nigeria, London

☆ Germany to reject Binance's bid for a cryptocurrency licence - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this month sued Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao over what the regulator called a "web of deception" to evade U.S. laws. The German regulator, BaFin, issued a statement declining to comment on individual companies due to confidentiality. Last week, Belgium's FSMA regulator ordered Binance to stop offering any virtual currency services in the country. BaFin in 2021 warned Binance it risked being fined for offering certain digital tokens to clients in Germany without necessary information. Reporting by Tom Sims and Tom Wilson; Editing by Sabine Wollrab and Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Tom Sims, Tom Wilson, Sabine Wollrab, Mark Potter Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Finance Forward, Thomson Locations: FRANKFURT, Germany, France

If approved, a bitcoin ETF from the world's biggest asset manager could attract investors reluctant to buy the high-risk cryptocurrency directly. Digital asset manager Grayscale had its proposal for a spot bitcoin ETF rejected last year. LESS CAPITAL OVERALLAfter surprise rate hikes in Australia and Canada, and as the Federal Reserve forecasts two more hikes, investors are now betting that interest rates will remain higher for longer. Bitcoin had benefited from ultra-low interest rates, which incentivised investors to take riskier bets in search of returns. "Albeit - there are likely to be further challenges with interest rates continuing to increase," he said.

Persons: Mike Caldwell's, Jim Urquhart, Bitcoin, Charles Schwab, Youwei Yang, BTCM, Wes Hansen, Gordon Grant, Grant, Strijers, he'd, Riyad Carey, Genesis Trading's Gordon Grant, There's, bitcoin, Usman Ahmad, Elizabeth Howcroft, Tom Wilson, Louise Heavens Organizations: REUTERS, BlackRock, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Investments, Reuters Graphics, Silicon Valley Bank, SEC, Fidelity, Cboe, Kaiko, Federal Reserve, Blackrock, Zodia, Chartered, Technology, Thomson Locations: Sandy , Utah, Silicon, United States, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong

☆ Binance under investigation in France for money-laundering
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, June 16 (Reuters) - Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, is under preliminary investigation for both illegal canvassing of clients and aggravated money-laundering, the Paris prosecutor's office said on Friday, confirming media reports. "The investigation is about, on one hand, the unauthorised practice of the profession of virtual assets service provider and, on the other, about aggravated money-laundering (...), " the prosecutor's office said in a statement. "In France, on-site visits by regulators and inspectors are part of regulatory obligations to which all financial institutions must adhere. The investigation follows various setbacks for Binance including a June 5 decision by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to charge the company with evading securities laws. In May last year, Binance said it had registered with France's market regulator, adding it was seeking to open a regional headquarters in France.

Persons: Binance, Benoit Van Overstraeten, Tom Wilson, Frances Kerry, Jason Neely Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Binance, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, Cyprus, French

Employees in Binance.US' legal, compliance and risk departments were among those dismissed, the people told Reuters, requesting anonymity because the matter is private. The SEC also sued Binance.US' operating company, BAM Trading, alleging that it misled investors about "non-existent trading" controls over its platform. A day later, the SEC asked a federal court to freeze Binance.US' assets, including more than $2.2 billion held in crypto and some $377 million in U.S. dollar bank accounts. Two Binance.US employees said on LinkedIn on Wednesday they were leaving the company, with one citing a "round of layoffs." Reporting by Angus Berwick and Tom Wilson; edited by Elisa Martinuzzi and Richard ChangOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Binance.US, Angus Berwick, Tom Wilson, Elisa Martinuzzi, Richard Chang Organizations: U.S, Reuters, SEC, BAM, LinkedIn, Thomson

The SEC also sued Binance.US' operating company, BAM Trading, alleging that it misled investors about "non-existent trading" controls over its platform. A day later, the SEC asked a federal court to freeze Binance.US' assets, including more than $2.2 billion held in crypto and some $377 million in U.S. dollar bank accounts. 'ROUND OF LAYOFFS'Two Binance.US employees said on LinkedIn on Wednesday they were leaving the company, with one citing a "round of layoffs." Binance.US had avoided layoffs over the past year, Shroder wrote in the message. In a court filing on Monday, Binance.US' operator, BAM Trading, said the SEC's asset freeze request would "effectively put BAM out of business."

Persons: Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Binance.US, Brian Shroder, Shroder, Angus Berwick, Tom Wilson, Elisa Martinuzzi, Richard Chang, Louise Heavens Organizations: U.S, Reuters, SEC, BAM, Management, LinkedIn, Thomson

In its 13 charges, the SEC alleged that Binance and Zhao used Merit Peak and Sigma Chain, another trading firm controlled by Zhao, to commingle corporate funds with client assets and use the monies "as they please." This put customers' assets at risk while Binance sought to "maximize" its profits, the SEC wrote in its civil complaint on Monday. "All user assets on Binance and Binance affiliate platforms, including Binance.US, are safe and secure," it said in a statement on Monday. The funds received by British Virgin Islands-based Merit Peak between 2019 and 2021 flowed from Key Vision Development Ltd, also controlled by Zhao, the SEC filing on Tuesday showed. Reuters reported last month that Key Vision and Merit Peak, along with Binance's Cayman Islands holding company, formed the core of the global crypto exchange's financial network.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao, Binance, Zhao, Guangying Chen, Chen, Tom Wilson, Jane Merriman Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Sigma, British, Vision Development, Key Vision, U.S, Reuters, Vision, Binance's, Sigma Chain's, BAM, Thomson Locations: Seychelles, British Virgin Islands, Islands, Binance, United States, U.S, Singapore

June 6 (Reuters) - Investors have pulled around $1.43 billion from the crypto exchange Binance and its U.S. affiliate as of 11 a.m. ET (1500 GMT) on Tuesday, data firm Nansen said, a day after a top U.S. regulator sued both exchanges. Binance saw net outflows of $1.34 billion of crypto tokens on the ethereum blockchain, with its U.S. affiliate, Binance.US, registering net outflows of $70.8 million, Nansen tweeted. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday sued Binance, its CEO Changpeng Zhao and the operator of Binance.US over what it called a "web of deception" to evade U.S. laws. The SEC complaint is the latest in a series of legal headaches for Binance.

Persons: Nansen, Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Tony Sycamore, Binance's BNB cryptocurrency, Zhao, Tom Wilson, Rae Wee, Ankur Banerjee, Kevin Buckland, Hannah Lang, Sonali Paul, Tom Hogue, Nick Zieminski, Louise Heavens Organizations: U.S, Binance.US, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Monday, SEC, Reuters, IG Markets, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Thomson Locations: U.S, London, Singapore, Tokyo, Washington

The exchange offers spot and derivatives trading and a host of services from non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to crypto loans and asset management. FINANCESBinance's global trading platform, Binance.com, is by far the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange. Last year it processed crypto trades worth about $65 billion a day, Binance said, dominating the crypto trading landscape with more than half of the market, CryptoCompare data shows. Binance last year extended its reach beyond the crypto sector in 2022, investing $500 million in Tesla boss Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. A top Binance executive told the Wall Street Journal in February that the company expected to pay penalties to resolve U.S. investigations.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao, Binance, Zhao, Yi He, Yi, Noah Perlman, Morgan Stanley, Richard Teng, Teng, Elon Musk's, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Wilson, Hannah Lang, Marguerita Choy, Nick Zieminski Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Binance, Reuters, Twitter, Lazio, Argentina national, of Nations, U.S, Justice, Wall Street, Thomson Locations: WASHINGTON, U.S, Shanghai, Tokyo, Malta, Cayman Islands, Canadian, China, United States, Italian, London, Washington

LONDON/SINGAPORE, June 6 (Reuters) - Investors have pulled around $790 million from the crypto exchange Binance and its U.S. affiliate in the last 24 hours, data firm Nansen said on Tuesday, a day after a top U.S. regulator sued both exchanges. Binance saw net outflows of $778.6 million of crypto tokens on the ethereum blockchain, with its U.S. affiliate, Binance.US, registering net outflows of $13 million, Nansen tweeted. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday sued Binance, its CEO Changpeng Zhao and the operator of Binance.US over what it called a "web of deception" to evade U.S. laws. The world's biggest cryptocurrency was last at $25,723, flat on the day but pinned near a more than two-month low. The SEC complaint is the latest in a series of legal headaches for Binance.

Persons: Nansen, Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Tony Sycamore, Binance's BNB cryptocurrency, Zhao, Tom Wilson, Rae Wee, Ankur Banerjee, Kevin Buckland, Sonali Paul, Tom Hogue, Louise Heavens Organizations: LONDON, U.S, Binance.US, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Monday, SEC, Reuters, IG Markets, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Thomson Locations: SINGAPORE, U.S, London, Singapore, Tokyo

After receiving $145 million from Binance.US's operator by 2021, Sigma Chain spent $11 million on buying a yacht, the SEC complaint said, without elaborating. It is unclear from the SEC complaint how much money Zhao is alleged to have drawn from Merit Peak and Sigma Chain. The SEC also said Zhao used Merit Peak to direct more than $16 million to fund Binance's purportedly independent U.S. affiliate Binance.US. Binance used its BUSD holdings to meet customer withdrawals by selling them for dollars as needed, Reuters reported in May. The SEC complaint also identified Binance Labs, a venture capital arm of Binance, as part of the exchange's plan to increase demand for BNB.

Persons: Zhao, Binance, Benoit Tessier LONDON, Changpeng Zhao, John Reed Stark, Stark, Binance's, Angus Berwick, Tom Wilson, Lisa Barrington, Hadeel Al, Elisa Martinuzzi, Alexander Smith Organizations: Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, Binance, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Swiss, Sigma Chain, Reuters, Silicon, Internet, Futures Trading Commission, U.S . Justice, Reuters Graphics, Silvergate Bank, Merit, Sigma, Binance Labs, Thomson Locations: Porte, Paris, France, Binance, U.S, Virgin Islands, Dubai, London, Hadeel Al Sayegh

☆ Crypto exchange Binance hit by outflows of $780 million in last 24 hours - Nansen
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - Investors have pulled around $780 million from crypto exchange Binance in the last 24 hours, data firm Nansen said on Tuesday, a day after the world's biggest crypto exchange was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. loadingBinance's U.S. affiliate exchange registered net outflows of $13 million in the same period, Nansen said. Neither Binance nor Binance.US immediately responded to a request for comment. Reporting by Tom Wilson, editing by Alun JohnOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Nansen, Binance.US, Tom Wilson, Alun John Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Thomson

LONDON, June 5 (Reuters) - A senior Binance executive was the main operator for five bank accounts belonging to the giant cryptocurrency exchange’s purportedly independent U.S. affiliate, including an account that held American customers’ funds, bank records show. This allowed Chen and her deputies to move funds held in the bank accounts. The previously unreported bank records and messages show that Binance’s management over the U.S. business’s finances extended across its bank accounts at Silvergate and detail how this secret access was granted. Binance.US has denied that Binance ever operated its bank accounts. ‘PRIMARY ADMIN USER’The Binance.US trading platform was launched by its operating firm, BAM Trading, in mid-2019 under then Chief Executive Catherine Coley.

Persons: Guangying Chen, Changpeng Zhao, Chen, Binance, Zhao, Binance.US, Krishna Juvvadi, Christian Hertenstein, Brian Shroder, ” Hertenstein, “, Chen’s, Juvvadi, ”, Peak’s, Catherine Coley, Coley, Silvergate, James McDonald, Hertenstein, Susan Li, Li messaged, Li, Angus Berwick, Tom Wilson, Janet McBride, Michael Williams Organizations: Silvergate Bank, U.S, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Reuters, BAM, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, CFTC, ” Reuters, SEC, “, Thomson Locations: U.S, Washington, American, US, Binance, Shanghai, Binance.US

June 5 (Reuters) - The world's largest crypto exchange Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao operated a "web of deception" that included artificially inflating its trading volumes and diverting customer assets, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged on Monday. The agency on Monday sued Binance and Zhao for failing to restrict U.S. customers from its platform and misleading investors about its market surveillance controls, as well as for operating an unregistered securities exchange. "We allege that Zhao and Binance entities engaged in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement. The world's biggest crypto exchange, Binance was founded in Shanghai in 2017 by CEO Changpeng Zhao, a Canadian citizen born and raised until the age of 12 in China. Binance's global trading platform, Binance.com dominates the crypto trading landscape, last year processing trades worth about $65 billion a day with up to 70% of the market.

Persons: Zhao, Binance, ”, Gary Gensler, BNB, Changpeng Zhao, Jonathan Stempel, Hannah Lang, Tom Wilson, Nick Zieminski Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Washington , D.C, SEC, Sigma, Binance, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Justice, Reuters, Silvergate, Thomson Locations: Washington ,, Shanghai, Canadian, China, Cayman Islands, Silvergate Bank, New York, Washington, London

LONDON, June 5 - A senior Binance executive was the main operator for five bank accounts belonging to the giant cryptocurrency exchange’s purportedly independent U.S. affiliate, including an account that held American customers’ funds, bank records show. This allowed Chen and her deputies to move funds held in the bank accounts. The previously unreported bank records and messages show that Binance’s management over the U.S. business’s finances extended across its bank accounts at Silvergate and detail how this secret access was granted. Binance.US has denied that Binance ever operated its bank accounts. ‘PRIMARY ADMIN USER’The Binance.US trading platform was launched by its operating firm, BAM Trading, in mid-2019 under chief executive Catherine Coley.

Persons: Guangying Chen, Changpeng Zhao, Chen, Binance, Binance.US, Krishna Juvvadi, Christian Hertenstein, Brian Shroder, ” Hertenstein, Zhao, “, Chen’s, Juvvadi, Reutersalso, Peak’s, Catherine Coley, Coley, Silvergate, James McDonald, Hertenstein, ”, Susan Li, Li messaged, Li, Angus Berwick, Tom Wilson, Janet McBride, Michael Williams Organizations: Silvergate Bank, U.S, Reuters, BAM, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, CFTC, “, Thomson Locations: U.S, Washington, American, US, Binance, Shanghai, Binance.US

LONDON/TOKYO, June 1 (Reuters) - Global shares rose on Thursday amid receding bets for a U.S. rate hike this month and relief over the passage through the U.S. House of Representatives of a bill to suspend the federal debt ceiling. The Euro STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) rose 0.8% after closing at a two-month low in the previous session. The MSCI world equity index (.MIWD00000PUS), which tracks shares in 47 countries, added 0.2%. Also bolstering the mood were U.S. Federal Reserve officials including governor and vice chair nominee Philip Jefferson pointing to a rate hike "skip" at the Fed's June 13-14 policy meeting. However, shortly after, the Fed's Jefferson said skipping a rate hike in two weeks would provide policymakers time to see more data before making a decision.

Persons: Joe Biden, Ray Attrill, Philip Jefferson, Sandrine Perret, Jefferson, Patrick Harker, It's, it's, Tony Sycamore, Tom Wilson, Kevin Buckland, Simon Cameron, Moore, Lincoln, Emelia Organizations: U.S . House, Republicans, National Australia Bank, Federal, Fed, Philadelphia Fed, IG Markets, Treasury, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, U.S, Unigestion, Asia, London, Tokyo

Pepe, a coin inspired by an anthropomorphized frog popular in internet memes, leapt nearly 7,000% in the 17 days after its April 16 launch, hitting a market value of $1.8 billion by May 5, according to data tracker CoinGecko. "It's almost like, if the market is not moving up fast enough, traders find these smaller tokens to trade with." Since its launch in April, the token linked to Pepe the frog has raced up the list of meme coins in terms of market value. Binance says on its website that pepe has "no utility" or "value support mechanism". The centralized listings also opened the door for derivative trading for pepe, with leveraged exposures and volatility pushing Ethereum transaction fees higher, Devens said.

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