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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

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

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

May 9 (Reuters) - Digital stablecoin tether is winning the race for the title of the crypto world's "least risky" asset. Tether is already the top performer among stablecoins -- digital tokens pegged to some fiat asset like the dollar -- and has seen its market value soar since March. Buying tether and bitcoin is really a vote against the U.S. system," says Jensen. On CoinMarketCap's database of 23,891 tokens, tether has risen to number 3 with a market cap of $82 bln and a share of 6.83%. NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWSTo be sure, tether has long been dogged by doubts about its peg being backed by dollar reserves.

The seizure was to "thwart the activity" of Islamic State and "impair its ability to further its goals," the NBCTF said on its website. The NBCTF document, which has not been previously reported, did not give any details on the value of the crypto seized, nor how the accounts were connected to Islamic State. Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volumes, did not respond to Reuters' calls and emails seeking comment. The U.S. Treasury said in a report last year that Islamic State had received crypto donations it later converted to cash, accessing funds via crypto trading platforms. The owner of the two Islamic State-linked Binance accounts seized by Israel was a 28-year old Palestinian called Osama Abuobayda, the NBCTF document shows.

Known as Shapella, the latest upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain since its Merge upgrade will enable investors to redeem an offshoot of ether tokens that they have deposited in return for interest on the blockchain network over the past three years. Such so-called "staked ether" tokens currently account for about 15% of all ether tokens, according to data firm Dune Analytics, and are worth some $31 billion. Deposits & withdrawals for ETH, OP, ARB and ERC-20 tokens via the Ethereum, Optimism, and Arbitrum networks are now back online," Binance said in a tweet. The changes will likely lead to heightened volatility for ether, investors have predicted. In its last significant upgrade, Ethereum in September drastically reduced its energy usage - a move proponents said would give Ethereum an advantage as it seeks to surpass bitcoin.

April 12 (Reuters) - The software that underpins the second-biggest crypto coin ether is due for a software upgrade on Wednesday that will give investors access to more than $30 billion of the digital tokens. Such so-called "staked ether" tokens currently account for about 15% of all ether tokens, according to data firm Dune Analytics, and are worth some $31 billion. The upgrade is due for around 2230 GMT, according to a tweet by Tim Beiko of the Ethereum Foundation, a body that speaks for the Ethereum network. loadingThe changes will likely lead to heightened volatility for ether, investors have predicted. In its last significant upgrade, Ethereum in September drastically reduced its energy usage - a move proponents said would give Ethereum an advantage as it seeks to surpass bitcoin.

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