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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

☆ SEC sues Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao for U.S. securities violations
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Binance's ultimate compliance, in 2019, was largely a public show, the SEC complaint continues. The SEC alleged that Binance and Zhao violated "critical" provisions of federal security laws, including self-dealing and market manipulation, through Merit Peak Limited and Sigma Chain, both of which Zhao controlled and owned. Merit Peak, a British Virgin Islands-based company, was one of the "earliest market makers" on Binance's U.S. platform, the SEC alleged. "We will issue a response once we see the complaint," Zhao said on Twitter. The defendants showed a "blatant disregard" of federal law, the SEC alleged.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao, Zhao, Binance, Binance.US Organizations: Securities, Exchange, Binance, SEC, CNBC, Limited, Sigma Chain, Merit, Binance's U.S, Twitter, Media Locations: European, The U.S, USA, U.S, VPNs, Binance.com, British Virgin Islands, Binance's

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

☆ The SEC is suing Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao for violating securities regulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Max Adams | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The SEC is suing Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao. The SEC alleged that Binance diverted customers' funds to a trading firm called Sigma Chain that was under Zhao's control. The regulator also said Sigma Chain conducted fraudulent trades to artificially inflate Binance's volume. In February, the Journal reported the SEC was looking into the relationship between the US arm of Binance and two trading firms with ties to Zhao. One area of the investigation's focus was how Binance.US disclosed to customers its links to the trading firms, the report said.

Persons: Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Zhao, —, Binance's Zhao Organizations: SEC, WSJ, Service, US Securities and Exchange Commission, Monday, Street Journal, Sigma, Sigma Chain, District of Columbia, Commodities Futures, Trading Commission, Palestinian, Justice Department, Washington Post, Western, of, Reuters Locations: District, Binance.US, Russian, of Washington, Seattle

☆ Exchange operator Cboe gets nod to launch leveraged crypto derivative products
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( John Mccrank | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved Cboe Digital to be the first U.S.-regulated crypto exchange and clearinghouse platform to offer leveraged derivatives when the contracts launch in the second half. The margined contracts will let users trade crypto futures while putting less collateralized capital up front, with trades executed and cleared through an approved set of member futures commission merchants, Chicago-based Cboe said. Cboe Digital currently allows trading and clearing of bitcoin and ether futures on a fully collateralized basis, meaning users must provide the full amount of futures contracts upfront. Cboe Digital also supports the spot trading of bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether, litecoin and USDC. On Oct. 20, 2021, Chicago-based Cboe announced its intention to buy crypto exchange and clearinghouse ErisX.

Persons: Cboe, John Palmer, Jane Street, FTX, John McCrank, Hannah Lang, David Gregorio Our Organizations: YORK, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Cboe, Robinhood Markets, Interactive, Virtu, IG Group, CFTC, Thomson Locations: U.S, Chicago, Washington

☆ Crypto bill from Republicans lays out clear roles for SEC and CFTC
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The bill proposes a clearer pathway for the registered offer and sale of digital assets. Crypto exchanges have been calling for regulatory clarity in the wake of expansive enforcement actions that have left companies and developers scrambling to move operations beyond the U.S. Crypto exchanges Coinbase and Gemini have both announced off-shore exchange operations. Coinbase also is engaged in a bruising courtroom battle with the SEC over the very issues that apparently prompted the McHenry-Thompson bill. The crypto exchange received a Wells notice, a warning of impending enforcement action, from the SEC earlier this year. The draft bill will likely be reshaped and modified in coming weeks and months, but it represents a powerful vote of support from two influential Republican members.

Persons: Patrick McHenry, Glenn Thompson, Coinbase, McHenry, Thompson Organizations: Republican, Financial Services, Futures, Securities, Exchange, SEC, Gemini Locations: North Carolina, Washington ,, R

☆ From Wall Street to Washington: Which finance execs would make the best public servants?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

There has long been speculation that America's most-famous banker has plans to run for some sort of public office. The path from Wall Street to Washington is well worn, with plenty of high-profile executives taking up positions in the government. When most Wall Street executives were still afraid of the public cloud, she was ready to embrace it with open arms. Jon Gray — Treasury SecretaryBlackstone's president and chief operating officer has already had a brush with public office. The idea of him holding public office doesn't seem far-fetched.

Persons: Dan DeFrancesco, TikTok, I'm, we've, nabbing, Joe Biden's, Kevin McCarthy's, Jamie Dimon, Larry Downing, hasn't shied, Dimon, Dimon's, Bill Ackman, Kenneth Chenault —, Kathy Hochul, she's, Chenault, He's, Larry Fink —, We've, Larry, Fink, Adena Friedman, Friedman, Jon Gray —, Gray, Donald Trump, Gray's, Wall, Sen, Elizabeth Warren, Ken Griffin, Griffin, hasn't, Griffin hasn't, Ron DeSantis, he'll, Brian Moynihan —, Moynihan, Dan Schulman —, PayPal — he's, Taylor Swift, Kevin Mazur, Larry Fink, Franklin Templeton, It's, Rockefeller, Stephen Schwarzman, Warren Buffett, Cliff Asness, that's, Here's, Jeffrey Cane, Nathan Rennolds Organizations: JPMorgan, REUTERS, Bloomberg, American Express, Catalyst, Washington Post, BlackRock, SEC, CFTC, OCC, Nasdaq, Wall, Democrat, GOP, Florida Gov, Commerce, PayPal, Express, Virgin Mobile, Rockefeller Capital Management, Putnam Investments, Blackstone, Credit Suisse, UBS, Reuters, LinkedIn Locations: NYC, Washington, New York, Florida, Chicago, Miami, Ohio, Swiss, London

☆ EU states approve world's first comprehensive crypto rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

(Reuters) - European Union states on Tuesday gave the final nod to the world’s first comprehensive set of rules to regulate cryptoassets on Tuesday, piling pressure on countries such as Britain and the United States to play catch up. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationAn EU finance minister meeting in Brussels approved rules that were thrashed out with the European Parliament, which gave its approval in April. Regulating crypto has become more urgent for regulators after the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. Crypto firms say they want certainty in regulation, putting pressure on countries to copy the EU rules, and on regulators to come up with global norms for a cross-border activity. The United States has focused on using existing securities rules for enforcement action in the sector while it decides on whether to introduce bespoke new rules and who would apply them.

The latest Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data show that speculators have built up record short positions in two- and five-year Treasuries futures, and a record net short aggregate position when 10-year bonds are added to the mix. A short position is essentially a wager that an asset's price will fall, and a long position is a bet it will rise. The latest CFTC data show that in the week through May 9 speculative accounts grew their net short position in two-year Treasuries by 116,409 contracts - the biggest increase in over two years - to a new record 749,885 contracts. Funds also increased their net short position in five-year bonds for a third straight week by a slender 412 contracts, to a fresh record 910,642, while they trimmed their net short position in the 10-year space slightly to 731,698 contracts. Funds were ultra-bearish the five-year and 10-year bonds in late 2018, but nowhere near as bearish on two-year Treasuries.

With a wry nod to the weekend coronation of King Charles, Goldman Sachs' currency team labelled an upgrade of its sterling recommendation from neutral to 'Long (live) Sterling' - nudging a 3-month forecast for sterling 3% stronger to 0.86 per euro. "Headwinds on sterling in 2022 - mostly natural gas prices and the relative stance of BoE policy - have turned to tailwinds." Economic surprise indexes compiled by Citi show incoming UK readouts more positive relative to expectations than at any time since October 2020. But the FTSE 250 is mostly holding its own so far in 2023 as they have both advanced 3%-4%. UK Economic Surprises surge vs rest of the westG3 Terminal RatesFTSE100 vs FTSE250The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.

☆ Crypto firms call for global consensus instead of "fire hose" of rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Apart from compliance with rules to stop money laundering and terrorist financing, crypto firms are largely unregulated in many parts of the world. "If we built a good regulatory regime, people would come. We are shooting ourselves in the foot by not having a regulatory regime in the U.S.," Peirce said. U.S. Congress needed to decide which regulatory body has authority over crypto, Peirce added. Global standards and harmonisation as much as possible are key, said Sarah Pritchard, executive director for supervision at Britain's Financial Conduct Authority.

☆ The SEC just paid out nearly $279 million to a tipster in its largest-ever award. Here's an inside look at the crazy world of whistleblower lawsuits.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The regulator announced a nearly $279 million award to a whistleblower on May 5, more than double the previous record of $114 million awarded in October 2020. When whistleblower information leads to settlements, tipsters can earn between 10 and 30 percent of the financial penalties paid by wrongdoers. When whistleblower information leads to settlements, the tipsters can earn a percentage of the financial penalties paid by wrongdoers. The tipster's law firm, Kirby McInerney, worked with state authorities on the investigation after "Tooley's" lawsuit was filed. This means tax-fraud whistleblowers will increasingly look for ways to bring their tips to New York law enforcement to be more involved in the investigation process.

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.

☆ Federal Agency Suspends Inspector General After Oversight Body Alleged ‘Substantial Misconduct’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Alexander Osipovich | Paul Kiernan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A. Roy Lavik began serving as CFTC inspector general in 1990. Photo: Office of the Inspector General, Commodity Futures Trading CommissionA federal regulator has suspended its inspector general after an oversight body found that he engaged in “substantial misconduct,” including wasting government funds, outing whistleblowers and disparaging employees, people familiar with the matter said. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates derivatives markets, voted 3-0 to place its inspector general, A. Roy Lavik , on “non-duty status” while it considered what further action to take, the people said. The agency informed leaders of several congressional committees of the move earlier this week, the people said.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailGemini says DCG risks default, and CFTC official reiterates ether is a commodity: CNBC Crypto WorldCNBC Crypto World features the latest news and daily trading updates from the digital currency markets and provides viewers with a look at what's ahead with high-profile interviews, explainers, and unique stories from the ever-changing crypto industry. On today's show, Christy Goldsmith Romero of the CFTC discusses the agency's approach to crypto regulation.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data for the week ending April 25 show that speculators increased their net short position in 5-year Treasuries by almost 115,000 contracts to a record 869,288 contracts. Funds also increased their net short position in 10-year bonds for a fourth straight week, by just over 60,000 contracts to 740,261. Reuters ImageReuters ImageAt the same time, funds trimmed their net short position in two-year Treasuries futures by 28,607 contracts, the biggest reduction in a month. They have increased their net short position in the five-year space by more than 200,000 contracts, and by almost 400,000 contracts in the 10-year space. Meanwhile, they have trimmed their two-year bond net short position by a negligible 4,338 contracts.

WASHINGTON, April 27 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Texas ordered the head of a South African firm to pay a whopping $3.4 billion for what the U.S. commodities regulator said was its largest-ever fraud case involving bitcoin. Cornelius Johannes Steynberg was ordered to pay $1.7 billion in restitution to victims of the fraud scheme and another $1.7 billion as a civil penalty, a record for any Commodity Futures Trading Commission case, the regulator said in a statement on Thursday. The CFTC charged Steynberg in July, saying Mirror Trading solicited bitcoin online from thousands of people to purportedly operate a commodity pool. The firm claimed to trade off-exchange, retail foreign currency with participants who were not eligible to trade, the regulator said. The default judgment against Steynberg was granted by Judge Lee Yeakel in the Western District of Texas, according to a court filing.

☆ No 'immediate path forward': CFTC is talking to Binance after launching legal action, official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A Commodity Futures Trading Commission official said Tuesday that she hopes to find a "path forward" in the regulator's legal battle with crypto exchange Binance, noting that no decision has been taken yet on whether to settle the case or take it to court. Kristin N. Johnson, commissioner at the CFTC, said that the regulator has been in conversations with Binance to address its concerns about the company's conduct. And I want to say that typically, in the context of any litigation, we are always ready to have conversations and typically even ahead of the litigation," Johnson said in an interview with CNBC's Arjun Kharpal Tuesday. "As of the moment, we can conclude that there is not an immediate path forward," she added. Her comments mark a rare statement on the Binance suit to media since the CFTC first announced it was suing the company on Mar.

That is the biggest net short position since October 2011, and marks the fourth week in five that funds have increased their bet on weaker U.S. stocks. Reuters ImageA short position is essentially a wager that an asset's price will fall, and a long position is a bet it will rise. It has been a mixed bag with almost a fifth of the S&P 500 firms having reported. The S&P 500 has rebounded nearly 10% from the March banking shock lows, and if the options market is any guide, traders are sanguine about the near-term outlook. The VIX index of implied volatility - the Wall Street "fear index" - last week hit its lowest since November 2021.

☆ Bond yields could drop under an idea that would make Treasury trading more like the stock market
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Known as "all-to-all" trading, the idea would allow any market participant to interact directly with another, without intermediaries. But in the Treasury market, banks have traditionally acted as dealers for buyers and sellers. Whether it happens or not, some changes to the Treasury market appear likely as it has become less liquid. At the same time, the Treasury market skyrocketed after 2008, as the government injected large quantities of stimulus into the economy that sent debt soaring. But all-to-all trading may also introduce less rational investors into Treasury markets, applying a gambling mentality to some trades.

☆ Oil rises but post weekly loss as economic uncertainty weighs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Erwin Seba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) rose 50 cents to $77.87 per barrel. Survey data from the euro zone and Britain lifted oil prices on Friday. In India, refiners' crude oil processing stayed near record peaks in March, provisional government data showed, catering to solid seasonal demand in the world's third biggest oil consumer. Oilfield services giant SLB (SLB.N) beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter profit, as elevated crude prices and tight supplies increased demand for its services. However, economic uncertainty and the prospect of rising interest rates continued to hang over oil markets.

☆ SEC's Gensler in congressional hot seat today over climate change and crypto
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission this morning. That's because SEC Chair Gary Gensler has aroused the ire of many in corporate America over his 50+ list of new regulatory proposals the SEC is scheduled to vote on this year. "Chair Gensler has identified a range of 50-55 regulatory priorities since the start of his tenure, and has already proposed twice as many rules as his predecessor in just half the time." "The vast majority of crypto tokens are securities," Gensler declared in his written testimony to the House Financial Services Committee. "SEC Chair Gensler is long overdue to testify before the House Financial Services Committee," Rep. French Hill (R.-Ark), Vice Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in a statement released to CNBC.

☆ Bank of England deepens supervisory cooperation with US CFTC
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - The Bank of England said on Friday that it was deepening its cooperation with the United States' Commodities Futures Trading Commission regarding the supervision of cross-border central counterparties (CCPs), a key part of financial infrastructure. "The CFTC and the Bank reaffirm the primacy of the UK and US home authorities in their respective jurisdictions," the BoE said in a statement. The BoE said that it would recognise CFTC assessments of U.S.-based CCPs which operate in Britain. "This assessment enables the Bank to place reliance on the CFTC's supervision and oversight of incoming CCPs based in the US," it said. Reporting by David Milliken, editing by Andy BruceOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Morning Bid: Stocks defy negativity in CPI vigil
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The Federal Reserve's interest rate stance hinges on incoming data such as Wednesday's consumer price report, but fears of recession remain just that. And so investors return to scrutinising the Fed to see if the central bank forces the recession by tightening ever further. With Fed policy meeting minutes due later in the day, the runes of what must have been a tense gathering of officials in the middle of the regional banking shock will be eyed closely. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari reckoned recession was still a risk but inflation wouldn't get back close to the 2% target until next year. Hong Kong stocks (.HSI) underperformed overnight - with geopolitical tensions high surrounding Taiwan and Chinese military operations around the island.

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