tl;dr
• Binance is pulling out of TUSD, USDC and USDP stablecoins and consolidating investment with BUSD• Binance hired former Brazilian economic minister, Henrique Meirelles, former President of the Central Bank of Brazil, as an advisor• ByBit gets slammed in Brazil for alleged illegal securities operati...
• Binance is pulling out of TUSD, USDC and USDP stablecoins and consolidating investment with BUSD
• Binance hired former Brazilian economic minister, Henrique Meirelles, former President of the Central Bank of Brazil, as an advisor
• ByBit gets slammed in Brazil for alleged illegal securities operations
• Ethereum prerequisite Bellatrix upgrade happens today in preparation for the merge
• Tidbit: did you know over 40% of Shiba Inu has been burned
• UK elects a lover of the Cryptoverse, Liz Truss, as Prime Minister
• Bitcoin miner, Poolin, responds to liquidity problems by moving 4400 BTC to Binance
A lot has gone on since last week, but I am looking forward. Here is what is on my mind today.
1. This one is huge. Binance is effectively going to delist rival stablecoins. Effectively? What Binance is saying is they are automatically converting existing and new deposits of USDC, TUSD, and USDP to its native BUSD. When you are the largest centralized exchange in the world by market cap, you can do something like this and have a pretty strong effect. We are going to see how this one plays out.
2. In another big move, Binance hired former Brazilian economic minister as an advisor. Henrique Meirelles has also served as President of the Central Bank of Brazil from 2003 to 2011. Last week I mentioned 2TM's Mercado Bitcoin, the country's largest centralized crypto exchange, could be on the block. I am not saying this is on the horizon, but I am saying it could be. What it definitely means is Binance is taking the Brazilian market quite seriously and wants to be surefooted where regulation is concerned.
3. While Binance is making positive headway in Brazil, ByBit has been barred from brokering securities in the country. This leaves B3, Brazil's stock exchange, as the only one authorized to intermediate securities. I first mentioned China-based ByBit was having issues with regulatory compliance in Canada back in June. In its comments, the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission basically said ByBit was operating illegally in the country. Brazil is proving that abiding by their laws will bear more fruit than not doing so. I am pretty sure the story will not end here.
4. Today is an important day as the mandatory Bellatrix prerequisite upgrade happens. Bellatrix is the client release and an update to Mainnet. It has probably already started. Also as you might have guessed, most exchanges will be pausing Ethereum transactions to allow time for the merge to happen. No one should be amazed by this since it is common sense. With that said, Vitalik Buterin says the merge was schedule for September 15th, but can happen as soon as the 13th. Which is my daughter's birthday.
5. Here is a little interesting tidbit: over 40% of Shiba Inu has been burned. Remember, when SHIB first hit the market it was only a hair shit of 1 quadrillion in initial circulation. In theory, by burning tokens the price of SHIB should rise. I am of the thought that SHIB is going to remain a popular project and continue attracting attention from users and investors.
6. As you know, Boris Johnson is out in the UK. Who is in is a lover of the Cryptoverse. The UK has elected Liz Truss who is on record as saying, "We should welcome cryptocurrencies in a way that doesn’t constrain their potential. Liberate free enterprise areas by removing regulations that restrict prosperity." I am really interested to see what happens from here.
7. Crypto miner, Poolin, has admitted to having liquidity problems. This explains its recent move of 4400 Bitcoin to Binance. This is definitely going to hamper Bitcoin gains in the short term.
8. This news might have slipped below the radar, but Polygon is on Robinhood now. I am expecting that news to really start to bear fruit this week.