Binance Now Facing Off With DOJ, SEC and CFTC

Binance Faces Mounting Pressure as U.S. Crypto Crackdown IntensifiesChangpeng Zhao, Binance’s founder and chief executive, has hired white-collar defense lawyers at the law firm Latham & Watkins to represent him personally, as he and his company face a tightening legal net. Justice Department prosecutors are investigating the exchange for money laundering violations, as the Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into the company’s business practices. Last month, another agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, sued Mr. Zhao, accusing him of compliance failures that allowed criminals to launder money on Binance.

The legal threats have converged to create the most precarious moment in Binance’s history. Criminal charges against Mr. Zhao or his company could set off mass panic in the crypto markets, which are reeling from the FTX exchange’s collapse last year and the arrest of the firm’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried. Binance is several times larger than FTX was, processing tens of billions of dollars in trades every day.

Binance.US calls off $1.3 billion deal for Voyager’s assets

Binance.US has called off its $1.3 billion deal to buy assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital, citing a “hostile and uncertain regulatory climate.”

In a court filing on Tuesday, lawyers for Voyager said the company reserves all rights with respect to a $10 million good-faith deposit paid by Binance.US to Voyager, as well as a reverse-termination fee owed by Binance.US.

Bitcoin: Crypto Bros Hailing EU Red Tape Are In for a Nasty Surprise

For all the celebration of Europe’s MiCA — Markets in Crypto-Assets — as validating “the token economy,” appearances can be deceptive: Similar to the way one Meta Platforms Inc. investor described the European Union’s efforts to rein in social media, the new regulations will subject crypto to “being nibbled to death by ducks” — while regulators work out how to bring a hammer to a duck party.

While MiCA offers a specific path to regulatory approval for all sorts of crypto actors — exchanges, custodians, stablecoins, and token sales — its rules and requirements draw inspiration from TradFi. They include capital requirements that ramp up for the biggest tokens, transparent disclosure to  fight Ponzi schemes, and increased oversight of service providers that want to set up shop in Europe. Infringements of MICA can cost up to 15% of annual revenue. The EU clearly wants to protect its 450 million consumers and harmonize rules across its 27 member-states.

Deutsche Bank Hit With $95 Million Verdict in Florida Ponzi Case

Deutsche Bank AG must pay $95 million over allegations it negligently disregarded warning signs about a high-dollar Ponzi scheme and even aided and abetted it, a jury in Florida determined Tuesday.

Representatives of 13 Cayman Islands companies undergoing liquidation brought the suit in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Five of them were allowed to proceed to trial.

SEC’s Climate-Disclosure Rule Isn’t Here, but It May as Well Be, Many Businesses Say

A sweeping U.S. climate-disclosure rule isn’t yet in place, and it is sure to face legal challenges when it is, but many companies have begun assessing greenhouse-gas emissions from parties in their supply chain as if it were.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s rule—which would require public companies to report climate-related risks and emissions data, including so-called Scope 3 emissions that come from a company’s supply chain—is expected to be brought in soon. The agency issued the proposal in March 2022 as President Biden’s efforts to address global warming through legislation stalled in Congress.

First Republic Bank Hit with Banking Crisis-Related Securities Suit

In the immediate aftermath of the banking crisis in mid-March, several of the key banks at the center of the crisis – including Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Credit Suisse – were quickly hit with securities class action lawsuits. First Republic, another bank that suffered massive deposit withdrawals in March and that received a $30 billion infusion from J.P. Morgan and other large banks, has now been hit with a securities class action lawsuit after it announced its fiscal first quarter financial results on Monday. This latest lawsuit, only coming in as it does now, may fuel further uneasiness that the March banking crisis-related events, might not represent the end of the banking crisis story, nor the end of the related lawsuits.

Ishan Wahi, Ex-Coinbase Employee in Insider Trading Case, Looks to Limit Jail Term to 10 MonthsIshan Wahi, former product manager at crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), has asked to have a sentence of no more than 10 months in jail for insider trading charges, his lawyers said in court filings made late Tuesday night.

Wahi has a sentencing hearing on May 9 in New York, after he pleaded guilty to one of the first ever insider trading case concerning crypto trading.

“The Defendant respectfully submits that a sentence of no more than 10 months incarceration, together with several other consequences of Ishan’s conviction, would impose a sufficient, but not excessive, punishment for the crimes of conviction,” said the filing.

Brits need to accept they are now poorer, Bank of England chief economist says

Companies and workers are trying to pass the impact of inflation onto each other — and that risks persistent inflation, according to Huw Pill, the Bank of England’s chief economist.

“What we’re facing now is that reluctance to accept that yes we’re all worse off, we all have to take our share,” Pill said on an episode of Columbia Law School and the Millstein Center’s “Beyond Unprecedented” podcast, released on Tuesday.

“To try and pass that cost on to one of our compatriots and say, we’ll be alright but they will have to take our share — that pass the parcel game … is one that is generating inflation,” he said.