Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Binance CEO says difficulties in converting fiat currencies like the dollar to crypto are a big hurdle to bring in the next 100 million users.</li><li>"We're seeing a lot of traditional institutions that used to provide fiat ramp channels pull away," said Changpeng Zhao.</li></ul>Binance CEO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zhao-changpeng-binance-billionaire-crypto-mcdonalds-fast-food-wealth-lifestyle-2022-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Changpeng "CZ" Zhao</a> thinks a key problem in expanding cryptocurrency's reach is the lack of resources that help convert cash into crypto, and vice versa.At Token2049 — a crypto event in Singapore that Insider attended — Zhao was asked about the challenges in bringing the next 100 million users into cryptocurrencies."Today, to be very frank, it's actually <a href="https://www.moonpay.com/learn/cryptocurrency/fiat-on-ramps-off-ramps">fiat ramps</a>," he responded. Fiat ramps refer to a service that exchanges fiat currency like the US dollar into cryptocurrency — like Bitcoin and Ethereum."With <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/federal-reserve-barr-banks-powell-collapse-svb-policy-regulation-economy-2023-7">tightening regulations</a> in the earlier part of this year, we're seeing a lot of traditional institutions that used to provide fiat ramp channels pull away," said Zhao.His comments come amid a mixed year for crypto.Crypto exchange FTX's collapse last year saw the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ftx-collapse-crypto-investors-withdraw-currency-bitcoin-sam-bankman-fried-2022-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">largest-ever withdrawal</a> of Bitcoin from exchanges in November, amounting to $1.5 billion.The <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/metropolitan-commercial-bank-to-dive-crypto-is-exiting-the-business-2023-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Metropolitan Commercial Bank</a> — one of the first banks to dive into cryptocurrency — said in January that it would pivot away from the business. Then, in March, crypto-friendly banks like <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/silicon-valley-bank-svb-live-blog-fed-fdic-bailout-experts-2023-3">Silicon Valley Bank</a>, Signature Bank, and Silvergate Bank collapsed. The collapse of these banks leaves crypto firms with fewer avenues to convert fiat currency into crypto assets.Regulatory crackdown on crypto companies has also deepened in the US.In June, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/sec-sues-coinbase-violating-securities-regulation-binance-crypto-regulation-gensler-2023-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">US's largest crypto exchange Coinbase</a>, alleging that it had violated securities rules, just a day after it <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/sec-sues-binance-ceo-changpeng-zhao-crypto-securities-regulation-2023-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed similar charges against Binance</a> and Zhao.And even though prices for Bitcoin — the most traded cryptocurrency — have risen since November 2022, at just over $26,000, they are nearly a third of a peak price of $69,000 in November 2021.Even so, Zhao is among the wealthiest figures in crypto, with a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/changpeng-zhao/#xj4y7vzkg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">net worth of $27.1 billion</a>, derived largely through his stake in Binance, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His exchange is the <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/research/publications/centralized-crypto-exchanges-market-share" target="_blank" rel="noopener">largest crypto exchange</a> by trading volume in 2023.

Binance's CEO says signing up another 100 million crypto users will be a big challenge until they can buy crypto with cash

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11896045" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="binance" source="Orion">Binance</keyword> said users in Singapore will no longer be permitted to buy and sell <keyword id="11893898" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto" source="Orion">crypto</keyword> from its main platform beginning October 26.</li><li>This includes fiat deposit services, spot trading of crypto, purchase of crypto through fiat channels, and liquid swap.</li><li>The move comes after Singapore's central bank on September 2 said Binance could be breaching local laws.</li></ul>Binance announced Monday that users of its main platform in Singapore will no longer be permitted to buy and sell cryptocurrencies beginning October 26, amid the country's tightening clampdown on digital asset platforms.The announcement comes as the <keyword id="11892695" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cryptocurrency" source="Orion">cryptocurrency</keyword> exchange also said it's <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/china-crypto-ban-binance-huobi-cut-ties-mainland-users-reactions-2021-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">no longer accepting registrations from Chinese mobile numbers</a> after Beijing banned crypto transactions.In Singapore, <a href="http://binance.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">binance.com</a> users <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/support/announcement/34c6c158d03a4877a4e13cf0927468bc" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">will not be allowed</a> to access certain functions such as fiat deposit services, spot trading of cryptocurrencies, the purchase of cryptocurrencies through fiat channels, and liquid swap.Users, Binance said, are encouraged to "cease all related trades, withdraw fiat assets and redeem tokens ... to avoid potential trading disputes."<a href="http://binance.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Binance.com</a> is separate from Binance Asia Services, a separate entity that operates Binance Singapore (<a href="http://binance.sg/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">binance.sg</a>). BAS has submitted a license application to Singapore's central bank.The move followed a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-crypto-trading-singapore-dollars-crackdown-monetary-authority-bans-warnings-2021-9">September 6</a> restriction when Binance said it will not offer products in Singapore dollars and will stop all online communication operations in the country. Binance also said it will remove its app from the country's Apple and Google pay stores and stop all online communication, including its Telegram channel. The successive announcements came after Singapore's central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, on September 2 said Binance could be breaching local laws.MAS then put Binance.com on its <a href="https://www.mas.gov.sg/investor-alert-list">investor alert list</a>, which alerts residents to any unregulated platforms that have " been wrongly perceived as being licensed or regulated" by the central bank.Binance has been under intense scrutiny from global regulators over numerous concerns, such as cryptocurrencies being used in money laundering. Its decentralized operations, having no formal headquarters since its founding in 2017, have also had authorities from various countries scratching their heads.But in September, Binance finally admitted it needed a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-changpeng-zhao-cryptocurrency-regulators-warnings-bans-headquarters-2021-9?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">centralized headquarters</a> to work well with regulators all over the world, after being <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-uk-fca-risk-financial-regulation-crypt-exchange-changpeng-zhao-2021-8?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slapped with multiple warnings</a>, and in some jurisdictions, banned from operating due to its failure to register with local regulators.Most recently, Binance on <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-crypto-derivatives-futures-australia-regulator-options-leveraged-stop-close-2021-9">September 23</a>, said it is shutting down cryptocurrency derivative products for existing customers in Australia by the end of the year to appease regulators.Singapore has joined the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/britain-bans-cryptocurrency-exchange-binance-from-operating-in-uk-2021-6?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestmp;utm_medium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UK,</a> <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/109736/binance-blocks-ontario-canada-users?utm_source=feedly&amp;utm_medium=rss=rss=rss=rss=rss=rss=rss" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Canada</a>, <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/109623/japan-fsa-another-warning-binance-unregistered-operations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Japan</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/germanys-financial-watchdog-warns-crypto-exchange-binance-over-stock-tokens-2021-04-29/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Germany</a>, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-thailand-sec-criminal-complaint-cryptocurrency-exchange-license-approve-2021-7?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingesttm_medium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Thailand</a>, and Italy, among others, who have issued bans and warnings to the exchange.

Binance bans users in Singapore from trading crypto as the country tightens its clampdown on the exchange

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The exchange said on Sunday it would limit its offering of products in <keyword id="11895291" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="singapore" source="Orion">Singapore</keyword> dollars.</li><li>The Singaporean regulator put <a href="http://binance.com/">Binance.com</a> on its investor alert list Thursday.</li><li><keyword id="11896045" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="binance" source="Orion">Binance</keyword> has upped its efforts to comply with <keyword id="12036375" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="regulators" source="Orion">regulators</keyword> around the world following a series of crackdowns.</li></ul>Cryptocurrency exchange Binance will not offer products in Singapore dollars and will stop all online communication operations in the country by Friday, after a warning from the local regulator, according to an announcement on the company's website on <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/support/announcement/a38b8ee33ba847f9b91562b8709fe539">Sunday.</a> The company outlined it will stop <keyword id="6368158" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="trading" source="Orion">trading</keyword> cryptocurrency pairs and payment options denominated in Singapore dollars, it said it would also remove its app from the country's Apple and Google pay stores and stop all online communication, including its Telegram channel. Users have been encouraged to complete all their Singapore dollar-based trades by Thursday.This decision comes after the Singaporean regulator put Binance.com on its investor alert list last <a href="https://www.mas.gov.sg/investor-alert-list">Thursday</a>. The list makes people aware of any unregulated platforms that the <keyword id="12036376" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="monetary-authority-of-singapore" source="Orion">Monetary Authority of Singapore</keyword> initially assumed were licensed based on the information that they had at the time of approving them."Binance welcomes developments to our industry's regulatory framework, as they pose opportunities for the market players to have greater collaboration with the regulators. We are committed to working constructively in policy-making that seeks to benefit every user," Binance said in a statement. Binance is the biggest <keyword id="11893898" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto" source="Orion">crypto</keyword> exchange by trading volume, ahead of US-listed competitor Coinbase, according to <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/exchanges">CoinGecko</a>.Binance had previously been given a temporary exemption to provide services in Singapore, but, in line with other regulators, the MAS tightened its scrutiny to ensure consumer <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/singapore-crypto-china-hong-kong-exchange-binance-2021-08">protection</a> measures and adequate money-laundering controls were in place. Singapore has joined the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/britain-bans-cryptocurrency-exchange-binance-from-operating-in-uk-2021-6?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingesttm_medium=ingest">UK,</a> <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/109736/binance-blocks-ontario-canada-users?utm_source=feedly&amp;utm_medium=rss=rss=rss=rss=rss=rss">Canada</a>, <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/109623/japan-fsa-another-warning-binance-unregistered-operations">Japan</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/germanys-financial-watchdog-warns-crypto-exchange-binance-over-stock-tokens-2021-04-29/">Germany</a>, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-thailand-sec-criminal-complaint-cryptocurrency-exchange-license-approve-2021-7?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestedium=ingest">Thailand</a> and Italy, among other jurisdictions, who have issued bans and warnings to the exchange.Binance announced it would up its efforts to comply with regulators in <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-ceo-changpeng-zhao-cryptocurrency-trading-license-regulation-2021-7?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest">July</a> so that it could be licensed everywhere.

Binance will end all crypto trading in Singapore dollars after a clampdown by the local regulator

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11896045" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="binance" source="Orion">Binance</keyword> said users in South Africa will no longer be permitted to trade derivatives, effective immediately.</li><li>Binance will cease offering futures, options, margin, and leveraged trading.</li><li>Users have until January 6 to reduce and close their positions while new users will be restricted from opening new accounts.</li></ul>Cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced Friday that users of its platform in South Africa will no longer be permitted to trade derivatives, effective immediately, in compliance with local regulations.The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange said in a <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/support/announcement/0f200941e3de4c3490f670b6f0866df9">blog post</a> that it will cease offering futures, options, margin, and leveraged trading. Users will have until January 6 to reduce and close their positions, while new users will be restricted from opening new accounts.The move might be seen as a loss for the region's burgeoning cryptocurrency ecosystem. Africa's digital-asset market has grown over 1,200% by value over the last year, making it the third-fastest growing cryptocurrency economy in the world, a recent <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/crypto-adoption-africa-surged-1200-avoided-banks-exchanges-chainalysis-2021-9">Chainalysis report</a> showed. That's as users seek out cheaper and faster ways to transfer money at home and abroad.But Binance's decision Friday comes amid heightened scrutiny from global regulators over numerous concerns, such as cryptocurrencies being used in money laundering. South Africa has joined the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/britain-bans-cryptocurrency-exchange-binance-from-operating-in-uk-2021-6?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestts&amp;utm_medium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UK,</a> <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-crypto-derivatives-futures-australia-regulator-options-leveraged-stop-close-2021-9?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest">Australia</a>, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-thailand-sec-criminal-complaint-cryptocurrency-exchange-license-approve-2021-7?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestmp;utm_medium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Thailand</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/germanys-financial-watchdog-warns-crypto-exchange-binance-over-stock-tokens-2021-04-29/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Germany</a>, <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/109736/binance-blocks-ontario-canada-users?utm_source=feedly&amp;utm_medium=rss=rss=rss=rss=rss=rss=rss=rss" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Canada</a>, <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/109623/japan-fsa-another-warning-binance-unregistered-operations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Japan</a>, and Italy, among others, who have issued bans and warnings to the exchange.Binance also announced <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-singapore-bans-trading-crypto-october-exchange-fiat-swap-mas-2021-9">September 29</a> its main platform in Singapore will no longer be permitted to buy and sell cryptocurrencies beginning October 26. After having no formal headquarters since its founding in 2017, Binance finally admitted in September it needs a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-changpeng-zhao-cryptocurrency-regulators-warnings-bans-headquarters-2021-9?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestm=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">centralized headquarters</a> to work well with regulators all over the world.

Crypto exchange Binance ends derivatives trading and other offerings in South Africa

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11896045" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="binance" source="Orion">Binance</keyword> is building a $1 billion insurance war chest to counter a slew of recent <keyword id="11994582" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto-hacks" source="Orion">crypto hacks</keyword>, Bloomberg reported.</li><li>The <keyword id="11893898" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto" source="Orion">crypto</keyword> exchange has been setting aside emergency funds since 2018, and this fund is just a consolidation of those resources. </li><li>Meanwhile, Binance on January 29 restricted 281 personal Nigerian accounts with some at the request of law enforcement. </li></ul>Binance Holdings is building a $1 billion insurance war chest to counter a slew of recent cryptocurrency hacks against its trading platform, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-31/binance-builds-up-1-billion-insurance-fund-amid-crypto-hacks?srnd=markets-vp">Bloomberg</a> first reported Monday, citing an internal memo.The world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume has been setting aside emergency funds since 2018, Bloomberg reported, and this recent fund is just a consolidation of those resources. "At Binance we always said 'funds are safe,' and today the Binance Secure Asset Fund size acts as an effective safeguard as well as protection for users against such unlikely issues," CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao said in the internal memo. Trading platforms have recently been targeted by hackers as digital asset investing enters the mainstream.Earlier this month, Singapore-based Crypto.com confirmed that about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-com-400-customer-accounts-hacked-fully-reimbursed?amp">500 of its customer accounts</a> were hacked. Unauthorized withdrawals totaled 4,836.26 in ether, 443.93 in bitcoin, and approximately $66,200 in other currencies, the exchange said in a blog post.The anonymous nature of crypto transactions has been a source of attraction and frustration for various stakeholders. Regulators have said this boosts <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/legitimate-crypto-use-surpasses-crypto-related-criminal-activity-2022-1">crypto-related crimes</a>, including money laundering and terrorism financing. Meanwhile, Binance <a href="https://www.binance.com/en-NG/blog/all/a-letter-from-our-ceo-to-nigerians--our-commitment-to-user-protection-421499824684903365">announced</a> January 29 that it's restricting 281 personal accounts in Nigeria, with approximately 38% of these at the request of international law enforcement. Users in the African nation continue to use the platform to trade crypto despite the central bank <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-05/nigerian-central-bank-orders-closure-of-cryptocurrency-accounts">prohibiting transactions on crypto exchanges</a> last year."Protection mechanisms such as know your customer, anti-money laundering measures, collaboration with law enforcement, and account restrictions are in place to ensure our community remains protected," Binance said in a statement. "This is a global approach applied in every country."

Binance is reportedly building a $1 billion insurance fund to counter crypto hacks

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11896045" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="binance" source="Orion">Binance</keyword> said Tuesday it will close down its futures, options and leveraged token products in Australia.</li><li>Existing customers have 90 days from Friday to cut or exit their positions, the <keyword id="11893898" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto" source="Orion">crypto</keyword> exchange said.</li><li>It stopped offering derivatives to new customers in August, as it works to comply with regulations.</li></ul>Binance is shutting down crypto derivative products for existing customers in Australia by the end of the year, the latest bid by the exchange to appease regulators.From Friday, those users will have 90 days to cut or exit their positions in futures, options and leveraged products on Binance's platform, the company <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/support/announcement/0d7c52e9f7c04ae784480eb17fd13157">said Tuesday</a>.They won't be able to manually cut or exit their derivatives positions after December 23, when all positions still open will be closed.The crypto exchange, the biggest in the world by volume, has been trying to get ahead on compliance as it has drawn scrutiny from regulators worldwide. In August, it told Australian clients they could no longer open new accounts for options, margin products and leveraged tokens, just weeks after restricting new futures accounts. "Binance welcomes developments to our industry's regulatory framework as they pose opportunities for the market players to have greater collaboration with the regulators," it said in a statement. "We are committed to working constructively in policy-making that seeks to benefit every user," it added.The crypto exchange has faced pressure from regulators in the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/britain-bans-cryptocurrency-exchange-binance-from-operating-in-uk-2021-6?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestmp;utm_medium=ingest">UK,</a> <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-crypto-trading-singapore-dollars-crackdown-monetary-authority-bans-warnings-2021-9">Singapore</a>, <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/109736/binance-blocks-ontario-canada-users?utm_source=feedly&amp;utm_medium=rss=rss=rss=rss=rss=rss=rss">Canada</a>, <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/109623/japan-fsa-another-warning-binance-unregistered-operations">Japan</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/germanys-financial-watchdog-warns-crypto-exchange-binance-over-stock-tokens-2021-04-29/">Germany</a> and elsewhere, who have issued bans and warnings over its operations. It also is the target of probes in the US, where the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is looking into Binance over <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-insider-trading-investigation-traded-customer-orders-intensifying-us-probe-2021-9">insider trading</a>.Binance said in July it would do everything it could to be compliant with local regulations and to be licensed to operate <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-ceo-changpeng-zhao-cryptocurrency-trading-license-regulation-2021-7?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestm=ingest">everywhere</a>. It has closed crypto trading in Singapore dollars on its platform and stopped offering crypto derivatives in <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-halts-offering-crypto-derivatives-in-brazil-2021-8">Brazil</a>.

Binance to shut down crypto derivatives for Australian customers in December, in a bow to regulators

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Malaysia ordered Binance to halt its operations in the next 14 days for illegally operating a digital asset exchange.</li><li>Binance must disable both its website and mobile application must be disabled 14 days from July 26.</li><li>Binance also said it will wind down its futures and derivatives offerings in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. </li></ul>Malaysia's securities commission on Friday <a href="https://www.sc.com.my/resources/media/media-release/sc-takes-enforcement-actions-on-binance-for-illegally-operating-in-malaysia">ordered</a> cryptocurrency exchange Binance to halt its operations in the next 14 days for illegally operating a digital asset exchange.The commission said Binance must disable both its website and mobile application 14 days from July 26, immediately cease all media and marketing activities, and immediately restrict Malaysian investors from accessing Binance's group in Telegram, a messaging app. This comes after the commission already added Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, to the country's alert <a href="https://www.sc.com.my/investor-alert">list</a> of unauthorized entities in July 2020. All digital asset exchanges, according to the commission, must be registered.A public reprimand was issued against Binance Holdings Limited, its CEO Zhao Changpeng, as well as three other Binance entities (Binance Digital Limited, registered in the UK; Binance UAB, registered in Lithuania; and Binance Asia Services Pte Ltd, registered in Singapore).In the past months, Binance has been slapped with multiple warnings, and has, in some jurisdictions, been banned from operating due to its failure to register with local regulators. Malaysia's clampdown follows other regulators in <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/italy-regulator-cryptocurrency-bans-binance-trading-exchange-2021-7?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Italy</a>, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/binance-thailand-sec-criminal-complaint-cryptocurrency-exchange-license-approve-2021-7?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Thailand</a>, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-stock-tokens-stop-offering-regulatory-scrutiny-hong-kong-sec-2021-7">Hong Kong</a>, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-securities-trading-violation-germany-financial-watchdog-bafin-us-stocks-2021-4">Germany</a>, Japan, and the US going after the exchange.Gary Worrall, CEO of Crypto Facilities, among the first regulated crypto derivatives exchange in Europe, said his firm "worked hard" to acquire the right licensing."Crypto is no longer just a Wild West," he said. Also on Friday, Binance <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/support/announcement/f72d0fff2bd24b488213fa30284dd4cd">announced</a> it will wind down its futures and derivatives products offerings in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. "With immediate effect, users from these countries will not be able to open new futures or derivatives products accounts," the company said.Users from these countries will have 90 days to close their open positions.Binance, which was founded in 2017, has long touted its decentralized operations, and has no formal headquarters. While it was founded in China and officially domiciled in the Cayman Islands, the firm's scattered physical presence has irked regulators. But on July 27, Zhao <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-ceo-changpeng-zhao-cryptocurrency-trading-license-regulation-2021-7">expressed</a> his intention of cooperating with global regulators. He said if authorities expect Binance to have a headquarters, then his firm will establish regional headquarters to have a "very easy to understand structure.""We need to be a licensed financial institution everywhere that we operate," Zhao said.

Binance ordered to halt operations in Malaysia by mid-August

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The pandemic has made cryptocurrencies more attractive to investors, a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit found.</li><li>Despite openness to crypto, the study found that a lack of knowledge among potential investors is the main barrier to greater adoption.</li><li>Institutional investors surveyed view the primary role of crypto as capital appreciation and asset diversification.</li></ul>The pandemic has made cryptocurrencies more attractive, according to a recent survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit . As more people stayed indoors to curb the spread of the virus, they found themselves with more time on their hands, while flush with multiple rounds of stimulus money from the government. Data from the <a href="https://digitalcurrency.economist.com/?utm_source=OrganicSocial&amp;utm_medium=EIUTwitter&amp;utm_campaign=crypto&amp;utm_content=report&amp;linkId=100000046490614=100000046490614">Economist Intelligence Unit</a> showed 46% of people surveyed found the case for owing cryptocurrencies more compelling due to covid-19. "It's a function of continued demand across both retail and institutions," Mathew McDermott, managing director and global head of <a href="https://wazirx.com/signup?invite=2kpah6gr&amp;utm_source=business-insider&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=microsite" id="docs-internal-guid-f3e8155c-7fff-3413-f69d-384cda523f3e">digital assets</a> at Goldman Sachs, was quoted saying in the study. He added: "Given the huge amount of stimulus we're seeing across countries because of covid-19 and low-interest rates, it's the right place at the right time for companies to offer the ability for people to buy, hold, and use digital currencies and have digital wallets." The first part of the study surveyed 3,053 people in February and March from developed economies - US, UK, France, South Korea, Australia, and Singapore - as well as developing countries including Brazil, Turkey, Vietnam, South Africa, and the Philippines. All respondents had bought a product or service within the past 12 months using some kind of digital payment. However, despite an openness to digital currencies, the study found that 51% cited the lack of knowledge as the main barrier towards greater adoption. Following this obstacle are security concerns at 34% and difficulties knowing where to buy <a href="https://wazirx.com/signup?invite=2kpah6gr&amp;utm_source=business-insider&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=microsite" id="docs-internal-guid-599ae8c7-7fff-825a-6b13-ae1326de1073">cryptocurrencies</a> at 29%. <div type="image" title="Screen Shot 2021 05 28 at 12.21.11 PM" height="653" width="871" msid="83087314" hostid="261"></div>While cryptocurrencies have seen increasing institutional adoption this year, with support from <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/tesla-stock-price-crypto-linked-stocks-elon-musk-bitcoin-concerns-2021-5-1030425066">Tesla</a>, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-michael-saylor-microstrategy-purchases-10-million-cryptocurrency-musk-2021-5-1030442667">MicroStrategy</a>, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-bny-mellon-transacting-cryptocurrency-market-btc-bank-investment-management-2021-2-1030073231">BNY Mellon</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/paypal-crypto-merchant-payments-bitcoin-ether-litecoin-cryptocurrency-finance-schulman-2021-3">PayPal</a>, and major banks, including <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/goldman-sachs-bitcoin-derivatives-investors-crypto-futures-2021-5-1030398903">Goldman Sachs</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-morgan-stanley-to-offer-wealthy-clients-btc-fund-access-2021-3">Morgan Stanley</a>, investors surveyed viewed the primary role of cryptocurrencies as capital appreciation and alternative asset diversification. The second part of the study surveyed 200 institutional investors and corporate treasury officials from February to April. About a third were US-based while the rest were spread across Australia, China, France, Germany, Singapore, and the UK. All respondents were familiar with their organization's investment decision-making processes. <div type="image" title="Screen Shot 2021 05 28 at 12.32.34 PM" height="671" width="895" msid="83087315" hostid="261"></div>"A lot of experts will tell you that <keyword id="6354947" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bitcoin">bitcoin</keyword> has a role to play as part of a diversified portfolio," Henri Arslanian, the crypto leader at PwC, said in the study. He continued: "Despite the volatility, bitcoin can be a hedge potentially against inflation, against currency devaluation, and that's something that a lot of people are looking at." Cryptocurrencies have struggled since bitcoin peaked at the time of <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/coinbase-100-billion-valuation-reasonable-disruptive-firm-manhattan-venture-partners-2021-4-1030304567">Coinbase's listing on April 14.</a> Extreme volatility in the past two weeks has slashed bitcoin's market cap nearly in half. Still, many remain bullish on the space. "Our clients want to get exposure to bitcoin and increasingly more different cryptocurrencies, like <keyword id="6709758" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ether">ether</keyword>," McDermott of Goldman Sachs was quoted saying in the study. "It's still a very nascent market but we are looking at different ways to facilitate client appetite to get exposure in a way that's compliant from a regulatory perspective." <a href="https://forum.businessinsider.in/"> For a more in-depth discussion, come on over to Business Insider Cryptosphere</a> — a forum where users can deep dive into all things crypto, engage in interesting discussions and stay ahead of the curve. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/investments-in-crypto-hit-17-billion-in-the-first-six-months-of-2021/articleshow/83740327.cms">Investments in crypto hit a new record of $17 billion, but Indian funds are yet to jump on the bandwagon</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/indian-cryptocurrency-exchange-wazirx-has-listed-shiba-inu-tokens-for-trading-in-indian-rupees/articleshow/82731429.cms">Chiacoin claims to be an eco-friendly cryptocurrency — here's how it works</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/here-is-why-a-ban-on-cryptocurrencies-may-not-be-even-possible/articleshow/82741310.cms">Is a ban on cryptocurrencies even possible?</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/latin-america-and-south-asia-show-two-ends-of-the-crypto-regulatory-spectrum/articleshow/83638437.cms">Even as Latin America embraces Bitcoin, Southeast Asia is clamping down on cryptocurrencies</a>

A survey shows that the pandemic has made cryptocurrencies more attractive to investors, but the biggest barrier to entry is a lack of knowledge

<ul><li><keyword id="6359140" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="binance">Binance</keyword> is being investigated by the CFTC over concerns it permitted US residents to trade cryptocurrency <keyword id="97984" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Derivatives">derivatives</keyword>, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-12/crypto-exchange-binance-investigated-by-u-s-over-who-s-trading">Bloomberg first reported</a>. </li><li>Binance is not registered with the CTFC to broker <keyword id="2721952" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto">crypto</keyword> transactions.</li><li>Thus far, the crypto exchange has not been accused of misconduct. </li><li><a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/10-things-opening-bell">Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell</a>.</li></ul>Cryptocurrency exchange Binance Holdings is being investigated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over concerns that it permitted US residents to trade derivatives, violating the agency's regulations, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-12/crypto-exchange-binance-investigated-by-u-s-over-who-s-trading">Bloomberg first reported on Friday</a>.Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, is not registered with the CTFC to trade those types of securities. The agency counts <keyword id="2420795" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="cryptocurrencies">cryptocurrencies</keyword> such as <keyword id="6354947" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bitcoin">bitcoin</keyword> to be commodities and therefore oversees its futures and other derivatives.The CTFC has yet to determine whether the cryptocurrency exchange did allow US residents to buy and sell derivatives. Thus far, Binance has not been accused of misconduct. Binance, which was founded in China and has an office in Singapore, says it currently does not have a headquarters. For now, US residents are unable to access its website. "We have always blocked US access, but users do find intelligent ways to get around our block sometimes and we just have to be smarter about the way we block," company co-founder Changpeng Zhao told <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-13/largest-crypto-exchange-s-ceo-speaks-out-on-regulation-trends">Bloomberg in November</a>.Zhao has, in the past, maintained that Binance complies with US laws. In 2019, Binance <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/binance-crypto-bitcoin-btc-exchange-senator-max-baucus-government-liaison-2021-3-1030174922">partnered with BAM Trading Services</a>, which launched Binance.us in San Francisco. Binance licenses its matching engine and wallet technologies to Binance.us.Still, many users find a workaround, especially amid the boom in bitcoin which has flirted with record highs on Thursday, breaching the $1 trillion market capitalization threshold. The founder told Bloomberg in a February <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-12/crypto-exchange-binance-investigated-by-u-s-over-who-s-trading">television interview</a> that his platform is attracting more than 300,000 user registrations a day, far surpassing its previous 2017 peak.The heightened scrutiny against Binance and other crypto-related firms comes after lawmakers and watchdogs have raised their concerns about the rapidly evolving asset. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/janet-yellen-bitcoin-is-an-extremely-inefficient-way-to-transact-2021-2-1030109052">publicly criticized bitcoin</a> numerous times as well as <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-enabled-criminal-money-laundering-regulated-ecb-president-says-2021-1-1029965194?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest">ECB president Christine Lagarde</a>. In November last year, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-charges-bitmex-cryptocurrency-executives-with-violating-bank-secrecy-act-2020-10">CFTC filed criminal charges</a> accusing founders and executives of the BitMEX, a major cryptocurrency derivatives exchange of not taking sufficient steps to prevent money laundering.

Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, probed by CFTC over concerns it allowed US residents to trade derivatives

Crypto.com is everywhere. Its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cryptocom-how-startup-bought-staples-center-rights-700-million-2021-12">name is plastered on the home</a> of arguably the most famous NBA franchise, the Los Angeles Lakers. It's sponsoring Formula 1 races and UFC matches. Its ads are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-ads-return-tv-prices-rise-meme-stock-bitcoin-2024-5">back on the airwaves</a>, with Eminem declaring during the NBA playoffs that "fortune favors the brave."Crypto.com is also nowhere. It doesn't have a flashy CEO like FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-sentenced-prison-ftx-alameda-research-2024-3">who is currently in prison</a>) or Binance's CZ (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/former-binance-ceo-sentenced-to-four-months-in-prison-2024-4">who is headed to prison</a>). Unlike with <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/sec-sues-coinbase-violating-securities-regulation-binance-crypto-regulation-gensler-2023-6">Coinbase</a>, regulators don't seem to be sniffing around. Sure, the company has high-profile marketing efforts, but day to day, Crypto.com doesn't really come up much at all.Crypto.com is one of those things I've long placed in my "I wonder what the deal is" column, along with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jojo-siwa-rebrand-shows-difficulty-child-stars-grow-up-2024-4">Jojo Siwa</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-virus-chickens-cows-human-food-outbreaks-pandemic-2024-5">bird flu</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/f1-nascar-races-motorsports-2022-6">the difference between F1 and NASCAR</a>. It seems impossible to watch a sporting event without seeing its name somewhere, and yet I rarely chat with someone who uses it or come across its name in headlines. Part of the issue is that I live in New York, where its services aren't allowed. (That's not a knock on the company — for a lot of crypto exchanges, the Empire State is a tough nut to crack.) But it's also a rather nebulous entity in the American market. It says it's got 100 million users globally, but it still seems to fly a little under the radar.Often, when I mention Crypto.com to someone who works in the crypto industry, they tell me they know about it, of course. When I ask exactly what they know about it, they come up pretty empty. Maybe it's mainly popular abroad, they speculate, or only for novices. Google data indicates that while a good chunk of the search interest does come from America, more comes from outside the US, notably from Singapore, Nigeria, and Bulgaria."Huh, I guess bigger than I thought," one crypto evangelist remarked after looking up its trading volume."They own the Lakers' arena? I've always been so confused on how they did that," another crypto entrepreneur said. (To be fair, the company doesn't own the arena; it just bought the naming rights.) He'd set up a Crypto.com account during the 2021-2022 market cycle to do a specific maneuver not allowed on Coinbase at the time, but he hasn't really used it since then.When I asked Nic Carter, a general partner at Castle Island Ventures, about the company, he replied in an email, "It's kind of a mystery, yes."He added that, like me, he doesn't know anyone who uses it. "But I think that reflects the user base — it's not necessarily crypto-natives but rather retail that wants a casual and accessible experience (is my understanding)," he said.Crypto.com is positioning itself as the new face of crypto, even as it remains rather faceless itself. It might prove to be a smart move — it's boosting its brand and, in turn, its consumer base while avoiding much of the scrutiny other exchanges have faced. For the time being, Crypto.com is balancing between notability and infamy. It's walking softly but carrying a big ad budget.While Crypto.com only really burst onto the American scene over the past four years or so, it's been around for a while. Originally named Monaco, the exchange was founded in 2016 in Hong Kong by Kris Marszalek, a Polish-born entrepreneur with a colorful past, and a handful of others. Amid the 2017 crypto run, it raised money from the public via an initial coin offering — creating and selling a digital token of its own, similar to a stock-market IPO. In 2018, the company landed the coveted Crypto.com domain name, purchasing it for an undisclosed amount from an academic who had long refused to sell it. (Even more confusingly, Crypto.com is technically operated by Foris DAX Asia, which, according to a scan of Reddit, can befuddle many users when their tax paperwork comes in. It's also the name Crypto.com lobbies under.) Crypto.com's primary business is its cryptocurrency exchange, which works as a middleman for people buying and selling crypto, but it also offers other products, including crypto Visa cards.The 2021-22 market cycle is when Crypto.com, now headquartered in Singapore, made its big splash. In late 2021, it <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/staples-center-la-being-renamed-crypto-com-arena-2021-11">bought the naming rights</a> to what was then the Staples Center in Los Angeles as part of a 20-year, $700 million deal. It signed sponsorship deals with UFC and F1 while also rolling its "fortune favors the brave" ad campaign, which originally featured Matt Damon. Crypto.com was seeking brand awareness, and it was willing to spend millions upon millions for it."This is one brick in a bigger wall of introducing Crypto.com as a brand to the world and communicating what our core values are," Steven Kalifowitz, Crypto.com's chief marketing officer, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cryptocom-how-startup-bought-staples-center-rights-700-million-2021-12">told Business Insider</a> at the time. In the moment, it all sort of made sense. FTX was flying high and had paid $135 million to slap its name on the Miami Heat's stadium. Its founder, SBF, was running around with Bill Clinton and Tony Blair in the Bahamas and suggesting he'd spend $1 billion on the 2024 election. Binance's CZ was <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-ceo-chaopeng-zhang-cz-forbes-investment-crypto-adoption-media-2022-2">talking about investing $200 million in Forbes</a>, saying it would push media companies toward adopting crypto and lead to the decentralization of the industry. But we know how the story ends: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ftx-crypto-exchange-implosion-sam-bankman-fried-what-it-means-2022-11">FTX imploded</a>, along with some <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/ftx-crypto-implosion-vaporized-billions-dollars-sam-bankman-fried-explained-2022-11">other high-profile crypto projects</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-winter-web3-startup-valuations-forge-global-secondary-markets-2023-5">crypto winter set in</a>. A lot of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ftx-crypto-king-sam-bankman-fried-rise-and-fall-2022-11">crypto's mini-emperors</a> turned out to have no clothes.Crypto.com, however, managed to weather the storm, though not perfectly. The company accidentally sent some $400 million to the wrong account in November 2022, prompting some users to pull their money out of the platform. At the start of 2023, <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/crypto-layoffs-job-cuts-ftx-valuation-tech-markets-cro-2023-1">it laid off 20% of its workforce</a>, blaming economic headwinds and FTX's collapse. The Financial Times reported last June that Crypto.com was operating internal proprietary trading teams, which US regulators had dinged Binance for, even though Crypto.com insisted it was fine. The regulatory environment in the US appears to have made the company a little nervous — it shut down its American institutional exchange in the middle of last year.In the US, Crypto.com has managed to avoid much of the blowback its competitors have faced. (This isn't the case in other countries — in the Netherlands, for example, it was fined for operating without registration.) While the S<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sec-binance-coinbase-crypto-digital-currency-2023-6">ecurities and Exchange Commission has gone after</a> Coinbase and Kraken for operating unregistered securities exchanges, it hasn't made a peep about Crypto.com. Crypto.com has so far ducked notice, even though it's running a lot of the same playbook. In April, the company's chief operating officer acknowledged in an interview with Decrypt that its big-budget marketing efforts could put a target on its back but said the trade-off was worth it.Crypto.com's determination to push ahead, both loudly and quietly, has set it up to try to capitalize <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/bitcoin-price-outlook-100000-crypto-winter-bank-crisis-btc-halving-2023-4">on the market's recent run</a>. Bitcoin is once again on the up and up, and so too is Crypto.com. The company is hiring again, it's advertising aggressively again, and it's talking a big game about its business prospects — its CEO, Marszalek, told Bloomberg in April that it was looking to triple its number of registered users.Data from the marketing-intelligence firm Sensor Tower indicates crypto advertisers' digital spending in the US increased by 185% year over year in the first quarter of 2024. Crypto.com spent eight times as much as Coinbase on digital advertising during that period. (It's worth noting that back in the first quarter of 2022, Crypto.com actually outspent FTX on digital ads by a bit.)But the thing about all Crypto.com's advertising dollars is that they seem to be only effective-ish. Data compiled by CCData shows that Crypto.com has a 2.3% market share by trading volumes on the spot market globally, which is about half of Coinbase, which has 4%, and only slightly above Kraken, which has 1.4%. (Globally, Binance is still dominant.) According to Sensor Tower, Crypto.com saw a 140% increase in downloads in March from the prior month, though it fell slightly behind Coinbase, which had a 160% increase. Crypto.com didn't respond to multiple requests for interviews or comments for this story. Most of the people I did speak to gave the verbal equivalent of a shrug when I asked what they thought of the company.One crypto executive said part of the issue was that Crypto.com, being an upstart from Asia, is a little outside Silicon Valley's mainstream crypto circles. Similar to the clubby "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/paypal-mafia-members-elon-musk-peter-thiel-reid-hoffman-companies">PayPal Mafia</a>" that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-paypal-mafia-members-elon-musk-have-been-successful-founders-2022-6">dominated software in the 2010s</a>, a sort of Coinbase crew has its hold on the crypto industry of the 2020s. The exec wasn't too keen on Crypto.com's flashy advertising either, describing it as "decadent" and irresponsible."All that buying of stadiums and renaming stuff, it's just kind of viewed as lame by most people in crypto," they said. "I think the tackiest thing and frankly irresponsible thing to do is to roll out FOMO ads. 'Buy crypto or get left behind' is a really irresponsible message. JPMorgan doesn't do that."And despite the company's ability to dodge serious regulatory scrutiny, it hasn't engendered a lot of goodwill among some crypto evangelists."I'm supportive of bitcoin, but I think Crypto.com is overall a big negative for the American public. It's very confusing. It's a casino," said Alex Gladstein, who as the chief strategy officer at the Human Rights Foundation has argued that bitcoin is important for advancing human rights and freedom. "When you go to the website, they encourage you to try and bet on these coins that go to zero. I don't think it's anything to do with financial empowerment for people or any sort of alternative wealth building."To be sure, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gambling-young-men-sports-betting-crypto-meme-stock-market-addiction-2024-4">the casino thing could be said about most crypto exchanges</a> — and sports-betting apps, and many regular trading apps. Crypto.com seems to be careful about coloring within the regulatory lines. The head of its legal department in the Americas just put out a "crypto legal handbook," which, OK.Crypto.com is embedded in our culture, and it isn't. It's sort of taken on the FTX mantle but with a more anonymous bent. For the company, it's a pretty savvy space in which to operate: ubiquitous but relatively anonymous. For everyone else, mileage may vary on how you feel about the whole thing. It's a good reminder that, whatever the company, it's better to use exchanges only for trading your crypto assets, not for storing them.Maybe Eminem won't come to regret voicing those ads like Matt Damon did. Or maybe in five years we'll be looking back at this moment and saying: "Remember that one crypto company? Is it still where the Lakers play? Or is it now something else?"<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/emily-stewart">Emily Stewart</a> is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.

The new king of crypto

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Four nonprofessional investors told Insider TerraUSD's crash in May made them think of self-harm.</li><li>It's unclear how many investors were impacted, but the crash wiped out around <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-19/luna-terra-collapse-reveal-crypto-price-volatility">$60 billion.</a></li></ul>Yuri Popovich thought about harming himself when he saw his life savings evaporating over three weeks in May.His life savings of about $10,500 was stored in the form of a <keyword id="11892695" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cryptocurrency" source="Orion">cryptocurrency</keyword> called TerraUSD, or UST, Popovich told Insider last week. He said he invested in the token in late April because it was marketed as a "stablecoin" pegged to the US dollar. But in early May, the token started to <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/terra-peg-dollar-luna-stablecoin-crypto-and-stokes-fears-bitcoin-2022-5">unravel</a>. By the end of the month, it was hovering at about $0.01. Popovich's life savings dwindled to about $106 as of Friday, based on Insider's <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/price/terrausd/">calculations</a>. Within a few days of the crash, Popovich, 32, started feeling desperate. Popovich said he did not dare to tell his wife because she contributed to his savings. He was sleeping only two or four hours a night, and thought about harming himself."I felt like I was in a vacuum… I did not see the future because the loss was too great for me," he said.Popovich said his anxiety has since waned, but he was surprised by his suicidal thoughts. After all, he had been dealing with great uncertainty and stress over the past eight years. In 2014, Popovich said he lost his apartment in Donetsk after Kremlin-backed separatists overtook the city in eastern Ukraine. He then lost his job, and in February, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-russia-is-attacking-ukraine-putin-justification-for-invasion-2022-2">Russia invaded Ukraine</a>. "Considering all the hardships, including the loss of everything in 2014 during the war in Donetsk, then the war that is now going on, the situation with TerraUSD unsettled me the most," Popovich said.Popovich wasn't the only TerraUSD investor who felt defeated by the token's crash.In interviews with Insider, nonprofessional investors told similar stories of how they were drawn to TerraUSD's promise of preserving monetary value. They also shared how, upon learning that the coin's value had plunged to almost nothing, they fell into despair and thought about harming themselves.<div type="image" title="Yuri Popovich" height="1135" width="1514" msid="92126276" hostid="261"></div><h2>TerraUSD and Luna's crash wiped out a market that once peaked at $60 billion</h2>Most stablecoins are backed by real-world assets, but TerraUSD used an algorithm to determine its value. Through a see-saw relationship, a sister token called Luna kept TerraUSD's price in check. Whenever TerraUSD's price fell, investors could buy the coin to convert it into Luna. The purchase would shrink TerraUSD's supply and push its value back to $1. If TerraUSD rose above its pegged value, a reverse process would bring its price down. Some critics pointed out a fatal flaw in the system: if investors lost confidence in TerraUSD's ability to maintain the peg, the two tokens could come crashing down, per <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-15/luna-crash-this-crypto-insider-warned-of-terra-ust-s-collapse#xj4y7vzkg">Bloomberg</a>. On May 7, TerraUSD lost its peg. Anxious investors rushed to dump their TerraUSD holdings and the token cratered, bringing Luna down with it. By late May, the tokens were almost worthless. Their crash wiped out a combined market value that was once <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-19/luna-terra-collapse-reveal-crypto-price-volatility">$60 billion</a> at its peak. On May 25, TerraUSD's creators decided to switch off the network that issued the token, effectively <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-25/do-kwon-wins-backing-for-his-proposal-to-rescue-terra-project">killing TerraUSD off</a> in the process. Experts are still trying to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/search-continues-for-source-of-terrausd-crypto-bank-run-11654348117">determine</a> what caused TerraUSD's depegging, but the damage was done. Popovich's life savings evaporated during this time. He said that his losses amounted to about two to three years' worth of salary. In China, Wan Yu has been battling a malignant tumor that spread from his stomach to his liver for the past two years, he told Insider last week. He said he recently had to cut down on his working hours to undergo several rounds of treatments. Wan, who lives in the southwestern city of Chengdu, said he needed to find a stable source of income for future medical treatments. So when he read an article on <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220413000030/https://blog.binance.us/all-about-terrausd-ust/">Binance</a> about TerraUSD, he decided to invest $90,000 into the token, he said. Wan said the next time he checked his account in late May, TerraUSD's value had plunged to about $0.03. "I instantly felt like my soul dissociated from my body," he told Insider in Mandarin.Wan said he thought about killing himself because the shame and stress were too much to bear. Wan said he feels better now, but he still hasn't told his wife or anyone else about the loss."You're the first to know," he told Insider.In Tehran, Iran's capital, Farzam Fallah told Insider a similar story. The 32-year-old salesperson said US sanctions on his country meant that it was hard for him to invest in foreign assets. He turned to TerraUSD, because crypto exchange OKX offered high returns for depositing the token with them. Moreover, converting his money into TerraUSD meant that he effectively could trade with US dollars.In January, Farzam said he converted his life savings of about $13,000 into the token. A large part of that sum was actually inherited from his father after he passed away, Farzam said. After the token's meltdown, Farzam said he felt like harming himself. "I had nothing to lose anymore. $13,000 was all I had in my life, all my life savings," he said.Similarly, German expatriate Christian, who lives in Thailand, told Insider he put about $71,000 into TerraUSD earlier this year, hoping to make some money from the higher yields. He said he became "suicidal and completely depressed" after losing almost all of it. Christian, 39, did not want to reveal his full name so as to protect his identity.It's unclear how many amateur investors suffered in the crash. Suicide-prevention and counseling organizations in the US, Singapore, and the UK were unable to tell Insider how many calls they received in May were related to the crash.However, the organizations all noted that huge financial stresses can worsen mental health. "The causes of mental health issues, including suicidal thoughts, are complex and determined by many different factors or a combination of factors. Certainly suffering huge financial loss can be one of those factors. It's important for people to remember that help is available," Dani Bennett, a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) spokesperson, told Insider. SAMHSA provides support for the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.The crash prompted a Reddit user to share on May 12 a list of <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/terraluna/comments/un57df/for_everyone_panicking_here_are_some_national/">suicide-prevention helplines</a> around the world so that those who were "panicking" could call for help. "Here, I like to emphasize again, don't invest money you need to survive/live the next weeks/months/even a year. Don't invest in the hopes of having more next month," the post read.<div type="image" title="Crypto mining" height="5772" width="7697" msid="92126278" hostid="261"></div><h2>Investors and experts are still trying to find out what led to the crash</h2>Investors and experts are still trying to uncover what factors led to the crash. However, they're unlikely to find answers from regulators as of now. The cryptocurrency ecosystem was built on the principle of decentralization, and so it remains relatively unregulated. Crypto firms have actively <a href="https://time.com/nextadvisor/investing/cryptocurrency/why-crypto-regulation-is-good-for-investors/">resisted</a> any form of policing. "The onus then falls on investors to do their due diligence. A better solution would be to impart the basic universal skills that allow a retail investor to manage the risks," Spencer Li, managing director at Synapse Trading in Singapore, told Insider. This lack of policing may be changing in the US, however. On Tuesday, senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis introduced a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/07/bipartisan-crypto-bill-lummis-and-gillibrand-want-to-empower-cftc-treat-digitals-assets-like-commodities.html">bipartisan bill</a> that would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission authority to regulate cryptocurrencies."As a former regulator, there is a lot of work going on in this space that will impact consumer/investor protection, financial stability, and the broader economy. These digital assets should flourish and see wider adoption with the right regulations in place," David Cass, who was involved in supervising cyber and IT risks at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, told Insider. He is now managing director at crypto trading firm GSR.Some retail investors are claiming trading platforms took part in predatory marketing or unsavory practices that resulted in their losses. Popovich and Wan told Insider they were lured by Binance's offer that allowed anyone who deposited UST with them with <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/support/announcement/26d2615fa70a4253a8c240f16248dfdd">yields of almost 20%</a>. "It's the largest exchange, so I thought I could trust whatever it said," said Wan.Another platform, Stablegains, invested users' deposits into TerraUSD without their knowledge, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/terra-luna-cryptocurrency-crash-stablegains-2022-6">Insider</a> reported on Thursday. Some 4,500 customers lost a total of $40 million after the meltdown.Retail investors are trying to find ways to reclaim their losses. All four who spoke to Insider said they were prepared to take legal action if necessary. "I hope to get some money back with the class action even if it takes a few years. There is still a tiny chance of compensation for UST holders," Christian said.For now, investors are finding strength and courage from the kindness of others to help them move on from the episode. After <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/may/22/ukrainian-man-loses-life-savings-in-stablecoin-crypto-slump">The Guardian</a> and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/ukrainian-put-10500-life-savings-into-crypto-then-it-crashed-2022-5">Insider</a> first reported about Popovich's predicament two weeks ago, Popovich said strangers started reaching out to him with donations. "The first time I truly managed to sleep was a few days ago when they started donating to me. I then realized that there is a chance to get out," he said. With newfound hope, Popovich said he found the courage to tell his wife about the loss."I promised that everything will be fine, and I will fight to the end for compensation," he said. "We love each other, so she believed and supported me. I am ready for a lot of justice."If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or has had thoughts of harming themselves or taking their own life, get help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) provides 24/7, free, confidential support for people in distress, as well as best practices for professionals and resources to aid in prevention and crisis situations.

You Searched For "binance singapore users" and got 11 results

Binance's CEO says signing up another 100 million crypto users will be a big challenge until they can buy crypto with cash

Kai Xiang Teo

Binance bans users in Singapore from trading crypto as the country tightens its clampdown on the exchange

Isabelle Lee

Binance will end all crypto trading in Singapore dollars after a clampdown by the local regulator

Camomile Shumba

Crypto exchange Binance ends derivatives trading and other offerings in South Africa

Isabelle Lee

Binance is reportedly building a $1 billion insurance fund to counter crypto hacks

Isabelle Lee

Binance to shut down crypto derivatives for Australian customers in December, in a bow to regulators

Camomile Shumba

Binance ordered to halt operations in Malaysia by mid-August

Isabelle Lee

A survey shows that the pandemic has made cryptocurrencies more attractive to investors, but the biggest barrier to entry is a lack of knowledge

Isabelle Lee

Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, probed by CFTC over concerns it allowed US residents to trade derivatives

Isabelle Lee

The new king of crypto

Emily Stewart

Some crypto investors say TerraUSD and Luna's $60 billion crash pushed them to the brink and led to thoughts of self-harm

Weilun Soon

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides