This week in the crypto world we saw some Bitcoin ETF fake news give the Bitcoin price a round trip, Binance involved in a fiat kerfuffle, and DCG and Gemini hit with fraud charges by the New York Attorney General.
Standard.
Bitcoin ETF Fake News Pumps (and Dumps) Bitcoin
Cointelegraph fucked a LOT of people over this month when it X’d (tweeted) that a Bitcoin ETF had been approved, leading to a near-$3,000 jump, destroying those who were leveraged short. It then emerged that the post had been based on nothing more than a deleted headline in a Telegram group, which led to Bitcoin dropping right back to where it had started, destroying those who were leveraged long. Overall, some $100 million worth of trades were liquidated.
The same day, Cointelegraph’s Editor-in-chief Kristina Lucrezia blamed the pressure of “being first” for the shoddy reporting, claiming that the need for outlets to be first with news in today’s highly pressurized world was behind the message going out unverified.
Yeah, whatever.
Binance Loses Dollars but Gains Euros
It’s been another busy week for Binance, not least on the fiat side. Firstly, Binance.US slipped further into the river of shit it has been slithering towards for months now, updating its terms and conditions to remove FDIC insurance for users while also stopping USD withdrawals. This was done to reduce regulatory oversight, with only stablecoins now able to be withdrawn, but it ensures that Binance.US slips further into irrelevance as the walls of various regulatory investigations close in.
On the flip side, European users got full access to EUR deposits and withdrawals thanks to Binance signing new deals with various payment processors. Binance’s previous Euro processor Paysafe decided not to renew its contract (can’t think why), leaving European users stuck with no fiat withdrawals. Binance has now sorted the issue, giving Europeans a chance to get their money off the platform for a few months before the new processors inevitably flee.
Gemini and CDG Sued by NYAG
The New York Attorney General’s office this week made life immeasurably worse for Barry Silbert and his Digital Currency Group (DCG) associates by filing a lawsuit against Genesis Global Capital, its parent company DCG, and the Winklevii outfit Gemini Trust. The allegations revolve around two purported fraudulent schemes, named the “Gemini Scheme” and the “DCG Scheme,” with the companies accused of misrepresentation or creditworthiness and financial concealment respectively.
Former Genesis CEO Michael Moro has been personally sued alongside Silbert, with the Attorney General’s office alleging that the entities defrauded a combined 232,000 customers for over $1 billion. Silbert has said he plans to fight the charges, which will make a change from him fighting with the Winklevii.
