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OKX to close accounts interacting with Tornado Cash

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OKX chief operating officer Star Xu warned account holders against Tornado Cash (TORN), saying any interaction with the platform would result in a ban.

In a statement posted on X, the CEO announced that any users who have been previously sanctioned will not be allowed to open new accounts on OKX. Moreover, per the statement, the crypto exchange will close down accounts of users making deposits from sanctioned entities such as Tornado Cash (TORN) and Garantex.

OKX appears to be enforcing these measures to comply with global laws, limiting crypto mixers’ use.

Tornado Cash was founded in 2019 by a group of Russian nationals based in Europe, Roman Semenov, Alexey Pertsev, and Roman Storm. The entity specializes in a type of anonymizing cryptography that uses software to obfuscate the origins of cryptocurrencies deposited through the service, effectively redistributing deposits into an array of small transactions that are difficult to track.

Labeled as privacy coins, entities such as Tornado Cash, Monero and Zcash have all had their share of run-ins with regulators, accused of everything for laundering stolen funds for international criminal organizations to indirectly funding North Korea’s nuclear program.

The move to block accounts linked to Tornado Cash on OKX comes as the exchange has faced a number of challenges of its own recently.

In June, Blockchain security firm Slowmist uncovered an SIM swapping incident on OKC that resulted in at least two users having their funds trained from the exchange, due in part to a flaw in its two-factor authentication (2FA) system, which led to unauthorized access to their accounts.

The security incidents have shaken confidence in OKX, and it appears that their latest efforts to ban Tornado Cash related accounts is an attempt regain double down on compliance with global regulatory laws, both enacted and proposed.

Earlier this year, the United States House of Representatives proposed a bill, dubbed the Blockchain Integrity Act, to ban crypto mixers for two years. The bill, introduced by Democratic Party member U.S. representative Sean Casten, aims to prohibit virtual asset service providers and other registered money service businesses from accepting funds routed through a mixer or allowing withdrawals directly to a mixer’s address. Any breach of this rule will incur a civil penalty of up to $100,000.

The House’s sentiment about Tornado Cash was also echoed by the European Union, which voted in April to force the monitoring of non-custodial wallets while banning crypto mixers and privacy coins.

With the regulatory headwinds pointing towards a resolution—if not outright ban—on crypto mixers, entities such as Tornado Cash and exchanges that allow their tokens to be traded and listed may soon be listed within the echelons of black market crypto.





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Bitcoin

Metaplanet makes largest Bitcoin bet, acquires nearly 620 BTC

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Tokyo-listed Metaplanet has purchased another 9.5 billion yen ($60.6 million) worth of Bitcoin, pushing its holdings to 1,761.98 BTC.

Metaplanet, a publicly traded Japanese company, has acquired 619.7 Bitcoin as part of its crypto treasury strategy, paying an average of 15,330,073 yen per (BTC), with a total investment of 9.5 billion yen.

According to the company’s latest financial disclosure, Metaplanet’s total Bitcoin holdings now stand at 1,761.98 BTC, with an average purchase price of 11,846,002 yen (~$75,628) per Bitcoin. The company has spent 20.872 billion yen in total on Bitcoin acquisitions, the document reads.

The latest purchase is the largest so far for the Tokyo-headquartered company and comes just days after Metaplanet issued its 5th Series of Ordinary Bonds via private placement with EVO FUND, raising 5 billion yen (approximately $32 million).

The proceeds from this issuance, as disclosed earlier, were allocated specifically for purchasing Bitcoin. These bonds, set to mature in June 2025, carry no interest and allow for early redemption under specific conditions.

Metaplanet buys dip

The company also shared updates on its BTC Yield, a metric used to measure the growth of Bitcoin holdings relative to fully diluted shares. From Oct. 1 to Dec. 23, Metaplanet’s BTC Yield surged to 309.82%, up from 41.7% in the previous quarter.

Bitcoin itself has seen strong performance this year, climbing 120% and outperforming assets like the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 indices. However, it has recently pulled back from its all-time high of $108,427, trading at $97,000 after the Federal Reserve indicated only two interest rate cuts in 2025.

Despite the retreat, on-chain metrics indicate that Bitcoin is still undervalued based on its Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV-Z) score, which stands at 2.84 — below the threshold of 3.7 that historically signals an asset is overvalued.



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Blockchain

Horizen spikes 60% to lead gainers as BTC, ETH bounce

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Horizen price spiked more than 60% in 24 hours as the cryptocurrency market looked to recover from a massive dump that saw top altcoins crash to key support levels.

On Dec. 20, as Bitcoin (BTC) traded to above $97k and Ethereum (ETH) bulls pushed above $3,400, the price of Horizen (ZEN) surged to highs of $26.34. The cryptocurrency, which rallied sharply following a recent Grayscale Investments announcement, reached a multi-year high and ranked among the top gainers in the 500 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap.

ZEN traded at lows of $14.55 on Dec. 19. However, despite the broader crypto crash and the staggering $1.4 billion liquidations, the altcoin’s price hovered above $26 in early trading during the U.S. trading session.

According to crypto.news price data, Horizen recorded a 24-hour trading volume of over $397 million, with its market cap exceeding $407 million. These metrics reflected increases of 294% and 62%, respectively, in the past 24 hours. While ZEN has surged nearly 200% over the past month, its current levels are still more than 84% below the all-time high of $168 reached in May 2021.

If the broader crypto market continues to rebound, ZEN bulls may aim for March 2022 highs near $50.

The positive momentum has benefited from Grayscale opening of the Grayscale ZEN Trust to qualified investors. Prices of the altcoin rose as the digital asset manager unveiled the fund to offer exposure to Horizen for qualified investors.

Earlier this month, Horizen’s native token underwent its final halving, which came as the project geared for a key change in its tokenomics. ZEN will not see any further halvings as the new network mechanism enables a declining emission rate.

That’s because Horizen, is shifting from the proof of work mining model that mirrored Bitcoin’s halving cycle to a new proof of stake mechanism in 2025. Horizen’s last halving occurred on Dec. 12, 2024.

New tokenomics for Horizen will come into effect in the first half of 2025.



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Binance

Binance Futures updates leverage and margin tiers for multiple USDⓈ-M perpetual contracts

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Binance’s updated leverage and margin tiers offer improved trading options for select trading pairs, bringing both potential rewards and risks for crypto traders.

The leverage and margin levels for USDⓈ-M perpetual contracts, including DAR, ME, CAKE, IOTA, LPT, ONE, and ZEN, will be updated by Binance Futures today, with effect from 08:15 UTC on Dec. 19, 2024.

USDⓈ-M stands for USD-Margined Futures, a type of cryptocurrency futures contract offered on platforms like Binance. It refers to stablecoins such as USDT (Tether) or BUSD (BUSD), which are pegged to the US dollar. These contracts are settled in these stablecoins, rather than traditional fiat currency or the underlying crypto asset.

Depending on the contract and position size, the revised leverage tiers will vary from 1x to 75x, enabling traders to fully benefit from their leveraged positions in the crypto market.

Leveraged positions of traders will be impacted by the new maintenance margin rates, which range from 1.00% to 50.00%.

Margin is the total amount of collateral needed to open and sustain a trading position, whereas leverage is the borrowing of funds to increase the size of a position. The possible return increases with leverage, but the chance of loss also goes up.

By adjusting the margin and leverage tiers, Binance Futures continues to give traders more choices to control risk and profit from volatile crypto market movements.

Traders must keep themselves updated with Binance Future trading rules and exercise risk management, particularly when working with high-leverage instruments over several contracts and margin holdings.



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