coinbase

UK regulator fines Coinbase $4.5m over repeated services for ‘high-risk’ customers

Published

2 months ago

July 25, 2024

The British financial regulator has fined crypto exchange Coinbase $4.5 million for “repeatedly breaching” a requirement that prevented it from serving “high-risk customers.”

American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has been hit with a £3.5 million (around $4.5 million) fine as the company “repeatedly” broke a requirement that prevented it from offering services to “high-risk customers,” the Financial Conduct Authority said in a press release.

According to the regulator, CB Payments Limited, being part of the Coinbase Group, operates as a gateway for customers to trade crypto “via other entities within the Coinbase Group.” Despite entering a voluntary agreement with the FCA to restrict onboarding new customers classified as high-risk, CBPL breached it by onboarding and serving over 13,400 high-risk customers. The FCA estimates that more than 30% of these customers deposited nearly $25 million.

“These funds were used to make withdrawals and execute crypto transactions via other Coinbase entities, totaling approximately $226 million.”
The FCA

The British regulator attributed the breaches to CBPL’s “lack of due skill, care and diligence in the design, testing, implementation and monitoring of the controls,” adding that Coinbase’s “inadequacies” in the initial monitoring of compliance went undiscovered for “almost two years.”

A statement by the company said, “Coinbase remains committed to high standards of regulatory compliance, and this means partnering with regulators when it comes to compliance and other areas. We are always willing to acknowledge when we fall short, and to make improvements – which is what we have done here.”

Following the news, Coinbase shares plunged nearly 5%, according to data from Google Finance.

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America Loves Crypto

Bipartisan Consensus Emerges on Final Day of America Loves Crypto Tour

Published

7 hours ago

September 20, 2024

admin

The final event of the America Loves Crypto tour took place yesterday in Washington, D.C. as the country counts down to the 2024 election. Speakers including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, ConSensys CEO Joseph Lubin, and Congressman Wiley Nickel (D-NC) addressed the maximum capacity crowd at the Black Cat music venue.

The speakers largely agreed on one idea: the importance of supporting cryptocurrency in America through a concerted bipartisan effort.

In their shared stage appearance, Brian Armstrong and Congressman Nickel noted that they see it as critical to keep and foster cryptocurrency innovation in America.

This importance, for Nickel in particular, is not so solely founded on a belief in the technology, but is ostensibly due to the fact that 20% of American adults own some form of cryptocurrency, a voting block that Nickel thinks “[has] the ability to sway elections.”

Nickel added: “If we want to do things in Washington, it’s critically important that we do it in a bipartisan way. If we politicize the issue with one party going into crypto versus another, it’s going to poison the well in Washington for a decade.”

Since Biden took office in 2020, his administration’s SEC, DoJ and DoE (Department of Energy) officials have introduced a fair amount of unwelcome regulatory hurdles. Notably, Nickel’s support of cryptocurrency does signal a change of tune for the historically hostile Democratic Party.

“I started coming to DC five years ago, and when I first came here, most people didn’t know what crypto even was,” said Armstrong. “One member of Congress asked me: ‘Isn’t this all some video game or something like that?’ Once they figured out what crypto was over the years, the conversation totally shifted. Now, everybody knows what crypto is, we’re kind of the belle of the ball, the hot topic on everyone’s lips.”

However, one attendee, an executive at a prominent financial institution who wished to remain anonymous, reflected on the development of crypto-politicking and what they see as under-commitment on the part of the Democratic Party.

In particular, the executive believes that the Biden administration’s veto of legislation overturning SAB 121, which if signed would have allowed highly regulated financial institutions to custody digital assets, was a major wake-up call.

They remarked that the crypto industry, despite raising large amounts of money for campaign contributions, still carries a strong stigma and that policymakers don’t offer the respect this single-issue voter bloc deserves.

The America Loves Crypto tour had been focused on addressing the stigma with a mixture of live music and grassroots community building. Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, otherwise known as The Chainsmokers, closed out the event, entertaining the crowd with their classic hits, unreleased music, and most notably a cry of “F$*# Gary Gesnler”. The Chainsmokers themselves are no strangers to cryptocurrency and founded the tech and crypto-focused Mantis Venture Capital fund in 2020.

With stops in Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., many in attendance on the America Loves Crypto tour were hopeful that more than 1.4 million Stand With Crypto advocates nationwide can flex their muscle as a true deciding factor in November.

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BitGo

BitGo to enter stablecoin territory with USDS token

Published

2 days ago

September 18, 2024

admin

Crypto custodian BitGo plans to launch a dollar-backed stablecoin next year, offering rewards to liquidity providers.

BitGo is set to launch a dollar-backed stablecoin dubbed USDS in January 2025, positioning it as the first “open-participation stablecoin” in the market. In a Sept. 18 post on X, BitGo said the stablecoin is “fully backed by short-duration T-bills, overnight repos, and cash, ensuring high liquidity and low risk with real-time proof of reserves.”

💸 Introducing $USDS
The first open-participation stablecoin to redefine financial freedom.
Built on a foundation of transparency, USDS empowers the community by democratizing the stablecoin experience and putting the power back in your hands.
🏦 1:1 USD Backing: USDS is fully… pic.twitter.com/pfzXWGZ1ze
— BitGo (@BitGo) September 18, 2024

BitGo aims to stand out by offering liquidity providers a share of the returns generated from its reserves, creating a new incentive model in a market currently dominated by Tether’s (USDT) and Circle’s USD Coin (USDC).

The move comes as BitGo, which holds a dominant 96.6% market share in the Wrapped Bitcoin market with its wBTC token, faces increasing competition from new entrants like Coinbase. On Sept. 12, Coinbase launched cbBTC, a new ERC20 token backed 1:1 by Bitcoin held in Coinbase’s custody. The token is available on the Base and Ethereum networks, signaling a direct challenge to BitGo’s market leadership.

In the meantime, some decentralized finance protocols are reevaluating their use of wBTC due to concerns over its affiliations with TRON founder Justin Sun. Sky, formerly known as MakerDAO, is now considering whether it should remove wBTC as collateral from its borrowing platform SparkLend due to BitGo’s impending partnership with BitGlobal, which is perceived as potentially shifting control of wBTC to a venture associated with Sun.

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Bitcoin

Coinbase’s New Wrapped Bitcoin Token Goes Live, Hitting $100,000,000 Market Cap in First Day

Published

4 days ago

September 16, 2024

admin

US crypto giant Coinbase has successfully gone live with the launch of its wrapped Bitcoin token at a $100 million market cap.

The firm’s Coinbase Wrapped BTC (cbBTC) is a Bitcoin (BTC)-backed, Ethereum (ETH)-based token that aims to help users streamline their decentralized finance (DeFi) experience.

Data from CoinGecko shows that cbBTC started trading on September 12th before getting to a market cap of over $100 million the next day.

Coinbase recently explained how BTC holders can use the firm’s wrapped version of the crypto king to streamline their DeFi experience.

“cbBTC removes a key point of friction by allowing customers to use Bitcoin they already hold in new ways on-chain. cbBTC is built to be seamlessly compatible with DeFi applications, so users can now tap into novel DeFi use cases like providing their Bitcoin as liquidity to DeFi protocols, or using it as collateral to borrow other crypto assets…

When Coinbase users send their BTC from Coinbase to an address on Base or Ethereum, that BTC will automatically be converted 1:1 to cbBTC. When users receive cbBTC in their Coinbase accounts, it will be converted 1:1 from cbBTC to BTC.”

Tron (TRX) founder Justin Sun criticized cbBTC, saying Coinbase’s new project was too centralized and based on trust.

“cbBTC lacks Proof of Reserve, no audits, and can freeze anyone’s balance anytime. Essentially, it’s just ‘trust me.’ Any US government subpoena could seize all your BTC. There’s no better representation of central bank Bitcoin than this. It’s a dark day for BTC.”

At time of writing, cbBTC is the 402nd-largest crypto with a market cap of over $97.66 million.

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