200M Users. $100B Assets 🎺
Binance's latest numbers. BNB hits all-time high. Ethereum leaders stuck in a contradiction? All eyes on FED interest rates this week. $2B digital asset products inflow. Andrew Tate's Solana drama.
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What’s the latest on the world's largest crypto exchange - Binance 👇
200 million users, over a third of global crypto holders.
Rapid growth - 130 million in 2022. 30 million added so far in 2024.
Aims to reach 1 billion users, or one in eight people globally.
Holds $100 billion in user assets under custody, averaging $500 per user.
Note: Coinbase is one of the top exchanges, data on their assets in not available.
Looking now at the top 10, Binance registers the highest trading volume on average over the three months considered.
Binance also tops the liquidity rankings
However, Binance falls short in terms of governance according to Kaiko, placing it behind Coinbase and Bitstamp in the overall rankings.
The rise on Binance Coin
Binance Coin (BNB) just shattered its all-time record, reaching a staggering $716 on June 6. Up 8% in last week, but down more than 10% right now.
The token has more than doubled in price since the start of the year.
This surge makes Changpeng Zhao (CZ) the richest person ever to be incarcerated in the US.
Despite the legal trouble, Zhao's net worth is estimated at a staggering $38.5 billion, with a significant chunk likely tied to BNB.
He's currently ranked 40th richest in the world, and his wealth has actually grown by $4.1 billion this year.
The journey wasn't without bumps
In 2023, Binance settled with US regulators for a record $4.3 billion, marking a turning point for the company.
Their founder, Zhao, even stepped down as CEO after admitting to compliance failures.
Taking the helm, CEO Richard Teng vowed a focus on compliance.
Read: Teng's got a plan 🧠💡
Binance was blocked in the Philippines for lacking a license and faced money laundering accusations in Nigeria, with one executive even jailed.
Read: Nigeria's Crypto Crime Thriller 🇳🇬
Block That Quote 🎙️
CEO of crypto market maker Wintermute, Evgeny Gaevoy.
“You are either building capitalism or planned socialism. I'm sorry, you really cant have both.”
Gaevoy threw a wrench into the Ethereum camp, sparking a heated debate about the project's leadership.
“If ETH fails in the future it wont be because "Solana is faster", it will be because the eth ‘elite’ is still stuck in a massive contradiction”
Capitalism vs Social Justice?
Gaevoy criticises Ethereum leaders, particularly Vitalik Buterin, for advocating for both capitalism and social justice within the project.
He argues these goals clash and could be Ethereum's downfall.
He sees blockchain technology as inherently capitalist.
Buterin and Hayden Adams (co-founder of Uniswap) advocating for "worthy social ends" strike him as contradictory.
This criticism piggybacks on Buterin's recent disapproval of meme coins focused solely on making money.
This sparked a back-and-forth with singer Iggy Azalea, who launched her own meme coin (MOTHER).
Read: Celebrity Memecoin Chaos 🙆♀️
Look Ahead: All Eyes on Interest Rates
This week saw central banks around the world start slashing interest rates.
This week saw Canada, Europe, and Denmark all cut interest rates, sparking hope for a similar move from the US – a potential boon for crypto prices.
While the Fed's timeline remains unclear, the global trend suggests US cuts could come sooner than expected.
This coordinated effort between allies likely indicates the US will follow suit.
Lower interest rates weaken the dollar and could reignite inflation overseas. This might pressure the US to cut rates, a long-awaited catalyst for crypto bulls.
Bitcoin surged 7% this week, but Friday's strong jobs report cast doubt on the need for immediate rate cuts.
This, along with rising bond yields, dampened optimism in the market.
The US job market seems strong, but here are some key facts to consider - A recent surge in part-time jobs is creating an illusion of a strong consumer. In reality, millions of Americans are working multiple jobs just to pay their bills.
Here’s what to look forward to
In The Numbers 🔢
$2 billion
Digital asset investment products inflows last week - Coinshares.
Total inflows over the past five weeks to $4.3 billion.
Bitcoin saw inflows of $1.97 billion.
Ethereum saw its largest inflow week since March, totaling $69 million.
Hedge funds bet against Bitcoin?
Hedge funds are ramping up their short positions against Bitcoin on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), even as spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) enjoy record streak of inflows.
They increased their net short positions in CME standard Bitcoin futures contracts to a record high of 18,175 contracts, which is equivalent to 90,875 BTC.
Bearish on Bitcoin?
Carry trade strategy: Some experts believe that these record short positions may indicate hedge funds' interest in the carry trade strategy, where they short futures contracts while concurrently buying the asset to profit from price differences between the spot and futures markets.
'We Must Crash Solana'
What? That’s Andrew Tate.
Controversial influencer. Former kickboxer. Internet stuntman.
Tate's latest hustle involves promoting random Solana tokens while spewing inflammatory content on Twitter.
Cue the internet chaos. Tate invited people to bombard him with their "junk" Solana meme coins, promising to buy some.
Target hit, he then declared he'd "CRASH THE SOLANA NETWORK" by buying a boatload of tokens (doubtful, considering Solana's processing power).
He then proceeded to throw down $10,000 on various Pump.fun coins, some targeting his online feuds and one even dubbing him "Fuhrer.”
Remember when Tate dismissed crypto as a scam?
Apparently, those days are over.
While Tate claims he's a crypto baller, it seems the million-dollar spending spree might be an exaggeration. Let's not forget he's currently on trial in Romania for some very serious charges.
Another one in the ring
American wrestler Hulk Hogan.
Posted a Memecoin named HULK on X, and was suspected of insider trading.
Hogan suddenly deleted all related content then, causing HULK to plummet by more than 80% in 15 minutes.
He also denied it - ‘Not from me’.
Bubblemaps data shows that before Hulk Hogan tweeted, insiders bought 15% of the supply and exited before the crash, making millions of dollars in profits.
Read: Celebrity Memecoin Chaos 🙆♀️
The Surfer 🏄
DePIN protocol io.net CEO Ahmad Shadid departs 2 days before token launch. Shadid's departure not related to allegations regarding his past. Tory Green, co-founder and former COO, replaces Shadid as CEO.
Gemholic, a project on zkSync, has allegedly pulled a rug with a $3.5 million ETH withdrawal. The project's online presence, including its X handle and Telegram channel, has been deleted. It had previously lost access to 921 ETH to a smart contract bug and promised to refund investors if the funds were recovered.
Norway returns almost $6 million in stolen crypto from the $620 million hack of "Axie Infinity" in 2022. Sky Mavis, the company behind the game, thanked Norway and the FBI for their efforts in recovering the funds.
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