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Cryptocurrency Gets Support From Top Global Banks

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Global Banking - Investors King

Despite the fall of three crypto-friendly banks, Silvergate Bank, Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank, reports have shown a number of top global banks are still interested in working with crypto firms. Some of these top global banks include JPMorgan and Bank of America.

According to the report which was published by CoinDesk following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Sivergate Bank and Signature Bank, many crypto firms have started looking for new banking partners. 

Using the Digital Currency Group (DCG) platform, crypto exchanges have already made contact with BlackRock, JPMorgan and Bank of America

While talks are still ongoing, there are reports that the new banks may however restrict some services for crypto firms, for instance, brokerage and money market services and the ability to wire money to third parties.

Some of these crypto firms are also looking beyond the shores of the United States for banking partners with Switzerland and Asia on the radar. These partners include Revolut in the U.K., United Overseas Bank (UOB) in Singapore, and Bank Leumi in Israel.

On the alternative, some crypto exchanges are also considering launching their own banking facilities, a development experts believe will receive stern responses from regulators.

Investors King understands that the closures of Silvergate, SVB, and Signature bank create a huge gap in the market for crypto-friendly banking, leaving the industry in the cold. 

Before the fallout, Silvergate and Signature banks have been providing banking services for most of the cryptocurrency exchanges while Silicon Valley Bank had a lot of crypto startups and VCs as customers.

Investors King earlier reported how Silvergate Bank, a central lender to the crypto industry winded down its operation due to issues relating to liquidity. 

Meanwhile, the representatives of the Digital Currency Group (DCG) are billed to meet with Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday (today) to discuss issues relating to the fallout from SVB, Signature, and Silvergate bank. The discussions between both parties could form a new capital market legislation in the United States. 

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U.S. Prosecutors Hit KuCoin and Founders with Money Laundering Charges

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Kucoin

KuCoin, a major crypto exchange, along with its founders Chun Gan and Ke Tang have been charged by U.S. federal prosecutors with violating anti-money laundering (AML) laws.

The charges allege that KuCoin operated as a money transmitting business in the U.S. without proper registration or implementation of AML measures.

Investors King gathered that the indictment disclosed that KuCoin’s actions facilitated the laundering of proceeds from various illicit activities, including sanctions violations and fraud schemes.

Despite its substantial user base, KuCoin purportedly failed to adopt adequate AML and know-your-customer (KYC) protocols until 2023, rendering it vulnerable to exploitation by criminals.

The prosecution’s move underscores the growing regulatory scrutiny faced by cryptocurrency platforms worldwide, as authorities strive to address the sector’s susceptibility to financial crime.

Also, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a separate suit against KuCoin, alleging failure to register as a futures commission merchant and non-compliance with KYC regulations.

Darren McCormack, Special Agent in Charge at Homeland Security Investigations, described KuCoin as “an alleged multibillion-dollar criminal conspiracy,” emphasizing its pivotal role in the crypto market.

Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney Damien Williams condemned KuCoin’s purported attempts to conceal its U.S. user base and its use as a hub for money laundering.

As legal proceedings unfold, KuCoin’s native token (KCS) experienced a 5% decline, signaling investor concerns.

However, Bitcoin (BTC) remained volatile, hovering around $70,000 amidst market turbulence.

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Key Events in the Ethereum Ecosystem that Can Influence the Market

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Ethereum - Investors King

Following Bitcoin’s new all-time high, the crypto community has been buzzing with theories and predictions not only about the top cryptocurrency but about other coins as well.

Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency (by market cap) has also been a talking point and headline. 

Ethereum news over the past few days as been awash topics such as the potential effect of Bitcoin’s new ATH on Ethereum, the upcoming Dencun upgrade and long-term price predictions. We have rounded up the top stories in Ethereum news over the past few days for you. 

Dencun – Ethereum’s Solution to High Gas Fees?

The Dencun update is set to be Ethreum’s largest since The Merge in September 2022 and Shapella in April 2023. The upgrades respectively facilitated the move from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus to proof-of-stake (PoS) and made withdrawals of staked Ether possible. It is expected to go live on March 13 at around 13:55 UTC. Here is what we know about the updrage so far. 

First of all “Dencun” is a merging of “Deneb” and “Cancun”, two network updates that collectively account for nine Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs). It will activate EIP-4844, also called proto-danksharding, which is expected to improve the Ethereum blockchain’s capacity to handle data from layer-2 (L2) networks. 

The upgrade will result in significantly cheaper fees for L2 rollups and it is expected that the majority of Ethereum’s onchain activity will migrate to L2s. This aligns with Ethereum’s target of being able to process millions of transactions per second. 

Analyst Max Wadington writes in a research report by Fidelity Digital Assets: “Ethereum’s improvement as a database unveils the opportunity for near-zero transaction fees for users of layer 2’s.”

Wadington adds that users of the base Ethereum network may not benefit as much from the software update as Layer 2 users.

“In the short term, users who wish to benefit from this fee change must sacrifice some decentralization and security by transacting on layer 2’s instead of Ethereum,” he said. 

The Dencun upgrade has been in the works for several years, with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin hinting at it as far back as 2019. It was slated to take place late last year but could not proceed due to engineering concerns by developers.The update has so far been tested on three separate test networks and performed generally well.

Members of the Ethereum community are looking forward to the event and are joining livestreams counting down to the upgrade. 

“We are making sure all our client and bootnodes are fully updated, and ready for fork,” said Barnabas Busa, a DevOps engineer at the Ethereum Foundation. “Our monitoring infrastructure is scaled up to -ensure we don’t miss anything important. 

(Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko’s post on X:

Ethereum Price Predictions

As of March 13, Ethereum was currently trading at $4,040 up about 7% over a week. It is expected to rise higher with the increased anticipation for Ethereum ETFs and the Dencun upgrade. 

According to this Forbes report, Ethereum could rise to $4,500 by the end of the month. Another report puts the coin’s price at $5,000 by the end of the year. CoinDCX predicts that 2024 a strong end to the year price-wise could serve as a stepping stone for the asset’s upward movement. 

In addition, going by historical market data,  a Bitcoin bull run could spell price surges for Ethereum as well. In 2021 for example, when Bitcoin gained 66%, Ethereum performed far better, gaining almost 400%. With the ongoing interest in spot Bitcoin ETFs and the upcoming Bitcoin halving – both of which could translate into green candles for Bitcoin – Ethereum could continue rising. 

While experts agree that the asset is unlikely to surpass Bitcoin’s price long-term, it has the potential to rival the top cryptocurrency’s market capitalization largely owing to its uncapped supply. 

 

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Binance Executive Escapes Custody in Nigeria Amid Legal Battle

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Nadeem Anjarwalla

Nadeem Anjarwalla, a prominent executive of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has managed to escape custody in Nigeria, where he was detained amidst allegations of tax evasion and other offenses.

Anjarwalla, 38, reportedly fled from a guest house in Abuja on Friday, 22 March, where he and his colleague were being held.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the escape occurred when guards on duty escorted him to a nearby mosque for prayers as part of the ongoing Ramadan fast.

Anjarwalla, who holds both British and Kenyan citizenship, is believed to have departed from Abuja using a Middle Eastern airliner, despite his British passport remaining in the custody of Nigerian authorities.

The exact manner in which he managed to board an international flight is still unclear, raising questions about security protocols and potential lapses in immigration procedures.

Authorities are now scrambling to ascertain Anjarwalla’s intended destination and initiate efforts to apprehend him and bring him back into custody.

It has been revealed that Anjarwalla fled using a Kenyan passport, although the circumstances under which he obtained it remain under investigation.

Sources close to the matter disclosed that Anjarwalla and his colleague were held in a “comfortable guest house” and were granted various privileges, including the use of telephones.

It is believed that Anjarwalla exploited these privileges to orchestrate his escape.

The escape comes amidst a legal battle between Binance executives and Nigerian authorities. Anjarwalla and Tigran Gambaryan, another executive, were detained upon their arrival in Nigeria on 26 February 2024, and a criminal charge was filed against them before a Magistrate Court in Abuja.

The court granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) an order to remand the duo for 14 days, later extended for an additional 14 days.

Furthermore, the Nigerian government has slapped multiple charges against Binance Holdings Limited, Anjarwalla, and Gambaryan, accusing them of tax evasion and failure to comply with regulatory requirements.

The detention and legal proceedings against Binance officials come in the wake of the exchange platform’s settlement of criminal money laundering charges in the United States, further complicating the ongoing saga surrounding the cryptocurrency giant.

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