The main thing on the cryptocurrency market.
The UK regulator fined a division of Coinbase $4, 5 million
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined a division of the Coinbase exchange £3.5 million (around $4.5 million). The organization was accused of serving high-risk clients.
The company CB Payments Limited, part of the commercial group Coinbase Group, was sanctioned. According to the press release, the company does not carry out crypto transactions, but serves as a gateway to the platform.
The department emphasized that CB Payments Limited does not have a license to provide services in the field of virtual assets. The organization signed a voluntary agreement (VREQ) to change its structure as part of measures to control financial crime in October 2020.
At the same time, according to the FCA release, the firm continued to provide access services to the Coinbase platform for clients falling under the definition of high-risk.
There are 13,416 of them in total, the FCA noted. Of these, 31% contributed almost $25 million. These funds were spent on various crypto transactions with the help of other Coinbase Group organizations for a total of $226 million.
According to the FCA, the firm agreed to pay the fine. Taking this into account, the amount of the penalty will be reduced by 30%.
Capital outflow from the Ethereum spot ETF sector reached more than $152 million
On July 25, 2024, the US spot Ethereum ETF sector recorded a net daily capital outflow of $152.3 million, according to SoSo Value data.
Grayscale Investments has already lost more than $1 billion due to profit-taking and the redistribution of funds by investors.
The vast majority of positions show an inflow of funds. Six funds showed positive dynamics.
The significant outflow in the sector is due to investors in the Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHE) continuing to withdraw their assets. The fund has lost a total of $1.16 billion as of July 25.
The price of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and other cryptocurrencies.
HSBC in Australia has imposed a ban on customer transactions on a crypto exchange
From July 24, 2024, the Australian division of the international bank HSBC began blocking transactions to cryptocurrency exchanges. This is evident from the organization’s appeal to clients, which is distributed online.
“From July 24, HSBC will block payments from accounts and cards that we believe are directed to crypto exchanges for your protection. In the meantime, you will be able to make transactions to withdraw funds from such platforms to your accounts. Also, the change will not affect other transactions,” the appeal says.
The organization explained its decision by concern for its clients, citing a report from the Australian Competition and Counsel Commission (ACCC). According to it, in 2023 alone, citizens of the country lost $171 million as a result of financial fraud, mainly in the crypto sphere.
It should be noted that a message about blocking transactions also appeared on the website of the Australian division of HSBC.
According to local media, four more financial counterparties have introduced similar restrictions to varying degrees – CBA, NAB, Westpac and ANZ.
BlackRock denies the appearance of new cryptocurrency ETFs on the market
Robert Mitchnick, head of digital assets at BlackRock, believes that new cryptocurrency ETFs are unlikely to hit the market in the near future. He said this at the Bitcoin Conference 2024, which is taking place from July 25 to 27.
During the conference, Mitchnick took part in a discussion with Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffarth. They touched on several important topics, including the emergence of new cryptocurrency ETFs, as well as investments by large companies in Bitcoin.
“I don’t think we’ll see a long list of ETFs. Take Bitcoin, for example, today it accounts for about 55% of the total crypto market capitalization. In Ethereum, the share is 18%. The next underlying asset that we're looking at is about 3%, it just doesn't meet the liquidity requirements, maturity requirements, etc.,” Mitchnick said.
The BlackRock representative didn't directly say which crypto asset he was talking about. But it could be Solana. According to CryptoRank, it's 3.28%.
- Cryptocurrency