GM 👋
So much happening in crypto right now.
BLUR just raised a whopping $40M in funding! Not only that, the founder raised ANOTHER $20M to build a new layer-2 called Blast. Curious to see what’ll get built with the fresh funds.
Crypto Exchange Bullish also bought 100% of CoinDesk in an all-cash deal.
Things are definitely stirring up.
Be on the lookout 👀
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Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle criminal charges in the U.S.
This marks it as one of the largest penalties ever obtained from a corporate defendant in the country.
Founder Changpeng Zhao, also known as "CZ," pleaded guilty to charges related to violating the Bank Secrecy Act and causing financial institutions to violate the same act. He agreed to pay a $50 million fine and will step down as CEO, being succeeded by Richard Teng.
The charges against Binance included:
The U.S. Department of Justice, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) were involved in the settlements. Zhao's fine will be credited against the amount he owes the CFTC.
As part of the settlement, Binance must appoint an independent compliance monitor for three years and report its compliance efforts to the U.S. government. Zhao is barred from any involvement in operating or managing Binance for a period that extends three years after the appointment of the compliance monitor.
The resolution of this case follows closely after the conviction of Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX, another major cryptocurrency exchange. The U.S. authorities have emphasized their commitment to enforcing regulations in the crypto industry, sending a clear message of accountability to other crypto and DeFi companies.
Binance has acknowledged its past mistakes and the company's restructuring efforts. The new CEO, Teng, has expressed his commitment to ensuring the company's financial strength and security, compliance with global regulatory standards, and growth in the Web3 space.
Zhao, on the other hand, has indicated his interest in passive investing and exploring decentralized finance (DeFi) further.
BLUR: $40M
NFT marketplace for pro traders Blur raised $40M funding round.
Blast: $20M
Ethereum L2 with native yield for ETH and stablecoins Blast raised $20M funding round from Paradigm, Standard Crypto, eGirl Capital, Manifold, Santiago R. Santos.sosleek.io
Privy: $18M
Toolkit for progressive authentication in Web3 Privy raised $18M in a Series A funding round led by Paradigm, with participation from Sequoia Capital, BlueYard Capital, Archetype, Linda Xie.
BP-FLAC: $10M
Project focused on AI training using blockchain BP-FLAC raised $10M in a Seed funding round from Eureka Partners, Westlabs, Amazon Alexa Fund, Nvidia.
Panoptic: $7M
Perpetual, oracle-free options protocol Panoptic raised $7M in a Seed funding round led by Greenfield Capital, with participation from Hashkey Capital, gumi Cryptos Capital (gCC), L1 Digital, Heartcore Capital, Comma3 Ventures, Zee Prime Capital.
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