1. Binance SWIFT banking partner set to ban USD transfers below $100K
📰 Binance has informed its retail customer base of a potential incoming service disruption that may halt on and off-ramp bank payment transfers.
📰 From Feb 1 onwards, users of U.S Dollar-held bank accounts that are looking to buy or sell cryptocurrencies for less than $100,000 via the SWIFT payment system will not be able to do so.
📰 In an email to its customers, Binance also said that they are “actively seeking” a new SWIFT (USD) partner to avoid service disruptions for future bank payment transfers.
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2. Crypto lender Genesis files for bankruptcy
📰 Genesis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York after being pummeled by two of 2022’s biggest industry collapses.
📰 In its filing, Genesis Global Capital, the partner firm to Gemini’s defunct Earn program, estimated more than 100,000 creditors and between $1 billion and $10 billion in liabilities, as well as assets. The two other entities estimated their assets and liabilities in the $100 million and $500 million range, respectively.
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3. Ex-Genesis execs claimed they raised millions for crypto hedge fund as company heads for bankruptcy
📰 A former Genesis employee sent a message to a prospective investor in December, regarding a fund he was starting called Hunting Hill Digital.
📰 The fund would be run by three ex-Genesis employees, the message said.
📰 Genesis, which is owned by Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group, filed for bankruptcy protection on Thursday.
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4. U.S. home-loan banks lent billions of dollars to crypto banks
📰 The United States Federal Home Loan Banks System (FHLB) is lending billions of dollars to two of the largest cryptocurrency banks in an effort to mitigate the effects of a surge in withdrawals.
📰 The FHLB is a consortium of 11 regional banks across the United States that provide funds to other banks and lenders, and has $1.1 trillion in assets and over 6,500 members.
📰 The FHLB lent nearly $10 billion to commercial bank Signature Bank and at least $3.6 billion to Silvergate in the last quarter of 2022.
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5. Central African Republic eyes legal framework for crypto adoption
📰 Central African Republic (CAR), a developing country in Central Africa, set up a 15-member committee responsible for drafting a bill on the use of cryptocurrencies and tokenization in the region.
📰 According to Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the president of CAR, cryptocurrencies can potentially help eradicate the country’s financial barriers.
📰 He believed in creating a business-friendly environment supported by a legal framework for cryptocurrency usage.
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