Cryptocurrency
Terror Victims Seek Full Share of Binance’s $4.3B Settlement in DOJ Lawsuit
Four people have sued the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), demanding that it direct more funds from a $4.3 billion settlement it won against Binance into the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund (USVSST).
The complainants argued in their lawsuit that the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Act, enacted in 2015, requires all criminal proceeds and two-thirds of civil proceeds from settlements like the Binance one to go to the victims’ fund.
Legal Battle Against the DOJ
According to the four, the DOJ has so far deposited just under $900 million into the fund, with the agency allegedly planning to divert at least $1.5 billion to a separate reserve for crime victims.
In their opinion, this action violates the law and has forced them to seek a court order to ensure all qualifying proceeds end up where they are supposed to.
In the last nine years, the USVSST fund has disbursed more than $6 billion to people directly harmed by state-sponsored terror attacks or their surviving representatives.
While the DOJ and Special Master administer the fund, the suit by the four named a wide array of high-profile defendants. They include the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as well as U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Several Treasury Department agencies have also been mentioned, including the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Binance’s Role and Violations
The money in question comes from a November 2023 settlement between Binance and several federal agencies after the former pled guilty to a string of charges, including breaching U.S. sanctions and failing to implement anti-money laundering controls.
Furthermore, the then-CEO of the crypto exchange, Changpeng Zhao, popularly known as CZ, admitted to accusations of violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). He was forced to resign from his position and pay a $50 million fine.
In addition, a federal court in Seattle, Washington, sentenced him to four months in prison, which he largely served at the Federal Correctional Institution in Lompoc, California. He is reportedly due to be set free on September 27 since his actual release date, September 29, falls on the weekend.
The charges against Binance and CZ stemmed from investigations by the Justice Department’s national security and crimes division, which found that the crypto exchange had allowed Russian nationals to use its services. This was in contravention of sanctions the United States had placed on the European country due to its ongoing conflict with Ukraine.
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Cryptocurrency
Ripple Price Analysis: Can XRP Skyrocket to $2 by the Year’s End?
Ripple’s recent price action underscores significant bullish momentum as buyers continue to dominate the market.
Despite a potential brief consolidation phase, XRP is steadily approaching another coveted milestone of $2, with the prospect of achieving tapping that target by the year’s end growing.
XRP Analysis
By Shayan
The Weekly Chart
The weekly chart reveals Ripple’s remarkable trends, marked by a significant sell-off following the SEC lawsuit, during which the price plummeted to $0.28, a staggering 85% decline. This phase was followed by an extended period of low-volatility consolidation.
Eventually, buyers returned with vigor, driving the price through key resistance levels, including the pivotal $1.3 mark. Ripple’s subsequent impulsive surge highlights strong buying interest, pushing the cryptocurrency closer to a local peak of $1.9.
As the price approaches this critical level, bullish sentiment remains robust, but caution is warranted due to the overbought condition reflected in the RSI indicator. A brief consolidation or correction may precede upward momentum, with $1.3 as the primary support during any potential pullback.
The 4-Hour Chart
The 4-hour timeframe reflects Ripple’s breakout dynamics in greater detail. Upon encountering resistance at the $1.3 zone, the asset entered a consolidation phase, forming a sideways triangle pattern. This setup allowed the RSI to retreat from overbought levels and settle at equilibrium. Eventually, XRP surged, breaking out of the triangle’s upper boundary, signaling a bullish continuation.
Ripple managed to reclaim the $1.3 threshold and advance toward $2. While the bullish momentum is evident, a bearish divergence between the price and RSI hints at possible exhaustion. Furthermore, the presence of supply near the $1.9 resistance zone increases the likelihood of a consolidation phase in the near term. This temporary pause could allow the market to stabilize before XRP attempts to achieve new highs.
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Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.
Cryptocurrency charts by TradingView.
Cryptocurrency
XLM Rally Continues With 485% Monthly Surge, BTC Cools Off to $98K (Weekend Watch)
Bitcoin’s inability to overcome the coveted $100,000 milestone on Friday and Saturday has resulted in a minor price decline to around $98,000 as of now.
Several altcoins, such as XRP and DOGE, have plummeted as well in the past day, but others, like TON, DOT, and XLM, have charted double-digit surges.
BTC Calms to $98K
BTC traded at around $90,000 at the start of the business week but quickly started to gain traction and exploded above the previous all-time high of $93,800 by the middle of it. This came amid the growing impressive net inflows toward the spot Bitcoin ETFs in the States.
The cryptocurrency’s rally continued in the following days and peaked on Friday. At the time, the asset came just inches away from touching $100,000 but was stopped at about $99,800 on most exchanges.
Thus, it failed to reach that line for the first time ever, even though the community was anticipating and predicting it. Since then, BTC has lost some traction and has retraced by around two grand to $98,000 now.
Still, it’s 7.2% up on the week, which places its market cap at $1.940 trillion on CG. Its dominance over the alts, though, has declined further to 55.5%, which brought speculations about a potential altcoin season.
XLM’s Show
Many larger-cap alts like ADA, XRP, and DOGE charted notable gains yesterday, but have retraced heavily today. ADA is down by 3% to under $1.05, XRP has slumped by over 6% to under $1.45, and DOGE has plummeted by 7.5% to $0.43.
In contrast, TON and DOT have soared by 11% and 17%, respectively, to $6.25 and $8.9. XLM, though, has stolen the show once again by skyrocketing by 29%. Stellar’s native token has added more than 480% in the past month and now trades above $0.56.
The total crypto market cap has shed about $50 billion since yesterday’s peak but still stands close to $3.5 trillion on CG.
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Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.
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Cryptocurrency
Weekly ETF Recap: All Green Days for Bitcoin, But Not for Ethereum
The US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs enjoyed a highly positive week, with every trading day ending with net inflows of millions and even billions of dollars.
In stark contrast, the Ethereum counterparties ended the same five-day trading period deep in red territory.
Over $3B Enter BTC ETFs Weekly
It has been nothing short of a spectacular run for BTC’s price as well as the inflows in the spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US after Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the 2024 presidential elections. The past trading week was no different, although it started somewhat sluggishly on Monday with a modest $254.8 million in inflows.
However, things picked up on Tuesday with $829.5 million, another $773.4 million on Wednesday, and $490.3 million on Friday. Oh, let’s not forget the whopping $1.005,1 billion on Thursday. This puts the total for the week at $3.353,1 billion, according to Farside.
Expectedly, BlackRock’s IBIT, the world’s largest Bitcoin ETF, was at the forefront of these substantial inflows most days. IBIT attracted over $500 million on three separate occasions – Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Thus, its total AUM has skyrocketed to well over $31 billion.
Fidelity’s FBTC also saw some impressive inflows of $256.1 million on Tuesday and just over $300 million on Thursday. Ark Invest’s ARKB had its best day on Tuesday, with $267.3 million in net inflows.
Within this highly positive week for the ETFs, BTC’s price shot up from around $90,000 on Monday to $99,825 (on Bitstamp) on Friday, thus coming less than $200 away from the six-figure territory.
ETH ETFs Suffer
The spot Ethereum ETFs also had quite impressive several trading days after the US elections, marking their best week yet in the period from November 11 to November 15. However, there were some warning signs at the end of the week, which only intensified in the following days.
In fact, the ETH ETFs ended almost every day in the past trading week in the red, with outflows of $39.1 million on Monday, $81.3 million on Tuesday, $30.3 million on Wednesday, and $9 million on Thursday. The funds managed to break this negative streak, which actually extended to six consecutive days in the red, including the previous Thursday and Friday, on November 22.
They attracted $91.3 million, with BlackRock’s ETHA leading the pack with $99.7 million, while Grayscale’s ETHE and ETH were in the red with $18.6 million and $0.6 million, respectively.
Overall, the ETH funds ended the week with net outflows of $68.4 million. Nevertheless, ETH’s price is up by just over 10% in the past week and sits above $3,400.
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