The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) was sold to legislators as the end of Europe’s regulatory patch-work. In theory, every crypto-asset service provider (CASP) will live under the same anti-money-laundering (AML), governance and disclosure standards from 30 December 2024. In practice, the first six months of “early bird” licensing suggest that member states are already competing to become the Cayman Islands of MiCA.
Crypto.com, one of the leading crypto exchanges, has announced it will delist Tether (USDT) and nine other tokens across its European operations starting January 31, 2025, in response to the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations. This move signals a growing regulatory push to phase out non-compliant stablecoins ahead of the March 31, 2025, enforcement deadline.
In a move reminiscent of the last crypto bull market 2020/2021, Crypto.com has signed a high-profile sponsorship deal with UEFA, the governing body of European football. This partnership, which will see Crypto.com prominently featured in UEFA events, mirrors similar recent deals by major crypto platforms, suggesting that the market may be approaching another peak. Crypto investors should be alerted.
In a recent financial disclosure, Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., reported a significant revenue beat for the first quarter, surpassing analyst expectations. The company announced revenue figures reaching $1.64 billion, well ahead of the anticipated $1.34 billion. This increase comes amid a robust rally in Bitcoin, which substantially boosted the company’s profitability.
According to a Financial Times report on Monday, the Singapore-based crypto exchange, Crypto.com, operates proprietary trading and market-making teams. They are trading tokens for profit, creating a conflict of interest. Five unnamed individuals provided the information with direct knowledge of the company's trading desk. However, Crypto.com told Decrypt that it would not rely on proprietary trading as a significant source of revenue.
French auditing firm Mazars Group, that did the controversial Proof of Reserve (POR) "audits" of crypto giants Binance and Crypto.com, has paused work for all crypto clients globally. However, the published POR audits have raised more questions than they gave answers to and were met with massive criticism on Twitter. Probably, as a result, Mazars has withdrawn from further crypto engagements. The crypto environment is currently extremely toxic.
Amid Crypto Contagion following the FTX collapse, two of the world's largest crypto exchanges, Binance and Crypto.com released "Proof of Reserves (PoR)" reports. Both worked with Mazars Group, a global accounting firm. However, according to Mazars, these haven't been audit reports; they did not express an opinion or an assurance conclusion. While the PoR reports may be a good first step toward more transparency in the crypto sector, but for now, they are more of a sort of placebo to calm users.
The collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX, the world's third-largest crypto exchange, is being discussed in minute detail on Twitter. Most recently, various tweets warned that other crypto exchanges were transferring funds to each other to be able to show their reserves. In other words, the reserves are missing and can only be represented with such tricks. Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao issued a warning.
The crypto exchange operator Crypto.com and the City of Busan announced today the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collectively advance the blockchain industry. Crypto.com will establish a workforce presence within Busan and also sponsor and participate in this week’s Busan Blockchain Week. The goal is to advance the City of Busan’s blockchain ecosystem and Digital Assets Exchange project.
Amid Crypto Winter, the crypto exchange MoonPay, with a reported valuation of $3.4 billion, announced a new sponsorship agreement with Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, one of Brazil’s largest soccer clubs. The Campeonato Serie A club has signed a wide-ranging agreement. The deal, brokered by Sportfive agency, aims to boost Flamengo’s revenues and fan engagement by leveraging NFTs and Web3 to support its ticketing, marketing, merchandise, and social and digital media.
Last week, the crypto exchange Crypto.com announced that it had been registered in France as a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) following clearance from the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR). The crypto exchange serves over 50 million customers and bills itself as the world’s fastest-growing crypto platform. Crypto.com has been receiving regulatory approval across several jurisdictions worldwide.
The well-known crypto exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, Crypto.com, or FTX seem to have a problem with their customers. On Trustpilot, most of the top crypto exchanges have scam ratings with customers complaining about unfounded blocked accounts and problems with customer service. Exceptions are CEX.io, Oobit, or BitPanda, which stand out like a lighthouse on Trustpilot. With 4.7-stars and 4.1-stars respectively, CEX.io and BitPanda apparently perform incredibly better than their international competitors.