News Updates November 25, 2022
1. Justin Sun v. CZ? Sun's Poloniex Stops Using BSC-Based Stablecoins
According to a tweet published by Chinese crypto journalist and blogger Colin Wu, Poloniex exchange owned by Tron founder and former CEO Justin Sun has stopped deposits and withdrawals of stablecoins that run on BNB Chain (also known as the Binance Smart Chain, BSC).
Is Sun rivaling CZ of Binance?
These stablecoins are USDT, USDC, TUSD and Binance's native BUSD. Rather than using BEP20 (token standard on BNB Chain), Sun suggested using the ERC20 and TRC20 networks, according to the tweet, where a link to a blog post by Poloniex customer support was attached.
No particular reason for the removal of these stablecoins on the BNB Chain was offered.
Several years ago, when Justin Sun still officially ran the Tron Foundation and did not own Poloniex or huobi.co/ru-ru/topic/invited/?invite_code=u7bg4" >Huobi, Sun and Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the co-founder and chief of Binance, made various projects in collaboration and seemed to be on friendly terms with each other.
In 2019, Sun bought Poloniex from Circle and later on, in early October this year, he purchased a 100% stake at Huobi Global from its founder, Leon Li.
Now, it may seem that as CZ is expanding the Binance empire, Sun might be trying to rival this crypto behemoth — at least this is what some commentators seem to think.
Season 2 is CZ VS Justin Sun
— 0013 (@th1r3een) November 25, 2022
Poloniex and Huobi imminent merge reported
Wu also tweeted in his Chinese blog, as reported by Chinese crypto news outlet 8BTC news, that Justin Sun intends to merge Poloniex and Huobi.
Poloniex will continue to operate under its own brand, though, according to the source.
According to Wublockchain, multiple sources familiar with the matter have revealed that the #Crypto exchange #Poloniex that Justin Sun acquired from Circle in 2019 will merge with his recently acquired Huobi. Sun responded that the Poloniex brand will continue to exist.
2. Binance Chief Doubles the Target for Crypto Recovery Fund to $2 Billion
Binance has increased its target of Crypto Recovery Fund to $2 billion and has already secured a combined pledge of $50 million.
Ever since the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX, Binance chief Changpeng Zhao has been actively working to set up a recovery fund to help distressed, yet fundamentally strong firms. Besides, Binance has also doubled its fundraise plans from $1 billion to now at $2 billion.
During his interview on Thursday, November 24, Zhao said that the crypto recovery fund will have co-investors to back crypto projects facing a liquidity squeeze. “We’re going with a loose approach where different industry players will contribute as they wish,” he said.
Some of the popular names like Polygon Ventures, Jump Crypto, Animoca Brands, Aptos Labs, Kronos, GSR, and Brooker Group have already made a combined pledge of $50 million. The Binance chief said that he is looking to limit the damage to the crypto sector from the implosion of FTX.
Binance hasn’t confirmed yet how much it is willing to put. But sources said that Binance’s prospective contribution far outweighs the commitments made by other firms. David Adams, portfolio manager of the King River Digital Assets Fund.
Told Bloomberg:
“The market will be watching the fund’s public wallet address closely to see whether it attracts a material amount of non-Binance capital, as this will indicate how broad-based the industry support is for stabilization”.
3. Bitcoin bears overpower bulls despite stabilising prices; Will BTC drop below $16,000?
Bitcoin (BTC) bulls have managed to stabilise the maiden cryptocurrency’s price after slumping to a two-year low early in the week. Despite the short-term recovery, Bitcoin is still facing a threat of further correction, considering the market is yet to recover fully from the FTX crypto exchange collapse.
In this line, Kitco News analyst Jim Wyckoff on November 25 stated that Bitcoin bears still have a technical advantage. However, he noted that bulls must do more for Bitcoin to realize a bottom.
“While prices Monday dropped to a two-year low, the bulls have stabilized prices since. The BC bears do still have the overall near-term technical advantage. However, the sideways price action most of this week does slightly favor the bulls. Bulls would need to show solid power to suggest a market bottom is in place,” he said.
4. Bitcoin price analysis
As things stand, Bitcoin is trading at $16,481, recording less than 1% gains in the last 24 hours. At its current value, Bitcoin has dropped about 75% from the previous all-time high.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin technical analysis is dominated by bearish sentiments, with a summary going for a ‘sell’ at 14 while moving averages are for a ‘strong sell’. Elsewhere, oscillators remain ‘neutral’ at nine on the daily gauges as retrieved from TradingView.
At the same time, crypto trading expert Michaël van de Poppe in a tweet on November 25, noted that Bitcoin is currently between levels while stating that the asset can potentially breach the $18,000 level.
“Bitcoin in between levels. Clearly want to sustain above $16.250-16.450. Clearly want to break $16.800-17.000. If that happens, path towards $18.400 is open,”.
Bitcoin’s possible bottom
Notably, with the market looking for a possible Bitcoin price bottom, a Finbold report noted that the asset’s recent price movement has mimicked a 2015 trend that resulted in a bottom. Indeed if the trajectory is replicated, it could hint that a price rally might be imminent.
It is worth noting that besides suffering from FTX crisis-induced correction, Bitcoin has been impacted by the prevailing macroeconomic factors led by skyrocketing inflation and interest rate hikes.
Indeed, Bitcoin has consolidated at $16,500 after the Federal Reserve hinted at a possible slowdown from the aggressive interest rate hikes.
5. Uzbekistan issues first crypto licenses to two local ‘crypto stores’
Starting from January 2023, only licensed cryptocurrency firms will be allowed to provide cryptocurrency trading services to Uzbek citizens.
As Uzbekistan prepares to adopt a new cryptocurrency framework in 2023, Uzbek regulators have started issuing regulatory approvals to local crypto service providers.
The National Agency for Perspective Projects (NAPP), Uzbekistan’s major cryptocurrency market watchdog, has issued the nation’s first crypto licenses, according to an official announcement released on Nov. 17.
The licenses officially authorize the offering of cryptocurrency-related services by two “cryptocurrency stores,” including Crypto Trade NET LLC and Crypto Market LLC.
According to the information from the NAPP’s electronic license register, both Crypto Trade NET and Crypto Market are based in Tashkent. The data also refers to Kamolitdin Nuritdinov as Crypto Market’s single founder and shareholder. Behzod Achilov is also the single founder and shareholder of Crypto Trade NET.
None of the platforms appear to have an operating website at the time of writing.
According to the announcement, the NAPP has licensed the two companies based on the presidential decree issued in April 2022, which establishes rules for crypto assets circulation in Uzbekistan.
“Crypto shops are designed to provide easier access for citizens to buy or sell crypto assets,” the statement said, adding:
“The agency urges citizens to be as vigilant as possible and not to use the services of electronic platforms that have not received a license to operate on the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the prescribed manner.”
The news comes shortly after the government of Uzbekistan blocked a number of major global crypto exchanges due to the absence of a proper license to offer crypto trading services.
