End of an Era: Binance Mandates KYC
Binance Mandates KYC for ALL services
Mandatory KYC for ALL services, says Binance CEO, CZ.
It’s the end of an era. Where Binance used to be the go-to place for liquidity and coin pairings because they were not afraid to offer consumers what they wanted, they are now doubling down on the regulatory compliance front.
Today they announced that new customers will have to provide government ID and facial verification in order to have full use of the exchange.
When Shapeshift was forced by regulatory pressure to add KYC, they lost 90% of their business. Then earlier this year they announced they would end KYC, and completely decentralize their company, using decentralized tools like Thorchain to replace their exchange.
Will Binance’s future be focused on further decentralizing Binance Smart Chain?
Crypto Eats Up the Crumbs Thrown by Treasury
In what appears to be an unprecedented act of kindness towards the crypto community, an unnamed official from US Treasury department has said in a statement that the IRS will NOT go after crypto entities that do not meet the definition of a “broker”, which is currently defined by the US Tax Code as:
“A dealer, a barter exchange, and any other person who (for a consideration) regularly acts as a middleman with respect to property or services”.
This could potentially calm the waters surrounding the highly-opposed crypto provision in the newly-passed US Infrastructure bill: It included language intended to raise $28 billion in revenue by re-defining many participants in the crypto economy as “brokers” in order to tax them. The official also stated that more guidance is expected next week to more clearly define the matter.
While we’re elated that the US Treasury knows how to read a dictionary, the damage already inflicted by Treasury in classifying cryptocurrency as property rather than currency is extreme. So perhaps the definition of currency will also be useful for them:
Dead Men Tell No Tales... Or Do They?
Last Friday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted out a link to the book “Anatomy of the State” by the late Economist, Murray Rothbard. The text-less tweet would have people read a 62 page book describing why Nation States are inherently immoral, and how citizens are controlled and robbed under the false pretenses of “good intentions”. The book asserts that “The state has never been created by a ‘social contract’; it has always been born in conquest and exploitation”.
Though Rothbard died in 1995 and never knew the likes of today’s economic woes or the rise of cryptocurrencies, his book remains as relevant as ever for people seeking to understand the world better.
As to why Jack tweeted out a link to the Mises Institute’s free pdf, is anybody’s guess, but the fact that an influential thought leader like Jack is sharing ideas of voluntarism is a bullish sign in our book.
Walmart Seeking Help
Walmart is searching for a new “digital currency and cryptocurrency product lead” to help them join the crypto party. On the “careers” page on their official website (though the listing has since been removed), they list that the duties of this candidate will involve: “providing leadership with ways to identify technology and customer trends, driving the digital currency strategy and identifying crypto-related partnerships and investments”. This would not be Walmart’s first foray into the Crypto-verse; they already use blockchain technology for safe-delivery of their pharmaceuticals and produce; and two years ago they filed a patent for their own in-house stablecoin, similar to Facebook’s Libra (though no further news has come from that venture). It will be interesting to see how the price-slashing giant can still provide great prices AND accommodate the volatile fluctuations of crypto.
MobileCoin Raises $66 Million for Secure Payment Technology
MobileCoin, a secure cryptocurrency payment system used on mobile devices, has just raised $66 million dollars from investors to help move the technology forward. “Alameda Research, Coinbase Ventures, BlockTower Capital and other investors participated in the oversubscribed Series B funding round,” said CEO Joshua Goldbard. He explained that the system, which has already been integrated into various messaging apps such as Signal, “...has already yielded over one million transactions” via China’s Mixin Messenger integration. It uses a private MOB token to secure payments. Goldbard also stated plans to develop a chatbot entitled, “MOBot” to aid in ecommerce payments within messaging apps. Additionally, he said that a stablecoin is also in development, simply referred to as MobileUSD, to mitigate volatility. Currently, the payment technology will only be available to users in the U.K.
When asked about their support of MobileCoin, Signal stated, “As always, our goal is to keep your data in your hands rather than ours. MobileCoin’s design means Signal does not have access to your balance, full transaction history, or funds,” Signal wrote. “You can also transfer your funds at any time if you want to switch to another app or service.”
While not everyone is impressed by this private cryptocurrency (things got heated on Coindesk.tv’s “The Hash” this week between co-hosts!), normalizing privacy in payments seems like an overwhelmingly positive move. Hats off to Signal and MobileCoin.
By Will Sandoval NBTV Associate Producer, and Naomi Brockwell