Binance Invests Quarter of Profits in Third Party companies

Changpen Zhao: Binance Invests Quarter of Profits in Third Party Companies

According to the audit firm PwC, the largest companies in the cryptocurrency space are getting even bigger, buying up small services that can expand their product line. One notable example of such a company is Binance, which recently bought the tracking portal CoinMarketCap, thus continuing a series of at least nine acquisitions in 2019.

Commenting on these observations, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said, "In Asia, we are interested in exchanges with existing banking ties that allow them to trade in local fiat currencies." He also included e-commerce platforms and payment services that use blockchain in this list.

“I think we should expect the growth of large players, but they will not buy direct competitors. They will not grow vertically, but horizontally. Unicorns are becoming more octopus-like with a presence in various areas of the crypto ecosystem, ”said PwC.

Zhao expects that the tightening of requirements for combating money laundering and terrorist financing will lead to the fact that small exchanges can no longer cover the associated costs and will be consolidated by larger players. Last November, Binance acquired Indian exchange WazirX for $ 8 million.

“We typically spend about a quarter of our profits on investment opportunities each year, building our portfolio outside of trading,” added Zhao.

Binance's profit for the fourth quarter of last year alone is estimated at $ 180 million. Thus, Binance's annual investment may be in the nine-figure region. The acquisition of CoinMarketCap, according to sources, cost Binance $ 300 - 400 million.

Chinese authorities to accelerate the development of blockchain technology with the support of Huawei

The Nanshan District Administration of the Chinese city of Shenzhen has partnered with telecommunications giant Huawei, with which it will develop blockchain and other cutting-edge technologies. It is reported by the local English-language edition of the Global Times.

“Huawei and the Nanshan authorities on Friday signed an agreement to create an industrial demonstration zone to accelerate the use of blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data and 5G, and turn the city into a showcase area for the chip manufacturing industry,” it said.

Shenzhen owns the largest technology center in China. The head office of Huawei is also located here.

Earlier, the People's Bank of China invited Huawei to test its digital currency. The company said that "strategic cooperation" with the regulator is aimed at researching financial technology, but refrained from disclosing details.

Huawei CEO Ren Zhenfei is also a supporter of the creation of a national digital currency in China. “China can issue such a currency itself. Why wait for others to release it? The country will always be stronger than a separate Internet company, ”he said.

In 2018, Huawei introduced a blockchain service that allows businesses around the world to build, launch and manage their applications, taking advantage of increased responsiveness and lower costs.

Bisq Decentralized Exchange Halted Trading Due to Critical Vulnerability

The non-custodial cryptocurrency exchange Bisq stopped trading today due to the discovery of a critical security vulnerability.

Losses are tentatively estimated at $ 250,000, but this figure may not be final. The developers ask users not to make any transactions with assets until the situation is clarified.

“Platform developers are studying the problem. An alarming key was used to temporarily suspend trading, ”she wrote

company on Twitter.

The exchange also asked users who had active orders at the time the trading was disabled, not to carry out transactions until the situation is clarified. Initially it was reported that trades will be available after a few hours, but more than 14 hours have passed, and the platform is still unavailable.

“Your assets are completely safe, they are not in danger. Before the release of v1.3.0, the existing transactions will not be completed, ”the company representatives assure.

The developers focused on the fact that due to the decentralized nature of the exchange, users have the ability to rewrite the activation of the alarm key and in this way resume trading on the platform, but this is highly undesirable.

If you log into the platform through your own client, you can see the following message in the interface: "An attacker exploited a security vulnerability." Moreover, this information is not shown in other Bisq channels.

BUX Brokerage Firm Launches BUX Crypto Cryptocurrency Trading Platform

Dutch brokerage firm BUX has launched the BUX Crypto platform for commission-free cryptocurrency trading in 25 countries. BUX Crypto users will be able to buy digital assets with EUR.

The platform supports the trading of six cryptoassets: BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, LTC, and BUX internal token. In the future, it is planned to add other cryptocurrencies to the site. At the same time, trading without commissions will be available only to the first 5,000 traders who registered at BUX Crytpo. In addition, these users must have at least 2,500 BUX to avoid paying transaction fees.

“Since the opening of BUX in 2014, we have been constantly improving our investment product line in accordance with the growing needs of our clients. The BUX Crypto platform will enable even novice investors to enter the cryptocurrency market, ”said BUX founder and CEO Nick Bortot.

BUX officials said the platform will be registered with the Dutch Central Bank as a cryptocurrency service provider, but did not specify when this would happen. According to Bortot, such a step will inspire the confidence of new users and serve as proof that it is possible to work with cryptocurrencies legally, observing the requirements of regulators.