Here are some of the major developments from the world of crypto over the past few days
The second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Bybit Exchange, has taken over Coinbase. A June 25 report by Kaiko stated that Bybit has surged in trade to become the second-largest controlled crypto exchange by trading volume. Even if earnings and sales increased over this time, Coinbase's market share increased by just 1%.
Bybit's growing market share might be related to Binance's prior regulatory issues, which caused the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange to lose part of its industry dominance. As Bybit’s market share has grown over 8% during the past eight months, Binance has been losing traction.
On November, 2023, one of the largest criminal fines in American history, the $4.3 billion settlement with Binance for Anti-Money Laundering offenses was announced by U.S. officials. The SEC claimed in the case against Binance that billions of customer cash had been embezzled by the business and its fo:under, Changpeng Zhao.
DFX Labs, a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency trading platform which has moved closer to obtaining a complete operational license in the area after receiving an Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO) certification. The SFC in Hong Kong has licensed DFX Labs for virtual asset services, although the company is not yet able to trade.
The company's chief operating officer, Simon Au Yeung, submitted the main application for DFX Labs' Hong Kong cryptocurrency license on December 27, 2023. The exchange was considered licensed on 1 June. As previously stated, the DFX Labs website is still an unauthorized virtual asset platform that Hong Kong residents cannot use.
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Toronto (Toronto ETO), Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), and StartmeupHK (SMUHK) are three Hong Kong government organizations that co-hosted an event recently with the goal of promoting its offshore ready-to-move technology hub for Canadian cryptocurrency and Web3 startups at a Toronto conference. In May, unlicensed bitcoin exchanges in Hong Kong were closed.
VanEck filed form 8-A with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on June 25, putting the spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) one step closer to actual trading. Eric Balchunas, a senior Bloomberg ETF analyst, speculated that spot Ether ETH $3,388 ETFs might be available for trading soon on 2 July.
The senior Bloomberg analyst had predicted an early July ETF launch window earlier in June, citing the SEC staff's lack of meaningful commentary on the S-1 filings of the ETF applicants. Balchunas also pointed out that the acceptance of the Ether ETFs came as a surprise and was probably caused by political issues associated with the present government.
As Balchunas stated, the approval of a spot Ether ETF in the United States surprised many and marks a significant change from the current administration's views. Blockchain leaders are leveraging election opportunities with Gemini enabling crypto donations and the Bitcoin Voter Project promoting BTC education.