Here are some major developments in the crypto world over the past few days.
A US federal magistrate judge has denied a request from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to probe the software used by Binance.US, asking the regulator to provide more “specific requests”. The judge said he isn’t “inclined to allow the inspection at this time.” The SEC and Binance are in a tug of war over the former’s request to the company to provide “specific information” and make its executives “readily available” for depositions.
During a hearing in the case, Judge Zia M. Faruqui rejected the SEC’s request for inspection and said that it should craft a more detailed “discovery request” and consult with a wider spectrum of witnesses, Bloomberg reported on September 18.
Since filing a lawsuit against Binance.US, its international affiliate Binance Holdings Ltd., and CEO Changpeng Zhao on June 5 for alleged involvement in selling unregistered securities, the SEC has repeatedly claimed that it struggled to get information from Binance.US.
On September 15, the SEC it charged Binance.US with failing to cooperate with the inquiry, pointing out that its holding company submitted “only 220 documents” in the discovery phase.
Two former executives of Andreessen Horowitz launched a Web3 business called Bastion after a successful $25 million funding round led by a16z, a crypto group. Bastion plans to enable firms to integrate Web3 infrastructure into their existing technologies.
Andreessen Horowitz’s former executives, chief technology officer Riyaz Faizullabhoy and chief security officer Nassim Eddequiouaq, had co-founded Bastion in April. The company announced its product line on September 18. The funding round also saw investments from the Nomura Group’s Laser Digital Ventures, Robot Ventures, Aptos Ventures, and Alchemy Ventures.
In a statement, Bastion said it will use the money to expand its business operations, hire engineers, and acquire licensing to diversify product offerings.
It was announced recently that Canto and Astar blockchains are planning to migrate to the Ethereum ecosystem. Polygon Labs said that Canto will be more decentralised by inheriting Ethereum’s security, which will enable “trustless guarantees” when bridging assets.
Canto is the most recent chain to migrate to Ethereum after layer-1 blockchain Astar announced similar plans to leave the Polkadot ecosystem.
Canto is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible, “permissionless” general-purpose blockchain that aims to integrate the financial industry with decentralised finance applications.
On September 18, Polygon Labs said: “By leveraging a shared ZK bridge, Canto will eventually tap the liquidity of a unified Polygon ecosystem with easy access to Ethereum.”