Redemption and Reshuffling: BUSD’s Exit From Top 10 Cryptocurrencies Shakes Market Valuations

March 6, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Major Web3 Domain Provider Now Accepts Dogecoin (DOGE) As Payment Option

March 3, 2023 The Daily Hodl

Ebb and Flow of Stablecoin Economy Continues With BUSD’s Market Cap Dropping Below $10 Billion Range

March 3, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Binance ‘not planning any layoffs,’ 500 roles to be filled in H1

March 3, 2023 Coin Telegraph

BTC

A Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph that they hired 600 people since January and have no imminent plans for layoffs.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is “not planning any layoffs” and is instead trying to fill another 500 roles by the end of June, according to a Binance spokesperson.

The comments came despite a huge spike in crypto layoffs in January — the majority of which were from crypto exchanges. In a statement, the Binance representative said:

“As of today, we are actively hiring for more than 500 roles with the goal of filling them by the end of H1 [...] We are not planning any layoffs.”

The spokesperson was responding to a request for clarification from Cointelegraph on March 1 regarding a tip it had received of possible redundancies at the crypto exchange. The latest comments appear to completely refute this speculation.

At the time of writing, Binance had 463 listings on its job openings page, with roles in business development, communications, customer support and engineering, to name a few.

*Some of the business development job openings at Binance. Source:* *Binance*

In January, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said that the firm was planning for a hiring spree in 2023, increasing its headcount by 15% to 30%, according to a Jan. 11 report from CNBC.

The spokesperson said that the company has hired more than 600 people since the start of 2023.

According to CoinGecko, 84.8% of the crypto layoffs in January were due to crypto exchanges reducing headcount, including Coinbase, Huobi, Blockchain.com, Crypto.com and Luno.

Coinbase announced it would be reducing its headcount by around 950 on Jan. 10, while Crypto.com announced on Jan. 13 that it would be reducing its workforce by around 500.

Binance has been regarded by some, such as Arcane, as one of the “winners” of 2022, with the fall of crypto exchange FTX and the implementation of zero-fee Bitcoin (BTC) trading leading to it capturing an overwhelming portion of the market.

On the other side of the coin, the exchange has also seen intense scrutiny. Most recently, this has revolved around the alleged shuffling of $1.8 billion in funds which some have compared to the actions of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX.

Binance used $1.8 billion in customer funds for its own purposes, similar to what FTX did

Here we go again
— Genevieve Roch-Decter, CFA (@GRDecter) February 28, 2023

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao took to Twitter to respond to the allegations, labeling it “FUD” and suggesting it was standard practice for an exchange.

This year has had a tough start for those working in the crypto industry, with at least 14 firms and nearly 3,000 jobs being lost in January before a milder 570 layoffs in February.

But the tide could be turning, with the crypto market cap increasing by over 34% so far in 2023, according to CoinMarketCap, and other firms, such as USDC issuer Circle, also planning to go on a hiring spree.

Coinbase to Suspend Trading of BUSD Amid Regulatory Crackdown

February 28, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Citizens Trust Bank to Hold $65 Million in USDC Reserves as Circle Expands Bank Partnerships

February 25, 2023 Bitcoin.com

SEC is not the appropriate regulator for stablecoins: Circle CEO

February 24, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Circle

Circle boss Jeremy Allaire maintains that "payment stablecoins" are payment systems, not securities.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission is not the appropriate agency to regulate stablecoins, according to Circle founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Feb. 24, the Circle chief executive aired his views on the SEC and its recent moves to clamp down on the crypto industry, including stablecoin issuer Paxos.

Allaire appears to have taken issue with the SEC's focus on stablecoins, arguing that dollar-pegged “payment stablecoins” should be under the oversight of a banking regulator, rather than the SEC.

“I don’t think the SEC is the regulator for stablecoins,” said Allaire, adding:

“There is a reason why everywhere in the world, including the U.S., the government is specifically saying payment stablecoins are a payment system and banking regulator activity.”

Circle confirmed last week that it had not been targeted by the SEC following the issuance of a Wells notice to Binance USD (BUSD)-issuer Paxos.

“There are lots of flavors, as we like to say, not all stablecoins are created equal,” Allaire said, adding, “But, clearly, from a policy perspective, the uniform view around the world is this is a payment system, prudential regulator space.”

Circle's Jeremy Allaire says banking regulators would be better for overseeing stablecoins than the SEC https://t.co/8nibUU4taW
— Bloomberg Crypto (@crypto) February 23, 2023

The Circle CEO however said that he was generally in favor of a recent SEC proposal on crypto custody that would make it much harder for exchanges to become custodians.

“We think having qualified custodians that can provide the appropriate control structures and bankruptcy protections and the other things is a very important market structure and very valuable.”

Circle is the issuer of the world’s second-largest stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC). It has a circulating supply of $42.2 billion which gives it a market share of 31%. Tether remains the dominant stablecoin with a supply of $70.6 billion and a market share of 52%, according to CoinGecko.

On Feb. 23, Allaire agreed with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who said that the agency should refer to Congress. Due to the lack of legislation, some believe the SEC has been taking things into its own hands concerning crypto regulations and enforcement.

It’s time for Congress to get busy legislating. That’s what you do when things are new, complex and have broad impact on society. Thanks @HesterPeirce https://t.co/4EaX4RqcE9
— Jeremy Allaire (@jerallaire) February 23, 2023

Circle is expanding its headcount by as much as 25%, bucking the general trend of crypto layoffs, the report noted.

Binance Increases USDC Holdings as BUSD’s Market Cap Slides Lower

February 21, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Nearly 3 Billion BUSD Stablecoins Have Been Removed From the Market in 6 Days

February 19, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Binance mints 50M TrueUSD days after Paxos ordered stop issuing BUSD

February 17, 2023 Coin Telegraph

algorithmic Stablecoins

Despite the minting of $50 million in TUSD, Zhao previously said the regulatory crackdown on stablecoins in the U.S. will cause the USD-back stablecoin market to “shrink.”

Only days after reports of United States regulatory scrutiny of Paxos and Binance USD (BUSD), cryptocurrency exchange Binance has minted nearly $50 million worth of TrueUSD (TUSD).

The transaction took place on Feb. 16, according to data from Etherscan, and also comes two days after Binance CEO Chanpeng 'CZ' Zhao said in a Feb. 14 Twitter Spaces that Binance would look to “diversify” its stablecoin holdings away from BUSD.

We're live!

Tune-in to our Twitter Space AMA with @cz_binance below https://t.co/bXIztCKdry
— Binance (@binance) February 14, 2023

Despite minting nearly $50 million in TUSD from the TrustToken platform’s smart contract on Feb. 16, CZ had earlier said the recent regulatory action by the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) over the long term may lead to a fall in the dominance of U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins.

“I think with the current stances taken by the regulators on the U.S. Dollar-based stablecoin, the industry will probably move away to a non-U.S. Dollar-based stablecoin, back to algorithmic stablecoins.”

“There’s multiple agencies putting applied pressure there. It is just going to shrink the U.S. Dollar-based stablecoin market,” he added.

CZ said that “this has prompted us to look for more options in different places” and that they’re now exploring other options.

50M #TUSD minted at #Binance and the price of $TRU increased by 200%.

On-chain data shows that #Alameda and #justinsun are the two largest minters of $TUSD.#Alameda minted a total of 1.64B $TUSD in history.#justinsun minted a total of 889M $TUSD in history. pic.twitter.com/N1tUjFQm5U
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 16, 2023

While the CEO stated that Binance would provide more support for USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT) over the short term — in expectation that BUSD “winds down over time” — he added that they’re now looking to explore more into Euro and Japanese Yen-based stablecoins.

As for BUSD, CZ said “the existing circulating supply of BUSD is there and safe, and as more people want to redeem, they will be burned.”

Interestingly, the Binance CEO added that he was never too bullish on the success of the Binance-branded BUSD stablecoin anyway:

“To be honest BUSD was never a big business for us, when we started I actually thought the BUSD project may fail, so we actually don’t have very good economics on that collaboration.”

Interesting, in September, TUSD was one of the stablecoins that Binance auto-converted to BUSD to enhance liquidity and capital-efficiency for its users. Other stablecoins that got auto-converted were USDC and USDP Stablecoin (USDP). This drove up BUSD’s share in the stablecoin market from 10% to 15% in a matter of weeks.

TrustToken launched TUSD on Mar. 5, 2018, which operates on the Ethereum, Avalanche, MATIC and Tron networks.

New TUSD is minted whenever a buyer wires USD to a third-party escrow that holds USD deposits on Prime Trust's behalf. Once received, TUSD will be transferred in a 1:1 ratio to the USD sent to the trader’s nominated ERC-20 or BEP-2 wallet address.

USDC

Share this video