Binance Holdings Ltd. has recently formed a board of directors, a significant move amidst a period marked by changes and challenges, as reported by Bloomberg News.

The board comprises seven members, including CEO Richard Teng and three other company executives: Heina Chen, Jinkai He, and Lilai Wang. Additionally, three external members join the board: Gabriel Abed, Arnaud Ventura, and Xin Wang, according to Bloomberg’s coverage.

Gabriel Abed, formerly the Ambassador of Barbados to the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, resigned from his position two months ago. Arnaud Ventura is an entrepreneur who has founded multiple companies, including PlaNet Finance. Xin Wang serves as the CEO at Bayview Acquisition Corp. and offers advisory services to financial institutions regarding mergers and acquisitions, as detailed on her LinkedIn profile.

Although Binance did not provide immediate comment on this development, the company did publish the board of directors on its website. However, the timing of this release remains unclear.

This announcement comes after Binance faced legal issues late last year, pleading guilty to various charges, including money laundering, conducting an unlicensed money-transmitting business, and violating sanctions. Former CEO Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering and sanctions violations, agreed to a $50 million fine, and stepped down from his position. CZ’s sentencing is scheduled for April 30th.

Following CZ’s resignation, Binance appointed Richard Teng as its new CEO. Teng previously served as Binance’s Global Head of Regional Markets, bringing his extensive experience to the forefront of the exchange’s leadership.

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Stablecoin issuer Tether has expanded its Bitcoin portfolio significantly in the first quarter of 2024, acquiring an additional 8,888 bitcoins. This brings Tether’s total Bitcoin holdings to approximately 75,354 BTC, valued at over $5.2 billion. This milestone coincides with Bitcoin’s recent surge to an all-time high, currently trading around $69,500.

While Tether has not publicly disclosed its Bitcoin addresses, it was confirmed by The Block last year that Tether holds one Bitcoin address, which has been consistently accumulating bitcoins since September 2022. With the latest purchase in Q1, Tether has ascended to the rank of the seventh-largest Bitcoin holder, up from its previous position of 11 earlier this year.

When reached for comment, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed the acquisition of 8,888 bitcoins throughout the first quarter. Ardoino explained that the purchase was spread out over the quarter and settled by the end, with one significant purchase observed on March 31.

Tether’s Bitcoin Strategy

Tether first disclosed its Bitcoin holdings in May 2023, announcing plans to allocate up to 15% of its profits quarterly towards Bitcoin purchases, shifting away from U.S. government debt and towards cryptocurrencies.

In addition to direct investments in Bitcoin, Tether has ventured into Bitcoin mining and energy production. The company has also expanded into the AI sector, aiming to lead in the development of open-source, multimodal AI models to drive innovation and accessibility within AI technology.

Tether’s core business remains the operation of the USDT stablecoin, which has enabled the accumulation of $5.4 billion in excess reserves as of December 31, 2023, according to its fourth-quarter attestation report. With a total USDT supply exceeding 109 billion, Tether remains the largest stablecoin issuer in the market, as reported by The Block’s Data Dashboard.

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BNB experienced a notable 12% rise in value over the past week, reaching a nearly two-week high of $620 by March 29. This surge, while impressive, prompts speculation about whether BNB has hit its peak or if it’s poised for further growth. Compared to its competitor Ether, which saw a 5% increase over the same period, BNB’s surge narrowed the valuation gap between the two. However, insights from on-chain BNB Chain data suggest that the recent rally might have pushed the limits too far.

Factors Influencing BNB’s Price

Market analysts observe a correlation between the crypto market’s upward trajectory and inflows into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). However, the week ending March 23 marked a setback as these ETFs experienced a net outflow of $890 million for the first time since their introduction in January. Despite this, recent data indicates a reduction in outflows from the Grayscale GBTC fund, with only $104 million exiting the fund by March 28.

In early March, BNB’s price surged by 61.7%, reaching a peak of $645 and a market capitalization of $96.4 billion. Yet, momentum slowed afterward. For context, BNB reached an all-time high valuation of $116 billion in November 2021. Notably, the total value locked (TVL) on BNB Chain, representing deposits in the network’s smart contracts, peaked at $15.7 billion but has since fallen to $7.1 billion, marking a 55% decrease.

Contextualizing BNB Chain’s Performance

Considering the overall decline in the crypto market, particularly in decentralized finance (DeFi) since late 2021, it’s important to contextualize BNB Chain’s TVL decline. The total market data for all tracked blockchains has decreased from nearly $205 billion to $155 billion, indicating a 25% drop. Hence, a thorough analysis of BNB Chain’s TVL, especially concerning competitors like Ethereum and Solana, is necessary.

Activity on BNB Chain

TVL isn’t the sole indicator of a blockchain’s success. Numerous decentralized applications (DApps) on the BNB Chain, spanning nonfungible token (NFT) marketplaces, gaming platforms, decentralized betting systems, collectible platforms, and social networks, operate without necessitating significant deposits. In the past week, nearly 2 million active addresses engaged with DApps on the BNB Chain, showcasing significant activity levels comparable to Ethereum’s most active layer-2 networks.

Forecasting Future Trends

Predicting cryptocurrency trends is challenging, but examining derivative metrics such as the demand for leverage in BNB perpetual futures contracts provides insights into market sentiment. While the demand for leveraged long positions has stabilized, with the 8-hour funding rate holding around 0.03%, optimism remains despite BNB’s price struggle with the $620 level. Typically, a positive funding rate above 1.2% per week indicates bullish market sentiment.

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On Thursday, the price of Dogecoin (DOGE) soared to its peak since December 2021, hitting 22 cents. This surge was fueled by heightened trading volumes and speculation regarding its potential integration into the social media platform X, owned by Elon Musk. Various posts from prominent members of the Dogecoin community on X speculated about the token’s potential adoption on the platform, especially considering a new payment branch acquiring additional licenses in the United States. This speculation contributed to bullish sentiment and trading interest in DOGE.

The token’s price tends to react to developments related to payments at companies owned by Elon Musk, such as X or Tesla. Elon Musk’s previous endorsements of Dogecoin have also influenced its price movements.

Trading volume for DOGE surged to $7 billion in the past 24 hours, up from an average of $3 billion earlier in the week. Futures tracking the token also saw open interest rise to nearly $2 billion across crypto exchanges, indicating increased bets on price volatility.

While speculation about DOGE’s usage on X has been ongoing since Musk acquired the company in 2021, there has been no official confirmation regarding whether DOGE will be accepted as a payment option on the platform. However, Musk’s previous statements and endorsements have fueled speculation about the potential integration of DOGE into X’s payment services.

Overall, the surge in DOGE’s price and trading activity reflects the continued influence of social media speculation and Elon Musk’s involvement in the token’s market dynamics.

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During a panel discussion at the recent BUIDL Asia summit in Seoul, the issue of racist meme coins and how to handle them was debated among panelists. These meme coins, containing offensive terms and themes, have become increasingly prevalent in the crypto space in recent months, raising concerns within the community.

Austin Federa, the head of strategy at the Solana Foundation, offered his perspective on the matter. He argued that while users should have the ability to reveal content if they choose to, the core network should remain permissionless. Federa likened the situation to the internet, where it’s impractical to expect internet service providers (ISPs) to filter out offensive content. Similarly, in the crypto space, wallet developers can implement block lists to filter out certain tokens, but the core network should remain decentralized and permissionless.

On the other hand, Marc Zeller, founder of the Aave Chan Initiative, highlighted the legal obligations in some jurisdictions, such as France, where ISPs are required to block certain content. Zeller acknowledged the cultural differences in approaches to censorship and emphasized the importance of censorship resistance in the blockchain ethos.

Federa also mentioned the legal obligations faced by validators and nodes, citing instances where the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on certain crypto transactions. However, he noted that addressing racist meme coins should be kept in perspective, as they represent a small fraction of the overall crypto market.

In summary, while there are differing views on how to address offensive meme coins, the discussion at the BUIDL Asia summit highlighted the complexities involved and the importance of balancing censorship resistance with legal obligations and community standards.

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