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BinanceUS to suspend dollar deposits, Vitalik pledges $100m to Covid relief

BinanceUS to suspend dollar deposits,  Vitalik pledges $100m to Covid relief
The SEC asked a court to allow 'alternative means' to serve legal papers to Binance CEO Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao.
  • Binance.US says to withdraw dollars before June 13.
  • The SEC hunts for ways to serve CZ papers.
  • VCs sue Curve's founder.
  • This, and a lot more in today’s Snapshot.

BinanceUS said it will halt US dollar channels from June 13, “meaning our ability to accept USD fiat deposits and process USD fiat withdrawals will be impacted.”

The company blamed the “aggressive” tactics of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Binance will remain a crypto-only exchange, and encouraged customers to withdraw their dollars via bank transfer.

SEC documents have listed US bank partners of the exchange including Axos Bank, Cross River Bank, as well as collapsed lenders Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate, and Signature Bank.

SEC hunts for ‘alternative means’ to serve papers to CZ

The SEC isn’t letting up on its pursuit of Binance and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. The agency asked a court to allow it to seek “alternative means” to serve legal papers to Zhao. The documents said the CEO is “famously protective of revealing his whereabouts.”

The SEC suit against Binance alleges the exchange operated illegally.

Binance sent millions through Silvergate and Signature, a separate court document alleges.

VC trio sues Curve founder

ParaFi, Framework Ventures, and 1kx claimed in a California lawsuit that Curve founder Michael Egorov was involved in deceptive practices.

In the suit, the VCs say his ‘misappropriation of trade secrets’ resulted in financial damages.

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Egorov’s legal team says the lawsuit’s claims are “nothing more than a clever narrative.”

Egorov, while employed by NuCypher in the US, devised the concept for Curve and developed a small-scale prototype, according to the lawsuit.

To expand Curve, he required VC investment and pitched his idea to the three VCs.

Vitalik pledges $100m to Covid relief

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder and chief scientist of Ethereum, said in a tweet that he planned to pledge $100 million to Covid relief. “Covid and future pandemics are a global problem that requires a global solution combining frontier scientific innovation and on-the-ground implementation all over the world,” he wrote.

Buterin donated a mountain of Shib Inu memecoins in May 2021 to provide relief during the pandemic. It was one of the biggest donations in crypto history.

Buterin tweeted yesterday: “Work in India continues to be a key part of the solution, but we also need an integrated global approach.”

Read our deep dive on Buterin’s India donation, and how some of the funds intended for donation went through a wallet at Alameda, the hedge fund attached to collapsed exchange FTX.

What we’re reading in web3

A New Crypto Banking System Arises Under the Shadow of a Regulatory Crackdown - Bloomberg

SEC’s Coinbase Lawsuit Heralds Deepening US Crypto Crackdown - Bloomberg