Binance founder Changpeng Zhao loses $12bn amid crypto trading tumble

Happy Saturday!

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao’s fortune has been diminished by almost $12 billion, leaving him with a bit more than $17 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Gemini sued former business partner Genesis over about $1.6 billion worth of shares, the US is looking to crack down on illicit terrorist financing, and Turkey plans crypto regulations next year. Read on!

Binance founder CZ loses $12bn

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index says the fortune of crypto exchange Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, or CZ, has decreased by $11.9 billion, dropping to $17.2 billion, Bloomberg reported.

The index had cut its estimate of Binance revenue by 38%.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Binance in June, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission went after it earlier in the year, the report noted.

Gemini sues bankrupt lender Genesis

Crypto exchange Gemini sued its former business partner, bankrupt crypto lender Genesis Global, over about $1.6 billion worth of shares in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust that had been pledged as collateral to users of Gemini’s Earn product, CoinDesk reported.

“It is time to resolve these issues so that Genesis may move forward with a reasonable plan of reorganization and Gemini may distribute the proceeds of the collateral to Earn users,” Gemini lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.

US looks to stem illicit finance

The US says some crypto firms are not doing enough to stem illicit finance, as it coordinates actions to prevent Palestinian militant group Hamas from bypassing international sanctions, Reuters reported.

US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said: “Our expectation is that financial institutions and digital asset companies and others in the virtual currency ecosystem take steps to prevent terrorists from being able to access resources. If they do not act to prevent illicit financial flows, the United States and our partners will.”

Turkey plans crypto regulations next year

Turkey’s government aims to complete the country’s crypto regulations in 2024, Cointelegraph reported, citing the recently published Turkish Presidential Annual Program.

The document, almost 500 pages long, discloses studies that are planned to define crypto assets and how they might be appropriately taxed. Legal definitions will also be created for crypto asset providers, including crypto exchanges, it said, but provided few other details on future regulations.

Tarun Chitra startup raises $8m

Tarun Chitra, who worked for a Wall Street trader, founded crypto risk management platform Gauntlet, and cofounded venture capital firm Robot Ventures, has a new project: Aera, a decentralized protocol to help DAOs manage their finances, Fortune reported.

Chitra said the Aera Foundation raised $8 million from the crypto arms of Bain Capital and Jump Trading, without providing a valuation. “The Aera team has developed a much-needed solution perfect for crypto-native organisations looking to responsibly manage their treasuries,” Stefan Cohen, partner at Bain Capital Crypto, said in a statement cited by the report.

What we’re reading around the web

The Shearing of Sam Bankman-Fried — New York Times

Michael Lewis says crypto haters ‘sell the hell out of the book’ on SBF — DL News

Google Doubles Down with $2 Billion Investment in Claude AI Developer Anthropic — Decrypt