Binance and Tether
In a dizzying turn of events, two prominent U.S. Senators have fervently implored the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ); to swiftly wield its authority and unleash the tempest of justice upon Binance and Tether, accusing them of nefariously aiding the militant group Hamas.
“We strongly support swift action by the Department of Justice against Binance and Tether; to choke off sources of funding to the terrorists currently targeting Israel,”. In a dramatic missive penned on October 26; Senators Lummis and the esteemed Arkansas representative French Hill thrust forth their grave concerns to Attorney General Merrick Garland; urging him to heed their call for swift and decisive action against Binance and Tether.
Senators Want Binance ”Charging Decision”
They urged the DoJ to conclude its investigation into Binance and to ”reach a charging decision” that reflects its “level of culpability” in illicit activities.
When it comes to illicit finance, crypto is not the enemy – bad actors are.
I sent a letter asking DOJ to finish its investigation and consider criminal charges against Binance and Tether after reports they served as intermediaries for Hamas and engaged in illicit activities. pic.twitter.com/M3KGNFkpWc
— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) October 26, 2023
The letter referenced an October 16 report from the Financial Times; which revealed that Israel had taken steps to close down over 100 Binance accounts linked to Hamas.
– Binance and Tether –
Adding fuel to the fire of apprehension, the letter cast a shadow of doubt over Tether’s purported complicity in facilitating breaches of sanctions and the Bank Secrecy Act. It lamented Tether’s apparent negligence in conducting thorough customer due diligence and screening; despite possessing the knowledge that its offerings could potentially be exploited for nefarious ends; including but not limited to terrorism and other clandestine activities.
In addition, the letter cited an October 10 report from the Wall Street Journal; which suggested that Hamas and other terrorist groups had received millions of dollars in cryptocurrency donations since August 2021. However, the senators acknowledged that the accuracy of the figures provided in the WSJ article was called into question by subsequent reports.
Tether Pushes Back, a huge news on Binance and Tether
Tether has pushed back against the letter then saying it contains imprecise information. The stablecoin issuer said the letter and painted “an unfair and skewed” image of Tether and the entire crypto industry.
“There is simply no evidence that Tether has violated sanctions laws or the Bank Secrecy Act through inadequate customer due diligence or screening practices,” Tether’s blog post read.
Tether Reinforces Stance Against Crypto’s Terrorist Utilization, Urges Governments to Fact Check Mainstream Media’s Misinterpretation of Data
Read more ⬇️https://t.co/ZMDVdRvuGK
Concluding
The issue of cryptocurrencies being potentially used to support Hamas has ignited a contentious debate. Then Notably, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic recently stated that there is “insufficient evidence” to suggest that Hamas acquired significant volumes of cryptocurrency assets to fund its operations against Israel, and it is happening.
Elliptic highlighted that a pro-Hamas campaign had managed to raise $21,000 since the October 7 attack, with most of these funds subsequently frozen. This amount is substantially lower than the $93 million in cryptocurrency donations that the Wall Street Journal article claimed Hamas and other terrorist organizations had received.
Know BOTH MORE
Binance
As a case in point and one of the crypto industry’s flag carriers and front runners; then the Binance crypto exchange shines brightly amidst the blockchain technology’s ambitious goals.
Created in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao and known broadly as CZ, Binance was transformed into one of the best-known, most popular, and powerful cryptocurrency exchanges with the passing of time. Binance stands for its user-friendly interface, digital innovation capability; diversity in trading opportunities and security protocols; that have enabled millions of crypto enthusiasts and investors worldwide.
In addition to its basic trading function; Binance has built a diverse ecosystem for customers to use its services such as futures trading, decentralized finance (DeFi), NFT marketplaces, et al. To bring about a more expanded crypto sector; Binance remains as a leader of this group, developing and redefining the future of finance.
Some Binance Projects:
1. Binance Coin (BNB):
In 2017, Binance set up its own crypto coin, Binance Coin (BNB). At first, BNB was merely an ERC-20 token representing ethnicity and worked on the network of Ethereum; but later it made its transition to Binance Chain, the native blockchain of Binance. BNB has several functions within the Binance universe and acts as regular trading fee discounting tool; a central token sale mechanism key on the Binance Launchpad; and the main coin for decentralized applications (dApps) has built on the Binance Smart Chain.
2. Binance Launchpad:
Binance Launchpad is a place where blockchain originators go to sell tokens or hold Initial Coin Offerings for the new digital currencies. Contestants that are successful are screened through a detailed vetting process; and their tokens can be sold in Launchpad during initial coin offering process. Launchpad from Binance has gave birth to many projects successfully raised funds and got the exposure they need.
3. Binance Smart Chain (BSC):
Binance Smart Chain represents a 2020 blockchain platform that belongs to Binance, the well-known crypto exchange company. It is optimal for smart contracts and dApps, having an additional option about money transfers within a shorter period of time and without a big expenditure of money. With different projects between BSC (Binance Smart Chain) and DeFi (Decentralized Finance) while other applications saw their creation; BSC has seen consistent growth.
4. Binance Academy:
Binance Academy is a launched by Binance as the educational platform to offers all the guides and resources for free to learn each and every blockchain topic and cryptocurrency. It provides diversified materials, such as articles, videos and course series covering all the fundamental ideas right up to the professional trading strategies; aiming at providing education on all levels of crypto users.
5. Binance Charity:
The BCF is the charity organ of Binance Foundation; capitalizing on blockchain technology to eventually give solutions to global issues and humanitarian matters. BCF is rolling out different initiatives among them crypto donations for humanitarian endeavors mostly like emergency response to calamities; school lunch program and then blockchain strategy for charitable giving closure.
Thether
Tether (USDT) is holding a very specific position for the stablecoin world within the crypto field as a stablecoin. This has Developed in 2014 and then introduced to the market as one of the early starter; Tether along with the idea of a digital coin that is pegged to a fiat currency – dollar in this case – aims to be an instrument of volatility reduction and support fluid money transfer; between the conventional and crypto markets.
Tether gets on different blockchain networks like Omni Layer of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, and other ones; and hence the customers can execute USD value amount of transactions with the utility of blockchain technology; i.e. seamless operation and borderless. Tether has been controversial and has been compounded by revelations about its reserve and transparency. But still manages to remain one of the stablecoins with higher adoption and plays a fundamentally important role of connecting fiat and crypto. Being primarily used as liquidity providers and means of exchange; its indispensability in cryptocurrency market infrastructure has been firmly cemented.
Here are some notable projects associated with Tether:Here are some notable projects associated with Tether:
1. Tether (USDT):
Tether, which is perhaps the most widely recognized project associated with the company, is the one which is most considered as crypto assets and reflects the real world value. It is a stablecoin pegged to the value of the US dollar; aiming to maintain a 1:Students should be able to convert costs in dollars and profit margins in yen for formulating their trading operations since they will use this strategy for determination of the sell and buy rates. USDT is widely accepted, stable and has a high value among other cryptocurrencies, enabling transfer of money and store of value just the way ordinary currency can. With that in mind, cryptocurrency market volatility can be hedged against.
2. Tether Gold (XAUT):
XAUT, a digital currency linked to real gold reserves of Tether, is another tool offered by this asset class for participants. Each XAUT token will be an asset that will be an asset representation of one troy ounce of gold that has been stored in a vault. Am investing on Tether Gold is evidence that someone is investing in gold; but without the possibily of having to buy physical gold coins or keep the gold in a bank. The following investment mode provides a simpler investment for someone to hold a golden position in his or her portfolio.
3. Tether (EURT):
Nevertheless, Tether has also decided to incorporate a stablecoin, EURT, merely to pegged to the euro (the euro). Similar to USDT, EURT aims to maintain a 1:issued with 1 unit to the euro, serving as a greenback digital asset; thus giving users a stable coin with the euro as the basis for trading and other financial operations.
4. Tether on Different Blockchains:
Initially, Tether was launched on the Bitcoin network through the Omni Layer protocol. However, after Tether expanded to other platforms, it has been available on multiple blockchain networks. These include the Ethereum blockchain that issues an ERC-20 token as well as Tron, EOS, and other networks. In the context of these multi-chain networks; the token holders can perform transactions in USDT on multiple platforms which greatly increases access levels and interoperability for the crypto world users.
5. Tether Transparency Reports:
Tether has been disclosing its transparency reports on a regular basis to public making information available on their reserve holdings and the issuance of tokens. These reports are meant to continue the building of trust and transparency among the community through the disclosure of the existence of fiat currency and other assets providing such backing.
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