Today’s edition is brought to you by Phemex - a top exchange for trading crypto and derivatives that is entering the second stage of its Phemex Token To The Moon event.
GM! Milk Road: Your daily dose of crypto, minus the side effects of confusion.
Here’s what we got for you today:
- Trouble for Binance and Kraken 🧐
- Graph of the Day: 8 straight weeks of inflows 📊
- This memecoin is up 1,400% over the last month 🍪
Prices as of 7:30 AM ET. Click here for our Fear & Greed Index
TROUBLE FOR BINANCE AND KRAKEN 🧐
Yesterday was a rough day to be a crypto exchange…
- The largest exchange is facing a $4B settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.
- The 10th largest exchange got sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
…and it’s only Tuesday.
Here’s everything that happened yesterday, all in under 2 minutes:
1/ BINANCE IS NEGOTIATING A SETTLEMENT WITH THE DOJ.
According to a Bloomberg report, the DOJ is negotiating a settlement to end its criminal case against Binance.
The crypto exchange is being investigated for alleged money laundering, bank fraud, and sanctions violations.
Negotiations include:
- A $4B fine.
- Possible criminal charges for Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance.
- Allowing Binance to continue operations with a monitoring provision to ensure it stays compliant.
- Making everyone subscribe to Milk Road.* (not officially part of negotiations, but we’ve submitted the idea for consideration).
The best part: Crypto avoids the big Black Swan event everyone’s been afraid of - Binance collapsing. *phew*
What’s next? According to the report, an announcement regarding a potential settlement could be made by the end of the month.
2/ KRAKEN GOT SUED BY THE SEC.
The crypto exchange got sued by the regulators back in February for failing to register the offer and sale of its staking-as-a-service program.
The case was settled, Kraken paid $30M, and the staking program was shut down.
Now the SEC is back for Round 2. This time, the regulators are alleging that Kraken:
- Operated using risky business practices. The SEC says Kraken's business practices, internal controls, and record keeping presented investors with additional risks "that would also be prohibited for any properly registered securities intermediary."
- Commingled customer funds. The SEC claims “Kraken has at times paid operational expenses directly from bank accounts that hold customer cash.”
- Failed to properly register as an exchange. The regulatory agency claims that Kraken operated not only as an unregistered exchange but also as an unregistered broker, dealer, and clearing agency.
The SEC also named 16 popular cryptocurrencies as securities in the lawsuit. Some of the tokens include SOL, MATIC, FLOW, ATOM, ALGO, ADA, NEAR, SAND, MANA, and more.
So, what’s next? Kraken says the SECs claims are baseless and “plans to vigorously” fight them.
In other words…*clears throat*...LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLEEEEE!”
Here’s how the crypto community is reacting to yesterday’s news:
How come this feels like extortion?
— RYAN SΞAN ADAMS - rsa.eth (@RyanSAdams)6:01 PM • Nov 20, 2023
Is the SEC broke? They just offered a 4 Billion settlement number to Binance and just tonight they decided to sue Kraken. Man, Gary is protecting us so hard Great timing Gary. Where were you when you were supposed to actually do your job? You & Cramer should start a hedge fund.
— Digital Asset News (@NewsAsset)10:31 PM • Nov 20, 2023
Binance was the biggest idiosyncratic overhang on this market for the entire last year. Looks like we may finally be getting some resolution on it. Markets hate uncertainty and they love clarity and resolution. Similar vibes to the Bitmex resolution in 2020.
— Will (@WClementeIII)6:10 PM • Nov 20, 2023
Wait, we’re just putting together that the amount of billions that the USG asked for from Binance is 4. That’s hilarious. What a troll. 😂 💀
— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital)7:06 PM • Nov 20, 2023
The US Gov asking Binance for $4 Billion.
— Tony Edward (Thinking Crypto Podcast) (@ThinkingCrypto1)6:33 PM • Nov 20, 2023
THE NEXT STAGE OF YOUR MISSION IS STARTING
We’ve discussed Phemex’s “Token to the Moon” event a bit over here at Milk Road. But boy oh boy are things heating up.
Phemex invites users to partake in an enjoyable, fair, and risk-free PT Bidding event, available for a limited duration of a couple of hours. If you change your mind, Phemex offers a 14-day window to return your PT.
As if it can get any more fun for the community, Phemex Soul Pass holders will have exclusive access before the event fully begins. You got yours, right? Right?
The event goes live on November 28th, between 14:00-20:00 (UTC).
Phemex is also marking its 4th year anniversary this week, so happy birthday Phemex!
Click on through to learn more and join the fun!
GRAPH OF THE DAY: 8 STRAIGHT WEEKS OF INFLOWS 📊
Each week, Coinshares reports how much money is invested into digital asset investment products.
It’s a good way to gauge institutional interest in crypto.
Well, the latest results are in… inflows totaled $176M last week.
Here’s everything you need to know:
- Year-to-date inflows now total $1.32B.#3CommaClub
- New week, new inflows for Bitcoin. The OG cryptocurrency led the way for all cryptocurrencies (again) with $155M in inflows.
- ETP share of total crypto volume is rising. It’s averaging 11% compared to the weekly historical average of 3.4%.
- Altcoins see another big week of inflows. SOL ($13.6M), ETH ($3.3M), and AVAX ($1.8M) led the way.
The cherry on top? That’s 8 straight weeks of inflows. Can’t stop, won’t stop.
Why this matters: CoinShares analysts believe this continued positive sentiment is “related to the imminent approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S.”
BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE RUN 🍪
Harpie is seamlessly protecting crypto investors from hacks and exploits. Built directly into your wallet, Harpie warns users about malicious transactions and in some cases, has even been able to recover stolen funds. Check out our review of their platform!
The BONK memecoin is up 1,700% over the last month. BONK is Solana’s version of a “dog-themed” memecoin, similar to what Dogecoin and Shiba Inu are to Ethereum.
Santander Private Banking International introduces crypto trading for clients in Switzerland. High-net-worth clients with Swiss accounts can now buy, sell, and hold BTC and ETH through the bank.
Tether has frozen $225M in USDT following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). It’s the largest-ever freeze for a stablecoin.
Bullish crypto exchange has acquired CoinDesk in an all-cash deal. Bullish is run by Tom Farley (the former President of the New York Stock Exchange).
The active supply of Bitcoin and Ethereum is at record lows. Only 30% of BTC and 39% of ETH has moved in the past year - the lowest values on record, ever.
Nike dropped some new sneakers that come with NFTs. There’s an embedded near-field communication (NFC) chip in the sneakers that lets the owner “obtain a digital collectible and connect the physical product shipped with the digital collectible obtained.”
MILKY MEMES 🤣
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ROADER REVIEW OF THE DAY
VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY
Convincing your parents to let you sleep over your friends house in 6th grade
— Milk Road Images (@MilkRoadImages)1:10 PM • Nov 21, 2023
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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.
