Cryptocurrency

Crypto Market Update: Bitcoin Suisse To Expand In UAE

Key legal and regulatory developments shake the crypto landscape as Binance rebuffs FTX claims, Bitcoin Suisse eyes UAE growth, and SEC charges Unicoin over investor deception.

Crypto Market Update: Bitcoin Suisse Gets Abu Dhabi IPA; Binance Seeks FTX Lawsuit Dismissal; SEC Sues Unicoin for $100M Fraud
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Bitcoin Suisse has received in-principle permission (IPA) from the Abu Dhabi Global Market's Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), marking a significant step forward in the Swiss crypto firm's development beyond the EU.

According to a May 21 press release, the Swiss cryptocurrency financial services provider has gained in-principle clearance through its subsidiary BTCS (Middle East).

The IPA is a step toward obtaining a complete financial services license, which will enable Bitcoin Suisse to offer regulated crypto financial services like as digital asset trading, crypto securities and derivatives offers, and custody solutions.

The approval reflects the firm’s “strong commitment to maintaining the highest standards of transparency, security, and regulatory compliance,” according to Ceyda Majcen, head of global expansion and designated senior executive officer of BTCS (Middle East).

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Binance called For the Dismissal of FTX suit

Binance has requested a Delaware bankruptcy judge to dismiss a $1.76 billion lawsuit brought by the FTX estate, alleging that the platform is attempting to "shift the blame" for its collapse from founder Sam Bankman-Fried to competitors. Binance Holdings Ltd. argued the complaint is "legally deficient" and cannot link Binance or its former CEO to FTX's downfall.

“Plaintiffs are pretending that FTX did not collapse as the result of one of the most massive corporate frauds in history,” the filing said, noting that former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is now serving a 25-year prison sentence for defrauding customers, investors, and lenders.

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A lawsuit filed in November seeks to recover around $1.76 billion worth of crypto transferred to Binance in July 2021 as part of a share repurchase agreement. FTX claimed the exchange was insolvent at the time and that misappropriated customer funds secretly financed the repurchase, using a mix of BNB, BUSD, and FTT tokens. But Binance argued in the motion that FTX “remained a going concern for 16 months” afterwards, making any claim of prior insolvency implausible.

The lawsuit alleges Zhao used Twitter to trigger customer withdrawals, stating Binance would liquidate its FTT holdings due to recent revelations.

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Unicoin Crypto Sued By SEC For $100 Million Fraud

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit against crypto investment platform Unicoin and three of its executives, saying that they made false and misleading representations about its cryptocurrency holdings, which garnered more than $100 million from investors.

On May 20, the SEC charged Unicoin CEO Alex Konanykhin, board member Silvina Moschini, and former investment head Alex Dominguez with deceiving over 5,000 investors about certificates that granted them the opportunity to earn Unicoin tokens and shares.

SEC Division of Enforcement associate director Mark Cave alleged that beginning in 2022, the three "exploited thousands of investors with fictitious promises that its tokens, when issued, would be backed by real-world assets, including an international portfolio of valuable real estate holdings."

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“ The real estate were worth a mere fraction of what company claimed, and the majority of the company’s sales of rights certificates were illusionary, “ Cave added.

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