From Exploits to Partnerships, and more – The Latest on FTX, Binance, Coinbase, and Nexo

With digital assets being a global phenomenon, there is never a shortage of events involving the scores of centralized exchanges serving the sector.  The following are few recent examples of this, involving some of the worlds largest and most popular platforms.

BNB Chain Exploit

Less than a day after announcing its success in attaining a permanent license to operate in Kazakhstan, Binance appears to have suffered from a major exploit involving its BNB Chain.  The result? An estimated $590M stolen.

Taking to Twitter, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao addressed the situation stating, “An exploit on a cross-chain bridge, BSC Token Hub, resulted in extra BNB. We have asked all validators to temporarily suspend BSC. The issue is contained now. Your funds are safe. We apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates accordingly.”

Essentially, what happened is that bad actors exploited a bit of code which allowed them to essentially create extra BNB tokens.  This means that rather than value being stolen, it was simply created out of thin air.  As such, BNB Chain and Binance itself have assured clients that all funds are safe.

In an effort to limit any potential damage done by this event, BNB Chain and Binance have been hard at work to identify which BNB tokens were created through this exploit, and have industry participants blacklist addresses associated with them, in an attempt to render them useless.

As a result of these events, BNB has unsurprisingly taken quite a hit in market value.  While it will surely rebound in the future, for now the market has seen BNB drop from a price of $402 to $385 within 5 hours.

While initial estimates ranged between $100M-$110M, BNB Chain has since amended this to reflect the aforementioned total of $590M.

FTX and Visa to Bring Crypto Payments to 40+ Countries

While Binance may be having a rough day, FTX has been riding high after announcing a new partnership with payment processing giant, Visa.  First reported by CNBC, this partnership will see the pair bring crypto-payments to over 40 countries through use of exchange-linked debit cards.

Establishing an easy and secure way to pay for everyday goods and services has long been noted as one of the largest hurdles holding back digital assets from true mainstream adoption.  Development has been slow moving, however such a partnership has the potential to go a long way in making this goal a reality.

While many consumers may be ready to spend their digital assets on goods and services, convincing merchants to take the time to learn and set up the ability to do so is another issue.  Visa CFO, Vasant Prabhu, spoke to this by stating “everything is done behind the scenes”  – meaning the process is much less daunting, making it more appealing for merchants to come on board.

While such products have already been on offer within the United States for some time, there is much more to the world than just North America.  In fact, most companies have noted that the greatest potential for digital asset adoption lay not within the worlds leading economies, but emerging markets.  With this in mind, the partnership is said to have a focus on the following regions,

Naturally, an announcement of this scope is sure to have some effect on any assets linked to FTX itself.  Sure enough FTX Token (FTT), the native token for FTX, experienced short-lived but hearty jump in value when news broke.

While FTT has since come back to levels near its recent ‘comfort-zone’, the token may soon see increased interest as the partnership funnels traffic on to the FTX platform.

Coinbase Identifies ‘Priority Market’

Australians can soon expect a bevy of new services surrounding digital assets on offer as Coinbase has announced its intent on making it, “…easier and safer than ever for Aussies to access the crypto economy”. 

Although its days of market dominance are long gone, Coinbase remains one of the most recognizable and influential names operating within the digital asset sector – making its expanded presence in a major market like Australia quite noteworthy.  The following are a few examples of the new services which will be on offer.

• PayID (allows account top ups with ‘direct Australian Dollar transfers’)
• Retail Advanced Trading
• 24/7 Chat support to Australian customers

Between these additional services, and what Coinbase notes as having “prioritised regulatory compliance” within the country, the exchange has made it clear that it is serious when stating, “Australia is a priority market for us, and we are excited to continue promoting economic freedom down under.”

Nexo Says ‘NO’ to Insolvency, ‘YES’ to Expansion

With the ongoing meltdown involving companies like Celsius and Voyager, many have drawn unsubstantiated links to other platforms like Nexo, as it is/was viewed as a direct competitor.  In a recent YouTube hosted AMA however, Nexo Cofounder, Kalin Metodiev, took the time to assuage any fears the public had on the company and its financial standings.

Metodiev was clear in that not only did Nexo not have any exposure to companies like 3AC, but that, “Insolvency, bankruptcy are nowhere in Nexo’s reality, and we believe, we hope, we aspire, we work very hard to deliver a very strong and sustainable future for our users.”