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The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered both Google and Apple to remove the Binance app from their respective app stores for users in the Philippines.

According to a press release from the SEC on April 23, it is working with the Big Tech companies on the removal of applications operated by cryptocurrency giant Binance. It said the companies received separate letters on April 19 regarding removing the apps in the local marketplaces.

Emilio B. Aquino, chair of the SEC, said that selling or offering unregistered securities to locals and operating as an unregistered broker is in violation of the countrys securities regulations.

He said that by removing Binance applications from digital app marketplaces, these companies would help prevent the further proliferation of its illegal activities in the country, saying that otherwise, this could have detrimental effects on the local economy.

This move comes shortly after the SEC and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) blocked access to Binance websites on March 25.

Related: Binances $1B emergency SAFU fund now makes up 3% of UDSC supply

The SEC has been actively warning the public against using Binance for investing since November 2023. It says the crypto exchange, which is one of the worlds largest, has yet to secure a license to solicit investments from the public nor to operate an exchange to buy and sell securities.

On April 8, following the enforcement of its official ban on Binance, an SEC official reiterated that they had already provided users with a three-month period, along with an extension, to facilitate the withdrawal of their funds from the exchange. After this period, the SEC said they cannot endorse any methods for retrieving funds.

The move to block Binance follows a crackdown from the SEC and the NTC on Feb. 21, through whichthey moved to block and ban unlicensed crypto trading platforms in the country. At that time Binance was unaffected.

Binance has been involved in other regulatory-related debacles around the world, most recently in a new class-action lawsuit in Canada on April 23, following allegations that it violated local securities laws.

However, on the flip side, the cryptocurrency exchange announced on April 18 that it would return to India after payinga $2 million fine for previous non-compliance with local regulations.

On the same day, it was reported that Binance received its crypto licence in Dubai, also known as the coveted Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP), after its co-founder Changpeng Zhao gave up his voting power in the exchanges local entity.

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Philippines SEC orders Apple and Google to remove Binance from app stores - Cointelegraph

Cryptocurrency giantBinancecould soon find it harder to do business in the Philippines.

The countrysSecurities and Exchange Commission(SEC) on Tuesday (April 23) called on Apple and Google toremove Binances appfrom their app stores, a move that followed months of the regulator warning residents not to do business with the company.

Commission ChairpersonEmilio Aquinosaid in a news release that it had concluded that the publics continued access to these websites/apps poses a threat to the security of the funds of investing Filipinos.

He added that the sale or offer of unregistered securities to Filipinos and operating as an unregistered broker violates the countrys securities code and that blocking Binances apps will prevent thefurther proliferation of its illegal activities in the country, and to protect the investing public from its detrimental effects on our economy.

PYMNTS has contacted Binance for comment but has not yet gotten a reply.

The SEC first targeted Binance last year, with the regulator announcing in November that it was blocking access to Binance, saying the company was not a registered corporation in the Philippines authorized to sell or offer securities. As noted here at the time, it was part of a broaderseries of pressuresfacing the company in Asia.

Tuesdays SEC news release notes that the agency had also asked the countrys NationalTelecommunications Commission to restrict access to websites used by Binance in thePhilippines to stop its unauthorized investment solicitation activities in the country.

The requests follow similar moves by regulators in India, who earlier this year asked Google and Apple toremove Binanceand other crypto companies from the app stores in that country.

And in December of last year, Indias Financial Intelligence Unit moved to block the URLs of nine offshore virtual digital asset service providers Binance among them saying these companies were not adhering to thecountrys Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Binance is also facingmoney laundering and tax evasionallegations in Nigeria, where two of its executives are being held after their arrest in February. Binance CEO Richard Teng said last week that the company is working with Nigerian authorities toresolve the matter, according to a Reuters report.

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Philippines Wants Binance Yanked From Apple and Google App Stores - PYMNTS.com

Binance users will have a chance to bag an allocation for EZ, the native token for liquid staking protocol Renzo.

According to an announcement, Binance Launchpool will list Renzo (EZ) as its 53rd project on April 30. The maximum supply is set at 10 billion tokens, and the platform will field 1.05 billion EZ coins as an initial supply.

In February, Binance, cryptos largest centralized exchange, previously invested in the Renzo protocol. However, the monetary amount injected into the project remained undisclosed. The investment was made via Binance Labs, the venture capital arm of the exchange now operates as a standalone business.

At the time, Binance Labs was worth $10 billion and its portfolio supported over 250 crypto protocols, per details provided by the company.

Following its mainnet launch in October last year, the Renzo protocol has grown into a major player in the Ethereum (ETH) liquid restaking market. DefiLlama data showed that users have deposited $3.39 billion into the defi platform.

With a 144% increase in the past month, Renzo is the second-largest liquid restaker on Ethereum. Only Ether.fi boasts a bigger user demand at $3.82 billion in total value locked.

Liquid restaking protocols spun off EigenLayer, a platform that allows users to secure other chains and dapps by repurposing staked ETH. The initiative also provides an additional yield source for stakers and derivative tokens to improve on-chain utility.

While the sector is now valued at over $10 billion, experts are divided over the risks associated with liquid staking, with some arguing that it is overstated and others advising caution among participants.

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Binance to list Renzo as 53rd Launchpool token - crypto.news

Cryptocurrency exchanges are eating into Binances share of bitcoin trading outside the US as overseas expansion efforts and changing regulations reshape the competitive dynamics of the digital-asset industry.

Over the past year, the worlds largest crypto exchange saw its share of such bitcoin trading drop to 55.3 per cent from 81.3 per cent, according to research firm Kaiko. For smaller tokens known as altcoins, the proportion fell to 50.5 per cent from 58 per cent.

Kaiko pegged the changes to Binances decision to end a promotion that scrapped trading fees. Offshore markets have become less concentrated, with smaller exchanges gaining momentum as trade volumes recovered, the companys analysts wrote in a note.

Bybits share of non-US bitcoin trading reached 9.3 per cent over the past year, up from 2 per cent, according to Kaiko. OKX accounts for 7.3 per cent currently, up from 3 per cent.

Binance has been trying to rebuild its reputation while operating under the watchful gaze of US regulators. Under new boss Richard Teng a former regulator in Singapore the exchange has tightened token listing rules and appointed a board of directors.

The digital-asset industry as a whole has benefited from a fourfold jump in the bitcoin price since the start of last year. The rebound from a 2022 rout took the token to a record high of US$73,798 last month, catalysing trading volumes.

Originally posted here:

Binance loses bitcoin trading share as rivals expand in Asia - South China Morning Post

The crypto industry is a hot job market.

We are in a bull market like weve never experienced before theres going to be so much work for us from a recruiting perspective, Sam Wellalage, founder at recruitment firm WorkInCrypto.Global, told DL News.

DL News pulled together some of the past months major crypto employment news.

Martin C. Grant, a former chief compliance and ethics officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has joined the board of directors of crypto exchange Binances US arm.

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Binance said Grant will help to oversee financial reporting processes and internal controls.

Grant is now global head of regulatory affairs and integrity at crypto-native financial-services firm JST Digital.

Prior to that, he worked for over 30 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, including as its chief compliance and ethics officer.

Grants appointment came as Binances holding company announced its first board of directors, including CEO Richard Teng and chaired by Barbadian diplomat Gabriel Abed.

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Under Teng, Binance is reshaping itself to get right with regulators after a $4.3 billion settlement with the US government on money-laundering charges.

Kathryn Haun wrote in a post on X that she will be stepping down from the Coinbase board when her third term ends.

Haun said she intended to focus her energies on her venture-capital firm, Haun Ventures.

Haun has sat on the Coinbase board since 2017.

From 2018 to 2022, she was a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, another VC firm.

Prior to that, she spent a decade as a federal prosecutor at the US Department of Justice, where she led the probe into the hack of the Mt. Gox exchange.

Anchorage Digital has appointed its first company-wide chief operating officer, Aaron Schnarch.

Schnarch joins from Coinbase Global, where he was CEO of the crypto exchanges custody business and vice president of product management.

Prior to joining Coinbase, Schnarch worked at Broadridge Financial Solutions.

At crypto custodian Anchorage, he will oversee business lines including custody, trading, and settlement, as well as sales, marketing and business development.

From May 1, Paul Frost-Smith joins Komainu, the crypto custody business of investment bank Nomura, as co-CEO, Financial News reports.

Frost-Smith will share the role with Robert Johnson.

Prior to this role, Frost-Smith founded and led Corinthian Digital Asset Management, a crypto investment management and advisory firm.

After an almost 30-year career at the Internal Revenue Service, Jim Lee has joined crypto sleuthing firm Chainalysis as global head of capacity building.

During his time at the IRS which included leading the agencys criminal investigations department Lee helped to conduct the largest-ever seizure of terror financing in an operation against Hamas.

Ethereum development company Matter Labs has appointed Nana Murugesan as its first president.

Murugesan will oversee business, marketing, communications, and finance.

Murugesan was previously vice president of business development and international at Coinbase. Prior to that, he was a managing director at Snap Inc.

Are you a senior executive in a crypto firm whos just got a new job or is leaving an old one? Want to update the industry on your big career move? Send a short bio and headshot to joanna@dlnews.com.

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Anchorage Digital, Komainu, and Binance top job moves in crypto - DLNews