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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.

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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

FDUSD became the fourth-largest stablecoin by market capitalization by being used almost exclusively as a trading pair on Binance.

Despite this, the stablecoin has remained relatively obscure due to its lack of other use cases. However, that might change soon. After partnering to issue FDUSD on Sui, the Hong Kong-based issuer has ambitious plans for its stablecoins future applications, its CEO told Blockworks.

FDUSDs story begins with a different stablecoin. Binance USD, or BUSD, was issued by US-based Paxos and used by Binance as its main stablecoin for trading pairs. After the Securities and Exchange Commission served a Wells notice in February 2023 and Paxos stopped minting BUSD, the worlds largest crypto exchange began hunting for a new primary stablecoin.

Read more: SEC triggers billion-dollar bank run on Binances BUSD

Binance became linked with a little-known stablecoin called TUSD, which saw its market capitalization surge after Binance listed a zero-fee bitcoin trading pair with TUSD. It also let users access its launchpool for new tokens using TUSD.

But for reasons that remain unclear, Binance cut TUSD off from zero-fee trading promotions and stopped including the stablecoin in its launch pools. A massive Binance driven sell-off caused TUSD to lose its peg in January.

TUSDs market capitalization has tumbled to around $500 million from a high of over $3.8 billion in October, according to CoinGecko.

Enter FDUSD, which was first issued by Hong Kong-based First Digital Labs in mid-2023. By August, Binance started encouraging users to convert their BUSD balances to FDUSD. Since then, FDUSD has taken the mantle formerly held by BUSD and briefly shared between FDUSD and TUSD. Today, Binance offers its zero-fee trading promotions and access to its new token launchpools with FDUSD.

First Digital didnt have a long stablecoin history before the Binance partnership. Roughly a year before it began issuing a stablecoin, First Digital Trust raised $20 million in Series A funding for digital asset custody from Nogle and Kenetic Capital in May 2022, according to an Asia-focused tech publication.

First Digital Trust spun up First Digital Labs in 2023 alongside FDUSDs debut. The stablecoin issuers second-ever X post was a response to Binance then-CEO Changpeng Zhao announcing FDUSDs launch.

First Digital signed a strategic commercial partnership with Binance to list FDUSD. Our company operates independently and [shares] no direct board or executive relationships, a spokesperson for First Digital told Blockworks.

Tech in Asia said First Digital was the digital asset arm of Hong Kong-based Legacy Trust Company. Vincent Chok is CEO of both Legacy Trust Company and First Digital Trust, according to LinkedIn.

Read more: Binance preps switch to little-used stablecoin, FDUSD

Today, FDUSDs trading markets are almost exclusively on Binance, per CoinGecko, with a large majority coming from trading pairs boosted by Binances zero maker and taker fee promotion. But First Digital Labs, the Hong Kong-based company behind FDUSD, is now looking to diversify.

Earlier this month, the layer-1 blockchain Sui announced FDUSD would become the networks first natively-issued stablecoin. First Digitals ambitions dont stop there, CEO Vincent Chok told Blockworks in an interview.

Everything does have an end, of course, Chok said of the Binance zero-fee promotion. I mean, thats another reason why I think we need to really create awareness around our stablecoin so that we can diversify into other exchanges.

Chok said First Digital is exploring partnerships to use FDUSD for cross-border payments, is in talks with layer-2s, and is targeting the launch of a payroll partnership with its stablecoin by the end of the year.

He added that First Digital is engaging with regulators in Hong Kong as the city nears the implementation of its long-awaited regime for stablecoin issuers.

Updated April 24, 2024 at 9:21 am ET: Added comment from First Digital regarding the companys relationship with Binance.

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Binance's main stablecoin is diversifying to other exchanges - Blockworks

In a mounting crisis for Binance CEO Richard Teng, regulators in the Philippines are working with tech giants Google and Apple to remove the crypto exchanges applications from their local app stores, the agency confirmed in a statement on April 23.

The move marks an escalation after the Securities and Exchange Commission blocked the website of the worlds largest cryptocurrency exchange at the end of March.

The SEC has identified [Binance] and concluded that the publics continued access to these websites/apps poses a threat to the security of the funds of investing Filipinos, SEC Chair Emilio B. Aquino said in the letters sent on April 19.

Aquino said the removal and blockade of Binance apps are essential steps to prevent the proliferation of illegal activities by the platform in the Philippines and to shield the investing public from its adverse effects on our economy.

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Binance media representatives did not respond to a request for comment by DL News.

The action comes as Teng struggles to revamp the freewheeling business model left by his predecessor, Changpeng Zhao, or CZ.

Zhao eschewed obtaining licences or registering with the regulators in markets where Binance operated.

Now that lack of compliance is backfiring in not only the Philippines but also in Nigeria, where the company has been charged with money laundering and tax evasion.

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Two Binance executives, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, have also been charged in Nigeria, and the former, who pleaded not guilty, is incarcerated in a prison pending trial.

The crackdown in Manila follows a November warning, when the SEC announced plans to block access to Binance due to it operating without a licence in the country.

The agency said that salesmen, brokers, and influencers promoting its services could face up to 21 years in prison and fines of $90,000.

The SEC also said it provided ample warning and opportunity for investors to withdraw from Binance and reallocate their funds to authorised investment platforms.

But a lack of clarity as to exactly when it would happen led to a rush of users trying to withdraw funds from the platform when the website block was implemented.

As a result, vendors on the Binance peer-to-peer marketplace offered Tethers USDT at a discount of 5 to 7% as they attempted to liquidate their holdings.

The SEC has not yet announced any actions against other international exchanges which continue to operate in the Philippines without the correct licences.

Got a story about crypto in Asia? Contact Callan Quinn at callan@dlnews.com.

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Apple and Google to boot Binance apps in the Philippines for 'posing a threat' to investors - DLNews