Binance Fined $4.3 Million in Canada

Canada's financial regulator has fined leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance $6 million CAD (approximately $4.3 million USD), accusing it of violating the country's financial regulations with two "administrative violations."

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) stated that Binance failed to register as a foreign money service business despite being given "several opportunities."

The regulator also stated that Binance failed to report nearly 6,000 cryptocurrency transactions worth over $10,000 USD each, along with their associated know-your-customer information, between June 1, 2021, and July 19, 2023. These violations were identified using blockchain analysis tools.

This fine comes after a turbulent period for Binance, which agreed in November 2023 to pay $4.3 billion to U.S. authorities for violating anti-money laundering laws, with its former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, recently sentenced to four months in prison.

Additionally, investigators recently found evidence of a large client allegedly engaging in $300 million worth of fraudulent trades to manipulate the market. Binance has denied these allegations and stated that it has "delisted nearly 355,000 users with a trading volume exceeding $2.5 trillion" for violating its terms of use.

Marathon Digital Surges 184% in Profits

Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital (MARA) reported that it mined 2,811 bitcoins in the first quarter of this year, valued at approximately $176 million USD. Due to the rise in cryptocurrency prices, the company's profits surged by 184% year-over-year to reach $337.2 million USD.

Marathon Digital's revenue increased by 223% from the first quarter of 2023 to reach $1.652 billion USD, attributed to an increase in mining capacity by 45 exahashes and maintaining $1.6 billion USD in liquidity. Marathon Digital also revealed that they sold a quarter of the bitcoins mined in the first quarter to cover operational costs.

WisdomTree Expands Crypto App to New York

Asset management giant WisdomTree has launched its digital asset application, WisdomTree Prime, in New York amid pressure on its CEO from shareholders.

The application, already available in 21 states, allows users to buy, sell, and hold bitcoins, ethereum, USD-backed stablecoins, and gold tokens. Earlier this year, it obtained a charter to operate as a limited purpose trust company under New York banking law.

However, despite CEO Jonathan Steinberg's efforts to push the company into the cryptocurrency space, its largest shareholder, Graham Tuckwell, has clashed with him over his advocacy for decentralized finance (DeFi).

Reportedly, Tuckwell, chairman of ETFS Capital, urged investors to vote against Steinberg's reappointment, calling the CEO's DeFi initiatives "a massive distraction and a complete failure." Tuckwell became WisdomTree's major shareholder in 2018 through the acquisition of ETF Securities' European arm, a company he founded.

WisdomTree entered the cryptocurrency market in 2019 with the launch of a bitcoin trading product on the Swiss exchange SIX. Earlier this year, it became one of the issuers of U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, with its fund attracting about $70 million USD in inflows, while other funds, including those by BlackRock, attracted billions of dollars in inflows.

Top Exchanges See April Trading Volume Decline

Trading volumes on top cryptocurrency exchanges saw a decline in April, with Binance (rated A) experiencing a 39.2% decrease in trading volume to $6.79 trillion USD, followed by Bybit (rated AA), which saw a 26.9% decline to $133 billion USD.

OKX (rated A), Coinbase (rated AA), and Bitget (rated A) followed closely behind, with Coinbase seeing a 43.4% decline and Bitget seeing a 10.3% decline, with trading volumes of $126 billion USD (OKX) and $81.2 billion USD (Bitget), respectively.