<strong>Celsius Restructuring Plans, Binance Fined $3.3M, Yuga Labs’ Otherside Demo</strong>

Celsius Restructuring Plan

Celsius, a cryptocurrency lending platform, has revealed its restructuring plans. Although filing for bankruptcy last week, the company remains operational. According to their new plan, Celsius will continue mining bitcoin. In addition, the company will “provide customers with the option, at the customers’ election, to recover either cash at a discount or remain “long” crypto.”

Last month, Celsius halted customer withdrawals and deposits, due to a downtrend in the cryptocurrency market. It also pulled out of all positions it held with third parties. The company now stores all its remaining assets on Fireblocks, a digital assets custody platform. 

Celsius will continue to halt its services to customers. The company paid its debts to Compound and Maker and cleared its Bitcoin loans earlier this month. It filed for bankruptcy to protect itself while strategizing a restructuring plan. 

Binance Fined $3.3M 

Binance, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, got fined a $3.3 million penalty by The Dutch central bank. The cryptocurrency exchange was penalized for failing to get regulatory approval to operate in the Netherlands. Crypto services in the Netherlands must register with the DeNederlandscheBank (DBN) under the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act.

“The registration obligation for crypto service providers was introduced on May 21, 2020, because crypto services pose a high risk of money laundering or terrorist financing. This is related to the anonymity that comes with crypto transactions. Without this registration obligation, it is less easy to monitor whether the risk of criminal money flows is sufficiently counteracted, said the DNB in the announcement.

The basic fee for failure to register is $2 million. But Binance’s fine was increased because it is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, and has a very large number of customers in the Netherlands. Before issuing the fine, the DBN sent Binance a public warning in August 2021.  

  

Yuga Labs’ Otherside Demo

Yuga Labs, creators of the Bored Apes Yacht Club, premiered a demo of their Otherside metaverse to 4300 players on Saturday. The demo premier was by invitation extended to holders of the Otherdeeds NFTs. Yuga Labs also released a litepaper outlining the development of the Otherside metaverse - which will involve community participation.   

“We believe in the extraordinary power of community and have seen firsthand how it can be a significant force for good in this industry. We aim to incentivize, empower, and recognize the expression, creativity, and ingenuity of Otherside’s community of contributors,” stated the litepaper. 

Written by Lindi Miti © Crypto University 2022