Bitcoin’s recent halving, completed on April 19, may not immediately impact market dynamics, with analysts suggesting a potential two-month wait for significant effects. Despite an 8% increase in bitcoin’s spot price since the halving, experts anticipate a delay in supply and demand adjustments.

Analysts at QCP Capital suggest that historical patterns indicate a delay of around two to three months before the halving’s supply constraints translate into notable price movements. This suggests that bitcoin bulls may have additional time to build larger long positions.

Bitfinex analysts highlight the post-halving reduction in bitcoin supply issuance, which could stabilize prices and potentially lead to further appreciation. However, they caution that geopolitical turmoil, particularly in the Middle East, could impact Bitcoin’s long-term valuation.

Additionally, the Bitfinex Alpha report notes potential stabilization in demand from spot bitcoin ETFs, which have been a significant driver of market activity. However, recent outflows from ETFs suggest a possible slowdown in demand.

Meanwhile, QCP Capital analysts anticipate a short squeeze in the altcoin and memecoin market in the short term. Persistent negative funding in these markets, coupled with potential fluctuations in demand, could lead to increased volatility.

While the overall memecoin market has seen a slight uptick in market cap, top memecoins like dogecoin, shiba inu, and dogwifhat have experienced minor declines in the past 24 hours, reflecting ongoing market fluctuations.

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Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is embroiled in a new legal battle in Canada as a class-action lawsuit alleges violations of securities laws. Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice published a certification motion for the lawsuit on April 19, reigniting legal scrutiny against the exchange.

The lawsuit accuses Binance of selling cryptocurrency derivative products to retail investors without proper registration, in violation of Ontario Securities Act (OSA) and federal laws. Plaintiffs represented by Christopher Lochan and Jeremy Leeder seek damages and recissions of unlawful derivative trades for Canadian Binance users, numbering in the tens of thousands.

This legal action comes after Binance announced plans to cease operations in Ontario in response to regulatory warnings from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) in 2023. Despite this announcement, the OSC’s investigation into Binance remains ongoing, highlighting continued regulatory scrutiny.

The lawsuit further tarnishes Binance’s reputation, already marred by previous controversies, including former CEO Changpeng Zhao’s guilty plea to US anti-money laundering violations in 2021. Although current CEO Richard Teng has made efforts to steer Binance towards regulatory compliance, including securing a Dubai crypto license, the exchange’s past regulatory issues continue to overshadow its progress.

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In the wake of the memecoin frenzy, over $25 million invested in pre-sold Solana memecoins has been left stranded, with more than half of the top projects abandoned within just one month.

ZachXBT’s investigation identified 12 Solana memecoin projects that have been deserted by their founders, leaving investors in the lurch. Solana Co-Founder Anatoly Yakovenko expressed skepticism towards the trend, stating, “Pre-selling a meme doesn’t make any sense to begin with.” Yakovenko previously cautioned against investing in memecoin pre-sales, highlighting the riskiness of such endeavors.

Of the 22 projects initially scrutinized, ZachXBT revealed that 12 have already been deserted within a month. Notable among these are LIKE, MOONKE, FROG, TEMPLE, and SORRY, which collectively raised over $2 million. Other projects, including those like @Jared_eth, raised substantial funds without even launching a token, with one account flagged as compromised by the web3 security platform Pocket Universe.

The memecoin frenzy has now shifted to the Coinbase-backed Base blockchain, indicating a lack of lessons learned from the Solana debacle, according to ZachXBT.

Meanwhile, the price of SOL, Solana’s native token, has witnessed a significant decline since the memecoin boom. Although SOL surged to over $200 during the peak of the frenzy, largely fueled by memecoin speculation, it has since plummeted to $154 as of the latest data. This represents a 23% decrease, despite SOL having already bounced back approximately 30% from its recent low of $117 on April 13.

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As scrutiny over the misuse of Tether’s USDT stablecoin intensifies, the company pledges to take decisive action against addresses linked to sanctions violations.

Tether, the issuer of the popular USDT stablecoin, has announced its commitment to freezing any addresses associated with sanctioned entities. This proactive stance follows reports indicating the exploitation of USDT tokens by certain state actors to evade US sanctions.

A spokesperson for Tether stated, “Tether respects the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) SDN list and is committed to working to ensure sanction addresses are frozen promptly.”

In the past year, Tether has actively frozen addresses holding substantial amounts of its digital assets involved in illicit activities. For example, the company froze 32 addresses containing $873,118.34 linked to unlawful activities in Israel and Ukraine.

Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, emphasized that these actions underscore the company’s dedication to establishing robust safety standards within the emerging cryptocurrency industry.

Despite Tether’s compliance efforts, recent reports have highlighted ongoing exploitation of the USDT stablecoin by terrorist groups and sanctioned nations seeking to bypass restrictions. Venezuela’s state-owned oil giant, PDVSA, reportedly utilized USDT for crude oil and fuel exports amid renewed US sanctions. Additionally, Russia has increasingly turned to alternative payment avenues, including Tether’s USDT stablecoin, to evade economic sanctions, according to US Treasury Deputy Secretary Adewale Adeyemo.

A United Nations report also revealed the prevalence of cryptocurrency-based money laundering, with Tether’s USDT on the TRON blockchain being a favored choice, particularly within illegal online gambling platforms.

In response to these developments, US Senator Elizabeth Warren has advocated for stringent regulatory measures, emphasizing the importance of including stablecoin issuers and other decentralized finance (DeFi) intermediaries under anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) requirements in any proposed stablecoin regulations. Excluding such entities, Warren argues, could enable bad actors to exploit the growing crypto trading activities facilitated by the legislation.

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Turnkey, a company specializing in building wallet infrastructure for blockchain developers, announced a successful $15 million Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Faction and Galaxy Ventures.

Founded by former Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) employees who contributed to the development of the U.S. crypto exchange’s custody service, Turnkey aims to assist application developers in constructing user-friendly blockchain wallets. The funding round, disclosed on Tuesday, saw participation from notable investors including Sequoia, Coinbase Ventures, Alchemy, Figment Capital, and Mirana Ventures. This round, finalized last October, follows a $7.5 million seed round in 2022.

CEO Bryce Ferguson explained, “At its simplest level, Turnkey provides secure, flexible, and scalable wallet infrastructure, offering developers a comprehensive toolkit for wallet-related tasks and cryptographic transactions.”

Ferguson highlighted the inspiration behind Turnkey’s inception, stemming from the realization at Coinbase that many crypto custodians treated cryptocurrency solely as a “buy-and-hold investment,” lacking the flexibility for users to actively utilize their assets. Turnkey’s objective is to empower custodians with tools enabling end-users to exercise greater control over their assets securely.

Released to the public in August, Turnkey’s product suite caters to various needs, serving as the backbone for applications requiring wallets and transaction signing, both for individual users and businesses. Notable clients include Alchemy, utilizing Turnkey to power its “wallet-as-a-service” offering, and enterprise-focused wallets like Mural, facilitating user-friendly invoicing and global payments.

Turnkey also caters to financial firms, with trading terminals embedding Turnkey’s wallets for transactional purposes. Additionally, individual users leverage Turnkey for broad transaction signing.

Ferguson emphasized Turnkey’s comprehensive approach, stating, “We built all of the wallet infrastructure from the ground up,” highlighting the platform’s ability to generate cryptographic key pairs and provide extensive tooling for accessing and managing these keys.

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