May 31, 2023

Bitcoin (BTC) ran into selling pressure early Wednesday after a top U.S. Federal Reserve official said there is no compelling case to halt the central bank’s rate hike cycle. The Fed's historic string of monetary tightening has been among the major reasons for continued bear market in cryptocurrencies. "I don't really see a compelling reason to pause," Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester told FT in an interview published on Wednesday. "I would see more of a compelling case for bringing the rates up and then holding for a while until you get less uncertain about where the economy is going," Mester added. Her remarks helped send the U.S. dollar higher and bitcoin lower, with the crypto now off 3% over the last 24-hours to $27,000. Ether is also lower by 2% over that period. 

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) staff are warning companies to be wary of and to actively counter risks from clearing digital asset transactions. The CFTC's Division of Clearing and Risk sent out the advisory on Tuesday, saying it would put a special focus on the emerging risks in crypto in response to an upswing in its supervised entities clearing such trades. These risks include potential conflicts of interest, protections against cyber threats and how firms are managing physical delivery of digital assets in transactions requiring delivery. The agency said it expects companies “to actively identify new, evolving, or unique risks and implement risk mitigation measures tailored to the risks.”

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled charges with a former Coinbase (COIN) product manager and his brother tied to 2022 allegations of insider trading on certain cryptocurrencies listed by the exchange, the regulator announced Tuesday. Ishan Wahi and his brother Nikhil Wahi were arrested last year on charges of wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to commit insider trading. On the day of the arrests, the SEC brought insider trading charges against the duo. In Tuesday's announcement, the SEC said the brothers agreed to disgorge their gains. Both brothers previously pleaded guilty to the Department of Justice criminal charges, with Ishan Wahi now facing a 2-year sentence and Nikhil Wahi serving a 10-month sentence. The SEC said that the brothers' fines from their criminal case satisfy the civil case's settlements, and it would not seek any other penalties.

Bitcoin was trading at about 20% discount on Binance’s Australia arm on Tuesday, compared with rival exchanges, according to CCData.

This comes after Binance Australia halted Australian dollar bank transfers earlier this month, citing issues with its third-party payment service provider and said that it's working to find an alternative. Binance Australia will allow AUD withdrawals until June 1.

“The announcement from Binance prompted traders to sell their BTC/AUD pairs, resulting in the price reaching a historically high discount,” said Hosam Mahmoud, Research Analyst at CCData, in a conversation with CoinDesk.