Binance.US Eyes an IPO...in 3 Years

The biggest crypto news and ideas of the day

Sept. 2, 2021

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–Daniel Kuhn

Today's must-reads

Top Shelf

INVESTIGATING FRAUD: The U.S. SEC filed charges against BitConnect and its founder, Satish Kumbhani, as well as a U.S.-based promoter, Glenn Arcaro, alleging fraud against the crypto lending company alleged of operating a $2 billion Ponzi scheme. Meanwhile, Seychelles police have been asked to investigate the transfer of 230,000 bitcoin linked to OneCoin, an investment scam said to have defrauded around $4 billion from millions of buyers.

BINANCE: Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, CEO of one of the world's largest exchanges, Binance, says its U.S. affiliate is eyeing an initial public offering within three years. This comes as yet another financial watchdog, Singapore, has issued an investor alert regarding Binance.

SILENCING CRITICS? The National Civil Police of El Salvador arrested a vocal critic of the country's incoming Bitcoin Law, which will make BTC legal tender in the country and compel businesses to accept it as a form of payment. Computer specialist Mario Gomez was reportedly taken into custody, along with his phone and computer, Wednesday morning for alleged bank fraud. He was released that same afternoon. The police reportedly did not have a warrant.

–D.K.

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Overheard on CoinDesk TV

Sound Bite

"This is really about sovereignty and freedom and that's why you see things like China cracking down on bitcoin and gaming itself."

–Miko Matsumura Gumi Cryptos Capital General Partners, on CoinDesk TV's "First Mover."

What others are writing...

Off-Chain Signals

A billion-dollar dispute over a trove of Silk Road bitcoins could reveal the identity of "Individual X," a figure thought to have siphoned funds from the marketplace between 2012 and 2013. (The Block)
Chia miners sell damaged SSDs at a loss after "green Bitcoin" tanks 90% (Protos)
Braintrust, a decentralized talent network, is working with Nike, Goldman (Decrypt)

–D.K.

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Sponsored Content

Pirate Chain: Developing the hack-proof privacy coin: No 'PICNIC'

Even the best anonymous chains were only as secure as their users- until now.

Privacy coins have become a fixture in the crypto market. Their white papers are paeons to the libertarian, Austrian School of economics, anarcho-capitalist streak at the heart of the blockchain revolution. But while the idea behind these tokens might be lyrical poetry, the reality has been more an exercise in screaming headlines.

Putting the news in perspective

The Takeaway

A Dictionary for Degens

GM. Ape. Liquidity. Those words might not mean what you think – if you're talking to an NFT degen.

It's not easy making sense of the memeification of asset markets, the trend towards semi-coordinated groups investing in down-on-their-luck retailers like GameStop and so-ironic-it's-not-ironic cryptocurrencies like dogecoin.

There's the sometimes impenetrable slang, of course. But also the risk that a core group of insiders will buy in early and dump on retail followers. It's essentially the problem of knowing when an audience has become a community. Ironically, it's the slang that can help.

Yesterday, the pseudonymous non-fungible token (NFT) trader and influencer punk6529 wrote down a list of terms commonly used on Twitter among the Bored Apes, Punks and Penguins. It's a dictionary for degens.

"We have a lot of newcomers to NFT Twitter. This is a thread to teach them our ways," they wrote. Indeed, NFTs are back in the spotlight. Celebrities have swapped their profile pics for cartoon headshots. New projects launch and gain stream weekly. Billions worth of digital assets trade.

Obviously, NFTs are more than a technological or financial movement. From the early experiments of recapturing wealth from classic internet memes to art house power brokers like Sotheby's and Christie's moving into the scene, this is an evolving cultural event.

And so, an argot has formed around an asset class. Beyond a key characteristic of any ingroup – adopting a non-traditional language at the expense of outsiders – it's interesting to consider how the structure of everyday speech influences our view of the world. I encourage you to read the full list of ~70 terms (they're even used in a sentence!), but here are a few quick thoughts.

While the list is essentially unorganized, it's notable that punk6529 started off with "gm," short for good morning. It speaks to the welcoming intentions of making an informal community dictionary, and possibly the friendliness of the NFT community at large. That cultural openness parallels the real innovation of NFT markets that just about anyone, anywhere can access. It's a community with arms wide open.

"We say good morning to each other because we are a friendly happy optimistic global community and it is nice to say good morning to your friends as you start your day," Punk6529 said.

Many of the terms are taken straight from the larger crypto scene or beyond, showing how subgroups self-divide. Crypto itself has become so fragmented among different blockchains, use cases and industries that it's nearly impossible to keep up.

The same terms you might be familiar with from Bitcoin Talk or traditional finance also take on slightly new characteristics in a new context. Take "liquidity." For punk6529 it means your "Available ETH to buy JPGs."

It's sometimes said that crypto suffers from shallow liquidity, but in NFTs, "This is an impossible state of being. Any available ETH converts into JPGs immediately so everyone is in a state of perpetual illiquidity."

Read the full column here.

–D.K.