Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into major crypto exchange Binance, according to a Bloomberg report Thursday. The DOJ and Internal Revenue Service are reportedly conducting a federal probe into Binance Holdings, which owns the world's largest crypto exchange by volume. Officials specializing in tax and money-laundering are on the case. Based in the Cayman Islands, Binance operates a sprawling portfolio of crypto trading, including derivatives.
A Binance spokesperson said: "We take our legal obligations very seriously and engage with regulators and law enforcement in a collaborative fashion. We have worked hard to build a robust compliance program that incorporates anti-money laundering principles and tools used by financial institutions to detect and address suspicious activity." Binance has attempted to give itself extra legitimacy through recent regulatory hires, including former Senator Max Baucus and former banking regulator Brian Brooks, who became CEO of Binance's U.S. affiliate last month.
Here is the rest of the week in review:
Coinbase
Renaissance Technologies sharply increased its exposure to the cryptocurrency sector in the first quarter, revealing Thursday that it amassed its largest-ever positions in crypto mining stocks worth over $140 million in total at the end of March. The legendary quant fund with $115 billion under management ended the quarter owning 1.16 million Riot Blockchain
Crypto prices slumped again this week to $2.18 trillion as the correction continued. For the majors, most fell double-digits, though Cardano (ADA) and Polkadot (DOT) bucked the trend. In the top 100, the biggest losers were Ontology (ONT), down 26%, Fantom (FTM), down 26%, and Filecoin (FILE), down 25%. The biggest gainers were Revain (REV), up 98%, Polygon (MATIC), up 63%, and Harmony (ONE), up 33%. Next week traders will see if Bitcoin (BTC) stays below $50,000 and Ether (ETH) below $4,000.
The author owns a small amount of BTC.