Robert Le News

Crypto’s comeback year is getting even better, as venture capitalists are reentering the funding arena.

crypto exchange Binance over the past 24 hours, market data showed, after its chief, Changpeng Zhao, stepped down and faced prison time after pleading guilty on Tuesday to settle a years-long U.S. illicit finance probe. The deal, in which Binance will pay $4.3 billion to U.S. authorities, raises questions over the future of the world's largest crypto exchange and marks another blow for an industry beset by scandals. Zhao has been replaced by Richard Teng, a senior Binance executive who joined in 2021, the company said. It remained unclear on Wednesday how much jail time, if any, Zhao would ultimately serve, and how much influence he — as Binance's founder and major shareholder — could continue to exert on Binance under the terms of the settlement. Some analysts also noted that the deal was unlikely to end the exchange's U.S. legal woes, with Securities and Exchange Commission charges alleging Binance broke U.S. securities laws still unresolved.

Coinbase Ventures has shifted focus to crypto startups outside the United States amid growing regulatory scrutiny in the country. 

Worldcoin has no problem attracting eyeballs. More than 2.2 million people have signed up, getting their irises scanned in exchange for a digital ID and, in some countries, free crypto. The new project from ChatGPT founder Sam Altman aims to create a blockchain-based «identity and financial network». Its native coin WLD has kept a steady price between $2 and $2.50 since its launch on July 24, thus far spared the «pump-and-dump» trajectory of many new crypto tokens. The investor jury is out on Worldcoin's prospects, according to Gordon Grant, co-head of trading at Genesis Trading, which isn't offering the token to clients yet. «There are folks that have really taken a view about this project, both with the positive and negative side,» he said.

Digital currencies, public stocks and venture capital backing crypto startups have finally cooled down after massive growth due to the effects of an economic storm, according to Bloomberg.