BitcoinBTC, ethereum and crypto are teetering on the brink of disaster, with market watches warning of a looming price crash.
The bitcoin price, which has lost momentum after rocketing higher through the first half of this year, has printed an ominous “death cross” pattern along with the ethereum price.
Now, after the chief executive of Coinbase revealed an “important” bitcoin update this week, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has issued a “frank” warning over disappearing “fiat ramps” that could weigh on the entire bitcoin, ethereum and crypto market.
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Appearing at a Singapore crypto conference, CZ was asked what the biggest challenges would be in bringing the next 100 million users into the bitcoin, ethereum and crypto market.
“Today, to be very frank, it’s actually fiat ramps,” CZ said in comments reported by Insider, referring to how people move money from traditional banks to crypto exchanges. “With tightening regulations in the earlier part of this year, we’re seeing a lot of traditional institutions that used to provide fiat ramp channels pull away.”
A U.S. banking crisis earlier this year that forced the closing of crypto-friendly Silvergate, Signature and Silicon Valley banks has pushed many exchanges and crypto companies offshore in search of banking partners.
Despite Wall Street giants like BlackRockBLK and Fidelity expanding their bitcoin and crypto services, many banks are increasingly unwilling to do business with crypto companies that have had their reputations tarnished by the bitcoin and crypto market price crash and implosion of major exchange FTX.
The traditional financial service sector pull-back from the crypto market has been branded “Operation Choke Point 2.0” by some in the crypto industry who fear it’s been directed by the U.S. government and regulators. The original 2013 Operation Choke Point was a U.S. Department of Justice initiative to discourage banks from working with firearm dealers, payday lenders, and other companies believed to be at a high risk for fraud and money laundering.
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Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been pursuing a campaign of heavy-handed enforcement action against crypto companies, including Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume.
In June, the SEC sued Binance, its U.S. arm and rival U.S. platform Coinbase, alleging they had violated securities rules.
Binance.US’s chief executive Brian Shroder abruptly departed the company this week, quitting at the same time as the exchange axed one-third of its staff. Just days later, Krishna Juvvadi, head of legal, and Sidney Majalya, chief risk officer, left the company, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources.
Last week, a top Federal Reserve official, Michael Barr, has warned he’s “deeply concerned” about the $120 billion stablecoin market that’s exploded over the last few years—which is closely linked to the price of bitcoin, ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies.
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