UN Refugee Agency Secures $2.5m in Stablecoin Donation for Ukraine

As the war in Ukraine continues to bear its toll, the USA for UNHCR, United Nations Refugee Agency, has received a donation of $2.5 million to support families that are most impacted by the ongoing crisis.

According to an announcement shared by the UN Agency, the funding was domiciled in Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin and was from the Binance Charity organization.

The agency has affirmed that the funds will be used to support the more than 10 million Ukrainians that have been displaced thus far and forced to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. Specifically, the funds will be pumped to aid humanitarian, legal and social assistance to these affected people, including psychosocial support and emergency shelter for those who may need it.

“Binance Charity’s commitment to the families fleeing the war in Ukraine shows the innovative philanthropic power of crypto in action,” said Anne-Marie Grey, Executive Director and CEO of USA for UNHCR. “This generous support will make a life-changing difference for families forced to flee, and more importantly, it shows families that a caring and committed global community is stepping forward to help during their darkest times.”

The stablecoin donation has shown that cryptocurrencies are “playing a key role in raising vital funds and providing humanitarian aid for the crisis in Ukraine. Besides this donation, Binance has earlier supported the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine with the sum of $10 million, a sum that comes off as a fraction of the massive support stakeholders in the crypto ecosystem have lent to the Ukrainian government and people.

“Every day we see more casualties, more destruction, more lives lost. Our hearts ache for the people of Ukraine. We are proud that we’ve been able to work with UNHCR to deliver its first BUSD crypto donation. UNHCR’s tireless efforts and second-to-none experience in assisting refugees, makes them an obvious choice to support as part of our $10 million USD in crypto donations,” said Helen Hai, Head of Binance Charity.

Besides the direct donations, Binance has also floated a crypto crowdfunding page to complement the broader industry’s donation efforts to the war-torn country.

Binance sees surge in withdrawals amid spooked investors

As a direct result of the recent announcement that Paxos and its stablecoin Binance USD might be subject to regulatory action, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance has experienced a significant increase in the number of withdrawals that have been made over the course of the last twenty-four hours (BUSD).

Peckshield claims that there was a total of 342 million BUSD worth of tokens that were destroyed over the course of the previous twenty-four hours. These redemptions took occurred close to the same time period when substantial activity was taking place with the BUSD token.

On the 12th of February, it was made public that the statement that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission had given notice of possible enforcement action against Paxos had been made. This statement was made public because it was made by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Paxos refutes the corporation’s allegation, which was that the stablecoin is an unregistered security. The corporation’s claim can be found in the previous sentence. Paxos challenges the validity of this assertion in his response.

Binance had multichain token net outflows of $788.5 million during the course of twenty-four hours, as shown by the numbers that were produced by the blockchain intelligence platform Nansen. During the time period in question, this was a result of withdrawals of $2.7 billion exceeding inflows of around $1.97 billion during that time period.

According to the numbers that were provided by Dune analytics, this is the greatest 24-hour net outflow that has occurred since December 17, when Binance’s proof-of-reserve audits were pulled down from the website of auditor Mazars. This happened when Binance’s proof-of-reserve audits were pulled down from the website of auditor Mazars.

The market “handled with ease” a recent sell-off that lasted for twelve hours and featured withdrawals worth “more than one billion,” according to the spokeswoman for the exchange. According to the information presented in the article, the market was successful in accomplishing this goal in spite of the fact that it encompassed “more than one billion.”

Binance, Circle, and Paxos Receive Regulatory Scrut

It has been claimed that the New York State Department of Financial Services, often known as the NYDFS, received a complaint about Binance’s reserves from the stablecoin issuer Circle prior to the exchange’s crackdown on BUSD.

Circle reportedly informed the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) in an October 2022 complaint that Binance’s reserves were inadequate to maintain the exchange’s tokens, presumably including the stablecoin Binance USD. The story was published on February 13 by Bloomberg (BUSD). The information was purportedly discovered by Circle’s staff via the use of blockchain data, as revealed by a source who is acquainted with the situation.

Circle’s activities took place prior to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s preparations to bring a lawsuit against Paxos, alleging that BUSD was an unregistered security. The SEC was planning to sue Paxos on the basis that BUSD was an unregistered security. On February 13, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) announced its own regulatory action, which consisted of an order to Paxos to “cease minting Paxos-issued BUSD” and a restatement of the agency’s mandate that tokens regulated by its framework must be fully backed by cash or cash equivalents.

Paxos issued a statement on February 13 in response to the lawsuit filed by the SEC declaring that BUSD was “not a security under the federal securities laws.” The statement also included the following information: “BUSD issued by Paxos is always backed 1:1 with US dollar-denominated reserves, fully segregated and held in bankruptcy remote accounts.” Regarding this matter, we want to communicate with the staff of the SEC, and if necessary, we are prepared to forcefully litigate.”

The crypto regulatory action was the most recent in the United States to target crypto businesses. On February 9, the SEC reached an agreement with Kraken to discontinue its staking services for U.S. customers. This move was the latest in a series of regulatory actions affecting crypto firms in the United States. Additionally, the financial authority is continuing to argue with Ripple in a pending litigation about XRP, in which it asserts that the coins are securities that fall under its jurisdiction.

Paxos Discusses BUSD Stablecoin With SEC Following Wells

According to recent reports, the stablecoin issuer Paxos was reportedly engaging in conversations with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin after getting a Wells notice from the relevant financial institution.

In an article that was released by Reuters on February 21, Charles Cascarilla, the chief executive officer of Paxos, was quoted as saying that the company was “engaging in productive negotiations” with the SEC and that they will continue to talk behind closed doors. This statement was made in reference to negotiations that are taking place between Paxos and the SEC. After the SEC filed a lawsuit against the issuer of the stablecoin, claiming that the BUSD cryptocurrency was an unregistered securities, the issuer of the stablecoin decided to publish the research shortly after the complaint was filed.

Cascarilla was quoted as saying that Paxos would consider initiating legal action in order to support its assertion that BUSD did not constitute a security. These stories are based on statements made by Cascarilla. Paxos has a license to operate in the state of New York in the United States, and on February 13, the New York Department of Financial Services issued an order forcing the company to stop the issuance of BUSD. Paxos possesses a license to operate in New York. The corporation has revealed that it would stop minting the stablecoin as of the 21st of February, as stated in the notice that it published.

It is possible that the investigation into Paxos was prompted by a tip from Circle, which supposedly lodged a complaint with the state regulator regarding Binance’s reserves. The New York Department of Financial Services is responsible for overseeing the financial industry in the state of New York. Binance’s analytics showed that there was a rush of withdrawals following the news concerning BUSD, with around $2.7 billion worth of cash leaving the site between February 12 and February 13. This information was disclosed on February 13.

Allbridge Recovers $465,000 Stolen in Crypto Exploit

According to a tweet that was published on April 3, a multichain token bridge known as Allbridge has successfully recovered bitcoin valued at $465,000 that was stolen in a recent exploit. A message was sent to the project by an individual who returned 1,500 BNB, which is equal to $465,000. The remaining money were deemed a white hat reward for the individual, as Allbridge had promised. After that, the project changed all of the Binance Coins (BNB) it had received into Binance Dollars (BUSD) so that they could be utilized as compensation.

Peckshield, a blockchain security company, was the first to discover the vulnerability. On April 1, the company sent a tweet to Allbridge in which it alerted the company that a person was manipulating the BNB Chain pools swap price by serving as both a liquidity provider and a swapper. As the vulnerability was discovered, Allbridge offered the attacker a reward as well as the opportunity to avoid legal repercussions.

Blockchain security companies CertiK and PeckShield calculated that the entire amount taken was very close to $550,000 despite the fact that the project has not publicly stated the complete amount that was stolen. According to PeckShield, the attack generated around $573,000 in total, comprised of $282,889 in Bitcoin USD and $290,868 worth of Tether (USDT).

Allbridge also disclosed that a second address made advantage of the same vulnerability and provided a link to a wallet that at the moment has 0.97 BNB, which has a value of around $300 at the time of this writing. The project requested that the second exploiter make contact and explore the possibility of the monies being returned.

After the original breach, Allbridge made it very obvious that it was collaborating with a number of different groups to recover the missing monies. BNB Chain was one of those firms, and on April 2, it tweeted that it had found at least one of the perpetrators engaged using on-chain analysis. This information was shared with the public. AvengerDAO was recognized by BNB Chain for its contributions to the money recovery effort, and BNB Chain is providing active assistance to the Allbridge team as they work to recover the funds.

The rapid reaction of Allbridge to the vulnerability as well as their offer of a white hat incentive for uncovering vulnerabilities highlight how important it is for the cryptocurrency sector to prioritize security. Projects may strengthen their security and stave off future assaults if hackers are offered financial incentives to disclose flaws rather than use them for their own gain. On the other hand, it is essential for organizations to collaborate in order to track down missing cash and hold those responsible for the thefts accountable for their actions.

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