Today in Crypto: Binance Shows Greater Net Flows Resilience, Capital is Flowing Out of US into Asia, OKX Applies for Hong Kong VATP License

Last updated: November 29, 2023 05:33 EST
. 3 min read

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Market news

Contrasting with the crisis experienced by exchanges like FTX, Binance has demonstrated greater resilience in its net flows, according to digital asset data provider CCData. During the FTX crisis, Binance saw an outflow of close to $1 billion in BTC within one hour. Since the official US DOJ announcement on Tuesday, Binance saw outflows across major assets (BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC) – an aggregated ~$800m of outflows across specified assets. “This comparison highlights the market’s perception of risk, potentially influenced by new compliance requirements imposed on Binance by the US government, offering some assurance to investors and reducing counterparty risk,” the report said. The speculation caused by pre-announcements created a significant spike in BNB’s open interest (OI), with over $100m in OI added within a one day period. The current OI remains close to its highs, indicating further speculation on BNB, it concluded.
“The big trend we’re seeing is capital flowing out of the US and going predominantly global, and a lot of that has come to Asia,“ said Dmitry Lapidus, CoinFund‘s newly-appointed senior liquid analyst based in Hong Kong, tasked with building out the firm’s presence in the region. New York-based crypto-focused venture capital (VC) firm CoinFund made this first hire in Hong Kong, aiming to expand in Asia, The South China Morning Post reported. CoinFund is seeing more crypto trading and more crypto entrepreneurs coming from Asia, where the firm is hoping to expand its reach, Lapidus said.

Exchange new

OKX officially applied for a virtual asset trading platform (VATP) license under its Hong Kong branch, OKX Hong Kong FinTech, eight months after the branch was established. Hence, it became the seventh company to apply formally and “the first major industry player to apply under a new legal regime aimed at transforming the city into a regional crypto hub,” The South China Morning Post reported. It submitted the application on November 16, according to the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) website. PantherTrade, an exchange with apparent ties to Futu Holdings, submitted its application the day before OKX, the report said.
BingX announced the launch of its rebranding initiative. According to the press release, the exchange updated its visual identity to make the trading experience more intuitive and user-friendly. The revamped design simplifies its logo by smoothing the outline and removing internal shading, focusing on a cleaner and more direct aesthetic that aligns with users’ trading goals, it said. Over the next few months, BingX will undergo a comprehensive visual transformation, including updates to its color palette and typography across mobile and desktop platforms.

Mining news

UAE-based bitcoin mining company Phoenix’s oversubscribed $370 million IPO on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange signals a burgeoning enthusiasm for bitcoin mining in the region, according to a Miner Weekly report by BlocksBridge Consulting. Retail and professional investors showed strong interest, oversubscribing by 180 times and 22 times, respectively. Meanwhile, said the report, Phoenix appears so far to be more of a bitcoin mining hardware distributor than a proprietary miner or a machine hosting business. Despite emphasizing power capacity and infrastructure, its revenue stream seems reliant primarily on hardware sales, namely Antminers and WhatsMiners.

Art news

Curated platform Avant Arte announced a collaboration with generative, NFT artist Erick Calderon, known to the Web3 realm as Snowfro, to release the first fine-art limited edition print from his Chromie Squiggles series. Per the announcement, Snowfro has personally selected one of his favourite Chromie Squiggles from his personal collection for the print, Chromie Squiggle #8107, which will be available for seven days only, starting December 7, on avantarte.com. This exclusive print edition allows art enthusiasts and collectors to claim a piece for €350 ($380). Avant Arte stated that thanks to its printmaking capabilities, its master printmaker Make-Ready in London, and its expertise in bringing digitally native projects into the physical realm, the Chromie Squiggle #8107 print process replicates how each Chromie Squiggle is digitally arranged.