Crypto News– Binance has at last received approval to operate in Dubai — albeit with former CEO Changpeng Zhao relinquishing his voting rights within the exchange’s local trading entity.
18 April Crypto News- What Happened Crypto Markets Today
Searches on Google for the Bitcoin halving have surged. Concurrently, a stablecoin bill was introduced by two senators in the United States.
Binance secures crypto license in Dubai after CZ steps down
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has finally obtained a much-anticipated regulatory license in Dubai.
The exchange successfully secured its virtual asset service provider (VASP) license after co-founder Changpeng Zhao voluntarily relinquished his voting power within the exchange’s local entity, Binance CEO Richard Teng revealed to Bloomberg on April 18.
Officials from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) aimed to ensure that their actions didn’t disrupt Binance’s recent agreement with U.S. authorities, which led to Zhao stepping down from his CEO role at Binance.
This concern prompted VARA to insist on Zhao’s surrender of his voting powers within Dubai FZE. Following Zhao’s relinquishment of voting control, VARA conducted a thorough review of the products the exchange intended to offer in Dubai, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Despite losing his voting rights, Zhao retains his status as the ultimate beneficial owner of Binance FZE’s parent company based in Abu Dhabi.
Record surge in Google searches for Bitcoin halving
Google searches for the term Bitcoin halving have reached an unprecedented peak, surpassing even the levels seen during the last halving event in 2020. According to predicted data, search interest has more than doubled compared to the previous halving. Google Trends data indicates a current search interest score of 45, and projections suggest it will hit a score of 100 by the end of this month, indicating it has reached its pinnacle of popularity.
According to Google Trends, the countries showing the most interest in the Bitcoin halving are Nigeria, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Cyprus.
The cryptocurrency’s halving is scheduled for Saturday, April 20. During this event, the reward paid to Bitcoin miners will be reduced from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
Bitcoin’s performance this year has been remarkable, with a 44% increase year-to-date. It commenced the year at approximately $42,200, surged to its all-time high of $73,600 on March 13, and has since settled to its current price of around $61,000, as per CoinMarketCap data.
Stablecoin legislation introduced by U.S. senators
Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis has collaborated with Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to introduce a new stablecoin legislation in the United States.
The Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act, which underwent months of drafting, aims to simplify the regulatory process for payment stablecoins. Notably, the bill proposes to prohibit unbacked, algorithmic stablecoins, likely referring to troubled stablecoins like TerraUSD (UST).
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