Cryptocurrency roundup for April 7: ASIC revokes Binance's derivatives License, Top Binance's VIP clients revealed, Japan's web3 project and more

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has revoked Binance's license for its derivatives operations in the country while it examines the group's local activities, as per an announcement on Thursday.
> Binance Australia confirmed in a tweet that its derivatives exchange in the country will be shut down, but its spot platform will continue to operate.
> Binance requested that the Australian financial services license, which is held by its local subsidiary Oztures Trading Pty Ltd (trading as Binance Australia Derivatives), be canceled, according to ASIC.
> From April 14, users in Australia will be unable to open or expand their derivatives positions with Binance. By April 21, all existing derivatives positions must be closed, the statement specified. Continue reading.

Jane Street Group, Tower Research Capital, and Radix Trading have been revealed as the three unnamed "VIP" clients of Binance Holdings Ltd., mentioned in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) lawsuit against the cryptocurrency exchange, as per sources familiar with the situation.
> The CFTC accused Binance of "sham" compliance with US derivatives regulations last week, including not registering with the regulator and failing to prevent American users from accessing its exchange.
> The three US-based quantitative trading firms were cited anonymously in the March 27 lawsuit as examples of US clients using the platform.
> However, they were not accused of any wrongdoing by the regulator. More here.

Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party's Web3 project team has released a white paper outlining recommendations for expanding the nation's Web3 industry, which has become a key part of national strategy under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's leadership.
> As other countries focus on consumer protection regulations, Japan aims to create a more crypto-friendly environment, following firms' departure to other jurisdictions due to high tax burdens.
> The Web3 project team has been working around typical bureaucratic procedures to develop regulatory proposals covering non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). "
> The cryptocurrency industry has been driven by early adopters, but it will shift to mass adoption from now on," said Akihisa Shiozaki, Secretary-General of the party's Web3 project team, in an interview with CoinDesk Japan. Details here.

Whale activity surges as major crypto holders continue to accumulate the Ethereum Layer 2's governance token, Arbitrum.
> On-chain analysis shows that Andrew Kang of Mechanism Capital recently acquired an additional 1.51 million Arbitrum tokens at $1.23, using about $1.85 million worth of USDC stablecoin.
> According to Lookonchain analysts, Kang, also a PleasrDAO member, has bought a total of 2.3 million ARB at an average price of $1.24 per token.
> Another prominent Arbitrum whale, the largest individual holder of the project's governance token, withdrew 5.85 million ARB tokens ($7.15 million) from the centralized exchange Gate.io.
> This whale now holds 17.62 million ARB, valued at around $21.5 million at current rates. Full story here.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) services are increasingly becoming a national security concern due to their vulnerability to large-scale thefts and cyberattacks.
> A combination of factors, including the aggregation of funds, lack of cybersecurity and audit requirements, concentrated administrator rights, and the availability of open-source code for DeFi services' smart contracts, contribute to these vulnerabilities.
> Cross-chain bridges are particularly attractive targets for hackers as they often feature central storage points for funds backing the bridged assets on the receiving blockchain.
> Treasuries and liquidity pools of DeFi services are also common targets.
> Large software firms struggle to deploy secure products, and DeFi services, which usually operate as small enterprises, face even greater challenges in secure code development. Continue here.

Lending protocol Sentiment has successfully reclaimed the funds stolen in a recent hack by offering the perpetrator a $95,000 bounty.
> In a message sent via an on-chain transaction on the Arbitrum blockchain, Sentiment proposed a $95,000 reward to the hacker if they returned the stolen funds by April 6, encouraging them to "do the right thing."
> The protocol also offered the same amount to anyone who could assist in locating and prosecuting the offender if the funds were not returned.
> MetaMask developer Taylor Monahan monitored the situation and pointed out that the hacker had initially returned 414 Ether, valued at approximately $771,000.
> Subsequently, the hacker sent an additional 51.75 ETH back to Sentiment's recovery address. Details here.

Dogecoin's value took a dip on Thursday after Twitter seemingly reverted to its original blue bird logo, replacing the Shiba Inu dog meme that had adorned the platform since Monday.
> DOGE's price dropped as much as 8.2% by 5:09 p.m. EDT, reaching $0.085, as per CoinGecko data. The plunge followed a 27% surge on Monday when CEO Elon Musk playfully suggested swapping the logo for the meme.
> Although Dogecoin's price initially peaked on Monday due to Musk's influence, trading volumes have been dwindling since Tuesday, as revealed by Binance data through TradingView.
> Twitter's substitution of its classic blue bird logo with the famous DOGE meme earlier this week led to a price boost for the digital asset. Continue here.

Satoshi Nakamoto's legacy, the enigmatic creator of Bitcoin, persists, even on your Apple computer.
> Andy Baio, ex-CTO of Kickstarter, shared on his blog, which spans over two decades, that he discovered the Bitcoin white paper – the nine-page document that details the world's inaugural cryptocurrency – tucked away on his MacBook.
> Baio mentioned that he had verified with over a dozen Mac-using acquaintances, and the white paper was present on all their devices.
> According to him, every Mac operating system version released after 2018 came with the white paper pre-installed.
> Baio stumbled upon the PDF while attempting to transfer scanned documents from a multifunction printer to his computer, he informed Fortune.
> The Nakamoto-authored white paper appeared when he tried to connect his scanner to his MacBook, which was not initially showing up on his laptop. Full report here.

Cryptocurrencies experienced a setback on Thursday as the momentum from the recent rally seemed to wane, leading to more range-bound trading.
> However, a crucial macroeconomic event on Friday could greatly impact the market, and the response of digital assets should be closely monitored.
> Bitcoin's price has dropped by 2% in the last 24 hours, hovering around the significant $28,000 mark.
> Despite being at its highest level since the crypto crash intensified in June last year, the leading digital asset has scaled back its gains and appears to be losing momentum following a recent surge above $29,000.
> In addition to Bitcoin, Ethereum – the second-largest cryptocurrency – has dipped 1.5%, falling below $1,900. Smaller cryptocurrencies, or altcoins, have also experienced declines, with Cardano and Polygon both down by 3%.
> Memecoins have taken an even more significant hit following a recent Elon Musk-driven surge, as Dogecoin has dropped by 6% while Shiba Inu has seen a smaller decrease of 3%.