• CZ denies rumors of senior Binance executives resigning due to regulatory challenges
• BlackRock CEO Larry Fink praises Bitcoin as an ‘international asset’
• Bitwage halts USDC payments for US residents, cites ‘strict regulations’
CZ Denies Senior Executives Resigning Rumors
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao denied rumors that senior executives were resigning due to ongoing regulatory challenges. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink also compared crypto to ‘digitizing gold’ and praised Bitcoin as an international asset.
Bitwage Halts USDC Payments for U.S. Residents
Payroll company Bitwage has halted its USDC payments program for United States-based customers due to ‘strict regulations’ from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Meanwhile, Valkyrie Digital Assets‘ spot-Bitcoin ETF application has been refiled with Coinbase serving as the surveillance partner.
NEAR and Ethereum’s Contrasting Approaches to Blockchain Scalability
NEAR Protocol and Ethereum are taking two different approaches in terms of scalability and both have their own unique advantages. NEAR is focusing on sharding and layer-2s while Ethereum is utilizing a more traditional approach with its Eth 2.0 upgrade which is expected to bring about scalability improvements in the near future.
Majority of Finance Customers Comfortable With Crypto, Less So AI
A 2023 H1 survey from Salesforce revealed that 60% of financial service institution (FSI) customers worldwide are comfortable with cryptocurrency while just 21% said they „fully trust“ AI chatbots. The survey was conducted from March 7 to April 12, 2023, among 6,058 respondents from 12 countries across five continents.
Conclusion
This article discussed how CZ denied rumors of senior Binance executives resigning due to regulatory challenges, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink praised Bitcoin as an international asset, and Bitwage halted USDC payments for US residents citing ’strict regulations‘. We then took a look at NEAR Protocol and Ethereum’s contrasting approaches towards blockchain scalability before concluding by discussing how majority of finance customers are comfortable with crypto but less so with AI according to a recent survey from Salesforce.