Crypto Exchange Binance Restricts 281 Nigerian Accounts — Some Requested by International Law Enforcement

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has restricted 281 Nigerian user accounts. Citing user security and fraud prevention, CEO Changpeng Zhao explained that “approximately 38% of these cases [are] restricted at the request of international law enforcement.”

281 Nigerian Accounts Restricted by Binance, CEO Says 79 Cases Have Been Resolved

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has sent a letter to its Nigerian users. In the letter, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) apologized for the inconvenience caused by delays in resolving customer support requests.

Noting that “User security” remains his exchange’s top priority, Zhao detailed: “Protection mechanisms such as KYC, anti-money laundering measures, collaboration with law enforcement, and account restrictions are in place to ensure our community remains protected and that fraudulent activity is prevented. This is a global approach applied in every country.” The CEO added:

Some 281 Nigerian accounts have been affected by these personal account restrictions with approximately 38% of these cases restricted at the request of international law enforcement.

Zhao proceeded to highlight what Binance is doing to rebuild trust in the Nigerian community.

Firstly, he said that Binance is “Ensuring speedy resolutions of ongoing user cases tied to account restrictions,” noting:

Currently, we have resolved 79 cases and continue to work through others. All non-law enforcement-related cases will be resolved within two weeks.

Another area that is being addressed is “Devoting more customer service personnel to the region.” Zhao stressed, “We will dedicate more CS and risk agents with a great understanding of the Nigerian market.”

Recently, some Nigerian users of Binance launched a campaign boycotting the platform for freezing their accounts. “At times, we proactively restrict accounts to protect users’ funds. Other times, we have to restrict accounts at the request of law enforcement. But never will we restrict accounts without good reason,” Binance said last week.

The cryptocurrency exchange has been facing scrutiny in a number of jurisdictions worldwide, including Pakistan, Canada, the U.S., U.K., South Africa, Australia, Norway, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Germany, Italy, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, and Lithuania.

In August, Binance said it is making regulatory compliance a top priority. The company is moving from a decentralized business model to a centralized one, as it pivots from a technology company to a financial services company.

What do you think about Binance restricting 281 Nigerian accounts? Let us know in the comments section below.

Binance Smart Chain Protocol Qubit Finance Hacked for $80M

A bug in Qubit's Ethereum bridge allowed a hacker to siphon 206,809 BNB from its lending pools.

Key Takeaways

• A hacker has stolen 206,809 BNB worth $80 million from Qubit Finance.
• The hacker exploited a vulnerability on the protocol's Ethereum bridge.
• The Qubit team has offered a bounty of $250,000 to the hacker in return for the stolen funds.

Qubit Finance, a DeFi protocol on Binance Smart Chain, was exploited today for $80 million worth of BNB tokens.

Qubit Hit by Hack

Another Binance Smart Chain protocol has been hacked.

An unknown hacker was able to drain $80 million worth of BNB tokens from the Binance Smart Chain lending protocol Qubit Finance.

On Jan. 27, at around 21:36 UTC, a hacker exploited a vulnerability on the Qubit Bridge, a cross-chain bridge connected to Ethereum. This bridge lets users deposit WETH from Ethereum mainnet into Qubit’s Binance Smart Chain-based smart contract to mint xETH, which can be used as lending collateral on the protocol.

Due to a critical vulnerability in the bridge’s smart contracts, the hacker was able to mint xETH without depositing any WETH, thereby giving them the ability to take out unlimited leveraged loans from Qubit’s pools.

In a Twitter post announcing the exploit, the team reported that the hacker “minted unlimited xETH to borrow on BSC.” Using the xETH as collateral, the hacker proceeded to siphon 206,809 BNB from Qubit Finance, worth about $80 million at the time. The loot can be seen sitting in the hacker’s address.

In an on-chain message directed to the hacker, the Qubit team offered a bounty of $250,000 in return for the stolen funds, as per the protocol’s ongoing bug bounty program with the ethical hacking platform Immunefi. In another post, the Qubit team has also tried to contact the hacker to negotiate.

The Qubit Finance exploit appears to be the seventh-largest DeFi protocol hack in terms of the value of stolen funds, as per data from DeFi Yield. Following the hack, the protocol’s Qubit token has dropped 27% over the past 24 hours.

Since the launch of Binance Smart Chain in September 2020, the chain has become infamous for the amount of hacks, exploits and rug pulls that have taken place on it.

In 2021, several DeFi projects on Binance Smart Chain suffered major hacks or exploits. Some of the most severe include Meerkat Finance’s $31 million hack in March 2021, a Uranium Finance exploit that cost protocol users $50 million in April, and the $88 million attack on Venus Finance in May.

Qubit Finance has not yet commented on plans to reimburse or compensate users for funds lost due to the exploit.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH and other cryptocurrencies

Binance to resume SEPA bank transfers in partnership with Paysafe

Crypto exchange Binance has partnered with London-based payments company Paysafe to resume Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) bank transfers for customers.

Binance temporarily suspended SEPA transfers in July of last year due to “events beyond our control.” Now the exchange has begun rolling out support for SEPA — a system that allows users to make cashless euro payments via bank accounts anywhere in the European Union, as well as several non-EU countries.

"There's a small set of users who will have [SEPA] access today as part of testing before it rolls out to other users across the EEA (European Economic Area)," a Binance spokesperson told The Block.

Paysafe will essentially act as a fiat on-ramps partner for Binance in Europe. The Binance spokesperson said Paysafe has developed a platform for Binance, using both their digital wallet technology and their payment processing capabilities, which will support Binance’s fiat-to-crypto services for users in Europe.

Metaverse Campaign Launched by Huobi; Swiggy Raise USD$700m

In today's ExchangeWire news digest: Huobi Global have launched a new initiative to fund metaverse developments; Swiggy have raised USD$700m (£519m) in a Series K round; and 6sense have just completed a USD$200m (£148.3m) Series E funding round just 10 months after their USD$125m (£92.67m) Series D.

Huobi Global launch their Lunar New Year campaign to aid the development of the metaverse

Huobi Global have launched their Lunar New Year campaign which aims to encourage users to explore possibilities for the future of the metaverse. The campaign, which ends on the 14th February 2022, will hand out USD$100m (£74.1m) worth of prizes to support participants - including ​​access to new metaverse token listings under Primelist. The digital asset exchange firm will also invite users to register for DIDs (decentralized identifiers), giving them the opportunity to win distinctive tiger-themed NFT avatars.

Huobi are avid supporters of the metaverse and blockchain, previously launching a USD$10m (£7.4m) fund back in September to invest in global upcoming GameFi projects. GameFi stands for “blockchain gaming integrated with DeFi mechanism.” The Seychelles-based platform launched the initiative to allow more GameFi startup projects to grow the blockchain ecosystem.

Commenting on their recent development fund, Huobi co-founder Du Jun states, “our emphasis on the metaverse reflects our intentions to provide a more fun and unique crypto experience.” They add, “we're not just another spot trading exchange. We pride ourselves on our diverse set of products and services, and the promotions we run are designed to gamify the trading experience and make it more fun.”

The news comes amid a six-month low for the cryptocurrency sector over speculation that the US Federal Reserve are looking to tighten restrictions “until the inflation picture changes,” Goldman economist David Mericle said in a statement to clients on Saturday (22 January). The announcement also accompanies a draft proposal by Russia’s central bank, seeking to ban trading and mining of cryptocurrencies in the country. Elizaveta Danilova, director of the Bank of Russia’s financial stability department, has commented, “we consider it very important to ban using Russian financial infrastructure to obtain cryptocurrency. We think this will help remove a significant part of the risks and ensure that cryptocurrency won’t be so popular.” According to the Financial Times, the price of the largest digital token by market value fell 4.3% on Saturday (22 January) to the lowest level since July last year.

Swiggy raise USD$700m (£519m) in a Series K round

platform, Swiggy, have raised USD$700m (£519m) in a Series K round led by Invesco. Although their valuation has not yet been confirmed, a source close to the matter has stated that the startup could now be worth USD$10.7bn (£7.9bn), ahead of their rival Zomato. Existing investors, such as Prosus Ventures, Alpha Wave Global, Qatar Investment Authority, and ARK Impact, supported the round with participation from new backers including Baron Capital Group and Sumeru Venture.

Prosus co-led Swiggy’s last funding round in July, along with SoftBank Vision Fund 2, where the e-commerce company raised a “heavily oversubscribed” USD$1.25bn (£926.9m). After this round, Swiggy was valued at USD$5.5bn (£4.08bn). Sriharsha Majety, chief executive and co-founder of Swiggy, stated, “the scope of food delivery in India is massive and over the next few years, we will continue to invest aggressively into growing this category.” A new report conducted by the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) has estimated that the Indian e-commerce market is expected to grow to USD$111.40bn (£82.6bn) by 2025, in comparison to just USD$46.2bn (£34.3bn) in 2020. The rapid growth has been triggered by an increase in smartphones and internet connections across India, as a result of the “Digital India” programme.

Majety has commented on the recent round, “our goal is to make Swiggy the platform that 100 million consumers can use 15 times a month. We will continue to invest in our people, products, and partners to create a positive impact on the ecosystem and accelerate the digital transformation in food and grocery delivery and other on-demand services.”

 6sense raise USD$200m (£148.3m) in Series E investment

6sense, a B2B insights platform, have just completed a USD$200m (£148.3m) Series E funding round, co-led by new investors Blue Owl and MSD Partners. Existing investors, Insight Partners, Tiger Global, D1 Capital Partners, and Sapphire Ventures participated in the round, along with support from additional new investors, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, B Capital Group, Franklin Templeton, and Harmony Partners. 6sense’s total funding has now grown to USD$426m (£315.8m), just 10 months after their USD$125m (£92.67m) Series D. The San Francisco-based platform can use their new investment to accelerate their goal of rapid growth and product development. Their valuation now totals USD$5.2bn (£3.86bn).

“Ten months ago we ignited the RevTech Revolution with a promise to provide the only AI-driven platform that unifies data, people, and processes to unlock predictable revenue potential. We’ve delivered on this promise and the market has spoken. Our growth continues to outpace every competitor in our category, and customers consistently rave about the exceptional results they see with 6sense,” Jason Zintak, CEO of 6sense, commented. “This investment adds fuel to our trajectory and gives us the ability to accelerate on our commitments. Our acquisition of Saleswhale is just one example of how we are transforming the way B2B organisations create, manage and convert pipeline to revenue.”

HUOBI REGISTRATION

Sabah records 118 new COVID-19 cases

Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun said the number was a decrease of 54 cases compared to the previous day.

"Today, only five districts recorded new double -digit cases, led by Kota Kinabalu with 17 cases followed by Papar with 15 cases, Tuaran 15, Penampang 13 and Sandakan 12.

"Ranau only recorded two new cases yesterday and Beaufort also only recorded eight new cases. Six districts did not record any new cases," he said in a statement here today.

He said, as mentioned earlier, the fluctuation in the number of daily cases in Sabah was greatly influenced by the emergence of new clusters from time to time.

He said the community's responsible attitude such as compliance with all COVID-19 SOPs was also an important factor in maintaining the number of new cases at a low level in Sabah.

"All citizens play a role as 'front line' workers in our state's efforts to eradicate the spread of this virus.

“A total of 114 of the 118 new cases today are in Category 1 and 2, two cases in Category 3 and Category 4 respectively. There are no patients in Category 5,” he said.