Popular opinion is missing the sea change in the UK’s crypto operating environment. Beneath regulatory criticism, the UK is accelerating its crypto evolution Opinion by: Daniel Taylor, head of policy at Zumo We’re approaching five years since we first heard about the “global crypto hub UK,” and the United Kingdom has drawn its fair share of flak regarding its crypto strategy. Amid a perpetually delayed regulatory framework, vanishing company approval rates and increasingly loud public criticism of overzealous and nannying “positive frictions,” UK consumers have been left out in the cold both in product access and product choice when compared to international counterparts. Read more
Binance kicked off its $1 billion SAFU conversion into Bitcoin with a $100 million purchase, shifting its user protection fund out of stablecoins and into BTC. Crypto exchange Binance bought its first 1,315 Bitcoin as part of its conversion plan for the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU). The Bitcoin (BTC), worth $101 million, was bought for an average price of $77,409.89 per coin, according to data from Blockchain.com. Binance said it expects to shift the rest of SAFU’s $1B from stablecoins to Bitcoin within the next 27 days. A Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph on Friday that the SAFU fund will continue to be used as a backstop for users in the event of extreme incidents or losses. Read more
The Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of Rompetrol Rafinare (stock symbol: RRC), convened on January 30, validated the election of three new members in the Board of Directors, the company announced in a stock market report on Monday (Feb 2).