SEC v. OpenSea, Cardano’s Chang hard fork, Telegram founder indicted | Weekly Recap

For the latest edition of our ‘Weekly Recap,’ we’re spotlighting the growing contention between OpenSea and U.S. regulators; Binance’s support of the Cardano Chang hard fork; the indictment of Telegram founder Pavel Durov; and TON’s network outage.

SEC v. OpenSea

• Last week, OpenSea — one of the largest non-fungible token marketplaces on Ethereum — received a Wells Notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 
• While the notice is not a formal charge or allegation of wrongdoing, it indicates that the agency believes there is enough evidence to pursue legal action.
• Regulators allege that the NFTs traded on the OpenSea platform are securities. OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer plans to “stand up and fight” the SEC.

Binance in the spotlight

• Rumors swirled that Binance seized funds belonging to Palestinian users, but the exchange clarified that it only blocked accounts linked to illicit funds from transacting.
• Binance experienced a 30-day outflow of $3.7 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), with most of the withdrawals occurring on Aug. 27 in the heat of the allegations.

Binance prepares for Chang

• On Aug. 30, Binance declared its intentions to support the Cardano Chang hard fork. The disclosure came three days after the exchange signaled readiness for the upgrade.
• Recall that the Chang hard fork was initially slated for Aug. 27, but Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson pushed back the date to Sept. 1 due to the lack of preparedness from Binance and other top exchanges at the time.

The magic of deadlines is that people who aren't taking upgrades seriously suddenly say damn we got to get moving. When they get moving, we converge quickly.

It looks like Binance and a few others need more time to get their houses in order, so the rocket is going to wait on…

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) August 23, 2024

Telegram founder indicted in France

• Following his arrest in France, reports suggested that Telegram founder Pavel Durov could be facing up to 12 charges in the country. Toncoin (TON) collapsed by a further 5% following these reports.
• On Aug. 28, French authorities moved Durov to a courthouse for possible indictment. After his indictment, the court granted Durov a $5 million bail, releasing him under judicial supervision. 

DOGS triggers Ton network outage

• The DOGS airdrop last week triggered increased activity on The Open Network, widely known as TON, as over 10 million users trooped in to claim and trade their allocations. 
• This increased activity led to a disruption of some services on Telegram Wallet and other exchanges. Shortly after, Ton suffered an outage, halting block production for nearly seven hours before resuming.