Two Binance executives have reportedly been held by Nigerian authorities who blame the exchange for causing devaluation in the country’s currency, the naira. A Bloomberg ETF analyst has revised the likelihood of Ethereum ETF approval by May, citing the SEC’s silence towards potential issuers. Meanwhile, Bitcoin miner Bitfarms exercised its option to purchase an additional 51,908 ASIC miners about five weeks after the next halving event. Here are three significant developments that have marked the last 24 hours.
Tension Between Binance and Nigeria
Despite announcing its withdrawal from Nigeria last week, two senior executives from Binance are still reportedly being detained in the country’s capital, Abuja. According to a March 12 report by Wired, former US federal agent specializing in cryptocurrencies Tigran Gambaryan and a second Binance executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, have been held in Abuja without passports for two weeks.
A Binance representative emphasized that both executives are professional employees and the exchange is confident that a swift resolution will be found. Initial reports of Gambaryan and Anjarwalla’s arrests emerged at the end of February, with the Financial Times reporting on the detentions on February 28 without identifying them.
The Ethereum ETF Process
The lack of communication from the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding Ethereum exchange-traded funds may be a bad sign for those hoping for Ethereum ETF approvals by May. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said there are several reasons why he has reduced the likelihood of Ethereum ETF approval to just 35%.
Balchunas suggested that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s stance on Ethereum could also play a role, arguing that Gensler still sees Ethereum as a security and may not want to endure another round of political backlash after the SEC’s court loss to Grayscale in August 2023 and the subsequent approval of spot Bitcoin ETF funds:
“He also might feel like he’s thrown the industry a bone. He took a beating with the court loss and from his point of view, it’s like: Well, you should be satisfied now. At the end of the day, Gensler thinks Ethereum is a security. He wouldn’t want to approve it if he didn’t think it was a commodity like Bitcoin. All these little things are adding up.”
Bitfarms Makes a Notable Move
Bitcoin miner Bitfarms has purchased an additional 51,908 ASIC miners to increase its mining capacity ahead of the expected halving event next month. The purchase includes 28,000 Bitmain T21 ASIC miners, 19,280 Bitmain T21 miners, 3,888 Bitmain S21 miners, and 740 Bitmain S21 hydro miners.
Each Bitmain T21 ASIC miner costs about $3,000 in the retail market and has a hash rate of 190 TH/s. Bitfarms CEO Geoff Morphy stated that the purchase was made before the expected hardware price increases as the industry moves into Bitcoin’s four-year halving event.
