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Binance CEO says deposits are 'coming back in' after pausing USDC withdrawals

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao on Wednesday said that the situation has “stabilized” at his cryptocurrency exchange, in a bid to assuage investors’ fears after the company was forced to halt withdrawals of a stablecoin.

Zhao said that around $1.14 billion of net withdrawals took place on Tuesday, but tweeted that this was “not the highest withdrawals we processed, not even top [five].” The CEO said deposits are returning to Binance.

His comments come after Binance temporarily halted withdrawals of the USDC stablecoin on Tuesday, while it carried out a “token swap.” Zhao said Binance had seen an increase in USDC withdrawals. The pausing of withdrawals was due to the fact that some currency swaps had to be routed through an unspecified bank in New York that wasn’t open, according to Zhao. Binance resumed withdrawals after about eight hours downtime.

The episode left investors on edge, particularly after the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and subsequent arrest of its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who is facing federal criminal charges.

Blockchain analytics firm Nansen said on Tuesday that there have been more than $3 billion of net withdrawals from Binance over the last seven days. But the Nansen CEO Alex Svanevik said the situation is different to FTX, which saw withdrawals to the “tune of multi-billion dollars.”

“I would say that you’re definitely seeing larger than normal withdrawals from Binance. And so it is definitely worth keeping an eye on but as far as I can tell at this point in time, this is very different from the FTX situation,” Svanevik told CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Wednesday.

Svanevik noted that Binance has around $60 billion worth of assets on its exchange, of which the withdrawals represent a small proportion.

Binance’s Zhao has tried to project a sense of strength internally at Binance too.

“While we expect the next several months to be bumpy, we will get past this challenging period – and we’ll be stronger for having been through it,” Zhao wrote in an internal memo, seen by Bloomberg.

FTX's collapse was a punch in the face for crypto, but not a knockout blow, analyst says

Investors have called for more transparency from Binance’s business. Last month, the company issued a proof of reserve in which it claims to have a reserve ratio of 101%. That means it has enough assets to cover customer deposits.

But critics have said that the proof of reserves has not gone far enough to give assurances of Binance’s collateral. Mazars, the auditing firm Binance used for its proof of reserves, said in its five-page November report that the company does “not express an opinion or an assurance conclusion.”

Zhao said during a talk on Twitter on Wednesday that it holds user asset reserves one-to-one. He also said that the company is going to release another batch of proof of reserves in the “next couple [of] weeks.”

A Binance spokesperson was not immediately available for comment, when contacted about the contents of this memo and the criticisms of the company’s proof of reserves.

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Bitcoin price rises as Israel-Iran ceasefire begins, and Senate unveils major crypto bill

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Bitcoin price rises as Israel-Iran ceasefire begins, and Senate unveils major crypto bill

Crypto prices, including bitcoin, rose on Tuesday after President Trump announced a ceasefire between Iran and Israel.

By midday Tuesday, bitcoin had passed the $105,000 level, ether jumped back above the $2,400 mark, and XRP climbed to $2.19. 

The risk-on action in the markets, which also saw stocks rally on the Mideast de-escalation, wasn’t the only source of momentum, as Republican senators unveiled a major bill to set the rules of the road for crypto. Specifically, the legislation would define when crypto is a commodity or a security, allow crypto exchanges to register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and reduce the Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulation of digital assets — a big reversal from the plans of President Biden’s SEC Chair Gary Gensler to closely regulate the crypto industry.

The new framework was introduced by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott of South Carolina and Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, who heads the panel’s Digital Assets Committee. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the regulatory development was important for the U.S. to regain the lead in the crypto industry, where he said it has fallen behind other markets, including Europe.

Last week, the senate passed a stablecoin bill, marking the first major legislative win for the crypto industry, which now heads to the House for consideration of its version of the bill. Both bills prohibit yield-bearing consumer stablecoins — but differ on agency regulatory oversight. Visa CEO Ryan McInerney weighed in on the advancement of the Senate version, the Genius Act, telling CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that the credit card giant has been embracing stablecoins. 

Meanwhile, investors increased their bets on crypto company Digital Asset, which raised $135 million in funding from several big names in banking and finance, including Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas and hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities. The firm, which touts itself as a regulated crypto player, said it will use the funding to advance adoption of its Canton network, which is a blockchain for financial institutions, another sign of how major financial institutions are embedding themselves into the once obscure crypto world. 

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Ambarella shares soar 19% on report chip designer is exploring sale

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Ambarella shares soar 19% on report chip designer is exploring sale

Thomas Fuller | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Ambarella shares popped 19% after a report that the chip designer is currently working with bankers on a potential sale.

Bloomberg reported the news, citing sources familiar with the matter.

While no deal is imminent, the sources told Bloomberg that the firm may draw interest from semiconductor companies looking to improve their automotive business. Private equity firms have already expressed interest, according to the report.

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The Santa Clara, California-based company is known for its system-on-chip semiconductors and software used for edge artificial intelligence. Ambarella chips are used in the automotive sector for electronic mirrors and self-driving assistance systems.

Shares have slumped about 18% year to date. The company’s market capitalization last stood at nearly $2.6 billion.

Read the Bloomberg story here.

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Nvidia CEO Huang sells $15 million worth of stock, first sale of $873 million plan

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Nvidia CEO Huang sells  million worth of stock, first sale of 3 million plan

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang attends a roundtable discussion at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris on June 11, 2025.

Sarah Meyssonnier | Reuters

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sold 100,000 shares of the chipmaker’s stock on Friday and Monday, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The sales are worth nearly $15 million at Tuesday’s opening price.

The transactions are the first sale in Huang’s plan to sell as many as 600,000 shares of Nvidia through the end of 2025. It’s a plan that was announced in March, and it’d be worth $873 million at Tuesday’s opening price.

The Nvidia founder still owns more than 800 million Nvidia shares, according to Monday’s SEC filing. Huang has a net worth of about $126 billion, ranking him 12th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The 62-year-old chief executive sold about $700 million in Nvidia shares last year under a prearranged plan, too.

Nvidia stock is up more than 800% since December 2022 after OpenAI’s ChatGPT was first released to the public. That launch drew attention to Nvidia’s graphics processing units, or GPUs, which were needed to develop and power the artificial intelligence service.

The company’s chips remain in high demand with the majority of the AI chip market, and Nvidia has introduced two subsequent generations of its AI GPU technology.

Nvidia continues to grow. Its stock is up 9% this year, even as the company faces export control issues that could limit foreign markets for its AI chips.

In May, the company reported first-quarter earnings that showed the chipmaker’s revenue growing 69% on an annual basis to $44 billion during the quarter.

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Market Navigator: Nvidia warning signs

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