Binance Operations Halted in Venezuela Amid Political Unrest

• Venezuela restricts Binance activities in the region following growing post-presidential election results.   
• Nicolás Maduro reclaimed the victory in Venezuela with a vote share of 51%.
• The Maduro government detained 2,200 protesters, including four journalists.

Venezuela has encountered an unbearable financial crisis over the past few years, and its traditional currency has fallen prey to extreme devaluation. The de-pegging redirected citizens’ interest toward the U.S. dollar and cryptocurrencies; Binance processes considerable recorded crypto transactions in the region.

Following the completion of the presidential election and the announcement of the results, tension in Venezuela has led to restrictions on Binance operations in the region.  

Nicolás Maduro reclaimed the victory in Venezuela with a vote share of 51%. 

Regardless, opponent  Edmundo González Urrutia secured only 41% of the votes. The contender parties of the nations are alleging that Maduro has committed election fraud, leading to political trouble in the region. 

A person aware of the fact notes that the government of Venezuela is not cracking down on those challenging the election results. 

Available information states that the Maduro government detained 2,200 protesters, including four journalists. The casualties in the region grew from 15 to 24 deaths till August 7, 2024. 

The arrested journalists are blocked from accessing their attorney for legal aid. In the past few days, the country has also prohibited the services of X, a multinational social firm owned by billionaire Elon Musk.

The regulator and agencies of the nation are actively investigating Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia and Maria Corina Machado, the opposition leaders who asked for re-elections.

Almost all financial activities, including cryptocurrency transactions, are barred in the region following the ban on internet activities. In a 2020 report, Chainalysis notes that Venezuela is among the top nations in terms of crypto adoption. 

Kraken, Uphold, Coinbase, Kucoin, and Bybit are among the most chosen cryptocurrency exchanges in the territory, including Binance.

Binance, a centralized crypto exchange, revealed its plan to convert the delisted token from its ecosystem into USDC. 

As per more details, the list of tokens to be converted includes Monera (XMR), Multichain (MULTI), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), BitShare (BTS), and Groestlcoin (GRS), among others.

SoSoValue, an ETF tracker, argued that the U.S. exchange-traded funds had witnessed a notable inflow since the start of August 2, 2024. Nine Ether spot ETFs are listed in the region, which collectively saw an inflow of $104.8 Million.  

In the past 24 hours, the global crypto market capitalization has bled 4.08%, reaching $2.06 trillion. Despite a decline in the market cap, a whooping surge of 61.35% is seen in the market’s trading volume. 

Bitcoin’s (BTC) trading price fell over 4.10% intraday but added 11.04% weekly. It trades at $58,748 at press time, with an inflation of +86.91% in daily trading volume. 

The approval of ETH spot ETFs backed a whopping inflow of funds and a skyrocketing growth in the addresses over the Ether blockchain. When writing, Ethereum is trading at $2,569, losing 4.01% of its price in the past 24 hours. 

Sui (SUI) token price surged over 70% in the past seven days, outshining the weekly gainers list. Grayscale, a leading crypto enthusiast firm, has launched the SUI investment trust, exclusively driving the price increase through this move.

Bittensor (TAO) price added 49.52% in a week following the official launch of the Bittensor investment trust.