Add Binance to the list of crypto heavyweights facing serious legal challenges. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged Binance, founder Changpeng Zhao, and former head of compliance Samuel Lim allegedly violated both the agency’s rules and the Commodity Exchange Law. The company allegedly offered unregistered cryptocurrency derivatives, did not require users to verify their identity, structured itself to avoid US regulation, and even told customers how to bypass their own compliance system for US customers.

The CFTC alleges that Zhao directed most of the rule violations himself, and chats and emails are reportedly available as evidence. Lim, who left Binance in 2022, is accused of knowingly aiding the scheme. Among other things, he allegedly encouraged American users to mask transactions through VPNs and even create new accounts through shell companies. This activity indicates that Binance’s compliance mechanisms “were a sham,” says CFTC General Counsel Gretchen Lowe.

The Commission hopes to permanently ban Binance registration and trading. He also hopes to impose fines and force the firm to squander its profits. There is no estimated financial penalty.

We have requested a comment from Binance and will let you know if we receive a response. The company has historically defended itself against the allegations. The Zhao brand is also under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its BNB token, as well as a lengthy investigation into possible insider trading. Senator Elizabeth Warren recently sent Zhao letter accusing him of creating a “hotbed of illicit financial activity” that allows fraudsters and sanctions evaders.

The accusations come after numerous scandals shaking the crypto industry. Fraud allegations leveled against FTX and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried are the most prominent examples, but there are also allegations and investigations directed against the former CEO of Celsius, Coinbase and Terraform Labs, among others. Binance is the largest remaining cryptocurrency exchange and the US ban could significantly impact the industry as customers are forced to move to smaller exchanges.

With this move, the CFTC has also staked out territory. Both he and the SEC argue that they should regulate cryptocurrencies in the absence of laws defining their roles. With these allegations, the CFTC is signaling that it wants to be the de facto regulator of cryptocurrency trading. Members of the House and Senate can limit the commission’s powers if they pass legislation, but the agency is clearly unwilling to wait before taking tough action.

V The Nintendo Switch OLED retails for $310 on Woot. This deal is only available today and will almost certainly sell out before the promotion expires. This is the lowest price we’ve seen for a Nintendo Switch OLED in 2023. The promotion applies to the model with white Joy-Con controllers.

This is the first full discount on the Switch OLED in months. Nintendo consoles in general are very rarely sold, so this is probably the best deal we’ll see anytime soon. Woot is an Amazon-owned company, so Prime members will get free next week shipping as an estimated shipping window.

The Switch OLED has several improvements over the regular Switch. Specifically, as the name suggests, it has an OLED display that is slightly larger than the regular Switch. It also has a better stand and a wider dock with an Ethernet port.

If you’re looking to pick up new games and accessories for your console, be sure to check out our roundup of the best Nintendo Switch deals available now. You can even get a nice discount on the biggest upcoming Switch game, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Remember Second Life? A virtual world launched on the desktop web back in 2003, with 3D avatars and spaces for various social activities. Believe it or not, it has been running continuously all this time, and now for the first time it is coming to mobile devices.

In fact, this will be the first time Second Life has gone beyond the PC (in Windows, macOS and Linux) in any form.

In a post to the virtual world community web forumcommunity manager Second Life shared developer Linden Lab video with some details on the development of the mobile version and announced that the beta version of the mobile app will be launched sometime this year.

The video shows that the app was built using Unity, in part to make it easier to release and maintain the app across multiple platforms, including iPhones, iPads, and Android phones and tablets. It also includes several minutes of video footage. Second Lifedetailed character models and environments, accompanied by comments from developers at Linden Lab on how to bring as much experience as possible to mobile devices.

Recent article at Game Developer regarding the announcement, they claim that the launch of the mobile version can breathe, well, a second life into Second Life. However, there is reason to doubt that this will significantly expand the audience of the virtual world; there are much more modern attempts at a concept that has more recently come to be called the “metaverse”. However, even those are struggling, and it is not clear what exactly Second Life— which, among other problems, seems to be saddled with a lot of technical debt — will offer something that the new upstarts do not have.

Linden Lab has been working on a virtual reality successor second Life, called samsar, for many years, but she eventually stopped working on the project and sold it. samsar Changed owners several times and its future remains uncertain.

While the app probably won’t change fundamentally Second Lifeplace in the market, it should be a welcome development for the amazingly vibrant community of virtual world enthusiasts.

As I wrote a few years ago, Second Life still on par with users and profits. The ambitions have been scaled down – it no longer aspires to be “the second Internet” – and the character of the community has changed significantly, but it’s by no means the ghost town that outsiders might expect. However, this is a niche and a mobile app may not be enough to change that.

List image Linden Lab