Binance announced the hiring of Europol investigator Nils Andersen-Röed as its director of audit and investigations. Andersen-Röed, who will be part of the larger investigations team, will conduct “internal and external investigations” to identify individuals who are trying to use the Binance platform for illegal purposes, the company said.

SushiSwap co-founder and project leader 0xMaki has stood down as the de facto premier of the decentralized finance project.

The Alabama Securities Commission has ordered crypto lender Celsius to explain how it is not violating state securities laws within the next four weeks. In an order dated Sept. 16, the state regulator said it believed Celsius violated state laws through its “Earn Rewards” program.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Binance Names Europol Veteran to Join Audit and Investigations Team
• SushiSwap Co-Founder 0xMaki Steps Down as Leader
• Alabama Securities Commission Claims Celsius Violated Securities Laws

Binance Names Europol Veteran to Join Audit and Investigations Team

In a blog post last Thursday, Binance announced the hiring of Europol investigator Nils Andersen-Röed as its director of audit and investigations.

Andersen-Röed, who will be part of the larger investigations team, will conduct “internal and external investigations” to identify individuals who are trying to use the Binance platform for illegal purposes, the company said.

Andersen-Röed, who spent almost three years on Europol’s Dark Web Team, a multi-agency initiative to reduce dark web crime, stated:

“My goal is to make the cryptocurrency industry (and Binance in particular) a safer place. International collaboration between industry and law enforcement agencies is essential. Criminals do not care about borders”.

SushiSwap Co-Founder 0xMaki Steps Down as Leader

SushiSwap co-founder and project leader 0xMaki has stood down as the de facto premier of the decentralized finance project.

In a tweet and forum post, the pseudonymous developer said that he “always strived for Sushi to be leaderless” and he encourages “decentralization as much as possible.” The tweet reads:

“I will always be there for @SushiSwap but going forward I'll be in a different role.”

0xMaki took over as unofficial project lead of SushiSwap last year, shortly after the pseudonymous founder, Chef Nomi, ran away with $14m in treasury funds. Under 0xMaki, the exchange has seen great success. Today, it is the eighth largest DEX with ~4.5bn in crypto assets locked up.

Although 0xMaki will no longer lead the project, he will continue to advise the DeFi protocol.

Alabama Securities Commission Claims Celsius Violated Securities Laws

The Alabama Securities Commission has ordered crypto lender Celsius to explain how it is not violating state securities laws within the next four weeks.

In an order dated Sept. 16, the state regulator said it believed Celsius violated state laws through its “Earn Rewards” program. Texas and New Jersey state regulators also announced similar findings on Friday, with New Jersey filing a cease-and-desist and Texas announcing it would hold a hearing in February to determine if a cease-and-desist should be ordered.

Celsius has 28 days to respond to the Alabama regulator and show cause why the regulator should not impose a cease-and-desist order. If the company does not respond, the regulator will assume Celsius is waiving its right to a hearing and immediately move to impose sanctions.

A Celsius spokesperson told CoinDesk via email:

“We are disappointed these actions have been filed and wholeheartedly disagree with the allegations being made that Celsius has not complied with the law. We always have, and will continue to, work with regulators in the US and globally to operate in full compliance with the law. Given our commitment to regulatory adherence, we look forward to addressing this matter quickly. As of now, there are no changes in our services to any of our clients. We will keep our community updated with any development.”

Chart of the Week: Average Weekly Inflows Into Asset ETPs

This week's Chart of the Week examines weekly inflows into crypto asset ETPs.

Bitcoin (BTC) saw net outflows of $62mn in August, the fourth straight month of net outflows for Bitcoin-based products. In the first week of September (starting 30-Aug), however, this trend reversed, with Bitcoin products seeing inflows of $59mn, the highest amount of weekly inflows recorded since May!

21Shares also released the first Solana ETP product in mid-August which was met with high demand, surpassing both Bitcoin’s and Ethereum’s weekly institutional inflows. In this period, Solana had $72mn in net inflows - more than any other asset in the same period ($53mn for Bitcoin (BTC), $29mn for Ethereum(ETH), $27mn for Cardano (ADA).

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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