Crypto Biz: Binance Cuts Costs, Ripple Ready for US Banks, and Crypto-VCs Return

This week's Crypto Biz examines Binance's continued efforts to rein in declining profits, Ripple expects US banks to embrace XRP soon and early signs of venture capital returning to crypto.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) crackdown on crypto companies appears to have severely affected Binance's business. Over the past few weeks, the crypto exchange has reportedly laid off over 1,000 employees and cut some benefits.

According to Binance, "the current market environment and regulatory climate" has resulted in lower earnings, suggesting further cuts may be on the way. A spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the company would consider reducing "certain products, business units, benefits and policies" in response to business and regulatory concerns.

Binance still has to deal with the courts and the 13 charges brought against it by the SEC, as well as the outcome of a US Department of Justice investigation targeting its operations and executives.

Despite a bleak outlook, Binance remains comfortably the most popular centralized crypto exchange in the world, holding assets worth over $63 billion. A breakdown of tokens by DefiLlama shows that the majority of assets held in Binance include Tether (USDT) (27.55%), Bitcoin (BTC) (26.95%), BNB (BNB) (12.82%) and Wrapped Ether (10.08%).

In his remarks on Binance's anniversary on July 14, the exchange's CEO, Changpeng Zhao, recalled that the company's journey "has never been smooth".

This week's Crypto Biz examines Binance's ongoing efforts to...