Today in Crypto: Binance.US’ Affiliate Program

Binance.US is touting the rollout of its affiliate marketing program, citing the fact that rival Coinbase has shut down its own due to bear market conditions.

As CoinDesk noted on Wednesday (July 20), the Binance.US affiliate program will encourage third-party influencers and entrepreneurs to promote the exchange, either on social media or elsewhere.

“The program is an example of how much the firm is ‘leaning in as competitors and peers pull back in the current market environment,'” a Binance.US representative said.

In other news, Solana’s network-active wallets are up 58% this year, a bigger increase than any other blockchain, per data from CoinMarketCap.

This comes despite a price decline across the market, CoinDesk wrote on Wednesday. Solana’s “new daily addresses,” meaning first-time wallet users, grew consistently for Solana, even through the bear market.

Furthermore, South Korean financial regulators have been looking into strange currency transactions at major banks, looking for money laundering or crypto currency speculation.

Some transactions involved crypto exchanges, according to an unnamed source with the Financial Supervisory Service cited by Bloomberg. One transaction involved about 800 billion won, or $611 million, which could have involved violations of laws surrounding money laundering and currency trading.

In more crypto news, Zipmex announced on Wednesday that it has put withdrawals on hold.

“Due to a combination of circumstances beyond our control, including volatile market conditions, and the resulting financial difficulties of our key business partners, in order to maintain the integrity of our platform, we will pause withdrawals until further notice,” the exchange wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Coinbase said on Wednesday that it has had no exposure to troubled firms such as Three Arrows Capital and Celsius Network.

In a company blog post, Coinbase said these firms were “caught up in the frenzy” of a crypto bull market and were not practicing basic risk management.

Coinbase added that it “has not engaged in these types of risky lending practices and has instead focused on building our financing business with care and a deliberate focus on the customer.”

In addition, bets against Grayscale Investments Bitcoin Trust, or GBTC, have returned almost 50% from early June to mid-July, Bloomberg wrote on Wednesday.

This was the second-best showing for any exchange-traded fund over that time, the report noted.

Short sellers have held crypto-centric stocks and funds as there has been a historic downturn for the sector, the report added, with the Federal Reserve and other central banks raising interest rates. That has made things risky for crypto and other more volatile assets.

Finally, the market rout shows the burden of margin lending, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Margin trading is a long-standing but risky practice – investors borrow from their brokers to increase their bets. When the value of the security falls below a predetermined level, the broker can choose to ask for more or get it paid by the investors.

In one example, a Los Angeles resident, Eugene Erlikh, recently borrowed $4,000 to buy cardano. When Celsius stopped the withdrawals in June, Erlikh was allegedly unable to close the loan or provide collateral as required.

For all PYMNTS crypto coverage, subscribe to the daily Crypto newsletter.