Crypto Moves — Bitcoin, Ether up; France grants Binance regulatory approval; Coinbase opens up NFT marketplace

RIYADH: Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency internationally, traded higher on Wednesday, up 3.15 percent to $39,546 at 9.50 a.m. Riyadh time.

Ether, the second most traded cryptocurrency, was priced at $2,930, up 4.24 percent, according to data from Coindesk.

Binance registers with France crypto regulator

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has registered with France’s market regulator, Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao said in a tweet on Wednesday, advancing the company’s plan to make Paris its European base.

“It’s a real stamp of quality,” said Binance France’s General Manager David Prinçay, referring to the registration with the regulator, AMF.

Blockchain is a shared record of information maintained and updated by a computer network rather than a central authority.

Major cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin rely on the technology.

Prinçay said Binance France was now seeking a formal license from the French markets regulator to open a regional headquarters in France. Binance claimed it was the country’s top cryptocurrency exchange even before the registration.

France is the first European Union country to register Binance, which is also seeking registration in Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal and Austria, Prinçay said.

In March, Binance gained licenses from Dubai and Bahrain.

Coinbase opens up NFT marketplace to all users

Coinbase Global Inc. is opening up its non-fungible tokens marketplace to all users, the US cryptocurrency exchange said in a Twitter post on Wednesday.

The company had earlier rolled out the platform for select users in the United States.

Coinbase said its NFT marketplace is in the beta stage, and the company is still working on adding more features to the platform.

First announced in October last year, the platform was opened up to a “small number” of users in the US in April, and the company had at the time said more users would be added from a waiting list over the next three to five weeks while the platform is tested.

(With input from Reuters)