Today in Crypto: Binance Suspends Services in Israel; Sequoia Capital to Invest $500M in Crypto Markets

Israel’s Capital Markets Authority, which is responsible for crypto exchange licensing, has asked Binance to clarify what it does in the Israeli market, CoinDesk writes.

It’s asked Binance what types of services it provides and what licenses it has.

“Following the intervention of the capital market, Binance has at this stage stopped marketing to Israelis, and all activities focused on Israel, until we examine the issue of licensing,” the Capital Markets Authority is quoted as saying in the Globe’s report.

Binance has been under more scrutiny globally, facing a probe from a U.S. regulator as well.

Meanwhile, Sequoia Capital, one of the biggest Silicon Valley investment groups, plans to get more into crypto and has earmarked around $500 million to do it, Financial Times writes.

The firm said it had between $500 million to $600 million for the fund, to go towards cryptocurrency tokens traded on third-party exchanges.

Shaun Maguire, a partner with Sequoia, said the area with the most opportunity is “really in the liquid stuff,” saying that the founders have asked for help and they couldn’t deliver with the traditional venture capital model.

Furthermore, Bit2Me, a leading Spanish crypto exchange, has gotten approval from the Bank of Spain to be the first provider for virtual currency to fiat exchanges, a report from CoinDesk says.

It will also have custody of digital wallets.

The company said it will be able to provide Spanish banks with “a white-label service” to get crypto trading on their platforms, according to the company.

It’s in negotiations with numerous banks to do that.

Finally, Ref Finance, an automated market maker and stableswap market for the Near blockchain, has closed a $4.8 million funding round, CoinDesk writes.

The round was led by Jump Crypto.

Automated market makers are important for DeFi. They let users become liquidity providers by giving them some of the transaction fees, in addition to giving out free coins as an incentive.