The Daily: Binance.US restores fiat functionality, SEC considers Litecoin and XRP ETFs and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.Happy Wednesday! With the market desperately craving another catalyst, many will be tuning in to President Trump's talk at the FII Priority event in Miami this evening, hoping for a crumb of policy-related crypto news.In today's newsletter, Binance.US restores fiat deposits and withdrawals for the first time since its 2023 banking troubles, the SEC acknowledges CoinShares' Litecoin and XRP ETF filings, pro-crypto Howard Lutnick is confirmed as Secretary of Commerce and more.Meanwhile, Nigeria reportedly sues Binance for $81 billion in economic losses and back taxes.Let's get started.Binance.US restores fiat deposits and withdrawalsBinance.US has resumed fiat deposits and withdrawals for the first time in almost two years.Zero-fee ACH bank transfers for U.S. dollar deposits and withdrawals will roll out gradually to eligible customers from Wednesday.The platform's fiat functionality was suspended after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Binance, Binance.US and co-founder Changpeng Zhao in June 2023 for alleged securities law violations.The SEC's lawsuit "created challenges for the banks with whom we work," Binance.US said at the time, leaving it as a crypto-only exchange in the interim, with its market share nosediving despite still offering access to over 160 cryptocurrencies.While the SEC's lawsuit against Binance is still ongoing, a U.S. judge allowed the parties to stay their legal dispute on Feb. 13 for 60 days.Binance and the SEC had earlier asked the court to pause the case, citing the agency's new crypto task force aimed at creating a clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies."The work of this task force may impact and facilitate the potential resolution of this case," the document said.SEC acknowledges Litecoin and XRP ETFsThe SEC acknowledged 19b-4 filings from Nasdaq on behalf of CoinShares for both spot Litecoin and XRP ETFs on Wednesday, following its acknowledgment of similar proposals from 21Shares, Bitwise, Grayscale and Canary Capital.The SEC has opened a 21-day comment period for the proposals, triggering the agency's process of deciding whether to approve, disapprove or review further.Bloomberg ETF analysts estimate Litecoin ETFs as having the highest chance of approval at 90%, while XRP products have a 65% likelihood in their view.Later Wednesday, the SEC also acknowledged the XRP ETF filing from WisdomTree.Meanwhile, Nasdaq has also proposed a new rule to allow the trading and listing of digital asset-based investment interests.Senate confirms pro-crypto Howard Lutnick as Secretary of CommerceThe U.S. Senate confirmed crypto-friendly Trump pick Howard Lutnick as Secretary of Commerce on Tuesday, with a vote of 51 to 45.Lutnick is the former Chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a custodian for stablecoin firm Tether, and is known as a big supporter (and holder) of bitcoin."My view is bitcoin, like gold, should be free to trade everywhere in the world," Lutnick said at Bitcoin 2024.During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing last month, Lutnick again vouched for Tether against questions about the USDT issuer's reserves and the stablecoin's involvement in illicit finance.As Secretary of Commerce, Lutnick will work on U.S. job creation, promoting economic growth and supporting President Trump's trade agenda.Institutional interest in Strategy surges in Q4Institutional investment managers with at least $100 million in assets recently filed their fourth-quarter 2024 13F reports, showing growing interest in the stock of the company formerly known as MicroStrategy.The rebranded Strategy, often used as a proxy for bitcoin exposure, currently holds 478,740 BTC, worth over $46 billion, and accelerated its buying of the cryptocurrency in Q4.Strategy has about 1,400 institutional owners and shareholders holding about $34 billion worth of MSTR, according to Fintel data.Notably, institutional investors also hold nearly $37 billion worth of MSTR options, more than double the previous quarter, with large positions in both put and call options.Vanguard remains MSTR's largest shareholder at 16.3 million shares, while Capital International Investors owns 12.5 million shares and BlackRock 11.2 million.Barstool Sports' Dave Portnoy is at it againBarstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy just can't stay out of the limelight of late, this time deploying the Solana-based GREED memecoin.Onchain data shows that a wallet associated with Portnoy initially controlled 35% of the total supply and sold it to make a profit of nearly $258,000, converting the proceeds into another memecoin JAILSTOOL, which he also promotes.As he sold off the token, its price crashed from $0.03 to below $0.003, a drawdown of over 90%, according to DEX Screener.That didn't stop Portnoy from launching a second GREED2 memecoin, which also briefly surged in market cap before crashing, prompting accusations of him orchestrating a rugpull.In the next 24 hoursU.S. jobless claims figures are out at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday.Fed Vice Chair Michael Barr will speak at 2:30 p.m. U.S. FOMC member Adriana Kugler follows at 5 p.m.Consensus concludes in Hong Kong. FII Priority continues in Miami.Never miss a beat with The Block's daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.Disclaimer: This article was produced with the assistance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT 3.5/4 and reviewed and edited by our editorial team.Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.