“Facebook said Thursday the company’s metaverse will support non-fungible tokens (NFT) in a possible boost to the Ethereum protocol, where the digital collectibles format has thrived.

This will make it easier for people to sell Limited Edition digital objects like NFTs, display them in their digital spaces and even resell them to the next person securely.

The news comes as Facebook delves further into the virtual world. The monetization push could dovetail with the company’s Novi crypto wallet. In another sign of Facebook’s metaverse fascination, the company’s stock will trade under ticker symbol MVRS starting Dec. 1.

Our goal is to provide a way for as many players as possible to build a business in the metaverse.”

See Also: Thailand Department Store Chain Is Testing Its Own Cryptocurrency

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The Ethereum beacon chain successfully forked to ALTAIR 🚀🚀🚀🚀

– No issues
– Very high participation
– bullish 🔥

Remember! The ALTAIR fork enables LIGHT-CLIENTS

⭐ a new era begins today ⭐

— Lion ⟠ dapplion .eth (@dapplion) October 27, 2021

See Also: Eth2’s Altair upgrade goes off smoothly, with 98.7% of nodes now upgraded
See Also: Ethereum’s First Deflationary Day, Where $12 Million More Ethereum Were Burned Than Mined
See Also: The State of Ethereum | Q3 2021

---

“Global anti-money laundering (AML) agency the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has released its updated guidance for firms that handle cryptocurrency and virtual assets.

While the release of FATF’s updated guidance will increase the urgency for VASPs to become compliant, there is also a recommendation that regulators be flexible during the initial rollout, acknowledging the real-world issues VASPs and Travel Rule service providers have pointed out.

The FATF is basically saying that regulators can take a staged approach to enforcement of the Travel Rule so their [local] VASPs can realistically implement it. They are also recommending that VASPs be able to continue to do transactions with VASPs in non-compliant jurisdictions, to avoid excluding firms in the developing world, for example.

The guidance indicates that those who maintain “control or sufficient influence” over a DeFi arrangement should be regulated for AML purposes. This suggests that where DeFi developers have the ability to restrict coin listings on a decentralized exchange, operate a domain that enables user access, or are otherwise able to intervene in the activities of a DeFi marketplace in a significant way – they could very well be captured by regulation.

Helpfully, the guidance clarifies that individual governance token holders shouldn’t fall within the regulatory perimeter if they don’t exercise this type of influence over activities in a particular DeFi marketplace.

The final guidance does not provide any further clarity on FATF expectations when VASPs transact with unhosted wallets.”

See Also: Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ Act Would Close Crypto Tax Loophole

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“On Wednesday, El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele tweeted that his government had “bought the dip,” adding an additional 420 BTC, which is equivalent to around $25 million. El Salvador’s treasury now holds an estimated 1,120 bitcoin. Underlying sentiment remains extremely bullish for the top cryptocurrencies.

Today the markets were buoyed by news of additional state-level purchases from El Salvador, indicating the country’s intentions to continue to acquire.”

See Also: Friday’s jaw-breaking $3.2B Bitcoin options expiry could kick-start a new rally
See Also: Volt Equity’s ‘Bitcoin revolution’ ETF goes live on NYSE today
See Also: MicroStrategy Adds Almost 9,000 Bitcoins to Its Holdings in Third Quarter

---

“Alchemy, which provides developer services to decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible token (NFT) and other crypto projects, is fast becoming the blockchain world’s version of Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Alchemy’s behind-the-scenes positioning makes it one of the most prolific rails for crypto infrastructure, though most end-users are unfamiliar with the brand. It focuses on Ethereum, its layers 2s and the Flow blockchain but has plans to stretch further.

We power virtually every NFT [marketplace], we power the majority of DeFi, we power most of the top apps in this space.”

See Also: Alameda Research Pumps $75M Funding Into Voyager Digital

---

“Cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Crypto.com are now two of the most downloaded apps for the United States Apple App Store, topping the charts at first and third place. Coinbase was the most popular download in the U.S. in 2017 and in May 2021.

Crypto.com’s rising popularity could be the result of the exchange releasing an ad campaign featuring actor Matt Damon. The “fortune favors the brave” ad, which went live early on Thursday, is aimed at reaching a global audience of potential crypto users and investors.”

See Also: Crypto.com Looks to Cash In on Bull Market With $100M Advertising Campaign

---

“According to Cream’s native front end, most Ethereum-based pools are now empty with the exception of a $40 million $CREAM pool. As of Oct 23, the protocol’s Ethereum markets had $300 million worth of assets.

The funds appear to have been taken using a flash loan in a notably complex transaction that involved 68 different assets and cost over 9 ETH in gas. Of the $260 million lost, the attacker netted roughly $130 million in various cryptocurrencies, of which $40.6 million may be in illiquid crETH, a staked ETH derivative that may prove difficult for the attacker to sell. The attacker is now working to “wash” the funds primarily using Ren’s Bitcoin bridge.

The protocol has an additional $460 million in total value locked (TVL) across Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, Avalanche and Fantom. It is unclear if those funds are also at risk.”

---

“Anchorage is about to raise at a $3 billion valuation. They’re raising a big round and it’s based on the fact that financial institutions are looking to enter this space.

The forthcoming raise comes as crypto firms are bringing in venture capital valuations that make tech “unicorn” status look quaint. Last week, London-based crypto custody firm Copper said it was raising $500 million at a $2.5 billion valuation. Crypto custody, in particular, has become a hot sector, with banks and large fintechs looking to acquire firms specializing in the storage of digital assets.

---

“From Oct. 19, when the ProShares ETF started trading, through Tuesday, BITO shares were down by 2.45%. Bitcoin was down 1% over the same period, and GBTC was up 7.5%. The discrepancy has rekindled criticism of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) decision to allow an ETF focused on bitcoin futures – as is the case for ProShares – but not an ETF that would be backed directly by bitcoin.

Grayscale is pushing hard to convert GBTC into a spot bitcoin ETF, citing some of the disadvantages of a futures-based ETF. Those include the risk of “roll costs” or “contango bleed” – a source of underperformance that stems from the unique structure of futures markets.

BITO’s launch has helped to drive up the price of bitcoin futures on the Chicago-based CME exchange, which in turn ‘has also been driving spot prices higher.’

The product has seen strong inflows since launch, demonstrating investor appetite for accessing the crypto markets. But it may also come at the expense of U.S. bitcoin futures ETF investors.”

---

“Blockchain Creative Labs is a new NFT business and creative studio owned by FOX Entertainment and Bento Box Entertainment.

Blockchain Creative will work closely with WWE to create NFTs capturing memorable moments in wrestling, including WWE Superstars and events such as WrestleMania and SummerSlam.”

---

“Polkadot brand bounty curator Kaye Han said the new branding is key to reaching a casual audience as the project expands, and that it may be a first when it comes to decentralizing brand management. DOT token holders have the option of selecting one of two design formats for future web and social layouts, as well as one of two new logos – all inspired by dots and featuring various animation styles.

This is a novel and experimental approach that is far from perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction in exploring decentralized branding.”

“McWilliams said the FDIC, in coordination with the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, is looking to provide regulatory clarity for banks handling crypto assets, including stablecoins.

Establishing clear regulatory expectations will be paramount to give this market an opportunity to grow and mature in a responsible manner.

The chairperson said the FDIC planned to issue “a series of policy statements” in the coming months on guidance for banks. The seeming lack of regulatory clarity concerning digital assets in the United States has been an issue for many firms fearing legal action.”

See Also: Crypto Could Become Global Reserve Currency: Rand Paul
See Also: Tether Enlists Startup to Help It Comply With Money Laundering Rules

---

“GameStop is looking to build an Ethereum-based Web 3 arm, according to a job listing posted by the company. The retailer said it’s looking for someone with ‘experience with Ethereum, NFTs [non-fungible tokens] and blockchain based gaming platforms‘ for its “Head of Web3 Gaming” role.

The job post outlines a metaverse-esque future for the gaming industry, where ‘games are places you’ll go‘ and ‘blockchains will power the commerce beneath.’ In May, the company created a page teasing an in-house NFT marketplace.”

See Also: Adobe offers users the ability to verify NFT marketplace creations through metadata
See Also: 26 companies and advocacy groups call on Valve to reverse its blockchain games ban

---

“The deal announced Tuesday marks the first collaboration between Helium, a decentralized internet network with over 250,000 hotspots, and a major carrier. The telecommunications company has back-ordered 3.5 million Helium hotspots with plans to onboard DISH customers.

Using Helium Network’s technology and blockchain-based incentive model, DISH is a pioneer in supporting an entirely new way to connect people and things. The CBRS-based 5G hotspots will be deployed by customers, creating opportunities for users, partners and the entire ecosystem.

DISH Wireless is building a next-gen 5G network to disrupt the wireless industry and fuel innovation in transportation, health care, education, sustainability, city management and agriculture.”

---

“Record shorts by leverage funds does not necessarily mean these traders had a bearish bias. They may have raised short positions in the futures market and simultaneously bought the cryptocurrency in the spot market, booking the so-called carry trade. The strategy is initiated when futures trade at a notable premium to the spot price and trades can profit from an eventual convergence of prices in the two markets.

The annualized premium in the front-month bitcoin futures contracts surged from 1% to 20% in the run-up to ProShares’ Bitcoin Strategy ETF launch on Oct. 18, and was last seen at 13%.”

See Also: Valkyrie Files to Offer Leveraged Bitcoin Futures ETF
See Also: CoinList Valued at $1.5B as Lending, Staking Join Business Mandate

---

“In a debate about inflation, some of the best-known names in Bitcoin (BTC) voiced unanimous doubts about the state of global monetary policy.

‘I don’t know about long-term, but short-term we are seeing strong inflationary pressure‘, [Musk] said in a Twitter debate with Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood and MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor. All were commenting on a previous tweet from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who described inflation as “happening” and apt to “change everything.”

Bitcoin is the most practical solution for a consumer, investor, or corporation seeking inflation protection over the long term.

We may in the future restart the practice of transacting in cryptocurrencies (‘digital assets’) for our products and services.”

“Mastercard and digital asset platform Bakkt are partnering to allow merchants and banks to build cryptocurrency into their offerings. The two plan to also shake up the way consumers can collect loyalty rewards.

Mastercard said in a statement that consumers can buy, sell and hold digital assets through custodial wallets offered by Bakkt, and customers can collect and spend loyalty rewards through cryptocurrency. The move brings the universe of cryptocurrency one step closer to bridging the gap with the traditional credit card payment industry.

These new offerings represent a unique opportunity to satisfy increasing demand for crypto, payment and rewards flexibility.”

See Also: Bakkt Shares Surge 180% After Pacts With Mastercard, Fiserv for Crypto Payments

---

“Investors pumped a record $1.47 billion of new money into digital asset investment products last week, fueled by a rally in cryptocurrencies and the launch of the first bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund, a report Monday by CoinShares showed. The previous weekly record came in February, when inflows totaled $640 million.

Bitcoin-focused funds dominated last week’s inflows, with a 99% share of all inflows into cryptocurrency funds. During the prior week, inflows into bitcoin-focused funds were at $70 million.

This is a direct result of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) allowing a bitcoin ETF investing in futures.”

See Also: DCG’s $1B Pledge and an SEC Filing Kindle Fresh Speculation on ‘Grayscale Discount’

---

“Regulated futures exchange LedgerX will now be known as FTX US Derivatives, FTX.US said Monday. The deal gives FTX.US a slew of licenses granted to LedgerX by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. As such, the exchange can move to offer crypto futures, swaps and options to U.S. retail traders.

We believe the integration of the two organizations provides us with not only a technological advantage, but also furthers our working relationship with the regulatory community in a positive, constructive and transparent manner.”

---

“The first generation of NFTs has focused on key properties such as ownership representation, transfer, automation as well as building the core building blocks of the NFT market infrastructure. But, as the space evolves, the value proposition of NFTs should go from static images or text to more dynamic and intelligent collectibles. Artificial intelligence (AI) is likely to have an impact in the next wave of NFTs.

Injecting AI capabilities into the lifecycle of NFTs opens the door to forms of intelligent ownership that we haven’t seen before.

Imagine digital-art NFTs that could converse in natural language answering questions to explain the inspiration behind their creation and adapt those answers to a specific conversation context. We could also envision NFTs that could adapt to your feelings, mood and provide an experience that is constantly fulfilling. What about intelligent NFT wallets that, as they interact with a website, could decide which ownership rights to present in order to improve the experience for a given user?“

Cycle of Creator economy👇
Web1:
Companies create content.
Companies earn money.
Web2:
People create content.
Companies earn money.
Web3:
People create content.
People earn money.

— Tarique Sha (@kissingsky) August 19, 2021

---

“Corporations are organized under the laws of a specific jurisdiction and require human involvement in their governance. DAOs, however, operate under a transparent set of software protocols – a pre-agreed set of governance rules, maintained and executed on a blockchain – that allow a distributed group of individuals or entities to self-govern.

While the law has long imposed the useful fiction of personhood on corporations – allowing them to sue or be sued, enter contracts and offer its members protection against liability – DAOs do not yet enjoy these privileges (for the most part). The clash between the growing popularity of DAOs on the one hand and the lack of legal protections and practicalities available to them on the other present DAOs, their lawyers and the courts with a host of execution and analytical challenges.

To the extent applicable state law would not permit a DAO to enter a traditional commercial arrangement without sacrificing its members’ personal liability, the law should be updated.

A few states have already begun to do so. Vermont, for instance, permits DAOs to register as blockchain-based limited liability companies. Wyoming, too, recently passed legislation providing liability protection for DAO members who organize as a limited liability company in the state.

A DAO is, like other entities, a useful tool to allow a widely dispersed and multi-jurisdictional group of individuals to privately and efficiently order their business arrangements. While blockchain-based governance is rapidly expanding, the law has been slower to catch up.”

See Also: DeFi Is Like Nothing Regulators Have Seen Before. How Should They Tackle It?
See Also: DAOs will be the future of online communities in five years

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---

“Some $16 million in cryptocurrency was pilfered in an exploit of a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol last week, and the victims believe they know exactly who did it.

Despite threats from the team, however, the alleged attacker – a Canadian teenaged graduate student – is refusing to return the funds, potentially setting the stage for a groundbreaking legal confrontation. On one side of the conflict is a child math prodigy and an outspoken champion of DeFi’s self-regulating “code is law” ethos.

At stake in the fight are a number of thorny issues that have so far been successfully obscured by DeFi’s explosive growth: What is the role of law enforcement in an unregulated $220 billion sector? When, if at all, should the gendarmes be summoned? And, most importantly, is the notion of “code is law” sufficient to grapple with all of DeFi’s ethical complexities?

Because Indexed is a decentralized DAO, I am curious to see how they file their claim and how they describe their relation to the protocol and other DAO members. Will they say it is a partnership or a corporation? Or will they say they are individuals?

No builder in this space in their right mind believes that code is law. It’s just a meme that is perpetuated by anon on-lookers who just like to see chaos unfold. Is robbing a bank an ‘economic exploit?’ Saying that is frigging stupid. There’s nothing about this, if handled properly, that is groundbreaking precedent.

He added that if the community were to embrace such principles, the end result would quickly turn dystopian.

He’s trying to stamp his name in history, and he’s going to get it, but ruinously so.”

See Also: Terra’s Do Kwon Was Served by SEC, New Lawsuit Shows
See Also: Largest DeFi Prediction Market Polymarket Said to Be Under Investigation by CFTC: Report

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“In 1997, the Clinton Administration published the groundbreaking “Framework for Global Electronic Commerce,” which set forth five key principles:

• Governments should recognize the unique qualities of the internet.
• The private sector should lead.
• Governments should avoid undue restrictions on electronic commerce.
• Where governmental involvement is needed, its aim should be to support and enforce a predictable, minimalist, consistent and simple legal environment for commerce.
• Electronic commerce on the internet should be facilitated on a global basis.

In the ensuing decades, the internet transformed our economic and social interactions in ways that have profoundly changed society. Today, we stand at a similar moment for the next generation of the internet, and it’s time for a new set of principles that incorporate lessons learned over the past 25 years.

Policymakers are finally taking a long overdue interest in Web 3. But the conversation is overwhelmingly about what policymakers don’t want from technology: fraud, illicit use, unsustainable energy consumption, systemic risk. We believe it’s time to establish an affirmative vision of what we do want from technology.

Web 3 is the most credible alternative for reshaping and redeeming institutions that have fallen short over the last few decades. Decentralization is more than a buzzword. It puts power and control back in the hands of consumers and individuals. Web 3 systems can be more inclusive, more equitable and more resilient.

Technological innovation is often necessary to unlock social change and economic growth, but it is certainly not sufficient. Without a well-conceived public policy framework that recognizes the wide diversity of the Web 3 ecosystem, we may never realize the benefits of decentralized digital transformation.”

---

See Also: Ethereum Price Prediction Using Logarithmic Regression (Video)

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“Worldcoin, which already touts a $1 billion valuation, aims to onboard more people into crypto by doling out free coins to anyone who scans their eyes on a device called “the Orb” that will convert an image of your eyes into “short numeric code” to check whether you already have Worldcoins.

Privacy advocate Edward Snowden blasted the project on Twitter.

This looks like it produces a global (hash) database of people’s iris scans (for “fairness”), and waves away the implications by saying we deleted the scans! You save the hashes produced by the scans. Hashes that match future scans. Don’t catalogue eyeballs.

Many on Crypto Twitter have lampooned the concept, including predicting an inevitable data leak that could result in biometric information being leaked and sold around the internet.”

---

“The Hong Kong-based firm’s biggest criteria for investment is that companies are building open, composable elements—whether it’s assets, tools, or platforms—that can fit into the company’s vision for a decentralized metaverse ahead. In other words: no walled gardens, or closed-off ecosystems like those from Apple and Google.

Siu is passionate about the potential for the metaverse, describing it as the defining focus for his company. He also sees a battle brewing between the projects and communities building open, interoperable tools for the metaverse and large companies that may try to co-opt the idea (and its potential profits) for their own benefit.

I describe the age we’re living in as a kind of digital colonialism. The likes of Facebook are essentially the imperialists of our age.

The biggest threat is not regulators. I think regulators are necessary to keep the space proper and everything is secure […] I think the threat is Facebook, and the threat is Tencent.”

“The new Valkyrie fund, officially the called the Bitcoin Strategy ETF, went live on the Nasdaq under the ticker BTF when stock markets opened Friday.

The early performance appeared to track a decline in bitcoin’s price, which was lower for the second straight day, around $60,095 – slipping further from the all-time high close to $67,000 earlier in the week. Valkyrie had recovered by the end of trading to finish at $25 per share.

After months of waiting, the cryptocurrency industry is finally getting the U.S. ETFs that fund executives have long sought – as a way of attracting money from investors who want exposure to bitcoin price via the stock market. While cryptocurrency analysts say the new offerings, focused on bitcoin futures contracts, are less ideal than an ETF backed by bitcoin directly, the reception so far among investors has been overwhelming.

The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF attracted more than $1 billion of assets in just two days, the fastest-ever ETF to hit the milestone. VanEck’s bitcoin futures ETF offering is slated to trade starting early next week.“

See Also: Market Wrap: Bitcoin Retreats From All-Time High; Ether Outperforms

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“CME has replaced Binance as the world’s biggest bitcoin futures platform, thanks to the strong investor appetite for the recently launched ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF. As of writing, the CME accounts for 22% or $5.68 billion of the total global futures open interest of $25.7 billion.

The amount of money locked in the CME-based futures contracts has tripled this month, with more than $1.5 billion flowing into the market after ProShares’ bitcoin ETF went live on Tuesday. The ETF has amassed $1.2 billion worth of assets in the first three days and could soon hit the CME’s position limits. The situation is expected to ease as more ETFs go live, and the CME raises caps on maximum positions a single entity can hold.

Exchanges enforce positions limits to keep a single entity from establishing unilateral control over the market and prices.”

---

“In a job posting for a senior engineer, Reddit noted ‘a new and exciting, rapidly growing team that aims to build the largest creator economy on the internet, powered by independent creators, digital goods and NFTs.’

Reddit said that it was looking for someone who could ‘design, build and ship backend services for millions of users to create, buy, sell and use NFT-backed digital goods.'”

---

“Five Star Bank and UNIFY Financial Credit Union will be the first to offer bitcoin services through NYDIG’s partnership with Q2. This partnership will allow everyday banking and credit union customers to trade and hold bitcoin alongside their existing accounts, avoiding the use of cryptocurrency exchanges.”

See Also: Spanish Banks Are Preparing to Offer Crypto Services: Report

---

“Altair is the first time the beacon chain, which is helping transition the network away from proof of work, is being upgraded on the main network. While Altair won’t affect casual users of the network, it’s another big step toward the future of Ethereum.

Altair has three main benefits. First, after the upgrade, developers will be able to build light clients on the beacon chain. A light client is less bulky than full node software for validating blocks. Moreover, ‘it raises inactivity+slashing penalties to their ‘true’ level.’ Now, those that don’t do their job can get their stake slashed. Finally, it’s just a chance to make sure the network can be upgraded on the beacon chain without a hitch.

In the meantime, it’s time for people to upgrade their nodes. Danny Ryan, who’s coordinating the move to Ethereum 2.0, told Decrypt around half of people have already updated their node.”

---

“Thorchain, a cross-chain decentralized exchange (DEX), is back in the game again after the team spent several weeks making the network more secure and resistant to malicious attacks. Built on the Cosmos SDK, Thorchain is a protocol that aims to offer cross-chain liquidity by enabling the non-custodial trading of cryptocurrencies across different kinds of blockchains.

Despite its promise, the hasty launch of Chaosnet led to two multi-million dollar hacking incidents that resulted in RUNE’s price plummeting below $4. Now the network is getting back online, having conducted necessary security audits and releasing new critical features.”

---

“Former presidential and New York mayoral candidate Andrew Yang is moving forward with his new Forward Party. To help fund his third party, which seeks to “reform the dysfunctional duopoly” in the U.S. political system, he’s revealed an NFT collaboration with decentralization project Bankless.

Yang, appearing on the October 18 edition of the Bankless podcast, told hosts Ryan Adams and David Hoffman that he wants to ‘make the Forward Party the crypto party‘ because he feels the two are strongly aligned. Yang went on to say that he wants to help the political system, which he sees as failing and flailing, upgrade and modernize itself.

I want to make the case to legislators that crypto communities are a force for progress and innovation and a massive provider of jobs.”

---

“The launch comes after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission granted a notice of effectiveness to Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF on Thursday.

According to Leah Wald, CEO of Valkyrie Funds, the upcoming launch of Valkyrie’s Bitcoin futures ETF marks an important milestone in the relationship between the cryptocurrency industry and U.S. regulators.”

See Also: Bitcoin futures ETF hits $1B AUM in a record-breaking two days
See Also: Bitcoin’s Inflation Narrative More Compelling Than ETF Fever, JPM Says
See Also: Bitcoin TA: The Market Cycle is Not Over (Video)

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“Data reveals a growing demand for long-dated, out-of-the-money (OTM) call options on ether – bullish bets with strike prices well above the spot market price of the cryptocurrency. A strong purchase activity was captured on ether’s $15,000 calls expiring March 25, 2022.

The market’s long-term attention seems to be shifting from BTC to ETH with potential ETH ETF release after BTC [ETF in the U.S.], coupled with ETH 2.0 [upgrade] catalyst. With the launch of the bitcoin futures ETF, it has become a certainty that an ether ETF of the same kind can’t be that far off.

There are at least five known applications in the U.S. for ether-based ETFs, including two ether futures-based products by fund manager VanEck (The Ethereum Strategy ETF) and ProShares (Ether Strategy ETF).“

See Also: Bitcoin Futures ETFs Are Here. Is a Physical ETF Soon to Follow?
See Also: Bitcoin Price Flash Crash on Binance.US Attributed to Trader Algorithm Bug

---

“The Associated Press (AP), the 175-year-old news agency, will provide economic, sports and elections data to Chainlink, a system that provides information feeds to blockchains and triggers digital contracts to carry out transactions.

With AP providing their signed data about elections, sports and various key world events, DeFi markets across the blockchain ecosystem can now be made about a wide array of previously inaccessible topics.

We will be bringing on-chain things like the GDP [gross domestic product] number, the unemployment rate, the CPI [consumer price index] number and other bits of trusted data from AP that we will publish to our node so developers will be able to access that,. Sports is another area; not just scores, but also fast-breaking player reports, transactions, injuries.”

---

“Investment behemoth Pimco, which has over $2.2 trillion in assets under management, has dabbled in cryptocurrencies and plans to invest further. Some of the fixed-income firm’s hedge-fund portfolios are already trading crypto-linked securities.

Pimco is thinking about scenarios where this could take us to ensure that we are competitively prepared to deal with what’s a rapidly changing environment that offers a pretty significant value proposition.”

See Also: Houston Firefighters Pension Fund Makes Bitcoin, Ether Purchase
See Also: FTX Raises $420,690,000

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“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered information about the payments products, plans and practices of Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Square and PayPal. Of the six companies, Facebook, Square and PayPal’s payment services have all ventured into the crypto industry.

The CFPB has been taxed by Congress with ensuring competition is fair in payments markets, given the immense scale of this group of companies and therefore their ability to monetize data on customer spending habits.

Will the operators engage in invasive financial surveillance and combine the data they collect on consumers with their geolocation and browsing data? Will they in turn use this data to deepen behavioral advertising, engage in price discrimination, or sell to third parties?”

See Also: Breaking Google’s monopoly: Internxt pushes decentralized cloud as privacy concerns grow

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“Walmart, the world’s largest company by revenue, is letting customers buy bitcoin at dozens of its U.S. stores. Shoppers can purchase the cryptocurrency at Coinstar machines inside the retailer’s cavernous big box stores. The machine charges a 4% fee for the bitcoin option, plus another 7% cash exchange fee.

There are 200 Coinstar kiosks located inside Walmart stores across the United States that are part of this pilot.”

See Also: Robinhood’s Waitlist for Crypto Wallet Has More Than 1M Customers

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“The move could signal plans by Chinese authorities to amend its previous negative stance on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining activities.

The public comment period will last for one month, between Thursday, Oct. 21, and Nov. 21. Members of the public interested in providing feedback on the matter will have four different avenues to make their opinions known, including emails, physical mail and comments sections on the commission’s website.

In a related development, the commission also put out a post on its website stating that the United States had replaced China as the dominant Bitcoin (BTC) mining nation in the world.”

---

“The end of a long journey is finally in sight for the thousands of creditors who lost billions in funds in the infamous Mt. Gox hack. The plan will be finalized on Nov. 20 and creditors will be able to take further steps to finally receive their funds.

Approximately 99% of the voting rehabilitation creditors voted for the Draft Rehabilitation Plan, and approximately 83% of the total amount of voting rights was exercised in favor of the Draft Rehabilitation Plan.”

---

“The world’s largest cryptocurrency’s price has now fully recovered from a near 50% correction earlier this year.

The next level of resistance is seen around $74,000, which could briefly stall the current rally. However, buyers will likely remain active above the $60,000-$65,000 support range given positive momentum signals on the weekly chart. If support is held, BTC could see further upside toward $86,000.”

See Also: After Bitcoin’s All-Time High, What’s Next?
See Also: $2.2T asset manager PIMCO plans to buy more crypto

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“VanEck will join ProShares in launching a bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) next week. ProShares and VanEck’s approvals mark the first time U.S. investors can buy and trade shares of an ETF directly linked to bitcoin.

The company revealed it had secured approval to launch its bitcoin-linked ETF in a post-effective filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), indicating the SEC has given the company permission to launch its fund after Oct. 23, a Saturday. Trading will begin “as soon as practicable after the effective date,” which suggests Monday, Oct. 25.”

See Also: Purpose Investments Files to List 3 More Crypto ETFs in Canada

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“Cboe Global Markets is acquiring crypto spot and derivatives marketplace ErisX, the companies announced Wednesday. The move gives Cboe, which was the first U.S. company to launch bitcoin futures in 2017 before later shuttering the product, a new set of crypto derivatives offerings through ErisX’s bitcoin and ether futures products, as well as spot crypto trading.

ErisX will operate as Cboe Digital. The companies might look to new products, such as margined futures, which Cboe Digital hopes to launch pending regulatory approval.

We’re going to have the spot market, the data products and the ability to build on top of it so that as people’s sophistication in using these products grows, we’re going to be able to add the things that they and their advisers and portfolio managers need in order to build out well-rounded products that include crypto and crypto derivatives.

The time is now for this asset class.”

---

“On October 21, Decentraland plays host to four days of music, culture and portable toilets in a virtual world first. The Metaverse Festival will see a diverse mix of music stars perform across five stages, [including] Deadmau5, Paris Hilton plus Special Guest, Nina Nesbitt, 3LAU, Alison Wonderland, Aluna (of AlunaGeorge) and many more.

With a central theme of Evolution the festival will transform over the four days, commencing with Water on Day 1, followed by Earth, Space and Metaverse. This metamorphosis will be visible in the main Evolution stage, presented by Kraken, and surrounds.

In addition to the music, the festival also features a fun fair and games, merchandise stands, Metakey VIP area and a Psychedelic Sculpture Garden.”

See Also: The Metaverse Festival

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“While Polygon is often referred to as a sidechain and developers are working to position it as a complement to Ethereum rather than a competitor, the data shows that the number of new Polygon-native apps is outstripping the number of apps deployed to both chains – possibly a sign of growing independence.

More than 3,000 apps are now on the chain, up from just 30 last year. Of the new apps deployed to Polygon, only 38% are being built on both Polygon and Ethereum.”

See Also: Bitwise Launches Polygon Fund for Ethereum-Scaling Exposure

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“Vitalik Buterin once again “dumped” several dog-themed memecoins he never sought. The motivation behind Buterin’s memetoken dump remains unknown but the move has not stopped others from sending him more dog-themed tokens.

Buterin sent a majority of the tokens to decentralized exchange Uniswap, including 300 trillion jejudoge, more than 223 trillion kishu inu, 370 billion baby shiba and roughly 120 trillion huskytoken. Despite the shockingly high numbers, none of the amounts was worth more than $800,000 at the time of the transactions.

At press time, most of these tokens were in deep red, according to CoinMarketCap. The loss for baby shiba was most significant: The token’s price was down nearly 70% in the past 24 hours.”

“Bitcoin’s price surged Tuesday to a six-month high, climbing past $63,000 as ProShares’ much-anticipated, futures-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF) began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF started trading at 9:30 a.m. ET as the bell rang to open the day’s session on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock ticker is $BITO.

First-day trading volume in $BITO appeared strong, with at least 1.89 million shares of the ETF changing hands in the first couple hours, or more than $770 million worth. As of press time, the $BITO share price was trading at $41.36, up 3.4% from the initial net asset value of $40. Over the same timeframe, bitcoin was up 2.3% to $63,197.

The first of its kind in the U.S., the ETF offers investors the opportunity to gain exposure to returns of BTC with the ease of buying a stock in a brokerage account. The SEC approved the ETF on Friday, and several other pending ETF proposals could win approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission later this week.”

See Also: First Bitcoin Futures ETF ‘BITO’ Tops $1B Trading Volume on First Day
See Also: Analysts predict Valkyrie will launch Bitcoin futures ETF this week
See Also: These Bitcoin Futures ETFs May Be Next to Launch
See Also: Invesco Drops Efforts to Launch Bitcoin Futures ETF

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“Bitcoin will extend gains following the approval of the first bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S., according to Tom Lee, head of research at FSInsight, a markets strategy and research firm, in a note.

The 10 largest ETF launches witnessed inflows of $14 billion in their first year, on average. The most successful was the Nasdaq 100 ETF (NASDAQ: QQQ) in 1999, with inflows of $36 billion. FSInsight expects demand for ProShares’ Bitcoin Strategy ETF to surpass that of QQQ and forecasts inflows of more than $50 billion.

FSInsight estimates that bitcoin daily demand will increase by $50 million due to ETF inflows. If the block reward is $10 million per day, the ‘equilibrium price to clear this, based on analysis by our data science team = $168,000.’“

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“Facebook’s Novi wallet is ready to launch – but it won’t be launching with the Diem (formerly Libra) stablecoin.

Novi, Facebook’s digital wallet subsidiary, will go live in the U.S. and Guatemala in a pilot program, allowing users to start trading the Paxos Dollar (USDP), the social media giant announced Tuesday. Crypto exchange Coinbase will provide custody services for the program. Users can purchase USDP through Novi, and Novi will deposit the funds with Coinbase.

This does not mean our support for Diem has changed. We intend to launch Novi with Diem once it receives regulatory approval and goes live.

The pilot has already gone live, but is being rolled out slowly on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.”

See Also: US Lawmakers Push Back on Facebook’s Novi Wallet Launch

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“Coinbase said it would become the exclusive cryptocurrency platform partner of the NBA, Women’s National Basketball Association, NBA G League, NBA 2K League and USA Basketball as part of a multiyear sponsorship deal. Coinbase would be featured during nationally televised NBA games.

According to the NBA, Coinbase will create ‘unique content, innovations, activations and experiences‘ for basketball fans to learn about the crypto space, as well as be a partner of the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup, the USA Basketball men’s and women’s national team exhibition tours and the NBA G League Ignite.”

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“The sports betting giant is going all-in on the Ethereum layer 2 application with a partnership that could make it one of the blockchain’s largest governors.

DraftKings, valued at nearly $20 billion on the public market, is planning to use Polygon to support custom NFT drops and secondary-market transactions. The partnership also gives DraftKings the option to contribute to Polygon’s governance.

We are bullish on the possibilities that blockchain, NFTs, cryptocurrency and more will present as we prepare for Web 3.0.”

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“Revolut, a fintech company with a $33 billion valuation that offers cryptocurrency buying as part of its services, is allowing U.S. customers to trade as much as $200,000 a month commission-free starting today.

Among other free services announced by Revolut are out-of-network ATM withdrawals of up to $1,200 and 10 remittance payments. Users will also be able to send up to 10 international transfers per month fee-free to anyone with a bank account in 30 countries.

By breaking down fees, we’re empowering Revolut’s U.S. customers to achieve financial freedom and drive their own financial journey.”

See Also: Chainalysis Adds Bitcoin to Balance Sheet

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“Decentralized finance (DeFi) insurance protocol Solace, which provides coverage policies for Aave, Compound and Uniswap among others, has gone live after eight months of development and four months on the Ethereum Rinkeby and Kovan testnets.

The protocol provides compensation for losses by managing risk using assessment based on analytics instead of voting or staking. The protocol is intended to help liquidity providers hedge their risk when there is potential of smart contract exploits.

Insurance claims will be automatically validated and requested within the network, and payouts will be made in a single transaction. The protocol describes itself as “censorship-resistant” and does not feature a know-your-customer (KYC) method.”

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“In a report on Monday, the Treasury Department said the growing use of digital assets was hampering the implementation of sanctions while balancing funds from legitimate humanitarian organizations.

The department suggested that better communication between itself and the crypto industry, financial institutions and others in addition to “deepening its institutional knowledge and capabilities” could help improve current policy.

Treasury’s sanctions review has shown that this powerful instrument continues to deliver results but also faces new challenges. We’re committed to working with partners and allies to modernize and strengthen this critical tool.”

See Also: Russia aims to replace US dollar reserves with digital assets in long term

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“The Catan-style game combines a physical board with NFT-backed characters that can be bought and sold between players on Algorand’s blockchain. The Flexagons are brought to life within the app through augmented reality technology and can be upgraded to create more value within the game.

There is a missing bridge between the ‘old school’ [board games] and the technology that exists today.”

See Also: Martha Stewart Is Now Selling Ethereum NFTs—And Carving CryptoPunks Into Pumpkins

“ProShares will launch a bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) that will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange tomorrow, the company confirmed in an SEC filing on Monday. The fund is linked to bitcoin futures that are traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

There will be hopes that the debut of a bitcoin ETF on the NYSE will open the floodgates to a stream of similar products winning regulatory approval and accelerating the flow of investments into crypto.

This is an exciting step but not the last.”

See Also: ProShares Bitcoin Futures ETF Trades Tuesday: What You Need to Know
See Also: Former SEC Official Expects More Bitcoin ETF Approvals

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“The amount of money locked in the bitcoin futures contracts on the global derivatives giant Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) surged to record highs on Friday as the SEC greenlighted futures-based exchange-traded funds (ETF) tied to the cryptocurrency.

The dollar value of open interest (OI), or the number of futures contracts traded but not liquidated with an offsetting position, stood at $3.64 billion on Friday, marking a more than doubling for the month. The spread between the CME-based front-month futures contract, also known as premium or basis, and the spot price has surged from an annualized 1% to over 16% this month alongside bitcoin’s 40% rally to $62,000.

U.S. institutions, in particular, have been fueling the rally as evidenced by activity on the CME and the basis flippening on the CME over the retail-led exchanges.”

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“Global brokerage firm Interactive Brokers Group is bringing crypto trading to Registered Financial Advisors (RIAs) in the U.S. today. Through Paxos Crypto Brokerage, RIAs resident in the U.S. can now trade and custody Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash for their clients.

The digital infrastructure that Paxos has built for Interactive Brokers offers U.S.-based RIAs a detailed interface to manage clients’ positions, with customizable reports and real-time data tracking crypto-related stocks, futures, mutual funds, bonds, ETFs, and options.

The global brokerage firm hopes its crypto adoption will spread beyond U.S. borders and is aiming to launch its crypto services to other RIAs around the world. With more on-ramps than ever before, crypto is slowly legitimizing its own existence.

Initially, financial giants like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan were wary, but Bitcoin’s latest bull run has triggered a change in institutional policy.”

See Also: Société Générale Shopping for Crypto Custodian

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“Big three credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has warned that stablecoins could impact securities markets.

Fitch Ratings believes stablecoins that approach a systemically important scale could come to play an important role in short-term securities markets, such as commercial paper, while bringing new risks to these markets.

Fitch added that the extent to which stablecoins impact securities will depend on the ‘evolution of regulations affecting the asset class.’“

See Also: Rep. Tom Emmer Wants Stablecoins Over CBDCs

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