Innovation took the front burner under the watchful eyes of regulators. The bad guys continued to find ways to target victims. However, things are changing with improved education and information.
The headlines:
- Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) introduced a new bill;
- According to the SEC, Spot Ether Options will have to wait until December;
- A massive Bitcoin sell-off looms as the Supreme Court declined to hear the Silk Road token case;
- In a plot twist, the FBI created a token and caught some bad guys (read on to find out);
- Plus, Binance launched another first (more on that later);
- And much more!
As always, these are your decentralized diaries!
Bitcoin is at $64k
Things are looking up for Bitcoin. Prices moved from a $58,895.21 low to a $65,059.86 high. Bitcoin is currently at $64,673.58 (as of 10/14/24).
The other tokens are moving similarly. Ethereum (ETH) is at $2,553.27, Solana (SOL) at $152.76, Avalanche (AVAX) at $29.12, Chainlink (LINK) at $11.00 and Polkadot (DOT) at $4.29.
There’s a New Crypto Bill on Capitol Hill
The crypto regulation conversation continued on Capitol Hill. Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) presented a draft of the “Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act of 2024,” a new piece of legislation based on a similar 2023 proposal from Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC 10th District).
Hagerty’s bill is similar to McHenry’s version but has provisions for State frameworks (alongside) capitalization requirements for stablecoin issuers.
Circle Launched the USDC Natively on the Sui Blockchain
Stablecoin issuer Circle extended its reach with the launch of its USDC token on the Sui layer-1 network. The deployment will not affect the wUSDC, the bridged version of the tokens (by Wormhole).
Consequently, both tokens will function side by side.
The SEC Delayed its Spot Ether ETF Options Decision
Following the approval of options trading for BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, the SEC postponed a rule change that could enable Ethereum ETF options listing on the Cboe Exchange.
Additionally, according to an October 11 filing, the regulator pushed the date for its final ruling to December 3.
Mt. Gox Moved its Repayment Schedule to Next Year
Similarly, creditors of the shuttered crypto exchange Mt. Gox will have to wait to recover their funds. In an October 10 announcement, Mt. Gox revealed that the repayment deadline will occur on October 31, 2025 (Japan Standard Time).
Furthermore, this is the second time the crypto exchange has shifted its payment schedule. Mt. Gox had previously postponed the issue from Oct. 31, 2023, to Oct. 31, 2024.
The Supreme Court Declined to Hear the Silk Road Bitcoins Appeal
On the legal end, the Silk Road-linked bitcoins will be up for sale soon. Following the kick-off of a new term, the apex Court declined to hear an appeal involving the sale of the 69,370 bitcoins (approximately $4.494 billion) currently in the custody of the U.S. government.
The justices declined to hear the 2022 “Battle Born Investments, et al. v. United States” appeal. Consequently, the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California’s previous ruling will take precedence.
Arkham Intelligence will Soon Launch a Derivatives Exchange
According to an October 11 Bloomberg report, blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence will launch a crypto derivatives exchange in November. The new platform will (reportedly) compete with other behemoths in the space.
In addition, Arkham will (allegedly) move its headquarters from London and New York to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
The federal government got busy. Several actions occurred on several fronts. Following an FBI sting operation involving the creation of the “NexFundAI” token, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts charged eighteen entities and individuals with market manipulation and fraud.
Furthermore, the feds seized $25 million worth of tokens. Bots that reportedly manipulated over 60 cryptocurrency tokens were also deactivated.
The FBI created a fake crypto token during its “Operation Token Mirrors” investigation.
State Street Mulled Tokenizing Money Market Funds and Bonds
Financial services giant State Street is considering blockchain technology to tokenize its ecosystem. In an October 8 interview, State Street Chief Product Officer Donna Milrod revealed that the firm has two projects.
One project targets bonds, while the other is money fund-focused.
Moreover, Milrod indicated that both experiments will run till next year as part of State Street’s innovation efforts.
Binance Introduced a Pre-Market Platform
Premier cryptocurrency exchange Binance targeted preliminary crypto activities with a pre-market spot trading solution. Binance Pre-Market enables the spot trading of tokens before listing.
Additionally, the new ecosystem has several features, including vetting, compliance, early access, and regular fees. The move is an industry first.
Other exchanges offer futures and other instruments rather than the tokens themselves.
Coinbase Introduced Bitcoin Taproot Transfers
Leading exchange Coinbase moved things up a notch with Taproot support for Bitcoin transfers. In an October 8 X/Twitter post, Coinbase indicated that users can (now) transfer Bitcoin tokens to Taproot-linked addresses.
Taproot is a Bitcoin core 2021 upgrade that enables improved smart contract functionality (and privacy) and minimizes transaction sizes.
Ethena Selected Assets for its Reserves
Decentralized stablecoin project Ethena announced the investments selected by its risk committee for its real-world assets (RWA) reserve fund.
They include Mountain Protocol’s USDM stablecoin, BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), Sky Maker’s USDS stablecoin, and Superstate’s Short Duration U.S. Government Securities Fund (USTB). Out of 25 nominations, the selected four scaled the hurdles.
