Google and Coinbase Strike a Deal, BNY Mellon Begins Crypto Custody and WisdomTree’s Bitcoin ETF Is Rejected: Hodler’s Digest, 9-15 October
Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every important news that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more – a week on Cointelegraph in one link.
Top stories this week
Starting in early 2023, Coinbase’s payments service, Coinbase Commerce, will facilitate crypto payments for customers who purchase Google’s cloud services thanks to an agreement between the two companies. Google will only allow certain cryptoassets for payment, including Bitcoin. Initially limited to certain participants, the ability to pay with crypto will eventually be extended to other customers, a Google Cloud executive told CNBC. Google Cloud has taken several other steps towards involvement in the crypto and blockchain industry in 2022.
BNY Mellon, America’s oldest bank, launches crypto services
Banking giant BNY Mellon has entered the crypto custody space, offering certain customers Bitcoin and Ether custody services via a new platform. The 238-year-old bank will provide bookkeeping for customers’ crypto in the same way it does for traditional assets, while handling customers’ private keys. BNY Mellon’s managing director of securities services and digital, Roman Regelman, said: “With Digital Asset Custody, we continue our journey with confidence and innovation into the evolving digital asset space, while embracing leading technology and partnering with fintechs.”
SEC rejects WisdomTree’s application for a spot Bitcoin ETF … again
After several delays, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected WisdomTree’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposal, which the firm submitted in January. The SEC cited fears of market manipulation and fraud as the rationale for its decision, which is consistent with its previous rationale for denying spot Bitcoin ETFs. The SEC also denied a spot Bitcoin ETF proposal from WisdomTree in 2021.
PayPal says policies to penalize users for misinformation were ‘wrong’
PayPal’s Acceptable Use Guidelines were set to change in early November to include a $2,500 fine for any platform user who promotes, posts, transmits or publishes so-called “misinformation.” PayPal has since claimed that the policy provision was added in error. “PayPal does not fine people for misinformation, and this language was never intended to be inserted into our policies,” PayPal said. The fiasco has raised concerns about centralized platforms among crypto users who see self-storage as an important pillar of self-sovereignty and financial inclusion.
Blockchain games and metaverse projects raised $1.3 billion in Q3: DappRadar
Data from DappRadar revealed that $1.3 billion worth of venture capital poured into metaverse projects and blockchain games in the third quarter – a bright spot amid the gloom of the crypto bear market. While venture capital funding for these sectors was down 48% compared to Q2, the Q3 figure was still more than double the amount invested in all of 2021.
Winners and losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $19,665Ether (ETH) on $1329 and XRP on $0.50. The total market value is at $938.70 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, this week’s top three altcoin winners are Huobi Token (HT) at 87.06%, TerraClassicUSD (USTC) of 63.33% and quant (QNT) of 22.07%.
This week’s top three altcoin losers are Klaytn (CLAY) at -20.36%, Internet Computer (ICP) of -15.04% and eCash (XEC) of -14.48%.
For more info on crypto prices, be sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.
Most memorable quotes
“Ethereum is the ‘Hotel California’ of cryptocurrencies. You can check in, but you can’t check out.”
Charles Hoskinsonfounder of Cardano
“Elon Musk quotes post about Dogecoin, you get seven times daily registrations.
Alex Harperco-CEO and co-founder of Swyftx
“If we [the crypto industry] want to achieve internet scale, we need a solution for AML/CTF compliance.
John Hendersonpartner in Airtree Ventures
“A bear market is the best time to start working in crypto and find a job.
Raman Shalupau, founder of Crypto Jobs List
“There is protection in gold. But in my opinion Bitcoin is far superior. It has math and code. It is defended by a decentralized protocol. You don’t mess with math.
Greg FossManaging Director of Strategic Initiatives at Validus Power Corp
“It’s incredibly important to never forget that we have a huge responsibility that influencers don’t have. They have their own risks when it comes to followers’ trust, but we have a responsibility to maintain our integrity as journalists.
Kristina Cornèreditor-in-chief of Cointelegraph
Prediction of the week
BTC price hits 3-week low on US CPI as Bitcoin clears $57M
For most of the week, Bitcoin traded sideways, favoring the downside, according to Cointelegraph’s BTC Price Index. The asset maintained some price volatility on October 13, in line with the release of September’s US inflation data. Bitcoin’s price dropped near $18,200 after the news, but then rebounded to over $19,000.
In an October 13 post, pseudonymous Twitter user il Capo of Crypto tweeted about the possibility of Bitcoin’s fall being a bear trap, noting a potential subsequent rise to $21,000, followed by a sharp drop.
FUD of the week
US Treasury’s OFAC and FinCEN Announce $29M in Enforcement Actions Against Bittrex
Crypto exchange Bittrex is facing charges from two different US regulators: the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The regulators have essentially claimed that Bittrex did not perform proper due diligence on its customers and transactions between 2014 and 2018, allowing users from sanctioned regions to use the platform. Bittrex confirmed that it would settle with OFAC for about $24 million, which can also be used as a credit against the $29 million settlement owed to FinCEN. Moving on from the situation, Bittrex stated that it has been updated with expected standards since 2018.
$100M Drained From Solana DeFi Platform Mango Markets, Token Plunges 52%
Mango Markets, a decentralized financial platform that runs on the Solana blockchain, reportedly lost around $100 million from the treasury thanks to an exploit. Someone manipulated price data for the platform’s native MNGO assets, allowing them to borrow crypto worth far more than the value of the MNGO they were pledging. MNGO suffered a price drop of approximately 50% following the news of the incident. Later reporting saw the hacker come forward and demand a $70 million bug bounty and other conditions to return exploited funds.
CNN will close its NFT marketplace and issue a 20% refund
After roughly four months, media outlet CNN has decided to suspend its nonfungible token (NFT) work, apparently another bear market casualty. The media company’s NFT project, known as Vault by CNN, essentially offered tokenized memories of historical news events spanning decades throughout CNN’s history. The project’s roadmap estimated six months of development, although the media has since claimed the project was a “6-week experiment,” according to an announcement from the Vault by the CNN Twitter account. NFT buyers will receive a 20% refund of the price they paid to create their NFTs, according to a CNN employee on Discord.
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