HOOD Robinhood Markets Inc

Bitcoin stabilizes around $34,200 with volatility

The price of Bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD), which reached $35,200 on hopes of approval of a Bitcoin ETF in the US, consolidated around $34,200 on October 24 after a 15% increase. The quick break of resistance at $30,600 was surprising, but there is now expectation of a possible pullback. Positive funding rates and a recovery in the US dollar also influenced Bitcoin’s stability. Fernando Pereira, an analyst at Bitget, wrote “the next resistance to be tested is US$36,000, where we should see some selling pressure. My target for the end of the year is $38,000.” Analysts await Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data to determine the future direction of the dollar.

Coinbase stock price soars

On Tuesday, shares of Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), a cryptocurrency exchange, are up approximately 9.2% at the time of writing, driven by optimism surrounding the imminent approval of the Bitcoin ETF (COIN:BTCUSD). This marks a possible turning point following the company’s dispute with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in New York. The rise has also positively affected shares of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, which was recently successful in an appeals court, cementing the SEC’s position as a controversial regulator in the crypto industry. Coinbase is expected to file its response with the SEC later today.

ARK Invest sells part of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares and invests in Robinhood

Cathie Wood’s investment manager ARK Invest sold about $2.5 million worth of shares in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (USOTC:GBTC), representing approximately 2% of its holdings in the Next Generation ETF (ARKW). This sale coincided with the rise of Bitcoin. ARK also sold shares of Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and invested in Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD), demonstrating its strategy of taking advantage of crypto market optimism.

Tether reaches $84 billion supply with resilient growth

On October 21, Tether’s stablecoin (COIN:USDTUSD) reached a milestone by surpassing $84 billion in supply, with a weekly increase of $1 billion. This growth coincides with the market recovery, driven by positive expectations surrounding a possible Bitcoin ETF in 2023. Despite previous challenges and skepticism, Tether has demonstrated resilience, expanding its offering by almost US$18 billion this year, consolidating its dominance in the stablecoins market. Stablecoins overall recorded a transaction volume of nearly $6.87 trillion in 2022, surpassing Mastercard (NYSE:MA) and PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL).

Pepe (PEPE) survives token burn and increases 31%

Memecoin Pepe (COIN:PEPEUSD) saw a 31% increase after burning 6.9 trillion tokens ($5.5 million). The burn removed tokens from the total supply and alleviated concerns about the team’s token ownership. The team now has 3.79 trillion tokens and is exploring marketing opportunities. The decision came after an incident of token theft by rogue developers. At the time of writing, the token was undergoing a correction with a drop of -8.9%.

Ledger launches cloud private key recovery solution despite criticism

Hardware wallet company Ledger is launching Ledger Recover, a cloud-based private key recovery service, on October 24. The solution allows users to backup their recovery passphrase and is provided in partnership with the Coincover platform. The service is optional and initially available to passport or identity card holders in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom and European Union. Identity verification is less intrusive than KYC and membership costs $9.99 per month.

Archax plans to launch regulated tokenized asset exchange in the UK

UK-regulated cryptocurrency exchange and custody service Archax is preparing to launch an exchange platform for tokenized assets, including funds and bonds, before the end of the year. Marketing director Simon Barnby explained that the company aims to create a regulated digital marketplace for tokenized assets, with a focus on professional investors and institutions. Archax has already received authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority to operate as a regulated exchange, broker and custodian of digital and traditional assets.

dYdX announces open source code for independent network upgrade

Decentralized exchange dYdX announced the open source of its code as part of the v4 upgrade and transition to an independent blockchain network in the Cosmos ecosystem. The upgrade will make the exchange fully decentralized and community-operated, removing the company’s control over the protocol and eliminating trading fees. The proposal is now subject to community approval through a governance vote led by the dYdX Foundation.

Binance maintains strong US derivatives trading volume despite legal action; UK chief resigns

Derivatives trading volume on Binance remains solid during US trading hours despite ongoing legal action from the CFTC, data provider Kaiko has revealed. While the CFTC sued the exchange in March, its influence over U.S. perpetual futures trading appears to have waned after six months. Derivatives trading activity has reached an all-time high, accounting for nearly 80% of all trades on centralized exchanges, with Binance controlling over 50% of this market. In other Binance news, Jonathan Farnell, who served as head of Binance in the UK before taking over Bifinity, has resigned from his role, joining a series of executive departures from the exchange. His resignation came at the end of September, and he played a key role in Binance’s regulatory compliance efforts in the UK.

Founder of FTX calls financial expert for defense in criminal trial

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), founder of FTX, plans to call financial expert Joseph Pimbley to his defense in his ongoing criminal trial. Pimbley, with more than 30 years of experience in derivatives trading, will challenge testimony from government witnesses, including former FTX executives and the former CEO of Alameda Research, focusing on fluctuations in Alameda’s credit line and providing information about balances from users not affiliated with Alameda or FTX based on data from the FTX database.

Aleo introduces privacy-preserving decentralized digital identity solution

Privacy-focused blockchain platform Aleo has unveiled the zPass protocol, a decentralized digital identity solution that allows users to share only essential information without revealing actual documents. zPass uses zero-knowledge encryption to verify identity privately, with decentralized validation. The protocol aims to balance robust identity verification and user privacy, while combating vulnerabilities in traditional systems and reducing the risk of identity theft. Aleo plans to expand its use to physical document conversion and other use cases beyond age verification.

DeFi Protocol Marinade Finance blocks users in UK due to compliance issues

Marinade Finance, the leading decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol on the Solana blockchain, began blocking users in the UK on October 23. The message states that access is not available due to compliance concerns with UK Financial Conduct Authority rules. The protocol has around 75,000 users and more than $265 million locked, representing 70% of the funds on Solana. Other cryptocurrency companies have also faced regulatory restrictions in the UK recently.

Friend.Tech user dumps 850 ETH on keys before switching to New Bitcoin City

A well-known Friend.Tech user, identified as @Vombatus_eth, sold 176 keys worth around $1.5 million before moving to New Bitcoin City, a similar social app. Friend.Tech had attracted millions of dollars in revenue from over 100,000 users, but new opportunities in apps like New Bitcoin City are gaining prominence. The New Bitcoin City social app was recently launched and targets the social app market, allowing bitcoin holders to use their assets in interactive apps.

Grayscale and FTSE Russell collaborate to launch Crypto Sector Index Series

Grayscale Investments and FTSE Russell have teamed up to create the Crypto Sector Index Series, offering indices that track groups of digital assets based on their use cases. The indices will include cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD) and litecoin (COIN:LTCUSD), smart contract projects such as ether (COIN:ETHUSD) and solana (COIN:SOLUSD), financial tokens such as uniswap (COIN:UNIUSD), art, games and media, and real-life application projects like chainlink (COIN:LINKUSD) and filecoin (COIN:FILUSD). The weighting method will use the square root of each cryptocurrency’s market capitalization to diversify exposure.

Digital Currency Group reports revenue of $188 million and update on NYAG lawsuit

Digital Currency Group (DCG) released its third quarter financial results, with revenues of US$188 million, driven by Grayscale. The update included a personal note from founder Barry Silbert, who shared about his daughter’s fight with cancer. The company also addressed the lawsuit filed by the New York Attorney General’s Office (NYAG) against its now-defunct subsidiary, Genesis, alleging irregularities in Gemini’s Earn program. The DCG denied the NYAG’s allegations and announced a preliminary agreement with Genesis’ creditors.

Walmart and other companies launch Web3 accelerator program with global startups

Walmart (NYSE:WMT), together with Store Nº8 and Outlier Ventures, launched the web3 accelerator program called “Store Nº8 Base Camp”. Five web3 marketing, advertising and payment technology startups from the US, Italy, Poland and the UK are part of the 12-week virtual incubator program. The focus is on “decentralized commerce” to improve retailer and consumer experiences through web3 innovation. Each startup received grants of US$200,000 and business consultancy from KPMG US, with an emphasis on web3 regulation.

El Salvador’s investment in Bitcoin faces losses of almost US$20 million

El Salvador’s investments in Bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD) face unrealized losses of nearly $20 million despite the cryptocurrency’s recent recovery to $35,000. The country purchased 3,062 Bitcoins at an average of US$40,594.93 each, totaling around US$124 million. El Salvador has adopted Bitcoin as legal tender, but continues to face challenges in its widespread adoption.

Agreement between Singapore payments company and Chinese bank boosts use of Digital Yuan across borders

A cross-border partnership has been established between a Singaporean payments company and a major Chinese bank to promote the use of digital yuan, marking a breakthrough in the development of central bank digital currency (CBDC). Thunes, a global payments infrastructure provider, and China Construction Bank (CCB) will cooperate to facilitate cross-border payments in digital yuan. This will include digital settlements in cross-border e-commerce and various shipping situations. This agreement signals the expansion of the use of the digital yuan beyond China’s borders, opening up new opportunities for e-commerce platforms and international funds sending.

Nym Technologies launches $300 million innovation fund for Web3 privacy projects

Blockchain privacy company Nym Technologies announced the Nym Innovation Fund, a $300 million funding program to boost security infrastructure on Web3. Investors such as Polychain, KR1, Huobi Incubator and Eden Block will participate, focusing on privacy-centric Web3 tools and services. The program, starting in November 2023, will consider Web3 wallets, RPC protocols, public services and open source projects that improve user privacy.