Going to start this newsletter off a little differently this week. ENS Domains is holding its $ENS token launch on 11/8 and is accepting applications for DAO delegates who can participate in governance. For those who don't know, I'm a huge believer in ENS and believe it represents the best of crypto: identity, community, self-expression and utility all in one. 

I have applied to be an ENS delegate (app here). Token holders have the option of selecting a delegate when they claim their tokens any time after 11/8. Please select me (maaria.eth) to be your delegate. Read more about it here.
 

PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- BTC ($62,417): +4% / +115%
- ETH ($4,612): +10% / +525%
- XRP ($1.08): +13% / +453%
- UNI ($25.4): +4% / +416%
- Crypto Market Cap ($2.8T): +8% / +263% 
- BTC Dominance: 43%
- ETH Dominance: 20%

STABLECOIN MARKET CAP CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- Tether ($73B): +3% / +247%
- USDC ($34B): +4% / +784%

NFT 3M TRADING VOLUMES

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- The US House voted to pass an infrastructure bill that contains controversial crypto tax implications. The bill expands the definition of a broker, which would require more crypto startups to report transactions. The bill also amends a 40 year old law that requires detailed information on cash transactions over $10,000, including the sender's personal information, social security number, and nature of the transaction. Previously the law only applied to in-person cash transactions, but it may now apply to cryptocurrencies and digital assets like NFTs as well, making the law nearly impossible to comply with. Link. 

- The Ethereum Name Service (ENS), an Ethereum-based, open-source protocol for domain names, announced it was decentralizing its governance process through the use of delegates and a dedicated $ENS token. The DAO delegates will participate in governance over the existing ENS treasury, future funds, pricing, and registration for .ETH names. A snapshot of ENS domain holders was taken on 10/31, and users will be able to claim their tokens starting 11/8. Users can select a delegate when claiming their tokens. Link. 

- VC funding in crypto and blockchain startups reached an all-time high of $6.5 billion across 286 deals in Q3, surpassing Q2's high of $5.2 billion. Link. 

- The total value secured by Chainlink, the biggest oracle data provider for smart contracts, has grown from $7 billion at the end of last year to $75 billion today. Link. 

- NFT gaming and metaverse platform The Sandbox raised $93 million from investors like SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 and Sound Ventures. Sandbox has over 500,000 registered wallets and 12,000 virtual LAND owners. Link. 

- There have been 70 DeFi attacks this year totaling around $1.4 billion stolen, though $760 million has been returned. Majority of the exploits happened on Ethereum (34), followed by Binance Smart Chain (25). 34 of the attacks employed flash loans, meaning loans were taken out, used for some function, and repaid all in the same transaction block. Big losses include Compound, which had a bug in an update that led to $114 million in COMP tokens being misallocated (half was returned), and Cream Finance, which was exploited for $130 million using a large flash loan. Link. 

- BTS is entering the NFT space through a JV with Korean crypto exchange Upbit. The NFTs will be photocards of the stars and will include moving images, voices of artists and more. Link. 

- Ethereum's hash rate hit a new all-time high, driven by continuous growth in DeFi and NFT space and the recent ETH price rally. ETH miners earned $1.85 billion in revenue last month. Link. 

- Quentin Tarantino is selling six uncut and never-before-seen scenes from his film Pulp Fiction up for auction as NFTs on OpenSea. The NFTs also include secret content like the uncut first draft script along with custom commentary from Tarantino. Link. 

- NYC Mayor-Elect Eric Adams plans to take his first three paychecks in bitcoin. This was response to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez saying he planned to take his next paycheck in bitcoin. Both Adams and Suarez are striving to make their cities more crypto-friendly. Tweet. Link. 

- Matt Huang, co-founder of crypto firm Paradigm, has joined the board of directors for payment startup Stripe and will guide its crypto strategy. Link. 

- Square made $1.82 billion in bitcoin revenue in Q3 via its Cash App, leading to $42 million in gross profits from bitcoin. Total revenue for Q3 came in at $3.84 billion, with $1.13 billion in gross profits. Q3 Earnings Report. Link. 

- Tiger Global and Dapper Labs led a $17.4 million seed round for Faze Technologies, which is creating digital collectibles for cricket on the Flow blockchain. Link. 

- A rare CryptoPunk 7557 was mistakenly sold for 4.444 ETH ($19,400), 95% below floor price. It's believed the owner was trying to sell it for 4,444 ETH ($19 million). Link. 

- AWS is looking to hire a "Principal Digital Assets Specialist" for its global financial services team. The hire will interface with senior management of enterprise AWS clientele to "transform the way they transact digital assets" including crypto, stablecoins, NFTs, and CBDCs. Link. 

- Blockchain gaming company Mythical Games raised $150 million in Series C funding at a $1.25 billion valuation, in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Link. 

- Crypto exchange Coinbase is testing a new subscription-based service called Coinbase One, that would give users zero-fee trading and prioritized customer support. Link. 

- Crypto platform Bakkt is supporting Ether on its platform, which was previously limited to Bitcoin. Bakkt's platform lets users buy/sell crypto but doesn't let them withdraw to third-party wallets. The company went public via a SPAC in mid-October. Link. 

- Digital Currency Group (DCG) sold $700 million in secondaries at a $10 billion valuation to investors like SoftBank and Ribbit. DCG owns asset management firm Grayscale and trading firm Genesis, and could generate $1 billion in revenues this year. Link. 

- Avalanche Foundation is launching a $220 million investment fund to attract developers focused on DeFi, enterprsie, NFTs, and culture. The Foundation will support projects through equity investments, token purchases, and operational support. Link. 

- Burger King is partnering with Robinhood Crypto on its loyalty program, and will give away 20 bitcoin ($1.17 million), 200 ether ($800,000), and 2 million dogecoin ($472,000). Link. 

- Solana Ventures, Lightspeed, and FTX announced a $100 million fund for investing in blockchain gaming studios. The fund will focus on gaming on Solana and other blockchains. Link. 

- NFT-based digital property trading game Upland raised an $18 million Series A at a $300 million valuation led by Animoca Brands. Upland involves buying and selling digital properties linked to real-world addresses and has more than 100,000 "landowners" who have bought more than 2 million NFTs. Link. 

- Chinese law enforcement have confiscated $62.5 million in cryptoassets from a group that was allegedly selling subpar or fake Filecoin mining equipment. Link.