Crypto weekly is co-authored by @serdave
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($2.3T): -3% / +31%
- BTC ($63,812): -2% / +50%
- ETH ($2,493): -5% / +9%
- SOL ($150): -5% / +47%
- UNI ($7.32): -1% / 0%
- POL ($0.39): -7% / -60%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($120B): 0% / +30%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($35.5B): -2% / +45%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 54% / 13%
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Bitcoin prices fell this week as geopolitical tensions between Iran and Israel intensified, while investors shifted away from risk-on assets like cryptocurrencies to risk-off assets like gold. Link.
- Banks in North America, Europe and Asia will begin live trials of digital asset and currency transactions over Swift's global messaging network in early 2025. Link.
- After meeting one-on-one with Gary Gensler, Mark Cuban described the SEC chairman as genuinely unaware of why the regulator's enforcement strategy is unpopular. Link.
- The SEC filed an appeal in its lawsuit against Ripple and its XRP token, which it claims was sold as an unregistered securities offering. The judge ordered Ripple to pay a $125 million civil penalty, while the SEC sought for $2 billion. Link.
- The SEC's top enforcement official, Gurbir Grewal, is leaving the agency for private practice. Link.
- A new documentary coming out October 8 on HBO claims it will reveal the true identity of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. Link.
- Bitcoin miners saw a 6% decline in profit last month, hitting new lows driven by the halving in April. Link.
- Bitwise filed paperwork with the SEC to launch an XRP ETF. XRP is the native token of Ripple, the seventh largest digital token. Link.
- Visa launches a platform to help financial institutions issue fiat-backed tokens and test their use cases, with Spain's BBVA as the first user. Link. Link.
- ETH restaking protocol Eigenlayer’s token began trading this week after being locked since May of this year. Link.
- A new report from CryptoISAC indicates cash remains the dominant payment method for illicit activities, and crypto is declining in usage. Link.
- Coinbase is planning to delist USDT in Europe if it does not obtain proper licensing for the EU’s new MiCA rules by December 31. Other exchanges such as OKX made similar plans. Tether has maintained a stance that it will offer a “technology-based solution” in the EU. Link .
- Binance's spot trading volume dipped more than 20% last month, leaving it with a 27% share of the spot market, its lowest level since September 2020 when it had over 40% market share. Link. Link.
- Grayscale is launching an Aave Trust product akin to its past BTC and ETH trusts. Grayscale currently has trust products for Chainlink, Filecoin and Bitcoin Cash, among others. Link.
- Video game publisher Ubisoft released a multiplayer shooting game powered by NFTs on Arbitrum. The game is based on the Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E” show on Netflix. Link.
- PayPal completed its first business to business transaction using its stablecoin PyUSD. The Fintech giant recently permitted merchants to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies. Link.
- Asset manager Franklin Templeton announced its FOBXX tokenized treasury fund is launching on Aptos. The fund is already available on Arbitrum and Avalanche. Link .
- Aave V3's total value locked on Ethereum surpassed $10 billion, up 197% YTD. Aerodrome, the top DEX on Base, eclipsed $1 billion total value locked this week. Link . Link.
- A group of crypto industry leaders penned a letter to Kamala Harris’s campaign policy team asking for a meeting in October to discuss industry regulation. Link.
s- Jesse Pollak announced he was joining the Coinbase executive team, and leading Coinbase Wallet development in addition to leading the company's Layer 2 solution Base. Link.