Brevan Howard's UAE Crypto Hub, Stripe's $1.1B Bridge Deal, U.S. Congress Crypto Push, Future Blockchain Summit Highlights
Brevan Howard Conducts Significant Amount of Crypto Trading from UAE Owing to Sensible Regulatory Framework
In a panel last week, Ryan Taylor, Brevan Howard’s Group Head of Compliance shared the leading global alternative investment management platform conducts a significant portion of its $2 Billion crypto trading operations from the region. Noting, "The regulators in the UAE are hard, but they want the industry to fly, and so they write sensible regulations, and they are prepared to talk to the industry in order to evolve those regulations."
Global Payment Processing Platform Stripe Acquires Stablecoin Platform Bridge in Record $1.1 Billion Deal
The acquisition of Bridge - who provide corporates with software for stablecoin acceptance - signals Stripe's push into the cryptocurrency payments space. It demonstrates both Stripe’s commitment to expanding its infrastructure for digital assets, but also a push into decentralized finance at a pivotal time.
Bipartisan Support Builds: Crypto Legislation in the U.S. Before Year End
With the ‘lame duck’ session – between November’s presidential election and the dissolution of the 118th Congress approaching at the year-end - both Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate appear optimistic major crypto-related legislation could be passed. Additionally, at DC Fintech Week, Senator Gillibrand expressed optimism about a market structure bill passing, thereby establishing a federal digital assets regulatory framework.
Dubai’s Future Blockchain Summit Recap
Last week served as a definitive experience for the UAE and all with a vested interest in the wider Web3 economy. A strong theme of the week across multiple firesides and panels? Adoption is one best powered collectively through knowledge sharing. To learn more about the institutional interest in virtual assets in the UAE and the challenges of regulating both centralized and decentralized exchanges globally, read more here.
Market Review
The 7-day chart showed early strength, with Bitcoin peaking at $69K and Ethereum at $2.7K on 21 October. However, both assets have since experienced a retracement, with Bitcoin now trading at $67K and Ethereum at $2.5K, just under key resistance levels.
Meanwhile, Solana and Dogecoin have outperformed the broader market, rising by 13%, now trading at $173 and $0.13, respectively.
The total crypto market remained steady at $2.31 Trillion, while the Fear & Greed Index dropped 6 points, now sitting in the Neutral zone at 52.
The 11 Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $2.4 Billion inflows in the 14-18 October period, marking the largest inflow week since March.
Quick News
The stock trading and investing platform confirmed plans to support Bitcoin and Ether futures amid a broader rollout of derivatives products and a new desktop platform.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved proposals from two major exchanges, allowing options trading on several Bitcoin ETFs, broadening investment opportunities for U.S. crypto investors.
European Securities and Markets Authority asks for amendment to tighten regulation with demand for external audits of defenses against hackers.
Residents of the Argentine capital now have access to decentralized digital IDs on their mobile devices, powered by the scaling protocol ZKsync Era.
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