The Crypto Currier 8th November

This week's biggest news in blockchain and crypto in the Crypto Currier:

A slightly tumultuous week in crypto with a squabble between Binance and FTX CEOs leading to market unrest and fears of big sell offs. Crypto companies in the UK will now need FCA approval to advertise. Santander bank will join almost half of other UK banks to block payments to crypto companies from next year. A new blockchain project launched by an Ethereum co-founder aims to bring blockchain nodes to a wider audience and Google Cloud goes further into blockchain by running a Solana node. And, the latest on the US Fed and the ECB's trails and plans to bring out programmable digital money.

Ethereum Co-Founder, Project to Bring Blockchain Computers to a Wider Audience

Anthony Di Iorio, the co-founder of Ethereum has revealed a project which aims to make it easier for anyone to run a full blockchain node on their computer. The project aims to counter blockchain centralisation by enabling crypto users to run full nodes that store the complete transactional history of a blockchain network, with little to no technical expertise. Di Iorio hopes the plug-and-play nature of The Cube project, with its gamification, will make it easy and fun for users to a full node, and in doing so, further decentralise blockchain infrastructure. Di Iorio has been working on the project, dubbed Andiami, for over a decade. (CoinDesk) Read More

Google Cloud running a Solana node, in a sign of backing the blockchain firm

Google Cloud is now running a Solana validator in a move that sees Google strengthen its commitment to blockchain. Google plans to bring Solana to its recently-launched Blockchain Node Engine, which aims to help make Web3 product development easier with fully-managed nodes, in 2023. Google Cloud also said that it will index Solana data in order to bring it to BigQuery in 2023, which it hopes will “make it easier for the Solana developer ecosystem to access historical data.” (TechRadar) Read More

UK Crypto Firms Will Need FCA Approval to Advertise

The U.K.’s House of Commons has passed new regulations that limit how cryptocurrency  assets can be promoted in the country. The latest amendments to the Financial Services and Markets Bill enshrine the powers of the FCA and the Treasury when it comes to the regulation and legal status of crypto assets. Crypto firms in the UK still need FCA approval to operate in the UK, an approval which still isn't often given. Crypto firms seem to be worried that these regulations will leave them struggling to advertise in the UK. Crypto advocates also feel the rule may be too restrictive for a country that claims it wants to support the digital asset industry. (Pymnts) and (Coindesk)

The spat between Giants FTX and Binance Spill Into Public View with sell-offs

The public spat between two of the biggest names in crypto has intensified. Until now, the relationship between Binance founder and CEO CZ (Changpeng Zhao) and SBF (Sam Bankman-Fried), the founder of crypto trading firm Alameda Research and crypto exchange FTX, had been publicly civil. That changed Sunday after Binance said it was poised to sell what it held of FTX's FTT native token, following rumours about liquidity issues at SBF's companies. A report indicated that much of Alameda’s balance sheet was made up of FTX’s FTT token, which is relatively illiquid. This sparked fears that any large sell off of FTT could cause the token’s price to plummet, potentially harming the financial health of FTX. CZ tweeted that Binance would liquidate its FTT holdings for “risk management” purposes. CZ also tweeted “We gave support before, but we won’t pretend to make love after divorce. We are not against anyone. But we won’t support people who lobby against other industry players behind their backs” to which SBF retaliated that Binance was trying to go after its rival “with false rumors.”  (The Wall Street Journal) Read More

Coinbase Loses Half Billion Dollars and Half Million Customers in Q3

Crypto exchange Coinbase has reported a tough third quarter of 2022, losing $545 million and missing earnings targets. Coinbase has seen its revenue cut in half from Q3 2021, with this quarter’s revenue of $590 million reportedly below the $654 million analysts predicted. Coinbase share price is down about 70% from its November 2021 all-time-high. User numbers, down 500,000 to 8.5 million, dropped far less than analysts expected. Brian Armstrong, Coinbase CEO, also has said he believes the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin Coinbase issued together with Circle “will end up being kind of the de facto central bank digital currency in the U.S.' (Pymnts) Read More

Fed Completes First Test With Digital Dollar, Releases Results

The New York subsidiary of the U.S. Federal Reserve has completed the first test of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative, Project Cedar. The New York Innovation Center carried out this first phase and highlighted the potential for digital assets and blockchain technology to improve legacy payment rails. The NYIC is developing a “technical framework for a theoretical” implementation of this digital asset. The first test of the CBDC was reportedly successful. It says the digital dollar would reduce time and risk in legacy financial rails. (Bitcoinist) Read More

ECB canvases for digital euro programmable money use cases

The European Central Bank has opened a call to payment industry experts for digital euro use case ideas around programmable money for retail payments. It is also seeking input on standards and the back-end IT architecture needed to launch a fully central bank controlled currency. The ECB isn't the only central bank looking at programable money, The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has also launched experiments for purpose bound money. Programmable money means more control to governments, Terrifying. (Ledger Insights) Read More

Do Kwon Ordered A Staff To ‘Doctor’ LUNA’s Price, South Korean Prosecutors Claim

South Korean prosecutors have made a discovery that they say is evidence of Do Kwon, co-founder and CEO of now collapsed Terraform Labs, manipulated the prices of its stablecoin. According to Korean news reports, Kwon allegedly gave specific instructions to one of his employees to manipulate the market price of their TerraUSD algorithmic stablecoin. Korean prosecutors claim to have incriminating evidence, particularly messages exchanged between Do Kwon and the Terraform Labs employee he ordered to carry out the artificial price adjustment. “I can’t reveal the details, but it was a conversation history where CEO Kwon specifically ordered price manipulation,” an official from the prosecutor’s office said. (Bitcoinist) Read More

European Parliament Delays Vote on MiCA 

The EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation that was set to be voted on in December looks set to be delayed by several months. A spokesman for the European Parliament said that the length and complexity of the text mean the vote is unlikely to take place until the new year. Amongst the proposed changes is a cap on the market share of non-euro-denominated stablecoins, in what is seen as a bid to grant a greater role to euro-pegged stablecoins and protect the eurozone’s monetary sovereignty. However, given that USD backed stablecoins currently account for the vast majority of stablecoin transactions, there are concerns that such a cap would be unnecessarily burdensome to the European crypto industry, with rumours circulating that the limit could be adjusted or scrapped. (Pymnts) Read More

UK Bank Santander Will Block Payments to Crypto Exchanges

Santander has joined almost half of the UK's banks to block payments sent to crypto companies. The bank has said it will block real-time payments to crypto exchanges at some point next year, although it hasn't yet specified a date. Until then, from November 15, the bank will enforce a more limited set of restrictions with payments to cryptocurrency exchanges using mobile and online banking limited to £1,000 per transaction with a total limit of £3,000 in any rolling 30-day period. It says the new rules will not impact the ability of customers to make withdrawals. Santander is citing fraud and scams as the reason behind this ban, with a spokesperson saying “In recent months we’ve seen a large increase in UK customers becoming victims of cryptocurrency fraud”. The thing is, when people have fallen for a scam, many are going to find a way to send their money to it because they believe the claims made and want what it promises. So this block could just move the problem away from being directly a Santander problem and will push those customers to find other ways to send money to scams. A study from comparison side Finder found 47% of the UK's major banks don't support cryptocurrency. (Decrypt) Read More

UK lawmakers' inquiry into NFT regulation, 'there are fears that the bubble may burst'

Members of the United Kingdom’s DCMS (Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee) in the House of Commons have opened an inquiry to hear from the public on the potential benefits and risks of NFTs on the country’s economy. The committee said its inquiry was related to the sudden growth of the NFT market, responding to fears the assets may be overvalued and at risk of the collapsing. It says that NFT regulation in the U.K. is “largely non-existent". The committee added “Our inquiry will investigate whether greater regulation is needed to protect these consumers and wider markets from volatile investments. This inquiry will also help Parliament understand the opportunities presented by an exciting new technology which could democratise how assets are bought and sold.” "MPs are expected to consider whether NFT investors, especially vulnerable speculators, are put at risk by the market," the DCMS committee said. "The inquiry may also look into the wider benefits that NFTs and the blockchain could provide the U.K. economy." (Cointelegraph) and (American Banker) 

$1B+ Crypto Hack, firm tried to say it was attacking itself as a safeguard

Concerns developed at play-to-earn platform Gala Games after a single blockchain address appeared to mint over $1 billion worth of its GALA token out of thin air. It was feared the transaction was the result of a billion dollar hack, or a rug pull, and the token price dropped by 20%. The platform later said it had effectively attacked itself to prevent bad actors from absconding with users' money, it isn't clear yet why the firm felt the need to mint these tokens. "All GALA tokens on Ethereum as well as the underlying bridge collateral are SAFE," an affiliated firm tweeted. (CoinDesk) Read More

Report: GALA token exploit resulted from public leak of private key on GitHub

It appears that last week's $2 billion token exploit of GameFi project Gala Games resulted from a public leak of applicable security keys on GitHub. Blockchain security firm SlowMist posted a screenshot alleging that the plaintext private key for the proxy admin owner address was exposed and publicly viewable on GitHub. This meant that any user with access to the private key could have manipulated the contract at any time, making the protocol vulnerable to an attack. The Gala Games token bridge was exploited after a single wallet address appeared to have minted over $2 billion in its GALA tokens out of thin air and dumped the tokens on decentralised exchange PancakeSwap. (Cointelegraph) Read More

Monkey Drainer Scammer Strikes Again, Steals $800K of NFTs

A wallet tagged as Monkey Drainer has stolen its second batch of NFTs in as many weeks. This week, the entity stole seven Crypto Punks and 20 Otherside NFTs. On 25th October, the phishing scammer stole $1 million worth of crypto and NFTs. The hacker flushed the proceeds through anonymous coin mixer Tornado cash. (Coindesk) Read More

SEC Charges Trade Coin Club Foundings With Operating a $295 Million Ponzi Scheme

The US SEC has charged the founding members of a MLM (multi-level marketing) organisation with operating a $295 million crypto Ponzi scheme. The scheme duped investors with promises of 0.35% returns a day on their crypto through a bot. The scam raised 80,000 Bitcoin from 100,000 investors which at the time was worth $295 million and now would over $1.6 billion. The team apparently just enriched themselves with the money. A reminder of the risks of mixing crypto with MLM and promises of trading bots and high returns- always steer clear. (CoinDesk) Read More

US authorities seize 50,000 bitcoin related to Silk Road

US authorities have seized more than 50,000 bitcoins related to the Silk Road dark web marketplace. The bitcoin were seized from devices hidden in the house of James Zhong last November, who had managed to trick the bitcoins out of Silk Road. Zhong 'set up a string of approximately nine Silk Road accounts and then triggered over 140 transactions in rapid succession in order to trick the site’s withdrawal-processing system into releasing the bitcoin from its payment system into his accounts'. He pleaded guilty in 2012 when he obtained the bitcoin from the Silk Road. The bitcoins, when seized in November were worth around $3.36 billion, and are now valued at around $1 billion. (Finextra Research) Read More

Renewed Crypto Lobbying in the US 

Former ranking politician Paul Ryan, a former Republican speaker of the House, will join venture capital firm Paradigm’s new council to influence lawmakers as they debate crypto legislation. According to Paradigm, next year will be pivotal in US crypto law, when Congress is likely to draft and approve a slate of legislation. (Zed Tarar) Read More at Coindesk

Luxury watchmaker Hublot to launch metaverse football stadium

Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot is the latest to make a new mark in the metaverse by launching a virtual football stadium. It launched its ‘Hublot Loves Football Metaverse Stadium’ ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022 taking place in Qatar later this month. Hublot partnered with stadium architects MEIS and metaverse builders Spatial to build the virtual stadium. Hublot isn't the first World Cup partner to launch in the metaverse, Visa, Crypto .com and Algorand have also launched Web3 campaigns. (Ledger Insights) Read More

Events- Fintech Connect London, 30th Nov- 1st Dec 🙌

FinTech Connect London 2022 is back in person at ExCel with 2 days of content with speakers answering questions around topics including What does the metaverse mean for the fintech ecosystem, the future of blockchain, key payments trends into 2023 - Cash vs contactless vs crypto, the regulatory landscape and the chance to watch the premier of ‘FinTech for Good’. Free to attend or 20% off tech vendor tickets with code - Get your ticket here 🙌