Uniswap Labs Valued at $1.66 Billion After $165 Million Series B (The Block)
"Uniswap Labs announced it succeeded in raising $165 million in the second round of its funding campaign. The Series B funding was led by Polychain Capital — with participation from a16z crypto, Paradigm, SV Angel and Variant — and is one of the largest raises in the decentralized finance sector's history. The company behind Uniswap, the leading decentralized exchange, is now valued at $1.66 billion. 'Now, Uniswap Labs is bringing the powerful simplicity and security that has defined the Uniswap Protocol to even more people across the world,' Hayden Adams, founder of Uniswap, shared in a blog post on the Uniswap website."
Crypto Asset Manager BlockTower Launches $150M Venture-Capital Fund (CoinDesk)
"Crypto-focused asset-management firm BlockTower has launched a venture capital arm with a new $150 million fund to back decentralized-finance (DeFi) and blockchain-infrastructure projects. The fund has operated in stealth since December and counts BPI France and MassMutual among its financial backers. The new venture-capital arm will be led by general partner Thomas Klocanas, a veteran of investment firm White Star Capital, who confirmed the fund details during a call with CoinDesk."
Crypto Trading Firm NYDIG Lays Off About 33% of Staff (CoinDesk)
"Bitcoin services company NYDIG has laid off around 100 people, according to four people familiar with the matter. The firm has cut approximately 30% of staff in the past several weeks, according to three people familiar with the matter. The layoffs had been going on for 'several weeks,' one source added. The Wall Street Journal first reported the layoffs late Thursday, putting the figure at 110 employees."
Binance Pool Starts $500 Million Fund to Support Bitcoin Mining (CoinDesk)
"The crypto winter is taking a toll on companies that man the virtual mines, which has led to cryptocurrency exchange Binance starting a lending facility for bitcoin (BTC) miners. Binance Pool has started a $500 million lending project for private and public miners. The miners will need to pledge security in the form of physical or digital assets for the loan, which will have a duration of 18-24 months.
Binance Pool recently opened up a mining pool for ETHW, the forked version of Ethereum that retains the blockchain's original proof-of-work (PoW) underpinnings."
Tether Eliminates Commercial Paper From Reserves (The Block)
"Stablecoin issuer Tether has eliminated commercial paper from its reserves and says it has also increased its direct exposure to U.S. Treasuries by more than $10 billion in the last quarter. The move has eliminated more than $30 billion of commercial paper without any losses, the company said in a series of tweets. 'This is evidence of our commitment to back our tokens with the most secure, liquid reserves in the market,' Tether wrote in a tweet. A spokesperson directed The Block to a blog post announcing the news."
Coin Center Sues Treasury Over Tornado Cash Sanctions (The Block)
"Washington, D.C.-based policy nonprofit Coin Center is suing the Treasury Department over its sanctioning of Tornado Cash, the open source software that can be used to anonymize transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. Treasury’s August sanctioning of the transaction mixer, 'exceeded their statutory authority because Tornado Cash is used to complete functions that do not include 'any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest,'' the co-plaintiffs argue in their brief. Joining Coin Center on the suit are an anonymous human rights advocate based in the Southeastern United States, a software developer who used the Ethereum blockchain, and David Hoffman, a digital asset manager."
Bankman-Fried ‘Totally on Board’ With Crypto Regulation (The Block)
"The crypto industry hasn’t always done a great job communicating with federal regulators, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said during an appearance in Washington, D.C., but the crypto exchange founder is on board with new rules for digital assets."
Grayscale Fires Back at SEC’s Veto of Spot Bitcoin ETF (Blockworks)
"In the latest regulatory twist around crypto’s long-pined-for, market-ready spot ETF products, Grayscale Investments has appealed the SEC’s move to deny converting the firm’s bitcoin trust to a spot ETF. The Digital Currency Group (DCG) subsidiary claims that 850,000 Americans own GBTC and that it’s past time that the SEC approves a US spot bitcoin ETF. The SEC initially rejected the digital currency asset manager’s application on June 29 for failing to meet the required standard to prevent fraud and manipulation, the SEC said. Grayscale consequently sued the SEC and filed a petition to review the decision the same day."
Senior House Republican: Biden administration holding up stablecoin bill (The Block)
"A comprehensive a stablecoin bill can still pass this Congress, despite little time remaining on the calendar, but the Biden administration is holding up an agreement, top House Financial Services Committee Republican Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., told The Block. 'I’m optimistic that we can still get something done this Congress. It’s up to the administration to come to the reality of votes on the Hill,' McHenry said. 'I’m grateful for the willingness of Chairwoman Waters to compromise. Democrats are in the majority, she doesn’t have to compromise with Republicans. But on this matter I think it’s important to have bipartisan legislation.'"
Crypto Custodial Firm Copper Raises $196 Million in Series C Round (The Block)
"London-based crypto custody provider Copper has raised $196 million during an ongoing Series C funding round. The funds included a convertible $15 million loan note, as well as $181 million in fresh capital. Bloomberg first reported the news. Copper earlier sought to raise as much as $500 million to put its valuation over $1 billion, having previously courted investors such as Barclays, and billionaire fund manager Alan Howard."
Bored-Ape Creator Yuga Labs Faces SEC Probe Over Unregistered Offerings (Bloomberg)
"The US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Yuga Labs Inc., the creator of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club collection of NFTs, over whether sales of its digital assets violate federal law. The SEC is examining whether certain nonfungible tokens from the Miami-based company are more akin to stocks and should follow the same disclosure rules, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the probe is private. Wall Street’s main regulator is also examining the distribution of ApeCoin, which was given to holders of Bored Ape Yacht Club and related NFTs. The cryptocurrency was created in part for web3, a vision of a decentralized internet built around blockchains."
America’s Oldest Bank, BNY Mellon, Will Hold That Crypto Now (WSJ)
"Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is now open for crypto business. The nation’s oldest bank said it would begin receiving clients’ cryptocurrencies on Tuesday, becoming the first large U.S. bank to safeguard digital assets alongside traditional investments on the same platform. BNY Mellon won the approval of New York’s financial regulator earlier this fall to begin receiving select customers’ bitcoin and ether starting this week. The bank will store the keys required to access and transfer those assets, and provide the same bookkeeping services on those digital currencies that it offers to fund managers for their portfolios of stocks, bonds, commodities and other assets."
Hacker Steals Over $100 Million From Mango Markets (The Block)
"A hacker stole $100 million from Mango Markets, a trading and lending platform on Solana. The exploit appeared to be the result of manipulation in the price of Mango Market’s native MANGO token via an oracle price manipulation attack, Mango Markets tweeted. The platform said it's investigating and taking steps to have ‘third parties freeze funds in flight,’ it tweeted."
Google Now Showing Ethereum Wallet Balances (The Block)
"Google is now directly providing data about Ethereum addresses when they are searched for. When an Ethereum address is pasted into the Google search bar, its ETH balance is displayed. The data is being collected from Ethereum block explorer Etherscan."
Google and Coinbase Partner on Plan to Offer Crypto Payments for Cloud Services (The Block)
"Google and Coinbase revealed plans for a strategic partnership which would allow select customers to pay for cloud services using crypto from early 2023. The new program will use Coinbase's commerce product. In turn, Coinbase will use Google Cloud to process blockchain data, while also using its fiber-optic network to improve its global reach, according to a blog post. Initially crypto payments will be available to companies working in the web3 space, with a limited number of cryptocurrencies available. Coinbase's commerce platform already integrates into several platforms, notably Shopify."
EU’s Landmark Digital Asset Legislation Passes Committee Vote in European Parliament (The Block)
"The highly-anticipated Markets in Crypto-Assets legislation passed the European Parliament on Monday, after a two-year long debate and drafting process. The final vote tallied up to 28 in favor and 1 against. The entire European Parliament will vote on final approval of the legislation later in October. Alongside MiCA, the Members of the European Parliament are also voting on the Transfer of Funds Regulation, an anti-money laundering bill that obliges transfers made in crypto to include data on the payer and payee. The measure is expected to pass as well."
OECD Releases New Global Tax Reporting Framework for Crypto Assets (CoinDesk)
"The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released its new tax reporting framework, the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), according to a press release Monday. The framework, which was approved in August, ensures 'the collection and automatic exchange of information on transactions for relevant crypto,' the report said. The definition of crypto assets 'includes assets that can be held and transferred in a decentralised manner, without the intervention of traditional financial intermediaries, including stablecoins, derivatives issued in the form of a crypto-asset and certain non-fungible tokens,' the report said."
EU Commission Seeks Automated Ethereum DeFi Monitoring (The Block)
"The European Commission released a bid to study the possibilities of monitoring decentralized finance through 'embedded supervision' last week. Stemming from the Commission’s Directorate-General dedicated to finance and markets, the proposal sets out to investigate how financial supervisors could regulate Ethereum — which it sees as the biggest payment settlement platform for DeFi. The pilot program would go on for a minimum of six months and is estimated at a value of €250,000 (approximately $242,500). Applications to participate remain open until December 1."
Coinbase Gets Singapore Digital Payment Token License (CoinDesk)
"Singapore’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), has granted Coinbase in-principal approval for a DPT license to operate in Singapore the company said in a press release. Including Coinbase, MAS has given out 17 in-principle approvals and licenses for DPT platforms under the Payment Services Act."
Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Jumps to All-Time High Levels (The Block)
"Bitcoin mining difficulty crossed an all time high of 35.61 trillion hashes on Monday, as miners ramp up their operations or more miners join the network. Bitcoin difficulty is an automatically adjusting feature of the bitcoin protocol that determines how difficult it is to mine a bitcoin block. It’s implemented to ensure transactions are processed at a steady pace, which is 10 minutes."
FTX to Launch Visa Debit Card in 40 New Countries (The Block)
"Crypto exchange operator FTX is set to launch a Visa debit card in over 40 new countries, nine months after introducing it in the U.S. The global expansion means more FTX customers will be able to spend their crypto balances held at the exchange via the card, according to an announcement on Friday. FTX has opened a waitlist for interested customers."
Binance May Spend Over $1 Billion This Year on Deals, CZ Says (Bloomberg)
"Binance Holdings Ltd. founder and CEO Zhao “CZ” Changpeng said the world’s biggest digital-asset exchange may spend more than $1 billion on acquisitions and investments this year despite what is shaping up to be a prolonged crypto winter. Binance has committed $325 million to 67 projects so far this year, compared with $140 million for 73 projects in 2021. That doesn’t take into account a possible more than $200 million investment in the Forbes media company and $500 million in financing for Elon Musk’s on-again acquisition of Twitter Inc., which could carry into next year if it gets done at all."
Lido Launches Support for Staked ETH on Layer 2 Integrations (The Block)
"Leading Staking Service Provider Lido Will Now Support the Bridging of Assets to Layer 2 Protocols, It announced on Twitter. Lido Allows Users to Stake Eth and Receive Staked Eth (Steth) In Return. The New Changes to Lido Introduced Wrapped Staked Eth (Wsteth), a Token That Can Be Bridged to Layer 2 Networks Arbitrum One and Optimism, and That Will Accommodate Ease of Integration Across Defi Partners While Preserving the Unique Properties of Steth, According to Lido. Guides Are Offered to Users, With Instructions on How to Wrap Steth for Wsteth"
Brazilian Police Issue Warrants Against Alleged Leader of $767M Crypto Pyramid Scheme (CoinDesk)
"On Thursday, a hundred police officers took to the streets of six Brazilian cities to serve search and seizure warrants against Francisley Valdevino da Silva, who is accused of running a cryptocurrency pyramid scheme that raised $767 million.
At the time of publication, there was no news on whether he had been arrested. The justice also decreed that da Silva’s assets be seized and blocked."
Luna Foundation Guard Postpones Compensation Efforts, Cites ‘Ongoing and Threatened Litigation' (The Block)
"Since the collapse of the TerraUSD, the algorithmic stablecoin that catastrophically lost parity with the U.S. dollar earlier this year, the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) maintained it would follow through with efforts to compensate users with losses. However, it would appear the wait for compensation may yet drag out as LFG cited 'ongoing and threatened litigation' as reasons to postpone distributions to users with losses. The group added that there is no current established timeline to resolve the issue while the legal issues remain outstanding, according to a Twitter thread on the subject."