Binance Confirms BNB Cross-Chain Bridge Hack (The Block)
"Binance said it would halt deposits and withdrawals via the BNB Smart Chain amid growing concerns over a hack of the network's official cross-chain bridge. Word emerged earlier Thursday evening that more than $400 million worth of BNB tokens were transferred from the Smart Chain token hub to a new address. According to data from DeBank, the address in question holds more than $500 million worth of crypto, with holdings in ETH, MATIC and FTM, among others."
DeFi Protocol MakerDAO Puts $500 Million in Treasuries, Bonds (Bloomberg)
"One of the original decentralized-finance protocols that was set up to challenge the legacy banking system is moving $500 million into short-term US Treasuries and corporate bonds. MakerDAO, the so-called decentralized autonomous organization that supports the crypto stablecoin DAI, is shifting $500 million worth of the token to the fixed-income obligations, which have traditionally been havens for conventional investors during times of turmoil."
Celsius’ Top Execs Cashed Out $17M in Crypto Before Bankruptcy (CoinDesk)
"The Financial Times previously reported that Mashinsky withdrew roughly $10 million from Celsius before the collapse of the company, citing unnamed sources, but we now know Leon was also pulling his money out before the public knew there were any problems with liquidity at Celsius. Leon withdrew $7 million. Another $4 million of his CEL token was marked as 'collateral.' Gizmodo has uploaded the latest Celsius court filing, which totals over 14,000 pages, to the Internet Archive for anyone who really wants to get into the nitty gritty of the bankruptcy case. It appears the filing is so large because it seems to have the names and recent transactions of every user on the platform."
Grayscale Unveils Bitcoin Mining-Centered Investment Entity (The Block)
"Crypto asset management firm Grayscale aims to take advantage of the slide in crypto prices with a new investment product focused on bitcoin mining hardware. The new product is 'designed to capture (the) upside of crypto winter,' Grayscale said. It was launched via the newly founded Grayscale Digital Infrastructure Opportunities (GDIO), a 'private, co-investment opportunity in mining hardware that powers the bitcoin ecosystem.'"
EU Bans Crypto Payments From Russia in New Sanctions Package (The Block)
"The European Union has toughened restrictions on crypto payments from Russian accounts, wallets or other holding services to European ones. In the eighth sanctions package against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February, the bloc removed the cap of €10,000 which was established in April to a prohibition 'irrespective of the amount of the wallet.' The EU’s new sanctions also include import bans totalling up to €7 billion in an attempt to restrain Russia’s war, and lay the groundwork for implementing an oil price cap."
Cboe Takes Step Into DeFi by Posting Free Market Data on Pyth (Bloomberg)
"Cboe Global Markets Inc. is making some real-time market data freely available over blockchain, as the exchange operator makes its entry into decentralized finance. The Chicago-based firm is joining the Pyth Network, the Jump Trading Group-backed decentralized publisher of crypto and other market data, as a contributor. It will provide data of 10 equities starting in the fourth quarter."
Institutions Are Getting Serious About Staking, Alluvial Executive Mara Schmiedt Says (The Block)
"Alluvial Chief Growth Officer Mara Schmiedt said she expects significant growth in the staking industry in the coming years. However, before that growth can be realized, she said issues must be addressed in terms of operational security, onboarding and warm up periods, activation queues and withdrawal periods. ‘Institutions are getting a lot more serious about participating in the space and participating in staking,’ Schmiedt said in an exclusive interview with The Block. ‘In order to facilitate that mixed adoption curve, we need the right products and capabilities to welcome that adoption and to drive it.’"
Asset manager GoldenTree Reveals $5.3 Million Stake in SushiSwap Token (The Block)
"GoldenTree, an asset management firm with about $47 billion in assets under management, has taken a $5.3 million stake in the governance token for SushiSwap. GoldenTree outlined its purchase as well as its broader strategy, both in regards to SushiSwap and crypto generally, in a post on the SushiSwap community forum."
Do Kwon Ordered to Return Passport by South Korean Authorities (The Block)
"South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has ordered Do Kwon, the controversial founder of the Terra ecosystem that crashed dramatically in May, to return his local passport. The order was issued on Wednesday and requires Kwon to hand over his passport in 14 days. If not surrendered, the passport will be revoked — meaning, if Kwon is in South Korea, he won't be able to leave the country. Kwon's application for re-issuance of the passport may be rejected, according to the order, if he were to apply until Sept. 13, 2023."
Yuga Labs Forms Bored Ape Community Council (Decrypt)
"Web3 powerhouse Yuga Labs has announced it has created a community council composed of seven Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT holders who are active in its community. In a blog post published Wednesday, Yuga said the council members—described as ‘long-standing proactive community members’—will focus on gathering and curating community feedback and spearheading philanthropic efforts."
Fidelity Reveals Ethereum Index Fund With $5,000,000 in Sales in New Filing (The Block)
"A new Ethereum Index Fund launched by Fidelity Investments provides its clients exposure to ETH, according to a document the firm filed with the SEC on Sept. 26. The fund launched by the multi-trillion dollar asset manager is accepting minimum outside investments of $50,000 and showed just over $5,000,000 in reported sales, CoinDesk first reported. News that Fidelity might soon provide crypto offerings to retail consumers spread across the wires earlier this month."
Nasdaq to Wait for Regulation Before Launching Crypto Exchange (Bloomberg)
"Nasdaq Inc. will likely wait until there is greater regulatory clarity and institutional adoption around crypto exchanges before debuting plans to launch one of of its own, says Tal Cohen, the company’s executive vice president and head of North American markets. 'Those are discussions we are happy to have,' Cohen told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday. 'But right now, on the retail side, the market is fairly saturated,' he added. 'There’s a number of exchanges servicing the retail customer base.'"
Japan to Invest in Metaverse and NFT Expansion (CoinDesk)
"Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a policy speech on Monday that the country’s plans for investing in digital transformation include non-fungible tokens (NFT) and metaverse services. The country has steadily been promoting investment in digital technology, including through tax incentives for companies that embrace a digital future. In his speech to Japan’s parliament, Kishida said the country will continue to focus on 'supporting the social implementation of digital technology' and will 'promote efforts to expand the use of Web3 services that utilize the metaverse and NFTs.'"
Criminals Have Laundered $4 Billion Through DEXs, Bridges and Coin Swaps (The Block)
"Elliptic researchers say financial criminals have laundered billions with the help of popular crypto tools. Since 2020, cyber criminals have used decentralized exchanges (DEXs), cross-chain bridges and non-KYC exchange services (called coin swaps) to move nearly $4 billion in funds connected with illicit activity, the on-chain analytics firm said on Tuesday."
UK Shuts Down Temporary Crypto Company Licensing Program (CoinDesk)
"Last week, digital trading app Revolut registered with the U.K.'s top financial regulator, bringing to an end the 'temporary registration regime' (TRR), a program that allowed crypto companies to operate in the country while they are waiting for full regulatory approval. Revolut was the only company from the five that were left on the list to qualify for full registration. Crypto firms seeking to operate in the U.K. must now go through a full registration process with the Financial Conduct Authority, the country’s primary financial regulator, a spokesperson from the FCA said."
NYDIG’s Institutional Bitcoin Fund Has Raised $719.9 Million to Date (The Block)
"A bitcoin fund launched by digital investment services firm NYDIG has raised $719.9 million to date. NYDIG Institutional Bitcoin Fund LP has raised the funds from a total of 59 investors, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing was made on Friday and shows an increase of just over $28 million in investments since the last raise in 2021, when investments reached $691 million."
Senior U.S. Regulators Propose New Legislation, Increased Rules Around Digital Assets (The Block)
"A committee of senior U.S. regulators wants Congress to pass laws to enable more direct oversight of crypto markets and for comprehensive regulation of stablecoins, according to its latest report focused on digital assets. The Financial Stability Oversight Council also recommended Congress pass a law to increase the transparency of digital asset projects to different regulatory agencies, in order to allow regulators across different jurisdictions to better coordinate and understand crypto markets and businesses."
DeFi Project SushiSwap Finds a New Leader After Crypto Struggles (Bloomberg)
"Sushi DAO, the organization behind a once top decentralized cryptocurrency exchange, is banking on a new leader to reshape the struggling business. Jared Grey, elected 'head chef,' Sushi’s equivalent to a chief executive officer, has an uphill climb. Several leaders have exited in the past year, and SushiSwap -- once an industry darling -- has seen the total value of cryptocurrency sent to the platform slide to about $500 million from a peak of $7 billion in November 2021, according to data tracker DefiLlama. Its native Sushi token has dropped more than 95% from an all-time high in March 2021."
Kim Kardashian Pays $1.26 Million Fine for Paid Crypto Ad, Sec Says (Reuters)
"Kim Kardashian has promoted everything from appetite-suppressing lollipops to melon-flavored liqueur to toilet paper, but it was her foray into the murky world of cryptocurrencies that got her into hot water. The reality television star and influencer has agreed to settle charges of unlawfully touting a crypto security and to pay $1.26 million in penalties and fees, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday. Kardashian, who has 330 million followers on Instagram and 73.7 million followers on Twitter, failed to disclose that she was paid $250,000 by crypto company EthereumMax to publish an Instagram post about its EMAX tokens, the SEC said."
Grayscale Takes Over Key Role for Bitcoin Trust, Other Products From Genesis (CoinDesk)
"Crypto asset management firm Grayscale Investments, which offers the world’s biggest bitcoin (BTC) trust, is bringing a key administrative role for all of its products in-house through a newly created broker-dealer unit. The company will now act as the authorized participant for the products through its Grayscale Securities subsidiary, the firm announced Monday. That means it will now be responsible for creating new shares of the trust and selling them to investors. Previously, Grayscale outsourced that role to Genesis Global Trading. (Grayscale, Genesis and CoinDesk all share the same parent company: Digital Currency Group.)."
Uniswap Labs Eyes Over $100 Million in New Funding (TechCrunch)
"Uniswap Labs is in early stages of putting together a new round, according to four sources familiar with the matter, as the parent firm of the world’s largest decentralized exchange gears up to broaden its offerings. The startup is engaging with a number of investors, including Polychain and one of Singapore’s sovereign funds, to raise an equity round of $100 million to $200 million at a valuation of about $1 billion, two of the sources said, who, like others, requested anonymity sharing private information."
Crypto Exchange Coinbase Fixes Technical Problem That Temporarily Halted Payments and Withdrawals From US Bank Accounts (CoinDesk)
"Coinbase has fixed a technical problem that caused it to temporarily halt payments and withdrawals involving U.S. bank accounts. The crypto exchange said on Sunday at 12:41 p.m. New York time (4:41 p.m. UTC) that the 'incident has been resolved,' according to its system status page. A few hours earlier, the company had said that, for unspecified technical reasons, 'we are currently unable to take payments or make withdrawals involving US bank accounts. Our team is aware of this issue and is working on getting everything back to normal as soon as possible. You may use a debit card or PayPal account to make direct buys on your account should you wish.'"
Futures Giant CME Considers Brokerage, Taking Cue From Crypto Rival FTX (WSJ)
"Group Inc. criticized crypto exchange FTX’s plan to cut out the middlemen in the futures markets. Now, the Chicago exchange giant is taking a step in the same direction. In August, CME submitted paperwork to register a futures commission merchant, or FCM—essentially, a brokerage that would allow investors to buy and sell futures on CME’s marketplace. If the application is approved and CME gets into the brokerage business, investors could bypass existing brokers and connect to the exchange operator directly for futures trades."
Arthur Cheong’s Defiance Capital Raising $100 Million to Invest in Liquid Tokens (The Block)
"DeFiance Capital, the crypto venture capital firm that recently distanced itself from bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), is in the process of raising a $100 million fund to invest in liquid tokens, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told The Block. The fund is called 'Liquid Venture Fund,' one of the sources said, adding that almost half of the targeted fundraise has been completed."
Solana Says Successfully Completed Cluster Restart After Outage (Bloomberg)
"The Solana blockchain is back up and running after a glitch caused an outage for several hours, the latest in a series of shutdowns of the crypto network in less than a year. In an update to the Bitcoin-alternative’s service Twitter, Solana said it had performed the necessary restart of Mainnet Beta at 8 a.m. London time. Now, network operators 'will continue to restore client services over the next several hours,' it said in the tweet."