Summary
- Nasdaq is preparing to launch an institutional crypto custody service.
- Bitcoin and ether sink lower, Fed fights inflation with new rate hike.
- Investors have deployed over $33 million into locked-up ETH in the past week alone.
- Deffilama reports $54.7 billion of total value is locked in DeFi.
- Wintermute has lost ~$160M, making it come one of the biggest DeFi exploit in 2022. Exploiters immediately put the most stables into a Curve pool (3CRV) to avoid blacklisting. Before attackers used mixers like Tornado Cash (under FATF sanction now).
- Over $2 billion has been misappropriated in cross-chain exploits in the past 18 months.
- Kraken's CEO chose to step down and pass the lead to its COO David Ripley.
Business
Nasdaq Joins BlackRock as TradFi Defies the Bear Market and Embraces Crypto
The down market hasn’t stopped traditional finance’s push into crypto as large players continue to pile into the industry, following Warren Buffett’s famous rule “be greedy only when others are fearful.”
Margaux Nijkerk
FTX in talks with investors to raise $1B for further acquisitions: Reports
FTX is also reportedly on the hunt for Voyager’s assets, with the firm placing a bid close to $50 million on the lending firm’s auction this month.
Brian Quarmby
Bitcoin Miner Cipher Looks to Sell Up to $250M in Stock
Investment bank H.C. Wainwright will be handling the transaction.
Eliza Gkritsi
Hackers steal $162 million from Wintermute crypto market maker
Digital assets trading firm Wintermute has been hacked and lost $162.2 million in DeFi operations, the company CEO, Evgeny Gaevoy, announced earlier today.
Exploring Ethereum’s On-Chain Activity After The Merge - The Defiant
On September 15, 2022 Ethereum completed its transition to Proof of Stake consensus from the Proof of Work.
IntoTheBlock
Breaking: Interpol ‘Red Notice’ issued for Do Kwon — South Korea prosecutors
The international hunt for Terra co-founder Do Kwon is reportedly underway after the issuance of an Interpol “Red Notice,” according to South Korea prosecutors.
Jesse Coghlan
Kraken’s CEO got tired of being in finance
Jesse Powell tells Protocol the bureaucratic obligations of running a financial services business contributed to his decision to step back from his role as CEO of one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges.
Benjamin Pimentel
Bernstein: Arbitrum Has Strongest User Momentum Among Leading Blockchains
There is speculation that a token launch may be near, rewarding early users, a report from Bernstein said.
Will Canny
Markets
Crypto Chart 80
Bitcoin Last time we said : I am selling my position and going flat with an argument that BTC might also get caught up in the ETH merge. I would buy on a move back above 25300 , with a move below 17600 implying that another 3 waves lower is underway.’ I
Fed Hikes Rates to Highest Since 2007; Bitcoin Slides Toward $19K
This is the third consecutive time that members of the Federal Open Market Committee raised rates by 75 basis points, signaling how serious inflationary pressures have gotten in the U.S. The bitcoin market doesn’t like it.
Helene Braun and Krisztian Sandor
- 11% of the total circulating ETH is staked, with 65% liquid and 35% illiquid. There are a total of 426,000 validators and some 80,000 depositors.
Full-on crash mode.
— Jason Goepfert (@jasongoepfert) September 24, 2022
Retail traders spent $18 billion buying put option protection last week, a record.
They're holding $46 billion worth of index futures net short, a record.
Leveraged traders are betting on very, very bad things happening very, very soon. pic.twitter.com/mFEsQC01ev
‘The bond market bubble has burst’ — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week
BTC price seals its lowest weekly close in almost two years as Bitcoin traders eye triggers for the coming week.
William Suberg
Regulations
U.S. SEC’s crypto guidelines push up costs for lenders, disrupting projects
Banks’ cryptocurrency projects have been upended by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accounting guidance that would make it too capital-intensive for lenders to hold crypto tokens on behalf of clients, according to more than half a dozen people with knowledge of the matter.
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U.S. Department of Defense taps intelligence firm to evaluate crypto threat to national security
The U.S. military hired a crypto intelligence firm to review the threat cryptocurrencies may represent to national security and law enforcement, The Washington Post reported.
Disney seeks corporate lawyer for ‘emerging technologies’ and NFTs
The Walt Disney Company is seeking someone to provide “full product life cycle legal advice and support for global NFT products” and ensure they comply with all current laws and regulations on U.S. soil and internationally.
Stephen Katte
ECB Exploring Distributed Ledger Technology for Interbank Settlements: Panetta
A system that builds on existing interbank settlement infrastructure instead of one based entirely on DLT can be implemented “more rapidly” according to ECB executive board member Fabio Panetta.
Camomile Shumba
Opinions
‘It’s Dangerous’—JPMorgan CEO Issued A Serious Bitcoin, Ethereum And Crypto Warning After Huge $2 Trillion Price Crash
JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon has echoed Bill Gates And Warren Buffett in branded bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies “decentralized Ponzi schemes”...
Billy Bambrough
The Most Important Bear Market in Crypto History
This down cycle poses a question some crypto longtimers have never seriously considered before: What must be done to ensure there actually is another bull market?
David Z. Morris
Readings / Podcast
Empire - Music NFTs & The Next Generation Of Music | Cooper Turley
In this episode of Empire, Jason and Santi are joined by Cooper Turley, aka Coopahtroopa, for a master class on music NFTs. We all listen to music every day, yet monetization for 99% of artists is abysmal. Coop explains how artists can leverage Web3 to maximize revenue, fan engagement and creativity…
Empire