Issue #62

Market Overview

As of the time of writing (Monday 5pm), the total market cap of the crypto asset market is $US1.11T, down (-3.5%) from last week.

Below is the weekly performance of the top crypto assets. 

News Headline Highlights

• Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) long awaited trial for crimes committed that led to the collapse of FTX started last week. Prosecutors for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) established the case that FTX founder was deeply involved in a long-term scheme to defraud customers and investors, throwing a wrench in the SBF’s legal defence that, while nominally in charge, he was oblivious to the rot taking shape within FTX and Alameda Research.
• Grayscale Investments in conjunction with NYSE Arca has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to convert the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) to a spot ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF).
• Despite the excitement surrounding the launch of nine new Ethereum futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs) last week, they received lacklustre volume in their opening week. All nine ETFs witnessed ~$2 million worth of trading volume on their opening day, which is in line with the average ETF volume on launch day, but significantly lower than the $1B the BTC futures ETF received on day 1.
• Walmart announced plans to sell toys connected to the Pudgy Penguin brand across 2,000 stores. Purchasing one of the 26 toys gives the customer access to a digital gaming platform called Pudgy World, in which users can play games and create a "Forever Pudgy" avatar.
• UBS Asset Management has launched a tokenized Variable Capital Company (VCC) fund. The pilot fund is part of a wider VCC umbrella designed to bring various “real world assets" on-chain.
• Binance’s spot market share fell from 38.5% to 34.3% in September, marking  the seventh consecutive monthly fall as lingering regulatory woes continue to weigh on the largest cryptocurrency exchange.

 Crypto Asset Project Updates

• Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, shared a blog post detailing ways to add certain protocols to Ethereum’s code, rather than keeping them “on top” of the Ethereum blockchain. The protocols Buterin discussed include account abstraction protocol ERC-4337, ZK-EVMs, private mempools, code precompiles, and liquid staking.
• Perimeter Protocol, the first development of Circle Research, is Circle’s new open-source development division. Perimeter Protocol aims to serve as an open-source foundation to build tokenized credit markets.

Regulation Station

• An International Monetary Fund (IMF) paper was released last week, proposing a framework for "understanding and tracking systemic risks stemming from crypto assets." The framework sets out tools to assist policymakers and regulatory authorities in containing potential risks from the crypto sector.
• China could be warming up to crypto through Hong Kong’s active over-the-counter crypto market despite bans on the mainland, Chainanlysis found in a new report. “The increasingly close relationship between China and Hong Kong leads some to speculate that Hong Kong's growing status as a crypto hub may signal that the Chinese government is reversing course on digital assets, or at least becoming more open to crypto initiatives,” the crypto analytics firm said in a recent report.
• US District Judge Analisa Torres has denied the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s request to appeal the decision that Ripple Labs’ cryptocurrency, XRP, doesn’t constitute a security when sold to the general public.

The Weekly Deal Room

• Fireblocks, an enterprise-grade custody platform, acquired BlockFold, an Australian provider of blockchain services to financial institutions.
• Kraken announced their acquisition of Coin Meester B.V. (BCM), one of the Netherlands oldest registered crypto brokers.
• Alchemy, a blockchain node infrastructure company, acquired Satsuma for an undisclosed amount.
• Blackbird, a crypto-powered app and loyalty program, raised $24m in a Series A led by a16z.
• Phaver, a web3 onboarding platform, raised $7m in a Seed Round from Polygon Ventures, Nomad Capital, Symbolic Capital and others.
• ParaFinance, a decentralised lending protocol, raised $5m in a Seed Round led by OKX Ventures.
• Ostium Labs, a crypto startup aiming to combine traditional commodities trading with the world of crypto, raised $3.5m in a Seed Round co-led by General Catalyst and LocalGlobe.
• Verisoul, an authentication company, raised $3.25m in a Seed Round from Bitkraft, King River, Third Prime, Hashkey and others.