Cryptocurrency platforms followed the EU sanctions against Russian citizens; Justin Sun denied purchasing Huobi, but described himself as one of the largest holders of HT; Google will start accepting crypto payments for cloud services and other events of the week.
Bitcoin tested a level below $18,200 but recovered
On Thursday, October 13, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published September’s inflation data (CPI). The figure stood at 8.2% (previous 8.3%). Core inflation for the month rose to 6.6% (previous 6.3%), the highest since 1982.
Bitcoin reacted by dropping below $18,200. By the evening, quotes had not only returned to the previous level but continued to rise. On Friday, the first cryptocurrency approached $20,000.
At the time of writing, the asset was trading around $19,140.
Analysts at Glassnode noted that behavioural patterns, market structure and on-chain indicators point to signs of Bitcoin price bottom formation.
Meanwhile, all top-10 assets by market cap were in the red. The weakest performers were Cardano (-13.6%), Solana (-8.4%) and XRP (-8%).
Total cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $955.98 billion. The Bitcoin dominance index rose to 38.4%.
LocalBitcoins, Crypto.com and other services to end servicing Russian citizens
Russian users of the LocalBitcoins P2P platform, the Crypto.com exchange, the Blockchain.com wallet operator and several other services received notices of ceasing to provide services in connection with the new EU sanctions.
Blockchain.com gave customers until October 27 to withdraw deposits, after which accounts would be blocked. Crypto.com’s decision took effect after the announcement.
Google Cloud to accept payments via Coinbase; Google Search starts showing Ethereum balances
Technology giant Google will allow some customers to pay for cloud services with cryptocurrencies via Coinbase. As part of the partnership, the exchange will use Google Cloud instead of Amazon Web Services to process blockchain data.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to Coinbase’s Vice President of Business Development Jim Migdal, Coinbase will receive a share of the transactions processed.
Google Search began directly providing data on Ethereum wallet balances when a address is entered into the search bar. The data are collected from the Etherscan explorer. The feature is currently available to a limited number of users.
Media name Justin Sun as Huobi buyer. TRON founder denies the rumors
Chinese journalist Colin Wu, citing several sources reported that the ultimate beneficiary of About Capital Management, which bought a controlling stake in Huobi, could be Justin Sun, founder of the Tron Foundation.
This week Sun included a link to the exchange’s website in his Twitter profile, and then published an open letter to customers and employees announcing upcoming changes to the company and activities with the native Huobi Token (HT). The price of HT rose by more than 80% over the week, and the Tron founder called himself “one of the world’s largest holders of the asset.”
Huobi representatives said Sun joined the exchange’s advisory board.
FTX CEO announced a new version of the exchange and a possible move to the United States
On November 21, the cryptocurrency exchange FTX will upgrade to the second version, its CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said. The release includes a “brand-new” order-matching engine aimed at increasing the speed of execution and reducing latency. The update is also designed to improve the API and “many other functions.”
Later Bankman-Fried said it was possible to relocate the exchange’s headquarters from the Bahamas to the United States. He said the company would consider the option after registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If successful, up to 75% of the staff would move to the region.
Kazakhstan approves regulation of cryptocurrencies and mining in first reading
On October 12, the Kazakh Parliament’s lower house, the Mazhilis, approved in principle five bills regulating the issuance and circulation of cryptocurrencies on the country’s territory. Details of each can be found at this link.
Bitcoin mining difficulty hits a new high
On October 10, after another recalculation, Bitcoin mining difficulty reached a new high of 35.61 T. The rise of 13.55% was the largest since May 2021. The network’s average hash rate also updated to a historical maximum, surpassing 260 EH/s.
What to discuss with friends?
- The Metaplex NFT project tumbled after the airdrop.
- The Bittrex exchange fined $29 million for AML procedures violations and sanctions policy.
- Chainalysis assessed the dynamics of cryptocurrency transfers in Ukraine and Russia since the start of the war.
- Tether abandoned commercial paper as collateral for USDT.
October sets a new record for hacker losses
According to Chainalysis, October was the record month for the volume of cryptocurrency stolen by hackers in 2022. Losses across DeFi protocols since the start of the month across 11 attacks amounted to $718 million.
On October 10, the cross-chain decentralized exchange Transit Swap reported that the hacker agreed to return 10,000 BNB to the victims of the exploit. The developers allowed the hacker to keep 2,500 BNB ($686,000) as a bounty for the vulnerability discovered.
On October 11, an unknown attacker exploited a flaw in the TempleDAO DeFi project’s smart contract and stole 1,831 ETH (~$2.3 million) from one of the staking vaults. The team promised to return the funds to affected users.
On the same day, another attacker hacked the cross-chain bridge contract of the QANplatform and withdrew QANX tokens worth over $1 million. The token price plummeted by almost 94%. The hacker exploited the Profanity vulnerability.
On October 12, a hacker withdrew around $116 million from Mango Markets, a Solana-based DeFi platform. The attacker used a $5 million USDC deposit to manipulate the price of the native token MNGO by opening a large margin position in perpetual swaps.
Due to low liquidity on the spot market, the asset price briefly spiked from $0.03 to $0.91. The attacker used the proceeds to secure a large loan.
On October 15, the Mango Markets community voted in favor of a settlement with the hacker. He will return $69 million and keep the remaining $47 million as a reward.
This week the BNB Chain team carried out a hard fork after a $100 million hack. It is intended to restore the internal cross-chain infrastructure between the BNB Beacon Chain governance and the BNB Smart Chain consensus layer.
Polygon launched zkEVM testnet, while zkSync developers announced L3 solution
The public Polygon testnet scales Ethereum and reduces transaction costs without compromising security or EVM equivalence. Protocols Aave and Uniswap, Web3 platform Lens Protocol, and gaming studio Midnight Society will join testing. A full launch of the new solution is planned for early 2023.
The zkSync developers announced the launch of the Pathfinder L3 testnet in early 2023. The EVM-compatible network, built on a zero-knowledge proof protocol and using ZK-Rollups, will provide an order of magnitude higher transaction throughput, security and reduce costs in a geometric progression.
Yam Finance community proposed closing the project
The Yam Finance DeFi protocol’s DAO has brought forward a proposal to distribute treasury funds among users and shut down the project. The initiator noted that the community has long seen little progress in developing the declared solutions. The main development team, however, continues to receive monthly funding.
Since reaching its peak, YAM’s price has fallen more than 99%. The initiator believes there is still an opportunity to “save some value” stored in the YAM token.
Also on ForkLog:
- The NFT collection of Anthony Hopkins sold out in 10 minutes.
- WSJ: BNY Mellon clients will be able to store Bitcoin and Ethereum.
- OpenSea added support for NFT from Avalanche.
- Elliptic analyzed competitors of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash.
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