Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you keep track of all the important news that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, top coins, predictions and more – a week on Cointelegraph in one link.
This week’s best stories
Centralization-friendly Russian president grants citizenship to Edward Snowden: report
Edward Snowden has received Russian citizenship by decision of the country’s president, Vladimir Putin. Snowden has been a permanent resident of Russia since 2013 after exposing secrets related to the US National Security Agency. However, Snowden favors less government involvement than Putin’s approach to leadership. Snowden has offered commentary on crypto several times and helped build the crypto asset Zcash.
Breaking: Interpol ‘Red Notice’ issued for Do Kwon, South Korean prosecutors
The global criminal police organization Interpol has issued an alert known as a Red Alert to help locate and arrest Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon, wherever he may be. Terra’s ecosystem collapsed in early 2022. Charges were filed against Kwon in South Korea for his involvement in Project Terra. Kwon tweeted this he doesn’t hide. He was thought to be in Singapore, although Reuters reports have indicated a possible change in location. South Korean authorities have also done so they took steps to freeze funds associated with Kwon.
FTX US wins auction for Voyager Digital assets
The auction to acquire Voyager Digital’s assets ended this week with crypto exchange FTX US emerging as the winner, beating out competing bids from CrossTower and Binance. The US exchange paid about $1.4 billion for Voyayer’s assets, which is about the same as the lender’s remaining assets. The deal is pending approval by a US bankruptcy court. Wave Financial also participated to the tender and has since debated the outcome.
Judge orders SEC to hand over Hinman documents to Ripple Labs after months of dispute
U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres ruled that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must provide information about comments by a former government official that could affect Ripple’s fight against the securities regulator. In a 2018 speech, the former director of the SEC’s finance division, William Hinman, noted that Bitcoin and Ether were not classified as securities. Torres’ ruling means the SEC doesn’t have to withhold documents related to that speech. The battle between Ripple and the SEC began in 2020, with the commission calling XRP a security.
Pantera plans to raise $1.25 million for second blockchain fund: report
After launching its first blockchain fund in 2021, crypto-centric hedge fund Pantera Capital is looking to raise $1.25 billion for a second fund targeting digital asset projects. “We want to provide liquidity to people who are giving up because we’re still very bullish on the next 10 to 20 years,” Pantera CEO Dan Morehead told Bloomberg.
To winners and losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is in $19,777ether (ETH) at $1,356 i XRP at 0.47 USD. The total market capitalization is of $954.03 billion, seconds on CoinMarketCap.
Among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin winners of the week are Quant (QNT) at 37.76%, Terra Classic (ALLOUT) at 21.41% and Helium (HNT) to 20.93%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are Chiliz (CHZ) to -9.29%, Lido DAO (LDO) to -6.82% and Cronos (CRO) to -6.31%.
For more information on crypto prices, be sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.
The most memorable quotes
“The most important thing is this [the Ethereum Merge] it was impeccably executed. Everything that had to happen happened. And none of the things people were worried about happened.”
Eli Ben-Sassonco-founder of Starkware
“I think the world is just waking up to reality and Ethereum just went off into fantasyland at the wrong time.”
Cory KlipstenCEO of Swan Bitcoin
“In DeFi, you can’t get away with letting a borrower be half of a loan pool because people see that and question the risk management there.”
Sid PowellCEO and co-founder of Maple Finance
“In our genres that we’re hitting, there might be roughly 500 million people that we can bring in that literally won’t know that they’re playing a crypto game.”
Kieran Warwickco-founder of Illuvium
“People need to be able to interact with apps and services, content and transactions without knowing they’re using cryptography.”
Jeremy AllaireCEO of Circle
“SMS 2FA is better than nothing, but it is the most vulnerable form of 2FA currently in use.”
Jesse LeclereCertiK security expert
“I’m writing code in my living room. […] I’m making zero effort to hide.”
Do Kwonco-founder of Terra
Prediction of the week
Bitcoin price due for ‘big dump’ after breaking above $20,000, trader warns
Bitcoin largely stayed below $20,000 this week, although the asset broke above that level several times, according to Cointelegraph’s BTC Price Index. After breaking above $20,000 on September 30, Bitcoin fell back below the level, appearing to align with the timing of a recent speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter user pseudonym “Il Capo of Crypto” predicted the price action in a tweet on September 30: “Pump to 20000-20500 before Putin’s speech. Big dump then.”
FUD of the week
California files order against Nexo interest account, says it’s the eighth state to take action
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) has ordered crypto-lending platform Nexo to cease operations of its Earn Interest product. The agency stated that the product does not meet regulatory approval requirements. Nexo essentially froze product for US customers in early 2022, though not entirely, according to the DFPI. Nexo faces similar actions from New York, Vermont and five other state regulators. Nexo explained to Cointelegraph that it has been working with US regulatory authorities
MEV bot wins $1 million, but loses it all to a hacker an hour later
A Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) bot took advantage of an arbitrage opportunity on the decentralized exchange Uniswap V2, which resulted in a profit of one million dollars of Ether in a single day. The fanfare was short-lived, however, as the bot’s seemingly questionable code left it vulnerable to exploitation, with a hacker detaining the funds the same day.
SEC Alleges Fintech Firms and ‘Market Makers’ Manipulated Crypto Market in Token Scheme
Hydrogen Technology Corporation and market maker Moonwalkers Trading Limited are facing an SEC action for alleged market manipulation. In 2018, Hydro tokens were dispersed through several avenues, including an air launch. Hydrogen and Moonwalkers then allegedly colluded to make it appear that the asset was significantly active in the market and subsequently floated Hydro tokens for profit.
The best features of Cointelegraph
5 years of the ‘Top 10 Cryptos’ experiment and lessons learned
“Index investing can be boring, but it saves you from the worst possible outcomes.”
Throw your boring apes in the trash
From transporting medical data to streamlining royalty payments, non-fungible tokens serve several important technological purposes. Bored apes are a degrading distraction.
Tax on income you never earned? It is possible after the Ethereum merger
IRS rules were not ready for the Ethereum upgrade. It’s unlikely to turn into the fiasco that taxpayers experienced when Bitcoin was forked in 2017, but there are steps they can take to prepare for whatever the IRS decides.
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