- EU Delays Vote on MiCA Crypto Legislation Until February
European Union lawmakers won’t vote on the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation (MiCA) until February, likely meaning further delays in the landmark licensing regime for crypto companies within the bloc, a spokesperson for the European Parliament has told CoinDesk.
A previous tentative plan for the parliament to vote at its December plenary session has been abandoned given the length and complexity of the text, CoinDesk was told.
The political outline of the legislation, which sets reserve requirements for stablecoins intended to avoid a terraUSD-style collapse, was approved in June, and the final text published in October. However, the text still needs to be formally signed off by both lawmakers and national governments that make up the EU’s Council.
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/11/04/eu-delays-vote-on-mica-crypto-legislation-until-february/
- Bakkt Acquires Turnkey Platform Apex Crypto to Bolster Digital Asset Footprint
On Nov. 3, 2022, Bakkt announced that the company has purchased a “turnkey” crypto-trading platform called Apex Crypto, a platform that offers trading solutions, custody, and more for a myriad of crypto assets. Bakkt acquired the firm from Apex Fintech Solutions (AFS) and Bakkt says it intends to continue its commercial relationship with AFS. The company believes that Apex Crypto will further enhance Bakkt’s crypto offerings.
“We found a unique asset in Apex Crypto, which will expand our crypto client base, provide us with faster speed to market for new crypto capabilities and serve as an additional avenue for continued sales to a crypto-savvy audience through Apex Fintech Solutions,” Gavin Michael, CEO of Bakkt said in a note sent to Bitcoin.com News. The CEO further noted that the acquisition makes it so Bakkt is poised to obtain more opportunities going forward.
- Coinbase Revenue Down 28% as Trading Volume Sinks Amid Brutal Bear Market
Coinbase reported net revenue of $576 million for the third quarter on Thursday, down 28% from $803 million the previous quarter.
Transaction revenue fell 44% compared to the second quarter as fewer users were active on the crypto exchange, according to the company’s earnings report. It’s been a common refrain from exchanges as the global market capitalization remains stuck at $1 trillion, down $2 trillion from what it was a year ago.
Coinbase monthly transacting users dropped 5% and trading volumes fell 27% during the third quarter, which ended on September 30, according to the company’s shareholder letter. The exchange did note that the total value of assets on its platform grew 4%, from $96 billion to $101 billion.
https://decrypt.co/113502/coinbase-q3-revenue-trading-volume-bear-market
- Twitter Halts Work on Crypto Wallet: Report; Dogecoin Drops 4%
Social media platform Twitter has halted its plans to build a crypto wallet as part of ongoing changes kickstarted last week by its new owner, Elon Musk, the online publication Platformer wrote Thursday.
“A recently revealed plan to build a crypto wallet for Twitter appears to be on pause,” the article said.
Dogecoin recently fell more than 4%. The popular meme coin’s price has consistently reacted to Musk’s activities and pronouncements. The billionaire entrepreneur and Tesla CEO has been a major advocate for the token.
DOGE spiked more than 16% as Musk’s Twitter deal neared completion last week and this week rose to its highest level since April, over 13 cents, on anticipation that he might push crypto favorable initiatives.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7261978
- IRS prepares for an increase in crypto cases in the upcoming tax season
The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) criminal investigation division is ramping up for tax season with its sights set on the crypto community.
According to a report from Bloomberg Law, the division chief Jim Lee said they are preparing “hundreds” of crypto-involved cases, many of which will soon be available to the public.
Lee said in the last three years, there has been a major shift in digital asset investigations conducted by the IRS. Previously these investigations were mostly money-laundering related, whereas now tax-related cases make up nearly half.
This includes what is often called “off-ramping” transactions where digital assets are exchanged for a fiat currency, along with not reporting crypto payments.
- $1B Crypto Hack Fears Spur 20% GALA Plunge, But Firm Implies It Attacked Itself as a Safeguard
Chaos ensnared Gala Games late Thursday, as fears of a potentially billion-dollar hack – or maybe a rug pull – drove its native GALA token down 20%, while a firm apparently related to the crypto play-to-earn platform said that they had actually effectively attacked themselves to prevent bad actors from absconding with users’ money.
Concerns developed after a single blockchain address appeared to mint over $1 billion worth of GALA token out of thin air. When crypto watchdogs PeckShield flagged that, pNetwork – which provides routing infrastructure for decentralized finance (DeFi) and gaming tokens, including apparently GALA – seemed to imply that it was behind the mint.
“We noticed pGALA wasn’t to be considered safe anymore and coordinated the white hat attack to prevent pGALA from being maliciously exploited,” they said, suggesting that the new tokens were printed as a way to help pNetwork drain a faulty PancakeSwap pool.
- Brazilian Securities Regulator CVM Might Create a Supervision Unit to Deal With Crypto Markets
Bitcoin (BTC) was trading below a key resistance level on Tuesday, ahead of tomorrow’s The growth of the cryptocurrency market is causing troubles for some regulatory agencies around the world that lack the manpower needed to reach all actors in the market. The Brazilian Securities Regulator, CVM, announced on Nov. 1 that it will create a crypto-specific superintendence with the objective of exercising the needed oversight over all participants in the market.
Joao Pedro Nascimento, president of the CVM, stated that one of the causes of this decision is the lack of manpower the organization is experiencing right now, which affects the attention that it can give to growing cryptocurrency markets. In this sense, Nascimento explained that they were in talks to execute the required procedures to employ more personnel in 2023. He stated:
The CVM cannot survive without personnel, the market continues to grow. In a little while, we will have to create a superintendence to deal with crypto assets.
- OKX Token Jumps 25% as Crypto Exchange Opens Shop in Bahamas
OKB, the native token of the crypto exchange OKX, has surged nearly 25% over the past 24 hours and reached a new monthly high of $22.15, according to data from Coingecko.
After retreating some from a longer bull run, OKB now trades at around $20.37 as of this writing and is the 19th-largest cryptocurrency with a $5.1 billion market capitalization.
Trading volumes have also spiked by 208% to $90.019 million in the last 24 hours. OKB is now just a half-billion dollars away from surpassing the popular decentralized exchange (DEX) token behind Uniswap.
On a weekly note, OKB has gained more than 28.9%, the third-largest weekly gainer among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
https://decrypt.co/113525/okx-token-jumps-crypto-exchange-opens-shop-bahamas
- AirDAO Launches Ethereum Cross-chain Bridge
AirDAO has launched a number of new features for the Ambrosius chain, including the cross-chain bridges. Through staking and a decentralized exchange called FirepotSwap, the DAO has also made token swaps possible.
The Ambrosius chain’s second cross-chain bridge, will let users transfer supported cryptocurrencies from the Ethereum network to its own. It was enabled via AirDAO. There is already a BNB Smart Chain bridge in the ecosystem.
Cross-chain bridges have recently become the focus of sophisticated cyberattacks, though. The most recent accident cost the platform around $100 million and occurred on the BNB Chain bridge.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7262347
- Canada to examine crypto, stablecoins and CBDCs in new budget
The Canadian federal government is set to launch a consultation on cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as revealed in its new mini-budget.
The government’s “2022 Fall Economic Statement,” released on Nov. 3 by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, works as a fiscal update in conjunction with its main yearly budget.
The statement included a small section on “Addressing the Digitalization of Money” that outlined the government’s crypto plans.
It said the rise in cryptocurrencies and money digitalization is “transforming financial systems in Canada and around the world” and the country’s financial system regulation “needs to keep pace.”
https://cointelegraph.com/news/canada-to-examine-crypto-stablecoins-and-cbdcs-in-new-budget
