- EU Seals Text of Landmark Crypto Law MiCA, Fund Transfer Rules
The European Union (EU) has agreed the full legal text of its landmark legislation known as the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA), alongside a further law to reveal the identity of those making crypto payments.
At a Wednesday meeting, diplomats, representing the bloc’s member governments in the EU’s Council, signed off on the text of laws which were the subject of a political deals struck in June, apparently without further discussion, a source briefed on the talks told CoinDesk.
MiCA introduces the first-ever licensing regime for crypto wallets and exchanges to operate across the bloc and imposes reserve requirements on stablecoins that are intended to avoid Terra-style collapses. A separate law on funds transfers requires require wallet providers to check their customer’s identity, in a bid to cut money laundering.
Since June, officials and lawmakers have attempted to turn the two political outlines agreed in June into a definitive legislative text..
- SEC Chair Gensler Insists Most Crypto Tokens Are Securities — Says ‘the Law Is Clear’
The issue of which federal agency should regulate the crypto market has gained much attention recently. While the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, has said that the majority of crypto tokens are securities and should fall under the purview of his agency, many people and lawmakers believe that it should be the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that regulates the crypto sector. Moreover, three bills have been introduced in Congress this year to make the CFTC the regulator of the crypto markets.
In an interview with CNBC Monday, Gensler responded to a question about who should regulate the crypto sector. The SEC chief explained:
Our agency is an agency that oversees this basic bargain. When a group of entrepreneurs is raising money from the public and the public is anticipating a profit, they need disclosure — full, fair, and truthful disclosure, and that’s the core bargain in our capital markets.
- Bitcoin Holds Steady Above $20,000 as Enthusiasts Rally Around ‘Uptober’ Meme
Bitcoin was trading above the $20,000 mark on Wednesday morning, after its first surge in what speculators are calling “Uptober.”
The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization peaked at $20,346 before settling at around $20,281 at the time of writing.
It was the highest level since the late September spike, which briefly boosted the crypto market.
Bitcoin-watchers have observed in previous years that the coin performs well in October. Last year’s rally led to its highest-ever value of over $66,000 being recorded in early November.
“I submit to the Uptober narrative,” tweeted Galois Capital, a crypto hedge fund noted for calling the collapse of Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin UST. “It feels ripe.”
Other accounts with large followings were also quick to hop on the meme. Still, besides Twitter chatter, there have been a few notable events that could have pushed Bitcoin.
https://decrypt.co/111279/bitcoin-holds-steady-above-20000-enthusiasts-rally-around-uptober-meme
- Mysterious Wallet Transfers 1.06 Trillion Shiba Inu (SHIB) to Coinbase
In one record transaction, a mysterious wallet transferred $12,156,362 (12.15M) worth of Shiba Inu (SHIB) to Coinbase. The transaction occurred after the price of Shiba Inu retreated from the critical resistance level located at $0.00001157 on the 4-hour chart.
Whale Alert reports that the mysterious wallet had transferred a herculean 1,060,594,914,000 (1.06T) SHIB, worth $12,156,362 ($12.15M) to one of the wallets associated with Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States by trading volume. The mighty transfer was executed in one robust transaction about an hour ago.
The transfer occurred soon after Shiba Inu retreated from the critical resistance level at $0.00001157 on the 4-hour chart. Since September 24th, SHIB has been trading in a sideways pattern within a narrow price range extending from $0.00001077 to $0.00001157.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7225483
- Michael Saylor snubs claims he doesn’t use Bitcoin Lightning Network
The executive chairman of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, does not like to be called out. He responded to a poll shared by Eric Wall, a crypto researcher, that suggested he had not used Bitcoin’s (BTC) layer-2 Lightning Network more than three times with a Twitter poll of his own.
Saylor replied to the poll with a resounding yes, and kickstarted a meme competition with a 1,000,000 Satoshis giveaway, or 0.01 BTC, worth around $200, to the most liked meme. In giving away Satoshi’s to prizewinners, Saylor will literally use the Lightning Network three times.
Saylor first tweeted about the Lightning Network in May 2021 and has since become a proponent for the layer-2 payments solution built on Bitcoin, as well as LiFi, or Lightning Finance. Wall, a former chief investment officer at Arcane Research, has called out Saylor several times, and his initial optimism about the Lightning Network in 2018 has dissolved into critiques.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/michael-saylor-snubs-claims-he-doesn-t-use-bitcoin-lightning-network
- Custodian Anchorage Adds to Asia Push With Batch of Institutional Crypto Partners
U.S.-regulated cryptocurrency custody specialist Anchorage Digital is continuing its push into Asia, naming a brace of new institutional partners in the region.
Following Anchorage’s recent participation in a Japanese yen-denominated stablecoin project, the firm is partnering with Bitkub, Dream Trade, FBG Capital, GMO-Z.com Trust Company, IOSG Ventures, and Antalpha, the companies said on Wednesday.
Asia’s financial institutions and wealthy investors have among the highest exposures to crypto on the planet, according to Anchorage Digital co-founder and President Diogo Mónica. That said, places like Singapore, where Anchorage now has a 10-staff office, have rolled back somewhat on digital assets with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) calling for a crackdown on irresponsible crypto firms.
Being a U.S. federally regulated crypto firm means added scrutiny actually works in Anchorage’s favor, and life is also made easier by having to only work with one regulator, the MAS, as opposed to the mix of watchdogs in the U.S., Mónica said in an interview with CoinDesk.
- Binance and Kazakhstan to Share Information About Crypto-Related Crime
The world’s leading coin trading platform, Binance, and Kazakhstan’s Financial Monitoring Agency have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding expressing their mutual interest in the safe development of the Central Asian nation’s virtual assets market.
An announcement explained that the agreement will govern joint efforts to fight crimes involving digital assets. The crypto exchange and the regulatory body plan to share data that can be used to identify and block crypto holdings obtained by criminal means as well as those employed in the laundering of proceeds from crime and the financing of terrorism.
According to Tigran Gambaryan, global head of intelligence and investigations at Binance, the company has the most robust compliance program in the industry, incorporating the principles of anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance as well as tools to detect suspicious accounts and fraudulent activity.
https://news.bitcoin.com/binance-and-kazakhstan-to-share-information-about-crypto-related-crime/
- Coinbase Incorporates in Australia, Expands Offerings for Retail Customers
America’s largest crypto exchange Coinbase has announced the expansion of its services to retail customers in Australia, making it easier to buy, sell, and trade digital assets.
Coinbase, which first entered the Australian market in 2016, allowing local customers to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum, said it will be introducing PayID as a way for Australians to deposit funds using direct transfers from their bank accounts.
PayID is a payments infrastructure built by the Australian financial services sector and the Reserve Bank of Australia, which allows people to link a mobile number or an email address to a bank account to receive payments.
https://decrypt.co/111280/coinbase-incorporates-australia-expands-offerings-retail-customers
- DOGE Explodes 8% Daily on Musk-Twitter News
According to a recent report, Tesla’s CEO – Elon Musk – renewed his intentions to acquire the social media platform Twitter for approximately $44 billion.
As a result and perhaps somewhat expected, Dogecoin – the cryptocurrency that Musk is a vocal proponent of – saw a notable increase in its price.
The saga between Elon Musk and Twitter started in April this year when he purchased over 70,000,000 TWTR shares (9.2% of the company). Shortly after, he vowed to buy the firm for $44 billion and transform it into a private entity.
While Twitter accepted the multi-billion offer, Musk changed his stance and put the deal on hold due to certain issues the platform needed to solve before shaking hands with him, such as removing all fake accounts and coping with scams.
In July, Musk said Twitter had not “complied with its contractual obligations,” and as such, he terminated the agreement.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7225535
- Celsius’ co-founder Daniel Leon follows Mashinsky out as crypto exec flight continues
S. Daniel Leon, who cofounded Celsius with Alex Mashinsky in 2017, has quit his job as the bankrupt crypto lender’s chief strategy officer, CNBC reported Oct. 4, citing unnamed sources and an internal memo seen by the outlet. Bloomberg later reported receiving confirmation of Leon’s resignation from the company. Leon’s resignation comes one week after Mashinsky’s and is part of an apparently growing trend.
Celsius filed for bankruptcy on July 13 while it was under investigation by six American states and a month after freezing withdrawals. The company was reportedly $1.9 billion in debt at the time of its bankruptcy declaration. Mashinsky resigned on Sept. 27, saying in a statement, “I regret that my continued role as CEO has become an increasing distraction, and I am very sorry about the difficult financial circumstances members of our community are facing.” His financial dealings and handling of the firm’s final days of solvency were the subjects of intense scrutiny.
