The biggest crypto news and ideas of the day |
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Ripple's Garlinghouse Debanked by Citi |
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has personally been severed from a longtime banking relationship because he's a prominent figure in crypto, he told an audience in Washington on Wednesday. "Individuals within the crypto industry are being de-banked," he said at DC Fintech Week. "I personally have been de-banked." Garlinghouse tied his own experience to the wider trend in the U.S. industry that's struggled to maintain banking ties as regulators have cautioned institutions to limit their crypto involvement. He later added in an interview with CoinDesk that the institution that cut him off recently was Citigroup Inc., with which he'd been a customer for about 25 years, he said. And he added that it's not the only personal banking relationship he's lost because of his role in crypto. |
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Announcing the ftNFT YoCerebrum Awards Volume 3: Eden of Innovation and Creativity!
On Nov. 14, Malta will host this prestigious event, honoring top NFT talents across 15 categories, including NFT Project of the Year and Best Phygital NFT. Submissions are open until Oct. 31, with blockchain voting from Nov. 1-5. Winners will be announced at Fort Manoel and will receive 2024 Fasttokens (FTN) as a prize.
Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate creativity and innovation in the NFT space!
For more information and nominations, visit: ftNFT Awards Website. |
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$25M Bitcoin Hedge Bet on Election |
As the U.S. election nears, increased betting and hedging tied to the political event, is powering notable increases in trading volumes in the crypto market. The election will have far-reaching consequences for the crypto regulatory space in the world's largest economy. Early this week, the decentralized derivatives exchange Derive saw an institution take a multi-legged bitcoin (BTC) options strategy, betting on a continued move higher in BTC after the Nov. 5 election. The trade generated a notional trading volume of $25 million, the largest ever onchain options transaction bet tied to the U.S. election, Derive told CoinDesk in an email. The institution acquired 100 call option contracts with a $70,000 strike price set to expire on Nov. 29 while simultaneously writing or selling 200 contracts of the $80,000 call and 100 contracts of the $50,000 put, both expiring on Nov. 29. The institution deposited eBTC, restaked bitcoin created via EtherFi, as collateral, ensuring it earns passive yields on the same. The strategy, which looks like a ratio call spread funded by a short put position, will profit most if bitcoin rallies to $80,000 by Nov. 29. The positioning is consistent with options flows on centralized exchanges, which indicate expectations for a post-election rally to $80,000 and higher. |
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The First 40+ Speakers Announced for Consensus Hong Kong The industry's most influential event in Web3 and digital assets is coming to Asia with a stellar lineup of 40+ global thought leaders already confirmed. Be part of the game-changing discussions, key announcements, and high-impact deals that will shape the future of innovation.
Register todaybefore prices increase and use code NODE15 for an additional 15% off.
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Portofino Sees Staff Exodus |
Portofino Technologies, a Switzerland-based crypto market making firm that was given the nod earlier this year from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to serve institutional crypto clients in the U.K., has seen an exodus of staff in recent months, following the sacking of the firm’s co-founder and its head of finance. Both Portofino’s chief operating officer and co-founder, Alex Casimo, and chief financial officer, Jae Park, were fired in July. This then triggered the resignations of Vincent Prieur, the head of strategy and operations, and Shane O’Callaghan, the global head of business development, as well as a significant number of the firm’s staff. Between 10 and 12 people have left or are serving out their notices since the two executives were fired, which works out at between 30%-40% of the firm’s headcount at that time, according to a person familiar with the situation. A new CFO, Mark Blackborough, has since been hired, as well as senior sales trader Olivier Sultan. “Portofino made the decision to strengthen certain components of our leadership team to ensure we are best positioned to capitalize on what is projected to be a record year,” a spokesperson said via email. |
Can Pulse Transition Social Media from Web2 to Web3? The growing SocialFi project cultivates an expanding community and bridge to mass adoption. Hard to believe that Web2 was once considered a radical advancement. All it really did was take a technology designed to push information and use it to spread information. The real radical advancement is yet to come, but a new project, the SocialFi startup Pulse, might just be the first pebble of the coming avalanche to drop. Continue reading here. |
Kraken Embraces Optimism for L2 |
Kraken, the 6th-largest crypto exchange in the world, said Thursday that it is launching its own layer-2 network atop the Ethereum blockchain, based on technology borrowed from Optimism – the same provider that powers rival Coinbase's layer-2 network, Base. The disclosure comes nearly a year after CoinDesk broke the news that Kraken was considering its own layer-2 network, following the runaway success enjoyed by Base after it launched in mid-2023. Ink, as Kraken's new network is known, is built on the OP stack, a customizable toolkit that lets developers create their own blockchains using Optimism’s technology. The network is expected to go live in early 2025. Optimism has seen significant success recently with major crypto firms and even non-crypto-firms opting to use its blockchain as a blueprint for their own networks. In addition to Coinbase, which is the largest U.S. based crypto exchange, electronics giant Sony and decentralized exchange Uniswap have shared plans to spin up layer-2 networks based off the OP Stack. (Coinbase’s Base launched in August 2023.) Creating one’s own layer-2 is hardly new at this point. Other layer-2 networks like Polygon, zkSync, Starknet and Arbitrum have all come out with their own stacks, hoping to convince firms to opt into its technology. But Kraken's choice might help cement OP Stack as the undisputed leader among technology providers for new Ethereum layer-2 networks. |
The Takeaway: Crypto VCs Shifting to AI |
Imagine that you’re sipping your coffee on a park bench, reading a book — a physical book — and soaking in the sunshine. No screens are in sight. Your phone is in your pocket. Meanwhile, while you turn the pages, your AI agent is furiously busy on your behalf: Booking your flight to Bangkok, paying your rent, figuring out when to meet your friend for sushi (your AI agent speaks with your friend’s AI agent), making the dinner reservation, disputing a bogus charge from Airbnb, claiming the $50 you just won from fantasy football, and rebalancing your crypto portfolio by selling ETH and buying BTC. This is the vision of crypto + AI projects, or at least one slice of the larger vision. And this vision is now capturing the imagination — and capital —of Web3 venture capital firms, who are increasingly focused on AI. This used to be a quiet shift, something you noticed at crypto conferences. Less chatter about NFTs, more talk about AI and DePIN. But the shift is no longer quiet. This week, one of the most prominent investors in the space, Coinbase Ventures, is publishing an official thesis on why it’s focused on crypto + AI projects. “Our core belief is that crypto and blockchain-based systems are a natural complement to generative AI,” says Hoolie Tejwani, head of Coinbase Ventures. “These two secular technologies are going to interweave like a DNA double-helix to make the scaffolding for our digital lives.” |
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