This week in Crypto (October 16–October 23)
The institutional move towards digital assets and the crypto space is not slowing down. At this week’s Blockworks Digital Asset Summit in London, Fidelity Digital Assets unit plans to add another 100 new staff over the next six months, bringing the total headcount to 500.
Fidelity has long been deep into crypto. The firm, which oversees $9.9 trillion, recently revealed an Ethereum index fund and has launched a digital asset exchange alongside Charles Schwab and Citadel securities. Fidelity Digital Assets, an independent subsidiary, recently announced that it will start offering ether to institutional clients by the end of this month in addition to its existing bitcoin trading and custody services.
With so much discussion around future regulation to the crypto space, the FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Friedman broke down his ideal regulatory framework. At a high level, he suggested regulation using blacklists or blocklists, a model where individuals may freely trade unless explicitly sanctioned. FTX followed up the initial suggestions with a full document titled ”Possible Digital Asset Industry Standards” shared on its website.
The proposal was not without its critics. Various individuals in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry have criticized the proposal suggesting it hamstrings decentralized finance while favouring his own business. The debate is an important process around how DeFi platforms should be treated in comparison to centralized ones.
The debate around DeFi platforms is deeply connected to how regulators treated Tornado Cash with its messy sanctioning of the blockchain privacy tool. This week, the Non-profit blockchain advocacy group Coin Center filed a lawsuit against the US Treasury over its Tornado Cash sanctions, saying the move effectively criminalizes American citizens wanting to protect their privacy while using their own cryptoassets.
In broad L1 news, the much anticipated Aptos projected launched its mainnet today, the culmination of four years of technical development and a $1 billion valuation. Leading exchange FTX, an Aptos investor, has already announced that it will list Aptos’ APT token on Wednesday.
Aptos is an offshoot of Meta (Facebook at the time) blockchain project called Libra, later renamed Diem which was stopped due to regulatory concerns.
Finally, in great news for the success of The Merge, now six weeks after Ethereum shifted to Proof of Stake, it looks like that promise is becoming reality. The network is producing negative issuance over the past 30 days.
This week’s long read presents the fascinating story of retail investors on a vigilante hunt of Terra’s founder Do Kwon.
Major headlines:
Fidelity Digital Assets plans 100 more crypto hires within the next six months
Fintech Giant Plaid Jumps into Web3
Sam Bankman-Fried Pitches ‘Sanctions, Allowlists and Blacklists’ in Crypto
Sam Bankman-Fried draws fire from DeFi proponents after regulation proposal
‘Solana Killer’ Aptos Launches Its Highly Anticipated Mainnet
Ether Issuance Goes Negative as Merge Delivers on Deflationary Promise
Mango Markets exploiter comes clean, claims all actions were legal
Coin Center Sues Over Treasury’s Tornado Cash Sanctions
Big read:
Retail investors become vigilantes in hunt for crypto’s most wanted man
Possible Digital Asset Industry Standards
https://www.ftxpolicy.com/posts/possible-digital-asset-industry-standards
Chart of the week:
New to trading? Try crypto trading bots or copy trading
