Hello! 🍁 It’s Friday, September 29, and we’re patiently waiting for FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial to begin. Meanwhile, the SEC has delayed the deadline for a handful of Ethereum spot ETF filings. Which is you know, the usual. 😎
Let’s now jump into the news! 🗞️
A QUICK BRIEF 💭
🪪 Buenos Aires Launches a Blockchain-Based Government ID
🐧 Pudgy Penguins Debuts Toy Collection in 2,000 Walmart Stores
🍯 Cartesi Rollup Network Goes Live With First App Honeypot
[THE BLOCK WITH THE TOP HEADLINES OF THE WEEK]
Your Weekly Dose of News 👌🏻
🟢 Valkyrie Adds ETH Futures to its Current Bitcoin ETF
Valkyrie, an asset management firm, is set to provide U.S. investors with exposure to Ether futures through its current Bitcoin Strategy ETF.
As of October 3, this fund will be renamed the Valkyrie Bitcoin and Ether Strategy ETF. A representative from Valkyrie confirmed that this would enable investors to access both Ether and Bitcoin futures within a single ETF, marking Valkyrie as a pioneer in this space amidst several on going applications at the U.S. SEC.
While the SEC has yet to approve a new Ether futures ETF listing on the Nasdaq, it has issued an order for further analysis on the listing of Valkyrie’s Bitcoin Fund, a spot BTC ETF.
🪪 Buenos Aires Launches Blockchain-Based Government ID
Buenos Aires is set to introduce QuarkID, a blockchain-based digital identity protocol, to improve residents’ access to public services.
Citizens can use this system to digitally store essential documents, like birth and marriage certificates. Developed in partnership with Extrimian and Matter Labs, creators of the Ethereum layer-2 blockchain zkSync Era, this initiative stands out as a landmark for Latin America.
The system emphasizes self-sovereignty, ensuring individuals retain full control over their data, and is set to include more document types by November.
Diego Fernandez, the Secretary of Innovation for Buenos Aires, highlighted the project as a pioneering move on both a regional and global scale.
⛅️ Google Cloud Adds 11 Blockchain Networks
Google Cloud’s BigQuery has improved its blockchain data features. It now supports 11 more networks, including Polygon and Polkadot. This means users can now do more detailed searches on blockchain data and easily use it with apps like Looker and Google Sheets.
James Tromans, Google Cloud’s global head of Web3, stated: “Over the past 18 months, we’ve been investing in this space, we’ve continued to hire, we’ve continued to grow not only our business development and our go-to-market teams but also our product and engineering capabilities. We’re really beginning to show that we’re not just fly-by-night and not just here when the time is going well.”
🥶 Mixin Suspends Withdrawals After $200M Hack Loss
Mixin, a cross-chain transactional network for digital assets, temporarily halted deposits and withdrawals following a security breach resulting in a $200 million loss.
The attack exploited vulnerabilities in the cloud service provider’s database, prompting Mixin to collaborate with Google and blockchain security firm SlowMist for investigation and fixes. While deposits and withdrawals are paused, transfers remain unaffected, and the team is working on a solution to guide users on recovering lost assets.
“No matter what your assets are — whether it’s Bitcoin or Ethereum — we will ensure that half of it is unaffected,” said Xiaodong Feng, founder of Mixin. He added that the company was considering issuing “bond tokens” to users for the rest of the assets.
🇧🇪 Binance Quits Russia and Restarts in Belgium
After deliberating on compliance with Western sanctions due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Binance sold its Russian unit to the newly-launched CommEX crypto exchange for an undisclosed sum.
In other news, Binance has reportedly resumed services in Belgium three months after the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) mandated a halt in the country.
“Various Binance products and services are accessible again to Belgian users who have accepted our new Terms of Use,” the company said in a tweet on Monday.
⚒️ Crypto Exchange HTX Loses $8 Million in a Hack
According to HTX adviser and Tron founder Justin Sun, crypto exchange HTX (formerly Huobi) has suffered a hack that has resulted in the theft of 5000 ETH worth around $8 million.
HTX has responded to the hack by proactively offering 5% of the drained funds as a “white-hat bonus” in exchange for returning the funds within seven days.
Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has also reportedly offered the help of Binance’s security team in investigating the attack.
ESPRESSO-SIZED NEWS ☕️
🇪🇺 Kraken secures EU e-money institution license in Ireland and virtual assets service provider registration in Spain, allowing expansion of fiat services and crypto offerings. Learn more.
❌ Ripple has decided to abandon its previously planned acquisition of Fortress Trust, a crypto custodian that faced significant challenges after losing approximately $15 million worth of bitcoin and stablecoins in a recent hack. Learn more.
🇪🇸 The Bank of Spain has granted Coinbase authorization to function as a cryptocurrency exchange and wallet service within the country. Learn more.
[THE BLOCK WITH NFT & DEFI UPDATES]
NFT and DeFi News Roundup 🗞️
WEEKLY DOSE OF NFT NEWS
🐧 Pudgy Penguins Debuts Toy Collection in 2,000 Walmart Stores
Pudgy Penguins has revealed its latest expansion into Walmart, with Pudgy Toys now accessible in 2,000 stores nationwide, aligning itself with other well-known consumer brands.
This strategic partnership with Walmart underscores Pudgy Penguins’ unique approach, fusing community-driven IP with cutting-edge social media and blockchain technology. The brand’s remarkable $400 million in transactions attests to its digital collectible sales influence, blending digital platforms and blockchain innovation to offer customized experiences to its audience.
This marks Pudgy Penguins’ second venture into physical toys, following their initial entry in May 2023 through Amazon, where they achieved $500,000 in sales within the first two days, selling over 20,000 individual toys. In the same month, the company secured $9 million in funding from early-stage investors to expand the global reach of Pudgy Penguins.
The CEO of Pudgy Penguins, Luca Netz, also just visited Overpriced JPEGs podcast, which you can listen to here.
🃏 Ordinals Creator Introduces New Fungible Token Protocol “Runes”
Casey Rodarmor, creator of the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol, has launched a new project called Runes – a protocol optimized for fungible tokens on Bitcoin.
Unlike Ordinals, which enabled NFT-like assets but led to network congestion from UTXO bloat, Runes is more lightweight. It holds token balances within UTXOs rather than creating new ones for each transfer. This should reduce fees and congestion issues.
🙉 BAYC X BAPE Collaboration
In an unexpected move, the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has unveiled its latest collaboration with the iconic Japanese streetwear brand BAPE.
The official Bored Ape Yacht Club Twitter account cryptically shared the news with the message, “Been a fan since way back,” accompanied by an illustrated image showcasing a closet filled with Hawaiian-themed shirts. Prominently featured in the image was a white t-shirt adorned with both the BAPE logo and a Bored Ape, piquing the curiosity of enthusiasts.
What more you need to know:
🐵 The collection debuts Nov 4 in Hong Kong during ApeFest
🐵 The collection will launch to the BAYC community first
🐵 In December it will be available everywhere globally in stores and online
ESPRESSO-SIZED NFT NEWS ☕️
🌊 OpenSea has advised select users to rotate their API keys following a third-party security breach. Learn more.
🟣 Polygon witnessed a surge in trading volume as users engaged in the on-chain opening of Pokémon NFT card packs during a whirlwind sale, with all 175 Pokémon Cards claimed almost instantly. Learn more.
🤝🏻 VeeFriends and Mattel are collaborating to release a 2-pack toy collection featuring Skeletor and Skilled Skeleton. The pre-sale begins on October 6 for $45, offering a free pack to holders of the original Series 1 Skilled Skeleton collectible. Learn more.
WEEKLY DOSE OF DEFI NEWS
🍯 Cartesi Rollup Network Goes Live With First App Honeypot
Cartesi, a Layer 2 scaling solution that facilitates the development of dApps across multiple blockchains, has introduced its inaugural decentralized application on the Ethereum mainnet – Honeypot.
This dapp serves the purpose of enabling developers and ethical hackers to assess the security of Cartesi protocol’s underlying code, offering a bounty reward in return.
Honeypot will play a vital role in stress-testing Cartesi’s core code on the mainnet, paving the way for the broader utilization of Cartesi’s technology in various other dapps.
☂️ Celestia Opens Airdrop
Celestia, a modular consensus and data network, has unveiled plans to distribute 6% of its native token, TIA, in a token airdrop to engage ecosystem participants and developers.
This blockchain network is dedicated to establishing a scalable data availability layer, addressing the challenge of data access and retrieval by network nodes.
Celestia employs data availability sampling, allowing nodes to validate select random data chunks from each block, aiming to enhance efficiency in contrast to traditional methods used in networks like Ethereum.
🥞 PancakeSwap Integrates Transak For Fiat Onboarding On Multiple Chains
Decentralized exchange PancakeSwap has integrated crypto purchasing service Transak.
Users can now buy crypto directly on PancakeSwap through Transak, alongside existing providers Mercuryo and MoonPay. Transak is the third fiat on-ramp integrated into PancakeSwap’s “buy crypto” tab, giving users another option to easily purchase cryptocurrencies on the platform.
ESPRESSO-SIZED DEFI NEWS ☕️
🤝🏻 Aptos Foundation collaborates with Thala Labs to establish a $1 million fund dedicated to fostering the development of fresh DeFi protocols within its ecosystem. Learn more.
💰 Curve Finance founder, Michael Erogov, has successfully repaid his debts on Aave v2 but still owes $42.7M in stablecoins to other web3 lending platforms. This follows Erogov’s efforts to address potential liquidation due to a 40% price drop, which led to the sale of CRV collateral via private sales in August. Learn more.
🎈70 million ARB tokens from Arbitrum’s airdrop remain unclaimed as the claiming window closed, now in the control of the Arbitrum DAO. Learn more.
Thank you for reading and enjoy your weekend!
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Not financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or make other financial decisions. Always do your own research.