Friday November 4, 2022
◾ Hydro Quebec filed a request with the national energy board to suspend the allocation of energy to crypto miners in response to an overall increase in market demand which is expected to grow 14% through 2032. (Hydroquebec)
◾ The IRS’s Criminal Investigation division is building “hundreds” of crypto cases involving “off-ramping” where digital assets are exchanged for fiat currency. (Bloombergtax)
◾ The Government of Canada is launching a financial sector legislative review focused on the digitalization of money and maintaining financial sector stability and security. (Budget.gc)
Government & NGO Actions
◾ The UK approved regulations to restrict crypto advertisement to authorized / licensed digital asset services. (Coindesk)
◾ South Korean prosecutes claim to have new proof that Terra founder Do Kwon manipulated the price of Luna. (News.bitcoin)
◾ Iran’s state-owned gas company is raising energy rates retroactively on domestic crypto miners going back to March 2022. (News.bitcoin)
◾ The Monetary Authority of Singapore reiterated that crypto exchanges must adhere to sanctions imposed on Russians over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. (News.bitcoin)
Public Company Releases
◾ Coinbase (COIN) revenue fell 28% Q-o-Q in the third quarter driven by weaker trading volumes, but surprised Wall Street by reporting higher than expected monthly transacting users (MTU) (8.5 million). (Coinbase)
◾ Bitfarms (BITF) responded to news reports from Hydro Quebec (above) advising its power agreements remain in place and expects that its current and future production will continue for the foreseeable future without disruption. (Globenewswire)
◾ CleanSpark (CLSK) mined 532 bitcoin (5.1 EH/s) but sold 836 BTC (157%) in October bringing its total BTC reserves down to 290 BTC. (Cleanspark)
◾ Block (SQ) reported Q3 bitcoin gross profit of $37 million (2.1%) from $1.76 billion in bitcoin revenue. (Block)
◾ Riot Blockchain (RIOT) produced 509 bitcoin (6.9 EH/s) selling 450 BTC (88%) in October to fund operations. (Globenewswire)
◾ BitDigital (BTBT) earned 152.5 bitcoins (2.7 EH/s) last month.(Bitdigital)
Restructuring, Losses and Legal News
◾ Compute North paid $3 million in payroll and bonuses to executives on the same day it filed for bankruptcy. (Coindesk)
◾ Online payments platform Stripe is laying off 14% of its workforce. (CNBC)
Protocols, Applications & Business News
◾ Fidelity opened its waitlist for zero-fee crypto trading to retail clients. (Fidelity)
◾ Goldman Sachs (GS) is introducing a new “Datonomy” (taxomony of digital asset) classifcations designed to provide market participants with way to help monitor industry trends, analyze portfolio risk and returns, and help build new products. (Goldmansachs)
◾ UBS (UBS) launched the world’s first digital bond that is publicly traded and settled on both blockchain-based and traditional exchanges. (UBS)
◾ Circle has begun investing USDC reserves in a BlackRock (BLK) money market fund and will now have its portfolio entirely in cash and short-dated US Treasuries. (Circle)
◾ Santander Bank is limiting the amount of funds UK customers can send to crypto exchanges to £1,000 per transaction or £3,000 over a 30-day period. (Santander)
◾ Gala Games (GALA) has reported been exploited with a single a blockchain addressing minting over $1 billion in GALA tokens. (Beincrypto)
◾ UK fintech platform Revolut issued a crypto-backed credit card that will give 1% cash back in crypto. (Standard)
◾ Crypto offering, social investment platform Public.com announced plans for a global launch in Q1 2023. (Businesswire)
◾ Twitter is reportedly pausing efforts to build a crypto wallet. (Platformer.news)
◾ OKX has registered in the Bahamas as a Digital Asset Business and plans to hire 100 people to fill local job openings. (OKX)
Market Data
◾ Bitcoin’s difficulty is expected to remain flat (-0.09%) when its next adjusts on Sunday evening. (BTC.com)