Bitcoin Price: US$ 60,873.52(-3.93%)
Ethereum Price: US$ 2,447.79 (-5.93%)
Asset manager Hashdex has filed an amended registration for a proposed crypto index ETF, marking continued progress with the U.S. SEC; the ETF will initially include Bitcoin and Ether, as industry analysts view crypto index ETFs as the next significant focus for issuers following the success of single-asset ETFs earlier this year. In another development, EigenLayer’s native token, EIGEN, debuted on October 1, quickly cracking the top 100 tokens by market capitalisation and trading between $3.50 and $4.50 per token, with its launch following a May airdrop and expectations that token holders will benefit as more protocols start paying rewards for EigenLayer’s restakers. Meanwhile, Binance is now “fully available” in Argentina after being incorporated into the country’s virtual asset service provider (VASP) registry, allowing the exchange to offer its complete range of services to Argentine users, as its leadership identifies Argentina as a high-potential market for crypto adoption growth. Additionally, former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has been released from a U.S. prison after serving four months for Anti-Money Laundering violations but remains banned from managing or operating the exchange, with current Binance CEO Richard Teng confirming that Zhao received a lifetime ban from overseeing Binance.
Boerse Stuttgart Group, in collaboration with the European Central Bank (ECB), successfully tested blockchain technology for settling secondary market transactions, reducing settlement time from two days to mere minutes in a project that involved six partner banks and demonstrated the potential for blockchain to enhance settlement processes in real-world conditions, marking a significant step in integrating blockchain with traditional euro payment systems. In the UK, the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority have launched the Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS) to explore the use of digital ledger technology (DLT) in financial securities, an initiative aimed at improving the efficiency and transparency of the UK’s financial markets and positioning the country as a global financial hub, with the DSS expected to run until 2028. Meanwhile, Apollo Crypto highlighted the potential resurgence of decentralised finance (DeFi) driven by macroeconomic factors such as the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate cuts and China’s credit expansion, noting that improved DeFi infrastructure and key protocols like Maker, Uniswap, and Aave are well-positioned to benefit from these trends, with innovations like Coinbase’s cbBTC token offering easier access to DeFi markets.
The emergence of a gold-backed ecosystem aims to bridge traditional finance (TradFi) and blockchain by tokenising real-world assets (RWAs), particularly gold, to provide investors with a stable and transparent digital asset option, presenting a unique opportunity as gold prices rise, despite the critical challenges related to transparency and trust that must be addressed for widespread adoption. In the decentralised finance space, Synthetix has received overwhelming approval for a governance overhaul proposal designed to revitalise the protocol, which has faced operational inefficiencies and a lack of vision, with proposed changes including a redesign of the SNX token, an enhanced governance structure, and deployment on additional networks to restore its position in the DeFi sector, despite a significant drop in total value locked (TVL) since its peak. Meanwhile, Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, announced plans to close all customer accounts in Canada by the end of 2024 due to new regulatory requirements imposed by the Canadian Securities Administrators, a decision that follows tightened regulations on crypto trading platforms in Canada and highlights Gemini’s commitment to compliance while other exchanges have opted to exit the market.
Ethereum gas fees have surged by 498% over two weeks due to increased on-chain activity, with average fees rising from $0.09 to $1.69, as reported by Coinbase, a spike attributed to various factors including a slight rise in decentralised exchange volumes, USDC deposit rates, and a notable 17% increase in total Ether transfer volumes. In another development, the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has joined Singapore’s Project Guardian to explore real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation, partnering with Chainlink Labs and ADDX to test interoperability between blockchains. This initiative, launched by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, aims to enhance financial market efficiency, with ANZ particularly interested in facilitating the movement of its stablecoin across different blockchains. Meanwhile, Ohio is considering legislation introduced by state senator Niraj Antani to allow cryptocurrency payments for state taxes and fees, which would empower the state tax commissioner to decide which cryptocurrencies are accepted and permit state educational institutions and pension funds to invest in cryptocurrencies, reviving interest in the state’s earlier attempts to accept crypto for tax payments.
Source: https://cointelegraph.com
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