Another Spot Bitcoin ETF gets rejected by SEC; Google, Coinbase partner for crypto payments

The biggest news in the cryptosphere for Oct. 10 includes Google’s new partnership with Coinbase to start accepting crypto payments, Bittrex’s $30 million fine for violating federal sanctions, and the SEC’s rejection of WisdomTree’s Spot Bitcoin ETF for not having enough surveillance.

CryptoSlate Top Stories

Google to integrate crypto payments with cloud services from 2023 via Coinbase partnership

Google and Coinbase are collaborating to launch a crypto payments solution. Upon the announcement, COIN shares recorded a spike of 6%.

The duo will allow Google cloud services users to pay via cryptocurrencies supported in Coinbase. Google will also store its crypto holdings using Coinbase Prime.

Bittrex to pay $30M for sanctions violation

Crypto exchange platform Bittrex was fined $30 million by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets (OFAC) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for violating federal sanctions.

Bittrex allowed around 1,800 individuals from sanctioned regions like Iran, Crimea, and Syria to conduct crypto transactions on its platform between 2014 and early 2017. The exchange agreed to pay the fine and make necessary adjustments to comply with the sanctions.

SEC rejects WisdomTree’s Spot Bitcoin ETF

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected the Wisdom Tree Bitcoin (BTC) Trust ETF for not offering a valid measure that could protect investors against market manipulation.

The SEC said that given the highly unregulated nature of the crypto market, the surveillance was crucial before approving any spot Bitcoin-ETF.

Temple DAO hacked for over $2.3M

Temple DAO was hacked on Oct. 11 and lost 1,831 Ethereum (ETH), equating to over $2.3 million. The project team offered a bounty on the hacker’s head and shut down the dApp to prevent accidental usage.

#PeckShieldAlert Seems like @templedao got exploited. The exploiter funded from SimpleSwap and already transferred 1,831 $ETH (~$2.34M) to a new address 0x2B63d…B5A0 @peckshield https://t.co/bOyOARyyxY pic.twitter.com/SVEm8o95U6

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) October 11, 2022

Coffeezilla calls out Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky for dumping CEL tokens

Crypto sleuth Coffeezilla blamed Celsius (CEL) founder Alex Mashinsky for allegedly dumping over 10,000 CEL tokens during the early hours of Oct. 11.

Coffeezilla published his accusations on his Twitter account as a thread. Mashinsky’s wallet address was later identified by Nansen, which revealed that around 10,000 CEL tokens were indeed swapped for approximately $9300 USD Coins(USDC).

BNY Mellon receives New York approval for crypto custodial services

Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) was approved to offer digital assets custody services on Oct. 11. With that, BNY Mellon customers will be able to store keys to their assets with the bank.

CNN’s NFT marketplace shutdown sparks rug pull accusations

CNN’s NFT Marketplace “Vault by CNN” announced that it shut down. The platform was launched in the summer of 2021 during the NFT boom, and its unexpected shutdown sparked talks of a possible rug pull.

A spokesperson from CNN responded to the community’s concerns by saying that Vault by CNN holders can expect to be compensated with roughly 20% of the distributions based on the NFTs in their wallets.

Research Highlight

Liquidations expected as Bitcoin open interest, leverage ratio spike higher

Given the state of the fiat market and Bitcoin’s relatively flat price movements, which remained between $18,400 and $22,800 over the past months, Bitcoin might be giving signals of decoupling from legacy markets.

CrytpoSlate analysts examined three different indicators; Bitcoin Futures Estimated Leverage Ratio (ELR), Futures Open Interest, and Futures Perpetual Funding Rates (FPFR) to discover that the crypto market is significantly hot and overleveraged to the upside.

This is an indicator for the upcoming widespread liquidations period, which might decline the asset prices led by Bitcoin.

Research: What exactly happened in 2021 for Shiba Inu?

Shiba Inu (SHIB) soared through 2021, only to keep falling in 2022. CryptoSlate analysts identified a difference in the amount of SHIB held by exchanges in both major SHIB unlocks.

SHIB was released for the first time in April/May, which soared the price and the amount of SHIB tokens held on exchanges. The second major unlock took place in October/November and recorded a new price ATH. However, SHIB tokens held by exchanges decreased drastically.

SHIB price only continued to fall from that point on. According to CryptoSlate data, SHIB fell by 58.32% in the last 365 days, and the current price lingers around $0.000011, which is 88% lower than its ATH.

News from around the Cryptoverse

YugaLabs faces SEC probe for unregistered offerings

Bored Ape creators, Yuga Labs is facing an investigation from the SEC, according to Bloomberg. The commission is examining the legality of Yuga Labs’ high-value NFT sales.