Read in the Digest:
- Binance to sell $529M in FTX token – drama takes a toll on the crypto market.
- Vitalik Buterin shares an updated roadmap for Ethereum, including a new “Scourge Phase”.
- OpenSea launches new on-chain tool for creators to enforce NFT royalties.
- Twitter users jump ship to decentralized alternative Mastodon after Musk’s deal.
- Bitcoin (BTC) & Ethereum (ETH) price updates ahead of October CPI report.
Binance to Sell $529M in FTX Token – Drama Takes a Toll on the Crypto Market
On Sundya, November 6th, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao announced that his company’s intention to sell its remaining FTX Token (FTT) holdings, a stash worth more than $529 million, citing recent revelations that have come to light.
The Binance boss was referring to the reported $3.66 billion in unlocked FTT that making up Alameda’s assets. Alameda’s significant exposure to FTT has raised huge concerns in the crypto space about the financial viability of FTX and Alameda Research.
Despite the CEO of Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison, expressing a willingness by the company to buy those FTT tokens from Binance, the drama took a substantial toll on the market, with many cryptos opening the Asian session in the red.
In the last 24 hours, only four of the top 50 cryptos ranked by market cap are trading in the green. A majority of cryptos are showing differing levels of loss, with FTT, Solana (SOL), and Binance Coin (BNB) among the day’s biggest losers.
Flipsider:
- According to data from Glassnode, FTT exchange balances are surging, which suggests investors are ready to buy and sell their FTT tokens.
Why You Should Care
Today’s downtrend has been fueled by fears of another implosion, given the unstable nature of FTX and Alameda’s assets–big players in the crypto industry.
Vitalik Buterin Shares an Updated Roadmap for Ethereum, Including a New “Scourge Phase”
Ethereum’s transition to Proof of Stake has been riddled with criticisms of censorship resistance and centralization. Looking to combat that, Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin has shared an updated roadmap for the network.
Buterin announced the plan via Twitter, augmenting the previous 5-phase Ethereum roadmap with a “Scourge Phase”, making it an expanded six-part technical roadmap.
According to Buterin, the Scourge phase will “ensure reliable and credibly neutral transaction inclusion to avoid centralization and other protocol risks from MEV.”
The phase is scheduled for implementation directly after the surge, which is intended to scale Ethereum up to 100,000 transactions per second via rollups. The Scourge will then be followed by the previously-outlined stages—the Verge, the Purge, and the Splurge.
Flipsider:
- Bitcoin (BTC) maxis reacted to the update, claiming that Bitcoin is superior to the “over-engineered” ETH.
Why You Should Care
The Scourge is Buterin’s response to the network’s growing criticisms, and will look to improve censorship resistance and decentralization on the Ethereum network.
OpenSea Launches New On-Chain Tool for Creators to Enforce NFT Royalties
OpenSea, the world’s largest non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, has taken its stance on royalties by launching an on-chain tool that will help creators enforce royalties on NFTs.
Announcing the tool, OpenSea CEO David Finzer explained that the NFT titan has “watched the voluntary creator fee payment dwindle to less than 20%”, while other marketplaces refuse to pay these fees entirely.
OpenSea is therefore looking to give creators more power in enforcing their future revenue with a new tool that allows creators to set royalties on new and future NFT contracts, as well as existing upgradable smart contracts.
Finzer further underlined that creators have free will in regards to using solutions of their choice; OpenSea does not intend to demand them to use the new tool. The system will go into place from Tuesday, November 8th.
Flipsider:
- OpenSea says it will seek community feedback on how to approach existing projects before its self-imposed deadline of December 8th.
Why You Should Care
OpenSea’s “thoughtful, principled approach” will allow creators to continue monetizing NFTs at a time when competing marketplaces are refusing to honour creator royalties.
Twitter Users Jump Ship to Decentralized Alternative Mastodon After Musk’s Deal
On October 27th, the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, completed the hugely anticipated Twitter deal for $44 billion. While the deal raised excitement in crypto circles, many of Twitter’s users appear dissatisfied with Musk’s takeover.
Users migrating from Twitter have found a new home in Mastodon: a decentralized microblogging platform originally created by Eugen Rochko, and announced on Hacker News in 2016.
In the first ten days of Musk’s reign as Twitter boss, more than 500,000 users have migrated from the platform. According to Mastodon, its user base has grown to over 655,000, with at least 230,000 having joined in the last week.
The Twitter exodus has been fueled by a variety of reasons, with Musk’s recent massive lay-offs, his initial dismissal of executives, and his comments and plans for the future of Twitter among them.
Flipsider:
- One of the most popular Mastodon servers, mastodon.social, has been experiencing bouts of lag and downtime as it struggles to accommodate the influx of new users.
Why You Should Care
Mastodon appears to be the perfect alternative for Twitter users, allowing them to follow other users, post messages called “toots”, and reply to, like, and re-post those by others.
Bitcoin (BTC) & Ethereum (ETH) Price Updates Ahead of October CPI Report
The first weekend of November had a significant impact on Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) as the price of BTC rallied by more than 8% over the weekend to set a new 7-week high at $21,446.
The 7 day price chart for Bitcoin (BTC). Source: CoinMarketCap
Similarly, Ethereum (ETH) recorded one of its largest rallies of recent times, as the price of Ether climbed to above $1,660 for the first time since September 13th.
The 7 day price chart for Ethereum (ETH). Source: CoinMarketCap
Since surging on the weekend, the price of the assets faced a stark correction. The resulting dip in the prices of BTC and ETH has been directly linked to the drama ensuing from Binance’s decision to liquidate its FTT, and has driven the prices of BTC and ETH below $21,000 and $1,600 respectively.
Bitcoin and Ethereum’s woes may not end there, as the coming week is set to stage another significant event that could redirect the prices of BTC and ETH. On November 10th, the United States inflation data for October will be released, which is projected to increase the volatility of the leading crypto assets.
Flipsider:
- Over the weekend, the Bitcoin ‘Fear and Greed Index’, hit a three-month high of 40/100, which represents a major positive change in sentiment for Bitcoin.
Why You Should Care
The crypto industry has been reacting positively to macroeconomic reports, and a lower-than-expected CPI readout could conversely prove to be beneficial for the crypto market.