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Bitcoin (BTC) falls under $19 as correlation with gold hit multi-year highs 4,400 disgruntled investors become vigilantes in the hunt for Terra’s Do Kwon Stablecoin reserves on exchanges record the largest cash inflow in October Sam Bankman-Fried puts forward a proposal to curb crypto hacks by 98% EU competition officials express fears about metaverse market dominanceBitcoin (BTC) falls under $19 as correlation with gold hit multi-year highs
After showing signs of recovery early this week, the price of Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s largest cryptocurrency, fell under $19,000. This represents a continuation of its range-bound movement for the past two months.
The price of Bitcoin fell by 3% to hit an interday low of $18,970. However, in the early hours of today, Bitcoin managed to recover and trade as high as $19,280. BTC currently exchange hands at $19,200 as it continues to consolidate.
The 24 hours price chart for Bitcoin (BTC). Source: CoinMarketCap
The slight drop in price comes as Bitcoin’s tendency to move in tandem with the stock markets continues to drop. However, Bitcoin appears to have refocused, with its correlation with gold hitting a new multi-year high.
The 30-day correlation between BTC and GOLD reached over 0.52, its highest since 2020. In addition, Wu Blockchain also reported that BTC’s 30-day correlation to U.S. Dollar Index has declined to -0.64.
Flipsider:
Peter Schiff, a well-known critic of cryptocurrencies, has suggested that if Bitcoin fails to move in tandem with stocks its price could experience another sharp decline.Why You Should Care
Bitcoin’s price is still primarily determined by macro-trigger factors and would need a massive boost to break out of this correlation.
4,400 disgruntled investors become vigilantes in the hunt for Terra’s Do Kwon
The growing frustration among disgruntled investors who lost their fortunes to the May Terra LUNA and UST collapse has led to the formation of the UST Restitution Group (URG), a Discord support group with over 4,400 Terra investors.
These Terra investors are actively involved in uncovering the whereabouts of Terra co-founder Do Kwon, who has become crypto’s most wanted man. URG investors are also tired of South Korean authorities’ lack of results in Kwon’s apprehension.
URG members are emphatically going the extra mile to find him and seek retribution by scouring the internet to look for clues and suggesting his possible hideouts. These include Dubai, Russia, Azerbaijan, the Seychelles, Mauritius, and even a yacht.
Furthermore, a former employee of Terraform Labs, Kang Hyung-suk, plans to visit Dubai in nine days to find Kwon. Despite multiple arrest warrants, being placed on Interpol’s red notice, and his passport facing nullification by November 2nd, Kwon’s whereabouts remains unknown.
Flipsider:
Kwon, who says he is not on the run, believes that the charges brought against him by the South Korean prosecutors are unfounded and politically motivated.Why You Should Care
The UST Restitution Group (URG) consists of members around the world who seek to take Do Kwon to task for their losses in the $60 billion Terra collapse.
Stablecoin reserves on exchanges record the largest cash inflow in October
Stablecoin exchange reserve, a metric that shows the liquid capital for potential deployment into cryptocurrencies from exchanges, has been experiencing a significant uplift over the last couple of days.
Moreover, data from CryptoQuant showed that on Wednesday, October 19th, the reserve of stablecoins on the spot Exchanges increased by as much as $111 million. This is also the largest single-day inflow for October.
A CryptoQuant analyst suggests that the increase in stablecoin exchange reserve can transfer from external wallets to the crypto exchanges to buy other digital assets. The total stablecoin on exchanges now lies at $26.7 billion, a little shy of its $29.5 billion ATH.
Flipsider:
The collapse of multiple stablecoins in 2022 has accordingly made the sector a major target for regulators across the globe.Why You Should Care
The exchange Netflow usually follows a demand for digital assets, a precursor to an increase in price.
Sam Bankman-Fried puts forward a proposal to curb crypto hacks by 98%
Crypto billionaire and founder of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried has proposed a framework to limit the impact of hacks, exploits, and scams that have been tormenting the crypto industry in recent years.
Indeed, over $3 billion has been lost to crypto hacks in 2022, with $750 million stolen in October alone. The framework “Possible Digital Asset Industry Standards,” proposed a “5-5 standard” where hackers keep 5% of stolen funds or $5 million; whichever is smaller.
However, if the hacker fails to abide by the “fair share” they would then be treated as a ‘bad actor’ by the crypto community. The FTX chief believes that his framework can curb the growing trend of crypto hacks and exploits by as much as 98%.
SBF’s proposed framework comes just days after a hacker was rewarded with $47 million of the roughly $114 million drained from the Mango Markets defi hack under a deal with the platform after the heist.
Flipsider:
SBF has come under fire over a part of the framework that suggests the decentralized finance industry should comply with OFAC and become centralized.Why You Should Care
The SBF framework looks to provide clarity and protect customers while the crypto industry waits for full federal regulatory regimes.
EU competition officials express fears about metaverse market dominance
Two officials of the Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) at the European Commission published a blog post on October 17th. In it they suggest that dominant platforms in the metaverse could limit user choices and also raise prices.
Friedrich Wenzel Bulst and Sophie De Vinck said some potential competition challenges may arise if the metaverse forms a closed ecosystem. This is akin to mega firms forcing their hardware or software on others, charging exorbitant prices for access, limiting their use only to certain providers’ services, and even misusing people’s personal information.
According to Bulst and De Vinck, economic activity that happens offline, online and in a virtual world are all subject to competition law.
To prevent a closed ecosystem for the metaverse, they suggest that EU regulators can deploy the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act to protect privacy, competition, intellectual property, as well as freedom of expression.
Flipsider:
The EU’s policy paper on virtual worlds, promised to be published next spring, will likely torchlight the data privacy, intellectual property, and free speech of users in the Metaverse.Why You Should Care
The proposed regulations aim to help prevent the formation of a closed ecosystem metaverse. This evidently defeats one of the key features of blockchain technology.
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