Author: Sahil Poudel

Bybit is fined $2.4 million by the Dutch Central Bank for a regulatory violation.

In brief

De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) fined cryptocurrency exchange Bybit $2.4 million for operating in the Netherlands without requiring registration. The fine is an example of how anti-money laundering regulations are strictly enforced in order to prevent illegal financial activities in the bitcoin industry.

X (formerly Twitter) post about Dutch Central Bank

Bybit’s breach of Dutch legislation resulted in their punishment

De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the central bank of the Netherlands, fined Bybit €2.2 million ($2.4 million) for providing bitcoin services in the country without the necessary registration. The Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act requires cryptocurrency providers to register with the DNB in order to prevent illicit financial activity, and Bybit was fined on October 22 for breaking this law.

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In order to prevent illicit money transfers, registration is required

Bybit’s noncompliance, according to DNB, made it more difficult for the business to record odd transactions, which is a crucial legal requirement in the Netherlands. Given that “Bybit was unable to report unusual transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit-Netherlands during the period of non-compliance,” DNB emphasized the dangers associated with the absence of regulatory control in the cryptocurrency sector.

Consideration of Severity and Mitigation Measures in Fine

The fine amount, according to the central bank, is indicative of the “severity, extent, and duration of Bybit’s non-compliance.” However, DNB pointed out that Bybit’s efforts to resolve the matter resulted in a minor reduction in the punishment, since the company moved its Dutch clients to SATOS B.V., a local partner that possesses the required registration to serve Dutch clients.

Bybit’s Response and Committed Adherence

In reaction to the penalties, Bybit reaffirmed its commitment to regulatory compliance and acknowledged DNB’s ruling. The firm stated in a news release that “remediation efforts were initiated in 2022 to minimize potential financial damage.” Bybit CEO Ben Zhou emphasized the company’s dedication to “responsible growth” within the EU regulatory framework, saying, “We remain committed to working closely with European regulators to build a responsible and transparent ecosystem.”

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Trump’s Lead Over Harris Narrows on Polymarket as Bitcoin Dips to $68,000

Summary

As Election Day draws closer, the contest between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is getting closer, according to polymarket statistics. Harris’s odds have increased while Trump’s have decreased, indicating a change in the mood of the market. The reduction happens at the same time that Bitcoin falls to $68,000 due to market volatility.

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Trump Loses His Polymarket Lead

Donald Trump’s probabilities have decreased from 66.9% to 54%, according to Polymarket, a blockchain-based prediction tool, while Kamala Harris’s odds have increased from 33.5% to 46.1%. This indicates a rising mistrust of Trump’s hegemony as the November 5 election approaches.

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Harris Gains Momentum in Iowa Poll

The latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll reveals Harris leading Trump by three percentage points in Iowa, a significant swing from prior polls. According to pollster Ann Selzer, Harris now holds 47% of the likely voter support versus Trump’s 44%.

The Epstein Tapes Reappear

Recorded interviews with Jeffrey Epstein about his acquaintance with Trump are a new aspect in the election. As both campaigns step up their outreach, the rediscovered tapes might affect voters’ opinions.

The Crypto Positions of Candidates Vary

Trump has demonstrated his support for cryptocurrencies by taking donations in the form of cryptocurrency and endorsing laws that benefit digital assets. However, Harris has advocated for a more cautious approach, despite the backing of prominent crypto personalities like Chris Larsen, a co-founder of Ripple.

Bitcoin Dips Amid Political Uncertainty

The political environment’s volatility is mirrored in the crypto market, with Bitcoin dropping to $68,000. Ethereum has also declined, showing how investor sentiment may be affected by the ongoing presidential race.

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Pakistan Offers Legislation to Acknowledge Digital Currency

Summary

In an effort to establish a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has suggested that digital currencies be officially recognized as legal money. The framework, if implemented, will drastically change the country’s position on cryptocurrencies by giving the SBP the ability to keep an eye on digital assets and punish unapproved issuers.

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A Novel Approach to Digital Currency Recognition

To enable digital currencies to be accepted as official forms of currency, the State Bank of Pakistan has proposed changes to the State Bank of Pakistan Act. Adoption of this idea would allow the SBP to issue digital currency, which would fundamentally change the country’s view of digital assets.

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Legal Cryptocurrency Tender Status

According to the suggestion, it would be lawful for Pakistan to accept digital currencies like Bitcoin as payment methods. In contrast to the SBP’s previous cautious approach to virtual assets, legal tender status allows these digital currencies to be used for debt payments, products, and services.

Penalties and SBP Oversight for Unauthorized Issuers

The proposed framework grants the SBP the power to regulate both digital and conventional currency and includes provisions for punishing unlicensed digital currency producers. The goal of this monitoring is to further solidify the SBP’s authority over the nation’s financial system by reducing the issuance of unregulated digital currency.

Modification of Policy Concerning Dual Nationals in Executive Roles

The plan would also let dual nationals to occupy key roles within the SBP, reversing previous restrictions. In keeping with this measure are the government’s broader economic reforms aimed at modernizing Pakistan’s banking sector and attracting more expertise.

A Step Toward Digital Finance Modernization

The shift in Pakistan’s approach to digital assets supports the government’s economic goals, including projected GDP growth of 2.5-3.5%. As global finance becomes increasingly digital, Pakistan aims to keep pace by updating its regulatory framework to support a digital financial landscape.

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Ellipsis Labs Gets $21M to Create a Blockchain Atlas with a Finance Focus

SUMMARY

The decentralized exchange Phoenix on Solana was developed by Ellipsis Labs, which has raised $21 million in a fundraising round headed by Haun Ventures. The money will go toward building Atlas, a new blockchain that will facilitate safe, effective financial applications. The goal of Atlas, which was developed with support for Solana Virtual Machines and Ethereum’s Layer-2 settlement, is to lay the foundation for the next wave of decentralized banking by combining fast transactions with strong security.

Funding to Advance Blockchain Capabilities

Ellipsis Labs, known for its decentralized exchange platform Phoenix on Solana, has secured $21 million in a recent funding round. Key investors like Electric Capital and Paradigm contributed to this round, which was led by Haun Ventures. The development of Atlas, a blockchain tailored to meet the unique requirements of financial applications, will be fueled by this financing.

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Atlas: A Blockchain with Financial Focus

Atlas is engineered as a finance-focused blockchain, optimized for applications requiring efficient transaction processing, low costs, and timely data updates. Launched in September 2024, Atlas aims to enhance the functionality of on-chain finance and attract mainstream users by providing essential tools for decentralized financial applications.

Solana Compatibility with Ethereum’s Security

Atlas integrates Solana Virtual Machine compatibility, allowing Solana-based apps to function on its platform. As a Layer-2 solution on Ethereum, Atlas gains access to Ethereum’s settlement layer security as well. With this combination, Solana’s speed and Ethereum’s dependability are intended to be perfect for financial transactions.

Proven Success with Phoenix on Solana

Ellipsis Labs made a significant impact with Phoenix, an on-chain orderbook that has contributed to the growth of Solana’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. Based on this achievement, Atlas puts Ellipsis Labs in a position to grow its role in DeFi and attract both individual users and institutions. The financing round demonstrates the investors’ faith in the company’s prospects.

Steady Support from Top Blockchain Investors

The $21 million round adds to Ellipsis Labs’ previous investments, with backers like Paradigm, which led a $20 million Series A in April 2024, and Electric Capital, which led a $3.3 million seed round in 2023. Strong faith in the potential of Ellipsis Labs’ Atlas vision is shown in the continued interest from investors.

Paving the Future for On-Chain Finance

Ellipsis Labs envisions Atlas as a catalyst for redefining blockchain-based financial services by offering an efficient platform for decentralized applications. The latest funding will support this vision, addressing issues around performance and accessibility that have limited blockchain finance.

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CryptoQuant CEO Predicts Bitcoin Will Become a Currency by 2030

Summary

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju believes Bitcoin will become considerably stable and less volatile by the next halving event in 2028, making the way for mass adoption. He also states the growing difficulty of Bitcoin mining and large institutional involvement may reach a point in future where Bitcoin will be used as a currency, he predicts this to happen by 2030.

Rising Mining Difficulty: A Positive Sign

The difficulty of mining Bitcoin has skyrocketed by 378% over the past three years, according to the data provided by CryptoQuant. Ki Young Ju, A CEO said that this surge is due to entry of large scale mining companies, backed by institutional investors.While this has made things difficult for small miners to compete but he views this as a positive development, suggesting it will lead to something greater providing stability in Bitcoin ecosystem.

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Institutional Influence in Bitcoin Mining

This institutional power is being driven by significant Bitcoin mining firms like Riot Platforms, Marathon Digital, and CleanSpark. In order to help pro-crypto candidates, these businesses recently established a political action committee and started a $2 million digital advertising campaign in strategic states. The crypto mining company TeraWulf also revealed plans to raise $350 million to fund its operations, underscoring the expanding significance of institutional investors in the Bitcoin market.

Bitcoin as Currency by 2030

Ju thinks that Bitcoin will be sufficiently developed to function as a low-volatility currency by the time of the 2028 halving event. He highlights that Bitcoin was initially intended to be “peer-to-peer electronic cash,” not merely a store of value, as Satoshi Nakamoto had intended. Ju believes that by 2030, stablecoins and more regulation will allow Bitcoin to play this role.

Ethiopia’s Bitcoin Mining Surge: Powering the Future

Ethiopia’s Emerging Hub

Ethiopia has become a Bitcoin Mining Hub, with power consumption of 600MW, with 5200MW installed capacity. This power is generated through Ethiopia’s finest Hydropower facility, more of which is expected by the end of next year.

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Efficient Mining Technologies

Miners are using energy-efficient machines like Bitmain’s S19J Pro.

Ethan Vera of Luxor Mining noted

“Most mining farms had evaporative cooling (water walls) set up, although it’s not needed for the majority of the year given the cold climate. “

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Strategic Investments

Ethiopia’s involvement in Bitcoin space aims to improve their digital infrastructure, which includes a $250 million project with West Data Group focused at enhancing data mining and AI capabilities.

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Opportunities Amid Challenges

After China’s ban on Bitcoin mining, Ethiopia is rising due to lower electricity cost, despite over 50% of Ethiopians lacking electricity.

Radiant Capital Exploiter Moves $52M to Ethereum Network

Summary

An attacker moved $52 million in stolen cryptocurrency assets onto the Ethereum network after breaching DeFi lender Radiant Capital, perhaps to hide the money. While attempts are underway to track and freeze the monies, Radiant Capital has advised consumers to safeguard their assets.

Forensic Discovery

On October 24, blockchain analysis firm PeckShield reported that wallets linked to Radiant Capital’s attacker moved approximately $52 million worth of stolen assets, shifting the bulk of them from Arbitrum and Binance BNB Chain into the Ethereum network.

Exploit Details

The breach, which was first carried out on October 16, used a complex malware insertion in developers’ hardware wallets to target Radiant Capital’s Arbitrum network. The attack, which was described as “one of the most advanced in DeFi history,” cost 20,500 ETH in total.

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Laundering Methods

PeckShield noted that the funds could potentially be routed through crypto mixers on Ethereum, a common tactic to disguise stolen assets, which has been observed in other high-profile hacks this year.

Radiant’s Response

Radiant Capital urged users to revoke permissions to certain contracts through revoke.cash to prevent further losses. The team also stated that they are actively working with security and law enforcement professionals to recover the assets. This attack exposes a troubling pattern in DeFi, since previous September incursions at sites like as Indodax and BingX resulted in a total loss of $120 million in bitcoin hacks across the industry.

Crypto Startup Layer Secures $6M to Solve Smart Contract Limitations

A blockchain infrastructure startup, Layer, has successfully raised $6 million in a seed funding round. This project is led by 1kx and joined by Fabric Ventures, Arrington Capital and Stake Capital group. The company aims to utilize this money on advancing Ethereum’s Capability by innovating developer tools for full-stack dApps using web assembly.

Pioneering Blockchain Infrastructure

Layer, A company found by blockchain veterans Sam Cassatt, Jake Hartnell and Ethan Frey, aims to fix the limitations of contracts by forming more complex Decentralized Applications (dApps). This projects aims to solve surrounding smart contracts performance and scalability through the combination of blockchain security with off-chain services like AI agent and decentralized messaging server.

Sam Cassatt, co-founder of Layer Stated:

“We wanted to complete the full narrative arc of decentralized architecture, and give the world the tools necessary to build any application, with any performance requirements in this trust-minimized way.”

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Angel Investors and Layer SDK

Angel investors, including Sreeram Kannan from EigenLayer, Mike Silagadze from Ether.fi, and Paul Taylor, a former BlackRock executive also helped raise a funding of $6 million. These industry insiders are showing effort and support towards the release of “Layer SDK”, which will help developers to build full-stack blockchain applications with Ethereum as its base.

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Addressing Smart Contract Vulnerabilities

This project is about to be launched when concerns about vulnerabilities in smart contract are rising. Trugard Labs, a blockchain firm identified over 34,000 high-risk vulnerabilities in smart contract being used on various blockchains, including Ethereum and BNB chain.

Layer aims to minimize potential risks and improve Smart contracts functionability with enhanced security. This is a critical development in the growing decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

Bhutan Turns to Bitcoin Mining for Economic Self-Reliance

Bhutan, a small kingdom in south asia, is using bitcoin mining as a part of its strategy to obtain economic self-reliance. Bhutan famous for hydropower, has been secretly building a mining infrastucture using its renewable energy. This project has placed Bhutan on the global stage alongside El Salvador as one of the few countries officially mining bitcoin.

Hydro Power Meets Bitcoin

Hydroelectric power projects have provided Bhutan with vast energy resources, this excess energy initially used to support neighbouring country India, is now being used to mine Bitcoin. This move highlights Bhutan’s intention to secure nation’s future in digital economy.

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Significant Bitcoin Holdings

Bhutan is the fourth largest government holder of Bitcoin globally with over 13,000 BTC. Bhutan has surpassed El Salvador with an appropriate holding of 0.122 BTC per citizen. Meanwhile, Bhutan’s reserve amounts to nearly $8,000 per citizen. This tactical investment has given Bhutan a Financial support as it continous to grow its Crypto mining capabilities.

A Future Bitcoin Standard?

Experts have speculated that Bhutan could adopt a blockchain standard. This would mean pegging Bhutan’s Currency Ngultrum, to Bitcoin. This would offer a stable decentralized alternative to national currencies.

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Bhutan’s Global Economic Role

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By expanding its Bitcoin mining Infrastucture, Bhutan has put itself on a favourable position for future decentralized finances (DeFi). As the world shifts away from fiat currencies, bhutan’s Bitcoin Reserves could serve as a blueprint for other nations. This could enhance Bhutan’s economic sector despite it’s small size and population.

Over $100 million is lost by a Malaysian electricity company as a result of illicit bitcoin mining.

In brief

Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), Malaysia’s national electrical provider, has disclosed losses resulting from illicit Bitcoin mining activities of approximately 440 million ringgit, or $101 million. According to Malaysia’s Criminal Investigation Department, TNB’s financial soundness has weakened significantly in recent years as a result of the ongoing fraud.

The Impact of Illicit Crypto Mining on the EconomySince 2020

TNB has lost a lot of money due to the illegal usage of electricity for Bitcoin mining; in 2023 alone, the firm lost 103 million ringgit. Losses started out at 5.9 million ringgit in 2020 but rapidly increased, reaching a high of 140.4 million ringgit in 2021 and continuing to do so until 2023.

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Rising Cost of Bitcoin Mining in Malaysia

In July, TNB highlighted that losses from unauthorized Bitcoin mining between 2018 and 2023 surpassed $755 million. Malaysia’s Deputy Minister of Energy Transition, Akmal Nasir, noted that although crypto mining represents a small fraction of total energy usage, it has a significant economic impact on TNB and the nation.

Seizures and Enforcement Actions

Authorities have seized around $500,000 worth of equipment linked to illegal Bitcoin mining and are investigating tax evasion using digital assets. TNB’s Criminal Investigation Department is looking into the causes of the increase in losses in prior years, especially in 2022 and 2023, in an attempt to remedy the ongoing issue.

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