Google and Coinbase strike a deal, BNY Mellon begins crypto custody and WisdomTree’s Bitcoin ETF gets denied: Hodler’s Digest, Oct. 9-15

Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Top Stories This Week

Starting in early 2023, Coinbase’s payment service, Coinbase Commerce, will facilitate crypto payments for customers purchasing Google’s cloud services thanks to a deal between the two companies. Google will only allow certain crypto assets for payment, including Bitcoin. Initially limited to certain participants, the option to pay with crypto will eventually be expanded to other customers, an executive at Google Cloud told CNBC. Google Cloud has taken several other steps toward crypto and blockchain industry involvement in 2022. 

BNY Mellon, America’s oldest bank, launches crypto services

Banking giant BNY Mellon has entered the crypto custody field, offering certain customers Bitcoin and Ether custody services via a new platform. The 238-year-old bank will provide bookkeeping for clients’ crypto in a similar fashion as it does for traditional assets, while also handling clients’ private keys. BNY Mellon’s CEO of securities services and digital, Roman Regelman, said: “With Digital Asset Custody, we continue our journey of trust and innovation into the evolving digital assets space, while embracing leading technology and collaborating with fintechs.”

SEC rejects WisdomTree’s application for a spot Bitcoin ETF… again

Following multiple delays, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has denied WisdomTree’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposal, which the firm filed in January. The SEC cited fears of market manipulation and fraud as the rationale for its decision, which is consistent with its previous rationale for denying spot Bitcoin ETFs. The SEC also denied a spot Bitcoin ETF proposal from WisdomTree in 2021.

PayPal says policy to punish users for misinformation was ‘in error’

PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy was set to change in early November to include a $2,500 fine for any platform users that promote, post, send or publicize so-called “misinformation.” PayPal has since claimed that the policy provision was added in error. “PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and this language was never intended to be inserted in our policy,” said PayPal. The fiasco has reignited concerns about centralized platforms among crypto users who view self-custody as an important pillar of self-sovereignty and financial inclusion.

Blockchain games and metaverse projects raised $1.3B in Q3: DappRadar

Data from DappRadar revealed that $1.3 billion worth of venture capital flowed into metaverse projects and blockchain games in Q3 — a bright spot amid crypto bear market darkness. While venture capital funding for these sectors was down 48% compared with Q2, the Q3 figure was still more than double the amount invested in all of 2021.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $19,665, Ether (ETH) at $1,329 and XRP at $0.50. The total market cap is at $938.70 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Huobi Token (HT) at 87.06%, TerraClassicUSD (USTC) at 63.33% and Quant (QNT) at 22.07%.  

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Klaytn (KLAY) at -20.36%, Internet Computer (ICP) at -15.04% and eCash (XEC) at -14.48%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“Ethereum is the ‘Hotel California’ of cryptocurrencies. You can check in, but you can’t check out.

Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano

“Elon Musk quotes posts about Dogecoin, you get seven times daily signups.

Alex Harper, co-CEO and co-founder of Swyftx

“If we [the crypto industry] want to achieve internet scale, we need a solution for AML/CTF compliance.

John Henderson, partner at Airtree Ventures

“A bear market is the best time to start working in crypto and find a job.

Raman Shalupau, founder of Crypto Jobs List

“There is protection in gold. But in my opinion, Bitcoin is far superior. It’s got math and code. It’s defended by a decentralized protocol. You don’t mess with math.

Greg Foss, executive director of strategic initiatives at Validus Power Corp

“It’s incredibly important not to ever forget that we have an immense responsibility that influencers do not. They have their own risks in terms of their followers’ trust, but we have our responsibility to keep our integrity as journalists.

Kristina Cornèr, editor-in-chief of Cointelegraph

Prediction of the Week 

BTC price hits 3-week lows on US CPI as Bitcoin liquidates $57M

For most of the week, Bitcoin traded sideways, slightly favoring the downside, according to Cointelegraph’s BTC price index. The asset sustained a fair bit of price volatility on Oct. 13, however, in line with the release of September’s U.S. inflation data. Bitcoin’s price dropped down near $18,200 following the news but subsequently rebounded above $19,000.  

In an Oct. 13 post, pseudonymous Twitter user il Capo of Crypto tweeted about the possibility of Bitcoin’s drop being a bear trap, noting a potential subsequent rally to $21,000, followed by a stark drop.

FUD of the Week

US Treasury’s OFAC and FinCEN announce $29M in enforcement actions against Bittrex

Crypto exchange Bittrex faces charges from two different United States regulators: the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The regulatory authorities have essentially alleged that Bittrex did not conduct proper due diligence on its customers and transactions between 2014 and 2018, which allowed users from sanctioned regions to use the platform. Bittrex confirmed it would settle with OFAC for around $24 million, which may also be applied as a credit toward its $29 million settlement owed to FinCEN. Looking to move forward from the situation, Bittrex stated that it has been up to date with expected standards since 2018.

$100M drained from Solana DeFi platform Mango Markets, token plunges 52%

Mango Markets, a decentralized finance platform running on the Solana blockchain, reportedly bled around $100 million from its treasury thanks to an exploit. Someone manipulated price data for the platform’s native MNGO asset, letting them borrow crypto worth far more than the value of the MNGO they put up as collateral. MNGO suffered a roughly 50% price drop following news of the event. Later reporting saw the hacker coming forward, demanding a $70 million bug reward and other terms to return exploited funds.

CNN to shut down its NFT marketplace and issue 20% refund

After about four months, media outlet CNN has decided to discontinue its nonfungible token (NFT) endeavor, seemingly another bear market casualty. The media company’s NFT project, known as Vault by CNN, essentially offered tokenized memories of historical news events spanning multiple decades through CNN’s history. The project’s roadmap projected six months of development, although the media outlet has since claimed the project was a “6-week experiment,” according to an announcement from the Vault by CNN Twitter account. NFT buyers will get a 20% reimbursement of the price they paid to mint their NFTs, according to a CNN staffer on Discord.

Best Cointelegraph Features

Attack of the zkEVMs! Crypto’s 10x moment

zkEVMs are launching this month and offer a path to infinite scaling for Ethereum. But who will win the race between Polygon, zkSync, Scroll and StarkWare?

Mass adoption will be terrible for crypto

From reversible transactions to increased regulation and a rising tide of censorship, mass adoption is going to make crypto look more like the systems we’re trying to escape.

Crypto’s downturn is about more than the macro environment

The global economic downturn should not have a long-term negative effect on cryptocurrency prices, even if it is influencing crypto in the short term.