Stablecoins are the next killer app: Crypto donations to US elections reach $200 million

Headlines

▌Paradigm Co-founder: Stablecoins are the Next Killer App for Crypto

Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang said on X, "Stablecoins are the next killer app for crypto - it's obvious to everyone in crypto, but not so obvious to the outside world. Congrats to Stripe and Brex."

Previously reported, payment company Stripe has acquired stablecoin platform Brex for $1.1 billion, the largest acquisition in the crypto space.

▌Bitcoin and Crypto Political Donations Near $200 Million for US Presidential Election

According to Bitcoin Magazine, Bitcoin and crypto political donations for the US presidential election are nearing $200 million.

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC last traded at $67,301.81, daily change -2.6%;

ETH last traded at $2,666.55, daily change -3.0%;

BNB last traded at $598.45, daily change -1.3%;

SOL last traded at $166.09, daily change -1.3%;

DOGE last traded at $0.144, daily change +1.5%;

XRP last traded at $0.5449, daily change -0.6%.

Policy

▌CFTC Chair Calls on Congress to Advance Crypto and Election Betting Legislation

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Rostin Behnam said at the SIFMA Annual Meeting that Congress is not expected to take action on crypto legislation until 2024. He called on Congress to focus on crypto asset regulation and election betting, emphasizing the importance of these areas.

Behnam pointed out that while the FIT21 bill has passed the House, it has not made further progress in Congress. Additionally, the CFTC's legal dispute with prediction market Kalshi continues, as Kalshi has begun offering betting services on the US presidential election. The CFTC is working to overturn the court's ruling and regain regulatory authority in this area.

▌Australian Securities and Investments Commission: Former CEO of Crypto Exchange Mine Digital Charged with Fraud

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission stated that the former CEO of crypto exchange Mine Digital has been charged with fraud.

▌SEC Accuses WisdomTree of Failing to Follow Its Own ESG Market Fund Investment Standards

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused advisory firm WisdomTree of failing to follow its own ESG market fund investment standards.

Blockchain Applications

▌Kalshi US Election Prediction Market Launches, Sees Over $30 Million in Trading Volume in Just Three Weeks

Kalshi launched its US election prediction market contracts after a favorable court ruling in October, and has already seen over $30 million in trading volume in just three weeks. It still lags behind Polymarket, which saw around $40 million in volume in its first month of presidential betting in early January to early February, and has recently exceeded $2 billion in volume.

Kalshi's market indicates that Republican candidate Donald Trump is leading Democratic opponent Kamala Harris by 14 percentage points, though these odds must come only from US citizens (and permanent residents) as Kalshi's terms prohibit foreign nationals from trading on the platform.

▌LayerZero CEO Discloses Across Token Contract Vulnerability, Proposes Solution

LayerZero CEO Bryan Pellegrino stated that the Across Protocol token contract has a critical issue that allows tokens to be withdrawn from any wallet and the account balance to be zeroed out. He suggested transferring contract ownership to an immutable new smart contract to prevent over-minting and token destruction.

Cryptocurrencies

▌PAC Backed by Crypto Mining Execs Runs Ads for Republican Candidate Ted Cruz

A political action committee (PAC) backed by crypto mining executives, the Bitcoin Voter Project, has run two ads for Republican candidate Ted Cruz.

The PAC's members include executives from crypto mining companies Marathon Digital Holdings, CleanSpark, and Riot Platforms, and the ads claim that Ted Cruz "understands embracing Bitcoin" without explicitly mentioning any policies of his opponent Colin Allred.

▌ETH/BTC Ratio Drops to Lowest Point Since April 2021

Since the Federal Reserve's 50 basis point rate cut in September, Bitcoin has risen 14% while Ethereum has only risen 12%. Kaiko Research points out that weaker institutional demand for Ethereum has led to the ETH/BTC ratio falling to its lowest level since April 2021. Bitcoin has benefited from inflows into exchange-traded funds (ETFs), while Ethereum has underperformed other major cryptocurrencies. Analysts also believe Ethereum will struggle to outperform Bitcoin until there is a significant shift in institutional demand.

▌An "Ancient Whale" from 2009 Has Cumulatively Sold $9.68 Million Worth of Bitcoin

According to Arkham data, an "ancient whale" who started mining Bitcoin from the genesis block has recently made large-scale sales.

Tracking data shows that this address started mining thousands of BTCs just 5 days after the first Bitcoin block was created in 2009, and has now sold $9.68 million worth of BTC, while still holding $72.09 million worth of BTC.

▌Yesterday, BITB Had a Net Outflow of $22.1 Million, ETHE Had a Net Outflow of $29.6 Million

According to Farside Investors monitoring data, the fund flows for US spot Bitcoin ETFs and spot Ethereum ETFs on October 21 were as follows:

Spot Bitcoin ETFs: BITB had a net outflow of $22.1 million, ARKB had a net outflow of $6.1 million, HODL had a net outflow of $7.6 million, GBTC had a net outflow of $4.8 million.

Spot Ethereum ETFs: ETHE had a net outflow of $29.6 million, ETHV had a net inflow of $3.9 million.

Important Economic Dynamics

▌Fed's Daly: No Reason Yet to Stop Cutting Rates

Federal Reserve's Daly said the Fed will continue adjusting policy to fit the economic situation; expects further rate cuts; sees no reason yet to stop cutting rates; monetary policy is still quite tight; doesn't want to see further deterioration in the labor market; the recent rate cut by the Fed barely passed, and I strongly supported a 50 basis point cut at the time.

▌Fed's Bullard: Personally Inclined to Avoid Large Rate Cuts

Federal Reserve's Bullard said interest rates may be significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels; called for a cautious, gradual and prudent rate cut strategy; is personally inclined to avoid large rate cuts; "reasonably believes" inflation will fall to 2%; sees the labor market normalizing rather than deteriorating.

▌86.8% Probability of 25BP Rate Cut by Fed in November

According to the CME "Fed Watch", the probability of the Fed cutting 25 basis points in November is 86.8%, the probability of keeping the current rate unchanged is 13.2%, and the probability of a 50 basis point cut is 0%. The probability of keeping the current rate unchanged in December is 3.5%, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point cut is 32.9%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point cut is 63.6%, with a 0% probability of a cumulative 75 basis point cut.

Jinse Encyclopedia

▌What is Dynamic Resharding

Dynamic resharding is a relatively new term, with the marketing team of the NEAR Protocol calling it the "holy grail of sharding", but it has also created new vocabulary that is not immediately understandable. Based on the concept of blockchain sharding, dynamic resharding occurs when the network adjusts the number of shards based on the load. Overloaded shards can be split into two, while two underutilized shards can be merged into one.

Disclaimer: Jinse Finance, as a blockchain information platform, the articles published are for informational reference only and do not constitute actual investment advice. Please everyone establish the correct investment concept and be sure to improve risk awareness.