Top Stories of the Week
Michael Saylor Posts Fake Trump Quote on Crypto to 3.6 Million Followers
With the U.S. midterm elections approaching and many voters already casting their ballots, social media is rife with misinformation about candidates' policies. MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor appears to have fallen for a social media post containing misinformation about Donald Trump's stance on taxing Cryptocurrencies.
In an October 30 post on X to his over 3.6 million followers, Saylor attributed a quote to Trump saying Cryptocurrencies should not be taxed and that "Bitcoin is money."
An investigation by TinTucBitcoin found that this fabricated quote originated from an X account called Basedkarbon, who claimed in an October 28 post that the Republican candidate had made the statement in "a recent interview."
Kraken Restructures with New Co-CEO, Reports Staff Layoffs
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has announced a "new day" with the appointment of Arjun Sethi as a new co-CEO and management changes. There is also an unconfirmed report that 15% of staff have been laid off.
Sethi is also a co-founder and chairman of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Tribe Capital and has been a Kraken board member since 2021. He will share the leadership role at Kraken with David Ripley.
Alongside Sethi's appointment, Kraken announced upcoming major changes in an October 30 blog post. "We need to be leaner and faster," the company stated. Kraken's organizational structure is clearly set for a revamp. As per the blog:
"We've fallen into the trap of building organizational layers. We've put managers in charge of the success or failure of the teams they control, and we predict success based on siloed P&L units. [...] So 'managers' are incentivized to do the wrong thing."
Former FTX Director Sentenced After Pleading Guilty
A federal judge has sentenced Nishad Singh, the former FTX director of engineering, to prison time and three years of supervised release for his role in the misuse of customer funds and campaign finance violations.
In an October 30 hearing at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced the 29-year-old Singh to 27 months in prison. He is the fourth executive mentioned in the indictment of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, and former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame to face a judge.
According to reports from the Inner City Press courtroom, Singh's lawyers argued that "the bulk" of the fraud at FTX was due to the actions of Bankman-Fried and Ellison. Singh said he was "overwhelmed with remorse" for his role in the FTX debacle.
Trump Win Could Provide 'Dopamine Boost' for Crypto, but Traders Should Be Cautious
Many critics of the Cryptocurrency industry have predicted that a Donald Trump victory in the November 5 U.S. presidential election could trigger a major market surge.
However, some analysts warn that Cryptocurrency investors should tread carefully in the days and weeks around the election, as there may be other factors at play.
"A Trump win could provide a dopamine boost," Swyftx's chief analyst Pav Hundal told TinTucBitcoin, while cautioning that markets will be more volatile in the days surrounding the election.
Derive founder Nick Forster said "traders should approach with caution" as the markets are currently pricing in significant volatility. He warned that "while there may be upsides, the risks are equally significant."
According to Derive options data, Forster said traders are bracing for substantial price swings around the election day.
OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Search, Touted as 'Killer App' of 2025
OpenAI has introduced a new feature for its artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, to enhance its ability to answer questions by searching the web.
On October 31, the company announced the "ChatGPT Search" feature, allowing users to search the internet based on their queries. Users can also manually trigger the web search by clicking on the search icon.
While ChatGPT previously had limited internet access, the new update claims to provide more relevant answers compared to traditional search engines:
"You can get quick, timely answers with links to relevant online sources, something you'd previously have to go to a search engine to find."
Winners and Losers
This weekend, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $69,332, Ether (ETH) is at $2,510, and XRP is at $0.51. The total market capitalization is $2.32 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the top 100 Cryptocurrencies, the three biggest gainers this week are Raydium (RAY) at 21%, Dogecoin (DOGE) at 15.92%, and Maker (MKR) at 15.05%.
The three biggest losers this week are Immutable (IMX) at 21.19%, Celestia (TIA) at 19.87%, and Arweave (AR) at 17.49%. For more information on Cryptocurrency prices, check out TinTucBitcoin's market analysis.
Most Memorable Quotes
Timothy Peterson, independent crypto economist "The overall [crypto regulation] is actually moving in a positive direction... By June, Donald Trump is pro-crypto. By the end of June, both parties are pro-crypto. I'm still sitting in jail, wondering what the hell happened?" Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, co-founder and former CEO of Binance "Barring an external shock, we are heading towards a six-figure Bitcoin price before the end of the year. Regardless of who is controlling the White House." Pav Hundal, Chief Market Analyst at Swyftx "Anything Vitalik says in that direction gets my and the company's cheers, but no additional pressure from Vitalik or anyone outside of Consensys." Joe Lubin, CEO of ConsenSys "The market doesn't care about our analysis or positioning. You step up to the edge and grab what creates signals for you." Aksel Kibar, trader and former fund manager "The global financial system is outdated, antiquated and inefficient. This industry is very important to the US, but it operates at the speed of the post office while the rest of the economy has successfully innovated using technology and the internet." Charles Cascarilla, CEO of Paxos"If Bitcoin crashes after the election, the price of MicroStrategy (MSTR) is likely to drop two to three times as much due to its high Beta to Bitcoin."
