CoinDesk Crypto

Bitcoin miners generated an estimated $353 million in revenue in October, up 8% from September, according to on-chain data from Coin Metrics analyzed by CoinDesk.

The revenue increase came as bitcoin soared through October, closing the month up nearly 30% at $13,800 on Coinbase. Seasonal shifts in mining hardware in late October also caused an increase in miner revenue as the network’s hash rate dropped, causing transaction processing to slow and fees to climb through late October. 

Revenue estimates assume miners sell their BTC immediately.

Related: Bitcoin Mining Firm Hut 8 Appoints Jaime Leverton as CEO

Network fees brought in $42.9 million in October, or just over 12% of total revenue, the highest percentage since January 2018. Fee revenue increased as average fees soared in the second half of October, reaching $13.45 on Friday. 

Fees climbed as bitcoin suffered its most severe congestion in nearly three years, as the mempool – a holding depot for transactions awaiting confirmation – filled up due to a drop in hashrate caused by miners taking machines offline, as CoinDesk previously reported. Specifically, some miners in China’s Sichuan province took machines offline to relocate to other areas with cheaper electricity sources as the region’s rainy season ended. 

Notably, fees as a percentage of total revenue continues a strong upward trend since April after the block subsidy halving in May. Increases in fee revenue are important to sustain the network’s security as the subsidy decreases every four years.

At the end of Q3, cryptocurrency traders predicted significant upside for bitcoin as they rotated money from alternate cryptocurrencies (altcoins) to bitcoin. Quarter to date, bitcoin is up 26%, outperforming nearly every altcoin with a large market capitalization.

If this trade thesis continues to be valid through the rest of Q4, miners can have hopes for a higher BTC price and subsequent revenue growth through the end of 2020.

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Bitcoin was lower around $13,200, retreating after reaching a fresh 2020 high near $14,100 on Oct. 31. 

Tuesday’s presidential election in the U.S. “is going to be the driving force for global markets,” Matt Blom, head of sales and trading for the cryptocurrency-exchange owner Diginex, told clients in a note. 

Analysts have warned that markets could see extreme volatility if the election results are murky, and the Federal Reserve has a regularly scheduled meeting just days afterward. 

Related: Bitcoin Revisits $13.5K After Posting Best Month Since April

“It seems we will have to wait until after tomorrow when the U.S. goes to the polls before we see any further clarity,” Simon Peters, an analyst for the trading platform eToro, wrote Monday in an email.  

In traditional markets, Asian and European indexes rose and U.S. equity futures pointed toward a higher open after last week’s steep drop. Oil prices fell to a five-month low, while gold strengthened 0.5% to $1,888 an ounce.  

Market moves

If it seemed like an unusually bullish month for bitcoin (BTC), the markets agreed.

The oldest and largest cryptocurrency surged 29% in October, the most among the CoinDesk 20 list of top digital assets. 

Related: Crypto Long & Short: Wyoming Is Crypto’s ‘Wild West,’ Which Is Exactly What We Need

Litecoin (LTC) was the second-best performer in the group, with a 22% return, followed by bitcoin cash (BCH) at 16%. 

CoinDesk reported around the start of the month (here and here) that digital-asset analysts were turning more bullish on bitcoin. Some traders had started rotating funds into the cryptocurrency from smaller tokens like Compound’s COMP and Yearn.Finance’s YFI that surged in price earlier this year amid an explosion in popularity of “decentralized finance,” or DeFi.  

“We are seeing a return to bitcoin dominance,” said Andrew Ballinger, an analyst at Wave Financial, a digital-asset-focused investment manager based in Los Angeles and London.  

The renewed interest in bitcoin, now with a market capitalization of about $250 billion, coincided with new signs of growing interest in the cryptocurrency from institutional investors as well as big companies like PayPal and Square. A resurgence of the coronavirus along with a deteriorating U.S. economic outlook kindled speculation that authorities would push to provide more fiscal and monetary stimulus; that might push up bitcoin’s price, seen by many investors as a hedge against inflation.  

Bitcoin’s performance also stood out versus traditional assets. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of large U.S. stocks slid 2.8% in October, and gold slipped 0.1%. 

The question going forward is whether bitcoin reverts to the mean or if it gets carried up on a groundswell of investors piling into the only big trade that really seems to be working in 2020. Bitcoin is up 92% year to date, versus a 1.2% gain for the S&P 500. 

The biggest losers in the CoinDesk 20 in October were Orchid (OXT), with a price decline of 25%, and 0x (ZRX), down 21%.

Bitcoin watch

Bitcoin is feeling the pull of gravity at press time, having failed to keep gains above a key hurdle over the weekend. 

The top cryptocurrency is currently trading near $13,450, representing a 2.3% decline on the day. Prices reached a 33-month high of $14,093 on Saturday, shrugging off the recent coronavirus-led stock market instability. 

However, the move above the June 2019 high of $13,880 was short-lived. The cryptocurrency’s inability to secure a foothold in the wake of overbought readings on technical indicators seems to have disappointed chart traders and could be fueling the price pullback. 

According to some analysts, the failed breakout, coupled with continued instability in traditional markets, could lead to a bigger bitcoin price drop in the short-term. 

“If we consider overbought daily technicals plus failure to beat the 2019 high resistance and a risk-off backdrop, it is perfectly reasonable to anticipate the possibility for a healthy decline ahead,” Joel Kruger, a currency strategist at LMAX Digital, told CoinDesk.

Besides, many fear the results of the election will not be immediately clear, resulting in a period of uncertainty for the markets.

All these factors considered, the possibility of bitcoin revisiting the former hurdle-turned-support of $12,500 cannot be ruled out.

That said, a price crash looks unlikely, as the cryptocurrency currently has a strong bid from institutions, trader and analyst Nick Cote told CoinDesk last week.

Token watch

Filecoin (FIL): Crypto miners paying interest up to 40% to borrow decentralized data storage provider’s FIL tokens, to meet required proof-of-stake threshold. 

Uniswap (UNI): Quorum not achieved on governance proposal to airdrop $40M of UNI tokens to users who interacted with DeFi market maker through third-party apps, despite apparently overwhelming support. 

Horizen (ZEN): Crypto lender Celsius works with Horizen, developer of privacy token ZEN, to run experiments for decentralized way of proving reserves (CoinDesk)  

What’s hot

Chinese central-bank governor more than 4M transactions totaling about 2B yuan ($299M) have been conducted using digital yuan. (CoinDesk) 

Bitcoin mining difficulty set to drop by an estimated 15%, as blockchain network automatically rebalances from decrease in hashpower due to end of China’s rainy season (HASHR8) 

ECB’s Lagarde seeks public comments on digital euro, implying broad retail offering is now on table (CoinDesk) 

Australian central bank partnering with multiple prominent domestic banks to explore possible use of digital currency (CoinDesk)  

Analogs The latest on the economy and traditional finance

Bank of England expected this week to increase size of asset-purchasing program by 100B pounds to £845T ($1.1T) (Reuters) 

Activity in China’s factory sector accelerates at fastest pace in decade as domestic demand surges (Reuters)  

Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration chief warns that U.S. is at “beginning of the steep part of the epidemic” (CNBC) 

Rich buyers fleeing cities and coronavirus fuel housing boom in Montana, as remote-working shift untethers high-paying jobs from offices (Bloomberg) 

Chinese President Xi calls for independent and controllable supply chains to ensure industrial and national security, as U.S. moves to cut country off from key exports (Bloomberg)  

U.S. billionaires, numbering roughly 200 people, got $1T richer during Trump’s term (Bloomberg) 

Tweet of the Day Related Stories

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A Nigeria-based startup is looking to bring decentralized finance (DeFi) to the world of credit unions. Built on the Binance Smart Chain, Xend Finance announced Monday its public launch and a $1.5 million strategic funding round.

“A major problem faced by these credit unions or cooperatives is a constant devaluation of the currency, because most of the time our economy is unstable,” Xend founder and CEO Aronu Ugochukwu told CoinDesk in an interview. 

With backing from Binance Labs, Google Launchpad, AU21 Capital, TRG Capital, Matic co-founder Sandeep Nailwal and others, Xend aims for financial inclusion in the developing world by converting deposits into crypto and harvesting yield on DeFi platforms like Compound and Aave.

Related: DeFi Trading App Dharma Now Connects Directly to US Bank Accounts

The protocol also allows users to create their own credit unions and cooperatives, eliminating traditional middlemen.

“Traditional credit unions have a number of limiting drawbacks,” said Ugochukwu, “including only 1% annual percentage yield returns and geographical limitations.” By contrast, a press statement touted as much as 15% APY on Xend users’ savings.

By tapping into DeFi, small savers can stake their local currency and earn compounded interest in a stable currency, Ugochukwu said, like the U.S. dollar. 

The platform has already received $1,000 from one local cooperative to help onboard five of its members, including a group of doctors at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH).

Related: Decentralized VPN Sees Increased Use in Nigeria Amid #EndSars Protests

Xend, a traditional fintech company and parent company of Xend Finance, has already built a network of 55,000 users which Ugochukwu hopes to bring over to the new DeFi platform.

“Crypto is amazing in Nigeria,” he said.

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Investment platform eToro is now providing a free insurance scheme that will pay its customers holding traditional assets up to £1 million ($1.292 million) if the firm should ever become insolvent. 

• In an emailed announcement on Monday, eToro said the new policy is underwritten by Lloyd’s of London and would apply in “the unlikely event that eToro were to enter a state of insolvency.”
• If it goes bust, the firm said the policy would “cover clients for losses above the relevant financial compensation schemes to a value of £1 million, and in accordance with the purchased policy.”
• In the U.K., the Financial Services Compensation Scheme would cover up to £85,000 (around $110,000) held in investments.
• The policy also covers both cash held on eToro’s platform and open accounts but cryptocurrencies are not included because they are “unregulated assets,” the firm stated.
• eToro said the insurance would bring its millions of global users “additional peace of mind.”

Also read: Bitstamp Adds Crypto Crime Insurance for Assets Held Online

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Crypto derivatives exchange Opium has closed a $3.25 million funding round involving investors such as QCP Soteria, Kenetic Capital and Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research. 

The Amsterdam-based startup allows for users to launch custom and exotic decentralized derivatives that anyone with an internet connection and an Ethereum wallet can access. 

Founder and CEO Andrey Belyakov told CoinDesk in an interview that Opium was created to solve three problems in the traditional derivatives market: transparency, barrier to entry and cost-efficiency. 

Related: Uniswap Proposal to Airdrop More UNI Falls Short in Governance Vote

“You cannot make derivatives unless you’ve got millions of dollars to spare,” Belyakov said. He added that all three of these problems can be solved with blockchain because then “everyone can run his own derivatives.” 

The protocol was designed over two years ago, long before decentralized finance (DeFi) popped into an $11 billion market over the summer. 

“We are making DeFi more efficient in the short term but our long-term goal is to compete with traditional derivatives in this huge market,” Belyakov said.

Last month, Opium introduced credit default swaps for tether (USDT) to insure buyers in the event of a default by Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin and fifth-largest cryptocurrency overall. 

Related: MakerDAO Members Voting on a Safeguard Against BProtocol Flash Loan-Type Attack

Read more: New Crypto Derivatives Let You Bet on (or Against) Tether’s Solvency

The company told CoinDesk it also has plans to launch different credit default swaps to compete with other solutions on the insurance market.

Investor Jehan Chu, co-founder of Kenetic Capital, said in a press statement:

“Opium’s BYOD (build your own derivative) platform will unlock value across inefficient markets and industries and will power DeFi through its evolution to tokenize capital markets.”

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Nations working to take nuclear weapons out of commission should turn to blockchain to build trust and make the process more secure, according to a new policy report.

As reported by King’s College London on Monday, research from the university’s Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS) suggests that using blockchain would help parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty build trust and make dismantling nuclear weapons more “safe, secure and reliable.”

Titled “The Trust Machine: Blockchain in Nuclear Disarmament and Arms Control Verification,” the policy report is aimed to provide policymakers a non-technical look at how blockchain technology could them conform to the requirements of nuclear disarmament verification.

Related: Library of Congress Reports Surge in Crypto Law Searches

Among the specific benefits the technology can offer for the dismantling data management process, the report’s authors list “an immutable, encrypted record of chain-of-custody for treaty-accountable items,” allowing third parties to verify the disarmament without actually seeing the data.

Another is a “cryptographic escrow” for national declarations allowing sensitive data to be released in a phased manner.

The team – led by CSSS Research Associate Dr. Lyndon Burford – further says blockchain could provide a secure data platform for location sensors and environmental monitors. This could enable real-time monitoring at remote sites, “automatically alerting participants to potential treaty violations,” the report suggests.

With nations unwilling to expose sensitive data concerning nuclear weapons, Dr. Burford said governments “often lack sufficient trust in each other to cooperate on such measures.”

Related: The Potential Ripple Effects of Ethereum 2.0, Explained

The report’s title reflects the possibility that blockchain could be a tool to build that trust by offering an encrypted, tamperproof way to manage the data around warhead dismantling, according to the report.

Also read: How the Bitcoin Blockchain Is Being Used to Safeguard Nuclear Power Stations

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Bitcoin’s bulls are taking a breather after a double-digit price gain in October.

• The leading cryptocurrency by market value is trading near $13,500 at press time, representing a roughly 2% decline on the day, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index.
• The minor decline comes after last month’s 28% rally, the biggest single-month gain since April.
• On Saturday, bitcoin had surged to a 33-month high of $14,093 but quickly fell back.
• Some analysts think a bigger pullback may be seen in the short-term.
• “If we consider overbought daily technicals plus failure to beat the 2019 high resistance and a risk-off backdrop, it is perfectly reasonable to anticipate the possibility for a healthy decline ahead,” Joel Kruger, a currency strategist at LMAX Digital, told CoinDesk.

• Bitcoin’s failure to establish a foothold above the June 2019 high of $13,880 has validated the short-term bull fatigue signaled by the 14-day relative strength index (above left).
• As such, some technical traders may feel tempted to take profits, forcing prices lower.
• “There might be small corrections, as some market participants, who bought at lower prices, may exit the market,” Ashish Singhal, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange CoinSwitch, said.
• Further, continued coronavirus-induced weakness in stock markets could trigger a global demand for cash, as seen in March, aggravating the technical pullback.
• Another source of risk for bitcoin is the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday, according to Singhal.
• Many fear that the results of the election will not be immediately clear, resulting in a period of uncertainty for the markets.
• All these factors considered, the possibility of bitcoin revisiting the former hurdle-turned-support of $12,500 cannot be ruled out.
• “Unless the market can establish above $14,000, there is a risk that rally stalls here in favor of a healthy retreat,” Kruger said.
• While a pullback could be seen, analysts don’t foresee a price crash, as the cryptocurrency currently has a strong bid from institutions, trader and analyst Nick Cote told CoinDesk last week.
• Disclosure: The author holds small positions in bitcoin and litecoin.

Also read: $14K: Bitcoin Briefly Hits Highest Level Since January 2018

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The Cayman Islands, an autonomous British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, is building a regulatory framework for “virtual asset service providers” (VASPs).

• Announced Saturday, the Caymans’ Ministry of Financial Services has already published an initial set of rules that came into into effect Oct. 28.
• These kick off what the ministry calls “Phase One” of the framework, which will determine how the Caymans will regulate and enforce anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) measures.
• VASPs already working in the Caymans, or planning to, will need to notify and register with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) and comply with the AML/CFT rules.
• “Phase Two,” slated to come into force next June, will look at licensing requirements and “prudential supervision” for VASPs.
• A new virtual assets bill to bring in provisions to facilitate the phased rollout of the new rules was published last Thursday and will be presented at the next sitting of the Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly.
• The Ministry said the new framework will “strengthen” the government’s ability to draw new entities or individuals to set up base in the Caymans.
• Phase One also comes as the Cayman Islands is being assessed by the Financial Action Task Force and the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force on its efforts to combat proliferation financing (CPF) – that is, funding of weapons of mass destruction.
• The new rules aim to align companies in the jurisdiction with the CFP, AML and CFT rules, the Ministry said.

Also read: The US Crypto Enforcement Framework Is a Warning to International Exchanges

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The governor of the People’s Bank of China praised recent tests of its national digital currency at the Hong Kong Fintech Week conference on Monday.

As reported by Bloomberg, Yi Gang said the pilot program, which has spanned multiple Chinese cities this year, has proven successful.

Over 4 million transactions totaling more than 2 billion yuan ($299 million) have been conducted using the digital yuan, Yi said.

Related: Australia’s Central Bank Kicks Off CBDC Research Project With ConsenSys as Partner

Financial services in remote areas have been bolstered by new technologies, the governor explained, including microloans and risk management, which plays into how the China is looking to spread the digital currency.

The COVID-19 crisis has also accelerated the need for contactless banking, creating challenges for central banks looking to balance consumer needs and safety, he added.

Speaking on a virtual panel with the General Manager at the Bank for International Settlements Agustin Carstens and the President of the Dutch central bank Klass Knot, Yi noted safeguarding consumers’ private information is challenging.

Per a Reuters report Monday, Yi played down the prospect of an imminent launch, saying the digital yuan project is still in the early stages.

Related: China Should Take Part in Creating Global Regulatory Framework for Digital Currency, Xi Says

China must still develop a “fairly complicated and fairly complete legal framework,” he said, particularly around transparency.

See also: China Should Take Part in Creating Global Regulatory Framework for Digital Currency, Xi Says

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The Australian central bank announced Monday it’s partnering with Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Perpetual and ConsenSys to explore the possible use and implications of a wholesale form of central bank digital currency (CBDC) using distributed ledger technology (DLT).

• The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said the project will involve the development of a proof-of-concept (POC) for the issuance of a tokenized form of CBDC for use by wholesale market participants for the funding, settlement and repayment of a tokenized syndicated loan on an ethereum-based DLT platform. 
• The RBA also said the project will look into other potential programmability and automation features of a tokenized CBDC and financial assets.
• “We are aiming to explore the implications of a CBDC for efficiency, risk management and innovation in wholesale financial market transactions,” Assistant Governor of the RBA (Financial System) Michele Bullock said.
• “We are pleased to be collaborating with industry partners to explore if there is a future role for a wholesale CBDC in the Australian payments system,” Bullock added.
• The project is expected to be completed around the end of 2020 and a report will be issued on the project during the first half of next year, the central bank said.

See also: Australia to Spend $575M on Tech Including Blockchain to Boost Pandemic Recovery

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The Australian central bank announced Monday it’s partnering with Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Perpetual and ConsenSys Software to explore the possible use and implications of a wholesale form of central bank digital currency (CBDC) using distributed ledger technology (DLT).

• The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said the project will involve the development of a proof-of-concept (POC) for the issuance of a tokenized form of CBDC for use by wholesale market participants for the funding, settlement and repayment of a tokenized syndicated loan on an ethereum-based DLT platform. 
• The RBA also said the project will look into other potential programmability and automation features of a tokenized CBDC and financial assets.
• “We are aiming to explore the implications of a CBDC for efficiency, risk management and innovation in wholesale financial market transactions,” Assistant Governor of the RBA (Financial System) Michele Bullock said.
• “We are pleased to be collaborating with industry partners to explore if there is a future role for a wholesale CBDC in the Australian payments system,” Bullock added.
• The project is expected to be completed around the end of 2020 and a report will be issued on the project during the first half of next year, the central bank said.

See also: Australia to Spend $575M on Tech Including Blockchain to Boost Pandemic Recovery

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The Australian central bank announced Monday it’s partnering with Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Perpetual and ConsenSys Software to explore the possible use and implications of a wholesale form of central bank digital currency (CBDC) using distributed ledger technology (DLT).

• The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said the project will involve the development of a proof-of-concept (POC) for the issuance of a tokenized form of CBDC for use by wholesale market participants for the funding, settlement and repayment of a tokenized syndicated loan on an ethereum-based DLT platform. 
• The RBA also said the project will look into other potential programmability and automation features of a tokenized CBDC and financial assets.
• “We are aiming to explore the implications of a CBDC for efficiency, risk management and innovation in wholesale financial market transactions,” Assistant Governor of the RBA (Financial System) Michele Bullock said.
• “We are pleased to be collaborating with industry partners to explore if there is a future role for a wholesale CBDC in the Australian payments system,” Bullock added.
• The project is expected to be completed around the end of 2020 and a report will be issued on the project during the first half of next year, the central bank said.

See also: Australia to Spend $575M on Tech Including Blockchain to Boost Pandemic Recovery

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Square Crypto, the cryptocurrency arm of the payments company, said in a tweet Friday it has awarded a grant to a designer who’s trying to make bitcoin wallets usable by anyone, regardless of technical proficiency.

• The work Square Crypto will be funding will seek to answer a question the grant recipient, Maggie Valentine, put forward in a proposal, namely: “How can we provide an intuitive experience for non-crypto users while preserving the security of a user’s funds?”
• The award comes less than a month after Square, which is helmed by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, said it had purchased 4,709 bitcoins for $50 million, representing 1% of the firm’s assets.
• The grant seems to be in line with statements made by company CFO Amrita Ahuja at the time Square’s investment was announced: “We believe that bitcoin has the potential to be a more ubiquitous currency in the future,” Ahuja said. “For a company that is building products based on a more inclusive future, this investment is a step on that journey.”
• A more inclusive future that includes bitcoin would also seem to be a profitable one for Square. The company’s Cash App has been a major revenue driver for the publicly traded fintech.

Read more: Bitcoin Drove Half of Square’s Cash App Revenue in the 4th Quarter

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The votes were staggeringly in favor, but a quorum was not reached, and Uniswap’s second-ever governance proposal has been defeated.

The proposal, submitted by decentralized finance (DeFi) portal Dharma, was to distribute 400 UNI tokens each to 12,619 addresses that interacted with Uniswap through third-party apps. In a surprise airdrop on Sept. 17, over 250,000 addresses that had directly used the token-swap platform were able to claim 400 free UNI, valued at well over $1,000 at the time.

If this and a follow-on proposal involving decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregators were to have passed, $40 million in additional UNI would’ve been dished out. However, the threshold for a quorum on the current proposal – 40 million voted UNI tokens – fell short by less than 2.5 million.

Related: MakerDAO Members Voting on a Safeguard Against BProtocol Flash Loan-Type Attack

The vote rallied protocol politicians on both sides of the aisle in recent weeks, with some arguing that further distributions were only fair and others fearful they would depress UNI’s price.

When asked to comment on the results of the vote, Dharma co-founder Brendan Forster told CoinDesk via email:

“We thank the Uniswap community for their engagement over the past 6 weeks. While we are disappointed that Prop 2 didn’t pass, we remain committed to being stewards for the Uniswap ecosystem and will continue to engage in governance for the benefit of all UNI holders.”

Read more: Uniswap’s $40M Governance Vote Closes on Halloween and Some UNI Holders Fear for Price

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Access to more than 10,000 login keys allegedly linked to Robinhood trading accounts were on the market last week on the dark web, according to a report by Bloomberg, which surveyed dark web marketplaces.

• The amount of Robinhood-related emails for sale dwarf those for other brokerages by 5-to-1, analysts told Bloomberg, an indication Robinhood accounts are viewed as more vulnerable, the report quoted an analyst as saying.
• Robinhood told Bloomberg it’s not the only brokerage that’s subject to attack and noted that a stolen email isn’t by itself enough to compromise an account.
• Robinhood clients have been complaining that their accounts have been hacked and that the company has been slow to respond. An internal investigation found almost 2,000 accounts were compromised as a result of hacked emails, according to a Bloomberg report earlier this month.
• Despite the company’s statement at the time blaming the attacks on the victims’ personal email accounts being compromised, several victims told Bloomberg they found no evidence this happened.

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A 41-year-old in charge of the “computerized infrastructure” at the Lamezia Terme airport in the Calabria region of Italy was discovered using the airport’s computers to illegally mine ethereum, according to a report by Rai News.

• By installing software onto the airport’s computers and using systems that were supposed to be for the management of airport services, the unidentified technician was able to mine the cryptocurrency without having to pay for the cost of the electricity needed for mining, the report said.
• Investigators, tipped off to irregularities by other technicians, discovered a mining farm made up of five processors divided between two different computer rooms.
• Authorities are still looking for possible accomplices.

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European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde Sunday announced an ECB survey of public opinion regarding the issuance of a digital euro, implying the central bank is considering a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC), not just one intended for use between banks, which would represent a much more profound change in the way finance works, according to Noelle Acheson, CoinDesk’s director of research.

• “As Europeans are increasingly turning to digital in the ways they spend, save and invest, we should be prepared to issue a digital euro, if needed. I’m also keen to hear your views on it,” Lagarde said in a tweet announcing the survey.
• While saying the ECB is still reviewing the possibility of issuing a digital euro, the central bank president said in the video embedded in her tweet, “We’ve just launched a public consultation so that consumers and Europeans can actually express their preference and tell us whether they would be happy to use a digital euro just in the way they use a euro coin or a euro banknote knowing that it is central bank money that is available and that they can rely upon.”
• Lagarde’s comments echo what Benoit Couere, head of the Innovation Hub at the Bank for International Settlements and a member of the bank’s Executive Committee, said in a recent opinion piece on CoinDesk, according to CoinDesk’s Acheson.
• Such a confluence of opinions underlines these conversations about the likelihood of a retail CBDC are happening at the highest level, Acheson said.

See also: Ajit Tripathi – 4 Reasons Central Banks Should Launch Retail Digital Currencies

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The top officers of HDR, the parent company of crypto trading platform BitMEX, which has been charged with facilitating unregistered trading and other violations, systematically looted $440,308,400 from HDR accounts, a civil lawsuit claims. A spokesperson for HDR called the claims “spurious.”

• The suit, filed on behalf of plaintiffs BMA LLC, Yaroslav Kolchin and Vitaly Dubinin, seeks an order of attachment against HDR assets, while claims against HDR are being litigated.
• “While being keenly aware of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and Department of Justice (“DOJ”) investigations and imminently forthcoming civil and criminal charges, and while preparing to go on a lam from the U.S. authorities, Defendants Hayes, Delo and Reed looted about $440,308,400 of proceeds of various nefarious activities that took place on the BitMEX platform from Defendant HDR accounts,” the suit alleges.
• The suit claims the alleged looting occured to reduce the amount of assets that could be seized by authorities when charges were brought.
• An attached exhibit did not specify how the funds were seized, but alleged that the executives began diverting BitMEX’s profits after becoming aware of possible charges in 2019.
• On Oct. 1, U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Department of Justice both announced charges against BitMEX, one of the biggest crypto derivatives trading platforms, and its senior executives.
• A spokesperson for HDR Global Trading Limited denied the claims, saying: “Pavel Pogodin of “Consensus Law” has filed a series of increasingly spurious claims against us, and others in the cryptocurrency sector. We will deal with this through the normal litigation process and remain entirely confident the courts will see his claims for what they are.”

UPDATE: 00:50 UTC 11/01/20. Adds HDR’s denial of the claims.

Read also: BitMEX Exchange Hires First Compliance Chief After US Charges

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The top officers of HDR, the parent company of crypto trading platform BitMEX, which has been charged with facilitating unregistered trading and other violations, systematically looted $440,308,400 from HDR accounts, a civil lawsuit claims. A spokesperson for HDR called the claims “spurious.”

• The suit, filed on behalf of plaintiffs BMA LLC, Yaroslav Kolchin and Vitaly Dubinin, seeks an order of attachment against HDR assets, while claims against HDR are being litigated.
• “While being keenly aware of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and Department of Justice (“DOJ”) investigations and imminently forthcoming civil and criminal charges, and while preparing to go on a lam from the U.S. authorities, Defendants Hayes, Delo and Reed looted about $440,308,400 of proceeds of various nefarious activities that took place on the BitMEX platform from Defendant HDR accounts,” the suit alleges.
• The suit claims the alleged looting occured to reduce the amount of assets that could be seized by authorities when charges were brought.
• An attached exhibit did not specify how the funds were seized, but alleged that the executives began diverting BitMEX’s profits after becoming aware of possible charges in 2019.
• On Oct. 1, U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Department of Justice both announced charges against BitMEX, one of the biggest crypto derivatives trading platforms, and its senior executives.
• A spokesperson for HDR Global Trading Limited denied the claims, saying: “Pavel Pogodin of “Consensus Law” has filed a series of increasingly spurious claims against us, and others in the cryptocurrency sector. We will deal with this through the normal litigation process and remain entirely confident the courts will see his claims for what they are.”

UPDATE: 00:50 UTC 11/01/20. Adds HDR’s denial of the claims.

Read also: BitMEX Exchange Hires First Compliance Chief After US Charges

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U.S. banks are looking at ways to handle crypto adoption in the wake of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) July decision to allow banks to provide custody for cryptocurrencies, Acting Comptroller Brian Brooks said in a podcast. That may mean partnering with or purchasing custodians, he said.

• Speaking on Laura Shin’s Unchained podcast earlier this week, Brooks said “Well, what I have heard…a number of big crypto custodians Anchorage, Coinbase, and a number of others, have been contacted by banks about whether they’d be willing to be like the third-party custody providers for national banks whose customers want to invest in bitcoin.”
• Brooks speculated that due to the complexity of being a custodian, banks will seek to partner with or outright buy custodians to handle the cryptocurrencies invested with them.
• “What they’ll want to do is either buy crypto custodians, or partner with crypto custodians to provide those services on their behalf and now they can legally do that,” Brooks said.
• Brooks also said the move by banks to offer crypto will increase the comfort level of retail investors with the asset and lead to further gains, saying, “I think the demand increase is going to be noticeable.”

Read also: PayPal Said to Be in Talks to Buy Crypto Firms Including BitGo: Bloomberg

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