Finder is committed to editorial independence. While we receive compensation when you click links to partners, they do not influence our content.

Biweekly crypto round-up for October 2022 (Part 1)

Just 2 weeks in, October has already recorded the highest value hacked this year.

Avatar
Zyane Tan
Posted .
Fact checked

Markets are said to be cyclical in nature. Historical data points to a potentially bullish month, so much so that optimistic speculators are calling it “Uptober” since the month has seen massive price rallies in the previous years.

But Uptober hasn’t lived up to expectations. In fact, the only thing that skyrocketed is the number of crypto exploits. A Twitter thread from Chainanalysis showed that $718 million has already been stolen from DeFi protocols across 11 different hacks in just the first half of this month.

Let us take a look at all the other key events and views that happened in the crypto space over the last 2 weeks below.

Quick take

  • The European Union imposed a full ban on providing crypto services to Russian entities.
  • Binance Smart Chain was temporarily halted after a $100 million cross-chain bridge exploit.
  • Solana DeFi exchange Mango Markets suffered a $100 million exploit from price manipulation of its native token MNGO.
  • Coinbase and Blockchain.com got regulatory approval from Singapore’s central bank.
  • Visa inked a partnership with FTX to launch crypto debit cards in more than 40 countries.
  • Google partnered with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase to accept crypto payments for its cloud services starting in 2023.

Key events

We’ve hand-picked some of the most relevant emerging stories in the crypto space to help you stay ahead of the curve.
Russia crypto sanctions

Government announcements and regulations

  • 3 Oct: Binance signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Kazakhstan to develop the country’s digital asset market and to fight financial crime.
  • 6 Oct: The European Union introduced its eighth set of sanctions against Russia, which includes a complete ban on all crypto-asset wallets, accounts or custody services.
  • 7 Oct: India’s central bank published a 51-page concept note for the introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as it works towards a phased introduction of the digital rupee.
  • 11 Oct: EU lawmakers passed a landmark crypto bill known as the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), paving the way for a Europe-wide regulatory approach.
  • 11 Oct: Portugal planned to impose 28% tax on crypto gains realised from assets held for less than a year.
  • 12 Oct: Kazakhstan legislature approved 5 new bills relating to digital assets as it tightens its grip on crypto mining.
  • 13 Oct: The Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro will accept crypto payments for property taxes starting next year.
  • 14 Oct: The Dominican government partnered with smart contract blockchain platform Tron to issue Dominica Coin (DMC).
Coinbase Singapore

Digital banks and exchanges

  • 1 Oct: Indian crypto exchange WazirX laid off around 40% of its employees due to a market downturn.
  • 4 Oct: Binance burned $1.8 million worth of Terra Classic’s (LUNC) trading fees following a community proposal in September, resulting in a 2x price surge within the week.
  • 12 Oct: Two crypto exchanges – Coinbase and Blockchain.com – were granted in-principle approval for a Digital Payment Token (DPT) licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
  • 13 Oct: Crypto.com invested $145 million into setting up its European regional headquarters in Paris.
  • 13 Oct: Toronto-based crypto exchange Coinsquare became the first crypto-native investment dealer to join Canada’s top self-regulatory agency, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC).
  • 14 Oct: $50 billion digital asset custody platform GK8 partnered with crypto holding company 2ND Market to expand cryptocurrency product offerings in Brazil.
  • 14 Oct: Binance unveiled a $500 million lending pool to support Bitcoin mining and infrastructure providers.
Fundings

Acquisitions and fundings

  • 1 Oct: Crypto banking firm Juno raised $18 million in Series A funding to expand its operations and launch a loyalty token, JCOIN.
  • 3 Oct: Crypto venture capitalist firm Paradigm lead $14 million funding round for Exponential, a DeFi investment discovery and risk assessment platform.
  • 4 Oct: The New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) raised an additional $720 million for its Institutional Bitcoin Fund amid major management change. A week later, the firm slashed 33% of its workforce to reduce expenses and refocus the company’s business direction.
  • 4 Oct: a16z led a $40 million fundraise for decentralised knowledge protocol Golden.
  • 5 Oct: Game publishers Ubisoft and Take-Two Interactive back Ethereum NFT game maker Horizon in a $40 million Series A round.
  • 5 Oct: Asset manager giant Fidelity introduced $5 million Ethereum Index Fund.
  • 6 Oct: Grayscale set up a new Bitcoin mining-focused investment arm.
  • 7 Oct: World’s largest DeFi lending protocol MakerDAO unveiled plans to invest $500 million in US treasuries and corporate bonds.
  • 10 Oct: Huobi founder and majority shareholder Leon Li Lin sold his stake in the crypto exchange to Hong Kong investment firm About Capital.
  • 12 Oct: Web3 wallet Zerion raised $12.3 million to develop interoperable Web3 identity product.
  • 12 Oct: Blockchain development platform Tatum secured $41.5 million funding from Octopus Ventures, Circle and Leadblock Fund, among others.
  • 12 Oct: Singapore-based NFT infrastructure company Gomu closed a $5 million seed round.
  • 13 Oct: London’s crypto custodian Copper raised $196 million in Series C funding round despite $16 million losses in 2021.
BSC hack

Defaults, exploits and lawsuits

  • 1 Oct: The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged 2 now-defunct crypto firms for an alleged pump-and-dump scam worth $36.8 million via a “gold-backed” Ethereum token called Dignity (DIG).
  • 1 Oct: The US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued crypto exchange Digitex and its CEO for failing to register with the agency and attempting to manipulate the price of their native token, DGTX.
  • 3 Oct: A hacker returned $16 million, roughly 70% of the $23 million that was stolen from the decentralised exchange Transit Swap.
  • 3 Oct: The SEC fined Kim Kardashian $1.26 million for illegally touting EthereumMax tokens on social media.
  • 7 Oct: Brazillian police raided the home of Francisco Valdevino da Silva, AKA “Bitcoin Sheikh” for defrauding victims of $766 million.
  • 7 Oct: Binance Smart Chain (BNB Chain) halted after $100 million cross-chain bridge exploit.
  • 10 Oct: South Korean crypto investment firm Blockwater Technologies defaulted on a $3.4 million loan to TrueFi, a decentralised lending protocol.
  • 11 Oct: Layer-1 blockchain QANplatform, which was supposed to be resistant to attacks aided by quantum computing power, suffered a bridge hack that resulted in over $1 million loss.
  • 12 Oct: The US Treasury Department fined crypto exchange Bittrex $53 million for sanctions violations.
  • 12 Oct: Bored Ape creator Yuga Labs faced SEC probe into its NFT collections and cryptocurrency for alleged security violations. ApeCoin sank 10% after the report.
  • 12 Oct: Solana DeFi trading platform Mango Markets was drained of $100 million due to an oracle price manipulation. The looted governance tokens were then used by hackers to pit the community against developers.
Moonbirds

NFTs, GameFi and metaverses

  • 4 Oct: Moonbirds, a popular Ethereum NFT collection, announced plans to introduce its DAO community governance in early 2023 with $2.6 million seed funding from Proof, the private community behind the NFT collection.
  • 5 Oct: Blockchain gaming studio Mythical Games announced plans to launch a foundation, DAO and token with several industry heavy hitters, including Ubisoft, Animoca Brands and Sandbox Gaming.
  • 12 Oct: Leading NFT marketplace OpenSea added support for Avalanche (AVAX) proof-of-stake blockchain.
Crypto Wallet

Payments and wallets

  • 7 Oct: Visa teamed up with crypto exchange FTX to launch crypto debit cards in 40 different countries, with a focus on Europe, Latin America and Asia.
  • 12 Oct: CoinCorner, a Bitcoin Lightning-based card payment service provider, planned to install near-field communication (NFC) card readers across El Salvador.
  • 15 Oct: Ethereum-based MetaMask wallet partnered with fintech firm Sardine to facilitate instant bank-to-crypto transfers.

Images: Getty Images

Top crypto news

Google partnered with Coinbase to accept crypto payments for cloud services

11 October 2022

Google Cloud Coinbase

Image: Finder

Tech giant Google has announced a partnership with Coinbase – the second-largest crypto exchange by volume in the world – to accept crypto payment for its cloud services via the exchange’s custody service, Coinbase Prime.

As part of the deal, Coinbase will migrate from Amazon Web Services to Google’s cloud infrastructure for hosting its data-related application. Google will also tap on Coinbase Prime for institutional crypto services, such as secure custody and reporting.

The new payment method will be done through Coinbase Commerce, a crypto payment platform for merchants. It will initially be available to a handful of customers involved in the Web3 industry from early next year.

Currently, the platform only supports the following cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, DAI, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin and USD Coin.

Read more

What the hack: DeFi trading platform Mango Markets suffered a $117 million exploit

12 October 2022

Mango Markets hack

Image: Getty Images

Mango Markets, a Solana-based decentralised trading platform that offers users the ability to make spot trades and loans, has become the latest victim of a massive hack that drained approximately $117 million from the protocol. Just a week ago, Binance suffered a $100 million loss from a cross-bridge exploit.

According to a tweet from Mango, the exploit was caused by an oracle price manipulation on the native MNGO token, which plummeted over 42% in value within 24 hours after the incident. Deposits and withdrawals on the platform have been disabled amid the ongoing investigation as the theft “has effectively resulted in a total draining of all equity available”.

Based on the findings from OtterSec, a security audit that powers blockchain, the attacker manipulated the price data of its native MNGO token by driving up the value of their collateral temporarily and then extracted loans from the Mango treasury. This left the treasury with a negative balance of $116.7 million.

Things took an interesting turn when the rogue trader demanded a settlement in the hours following the hack, requesting for the community to help pass a proposal that would view any bad debt as a bug bounty and insurance. Part of the attacker’s ultimatum also seeks a promise from Mango that it will renounce any claims against accounts with bad debt and forgo any criminal investigations.

The hacker, who held a lion’s share of MNGO tokens from the loot, subsequently cast almost 33 million votes in favor of the proposal. Unsurprisingly, the proposal reached a quorum of over 98% “yes” votes. This allowed the hacker to keep $47 million of stolen funds, making it the largest crypto bounty so far.

Read more

Best cryptocurrency exchanges in Hong Kong

Check out our reviews on a range of leading cryptocurrency exchanges in Singapore and around the world. Compare the features, fees and pros and cons of each crypto exchange and consider how they align with your investment goals and budget.

Cryptocurrency exchanges in Hong Kong

Disclaimer: This information should not be interpreted as an endorsement of cryptocurrency or any specific provider, service or offering. It is not a recommendation to trade. Cryptocurrencies are speculative, complex and involve significant risks – they are highly volatile and sensitive to secondary activity. Performance is unpredictable and past performance is no guarantee of future performance. Consider your own circumstances, and obtain your own advice, before relying on this information. You should also verify the nature of any product or service (including its legal status and relevant regulatory requirements) and consult the relevant Regulators' websites before making any decision. Finder, or the author, may have holdings in the cryptocurrencies discussed.

Note: All prices mentioned in this article are in US dollars (USD) unless otherwise stated.

More guides on Finder

Ask an Expert

You are about to post a question on finder.com:

  • Do not enter personal information (eg. surname, phone number, bank details) as your question will be made public
  • finder.com is a financial comparison and information service, not a bank or product provider
  • We cannot provide you with personal advice or recommendations
  • Your answer might already be waiting – check previous questions below to see if yours has already been asked

Finder.com provides guides and information on a range of products and services. Because our content is not financial advice, we suggest talking with a professional before you make any decision.

By submitting your comment or question, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms.

Questions and responses on finder.com are not provided, paid for or otherwise endorsed by any bank or brand. These banks and brands are not responsible for ensuring that comments are answered or accurate.
Go to site