FTX For Sale?

💰 FTX Receives Multiple Bids for Restart

FTX is in advanced talks with three bidders for a potential restart, aiming for a decision by mid-December. Options include a full sale, including its 9-million strong customer list, forming a partnership, or a self-restart.

Kevin Cofsky of Perella Weinberg Partners shared these developments during a court hearing, emphasizing the confidentiality of the customer list as a valuable asset. The exchange had collapsed in November, with founder Sam Bankman-Fried currently undergoing a criminal trial.

Read more.

1) What — SBF

☕️ On today's Top Picks:

📰 Crypto News

• Blackrock iShares Bitcoin ETF has been listed on the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) website since August. A DTCC spokesperson also added that the listing is not indicative of regulatory approval.

• Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to take the stand and testify on Thursday.

• BlockFi emerges from bankruptcy and will now attempt to recover assets, distribute withdrawals, and continue the claims reconciliation process.

• Ark Invest sells shares of Coinbase $COIN and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust $GBTC worth ~$3.6 million after selling ~$5.8 million the previous day.

• Coinbase submits final argument to dismiss SEC lawsuit arguing tokens are not securities and that the SEC has overstepped its regulatory bounds.

⚡ Alpha

• Polygon launches Early Adopters NFT on Polygon ID.

• Aztar zkEVM "zKatana" testnet powered by the Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK) is now live.

• Polygon 2.0 zkEVM Saga resumes on October 26th at 12:00 UTC.

• Aztec posts, "The next version of Aztec will be launched as a fully decentralized network." on X.

• Chain Chat, onchain group chats by the Zapper team; launches.

🪂 Airdrops

• Earndrop publishes Scroll airdrop strategy thread on X.

📰 Finance News

• SEC charges BlackRock $2.5 million for incorrect investment disclosure related to a publicly traded fund it managed.

• Pro-cryptocurrency politician, Tom Emmer; withdraws candidacy for US Speaker of the House.

• Japan is considering $33 billion for payouts to low-income households and an income tax cut in response to rising living costs.

• China issues 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion) of sovereign bonds which will be funnelled to cash-strapped local governments struggling under 92 trillion yuan ($12.6 trillion) of debt.

🛡 Security and Exploits

• ZachXBT publishes investigation covering Yahya; a Canadian scammer involved in 17+ SIM swaps resulting in more than $4.5 million stolen.

• Maestro Telegram Bot suffers an attack resulting in ~$500k losses. Affected users have already been refunded.

Token Unlocks

• Galxe $GAL - 586.67K ~$780K on OCT 27

• Yield Guild Games $YGG - 12.58M ~$3.5M on OCT 27

• SingularityNET $AGIX - 9.53M ~$1.99M on OCT 27

• Optimism $OP - 24.16M ~$33.1M on OCT 29

💰 Funding

• Neon Machine, a blockchain video game development studio; raises $20 million in Series A funding round led by Polychain Capital.

• smlXL, a blockchain infrastructure company; raises $13.4 million in Seed funding round.

• Rymedi, a Web3 healthcare data firm; raises $9 million in Series A funding round co-led by RW3 Ventures and White Star Capital.

• Nocturne Labs, an Ethereum-based privacy infrastructure company; raises $6 million in Seed funding round co-led by Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital and participation from Vitalik Buterin and more.

• Integral, a cryptocurrency accounting tool; raises an undisclosed amount in strategic investment by Coinbase Ventures.

That's it for today's dose! See you soon.