WalletConnect Restricts Russia

⛔ WalletConnect Blocks Russia.

WalletConnect has restricted user access in Russia, citing recent legal and U.S. OFAC guidelines. This decision aligns with broader sanctions efforts.

CEO Pedro Gomes clarified the temporary impact on Ukraine and debunked misinformation about other countries being affected. WalletConnect aims to comply fully with global sanctions.

Read more.

"Decentralized"

📰 Crypto News

• Gary Gensler tweeted a Happy Anniversary to the Bitcoin whitepaper and added, "Any crypto companies that are tricking investors should start treating them to compliance with the securities laws."

• Blackrock is in discussion with multiple market makers to provide liquidity for its Bitcoin ETF. The market makers include Jane Street, Virtu Financial, Jump Trading, and Hudson River Trading.

• Sam Bankman-Fried’s defense has concluded with jury deliberations to follow. SBF's defense consisted of deflecting blame and pleading ignorance.

• Bitfinex placed on the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s warning list of unauthorized firms due to promoting financial services or products without permission. Bitfinex has since responded and taken measures to meet the FCA's concerns.

• Tether releases Q3 Attestation report. The report reveals highest percentage of cash & cash equivalent reserves, over $330 million reduction in secured loans, and maintains $72.6 billion in US T-Bills.

• Taiwan police bust 324.2 million $USDT money laundering operation. The fraud group processed over 324.2 million $USDT to launder money involved in an investment fraud case which was uncovered last year.

• Bittrex US bankruptcy plan approved in court. The plan includes the company’s liquidation plan to repay its remaining creditors.

• Argent ending zkSync development to prioritize Starknet.

⚡ Alpha

• Vitalik Buterin releases blog post, "Different types of layer 2s," that discusses the Ethereum layer 2 ecosystem.

• Starknet Foundation announces Early Community Member Program which will distribute 50 million $STRK tokens to contributors. Applications are due by November 23rd.

• Zerion launches quest on Layer3 that rewards a special NFT and unlocks access to the Zerion Browser Extension.

• Taiko Community Call #8 is scheduled for Friday, November 3rd at 14:00 UTC. The Taiko team will answer questions and discuss what they have been up to.

🪂 Airdrops

• Celestia mainnet and airdrop successfully launches. Celestia $TIA is currently trading at ~$2.31 with a FDV of $2.3 billion.

• Pyth Network unveils their retrospective airdrop. Eligibility was based on onchain activity across 27 chains and over 200 dApps. Users can check if they are eligible and view their allocation today. A date to claim the airdrop has yet to be announced.

📰 Finance News

• US Treasury Department to borrow $776 billion for final three months of 2023 and also ex

• US bank Wells Fargo cash sweep feature is being investigated by the SEC.

• X (formerly Twitter) now valued at $19 billion based on recent employee equity compensation offers.

🛡 Security and Exploits

• Frax Finance temporarily lost control of their domains after attackers compromised their domain registrar, Name. Frax Finance will update the community after an investigation is complete, but the domains are now safe to use.

• ZachXBT advises to be cautious of De .Fi. ZachXBT attributes the warning to their token sale being extended multiple times, an increased cap without any transparency, and a previous IDO that has yet to be distributed. De .Fi has since responded to ZachXBT's claims clarifying the situation.

• Onyx Protocol exploited for over ~$2.1 million after attackers use an integer rounding vulnerability.

• Bitget delists TokenFi $TOKEN, accusing the team behind the token of market manipulation by maliciously controlling the initial liquidity. Bitget also cited an opaque token economy and an unclear vesting schedule. As a result, Bitget has also announced a buyback plan.

Token Unlocks

• Sui / 34.62M $SUI / ~$14.97M / NOV 02

• Tornado Cash / 22.84K $TORN / ~$68K / NOV 02

• Liquity / 657.35K $LQTY / ~$1.04M / NOV 04

• Galxe / 5.18M $GAL / ~$6.83M / NOV 05

💰 Funding

• Andressen Horowitz targeting $3.4 billion for its next early-stage and seed-stage funds with plans to raise new growth, crypto, and bio vehicles in 2025.

• Kana Labs, a super-app for DeFi & Gamefi; raises $2 million in Seed funding round.

• RULEMATCH, a digital asset trading platform for financial institutions; raises an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding round.

🌾 The Degen Farmer

Top stablecoin yield farms of the day, more than $1,000,000 in TVL. DYOR and beat the fed!

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