There have already been more than 1 million sign-ups for Coinbase’s NFT platform since the waitlist went live on Oct.12. Coinbase opened up the waitlist via a blog post announcing its upcoming NFT platform which is slated to launch later this year. The platform dubbed “Coinbase NFT” will initially support the Ethereum-based ERC-721 and ERC-1155 token standards, with plans to expand support to other blockchains in the future. At the time of writing, there are almost 1.1 million people waiting for early access to the NFT platform. Sanchan Saxena, the Vice President of product at Coinbase tweeted that the “insane” amount of traffic for the waitlist temporarily broke the site.

Polkadot (DOT) has laid out a schedule to debut parachain auctions on Nov. 11 following unanimous approval from the blockchain’s on-chain governance council members. The news marks a landmark achievement as it fulfills the final core technical element of the whitepaper published five years ago.  Parachains are uniquely distinctive layer-1 blockchain platforms that operate laterally alongside the main Polkadot network, in addition to being tethered to the Polkadot Relay Chain. Their purposeful function can be witnessed across a multitude of areas from decentralized finance to smart contracts.  Speaking at the Sub0 Conference as representatives of Parity Technologies, Polkadot founders Gavin Wood and Robert Habermeier confirmed that Polkadot now holds the technical capabilities to implement parachains, auctions and crowdloans for the first time.

Anthony Albanese, chief operating officer of Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) crypto division, and Katie Haun, general partner at the firm, are among a high-powered delegation from the venture capital giant who will engage with lawmakers and administration officials in the United States on crypto regulations. According to CNBC on Wednesday, the move is part of efforts by the Silicon Valley-based VC outfit to promote favorable regulation of the emerging Web 3.0 ecosystem. Speaking to CNBC, a16z global policy chief Tomicah Tillemann decried the broken state of the current Web 2.0 status quo. According to Tillemann, Web 3.0 offers an alternative to the challenges posed by the issues in today’s internet.

Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst says there are “good” signs that a Bitcoin ETF will soon be approved, pointing to Ark Invest filing for a Bitcoin futures ETF with an assigned ticker and Valkyrie updating its own ETF prospectus with a ticker. Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management LLC filed for a Bitcoin (BTC) futures ETF under the ARKA ticker, while Valkyrie has assigned its BTC futures prospectus with the BTF ticker. According to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, firms typically update their proposals when they have everything set and “ready for launch,” suggesting that Valkyrie may soon be given the green light by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Group of Seven advanced economic nations has been discussing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) this week, concluding that they should “do no harm” and meet rigorous standards. Finance leaders from the G7 met in Washington on Oct. 13 to discuss central bank digital currencies and endorsed 13 public policy principles regarding their implementation. The G7, which comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S., mandated that any newly launched CBDCs should “do no harm” to the central bank’s ability to maintain financial stability. In a joint statement, G7 finance ministers and central bankers said:

Following sweeping crackdowns by China against Bitcoin mining activity, the United States has now emerged as the leading nation in terms of hash rate. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI), Bitcoin (BTC) miners in the U.S. account for 35.4% of the total global BTC mining hash rate distribution. The CBECI data also shows Kazakhstan (18%) and Russia (11%) as the next major Bitcoin mining centers outside the United States. These three nations have gained significant market share in the wake of China’s crypto mining ban.

Jon Cunliffe, deputy governor for financial stability at the Bank of England, said the risks of a growing crypto market on the financial system are “relatively limited” at the moment but have the potential to grow very rapidly if regulators do not keep pace. In a speech to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) on Oct. 13, Cunliffe said policymakers around the world have only just started to develop the framework needed to properly regulate digital assets but should pursue it “as a matter of urgency.” The deputy governor spoke about the risks that cryptocurrencies and stablecoins may pose when connected to traditional financial systems through individuals, financial institutions, hedge funds and banks. Given that digital assets are continuing to work their way into these institutions, sentiment over crypto volatility and otherwise could cause “investors to sell other assets that are judged to be risky.” Cunliffe referred to the interconnectedness of crypto and traditional finance as having the potential for a shock “transmitted through the financial system” if something were to go wrong.

Bitcoin (BTC) turned out to be a far more attractive prize than airline miles or other cashback rewards, new data from BlockFi suggests.  It’s been three months since the New York-based crypto loans startup launched its Visa-backed Bitcoin rewards credit cards, BlockFi Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card, to customers. The card offers rewards in Bitcoin instead of using a more traditional points system. According to the company, if the average Bitcoin rewards card owner continues the shopping habit seen in these first three months, they'll be on track to spend more than $30,000 per year on average. This is almost six times the average of $5,111 per cardholder in the United States.

U.S. Bitcoin mining company Stronghold Digital Mining will list almost six million shares in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq. Stronghold plans to list 5,882,352 Class A common stock shares priced between $16 and $18 under the ticker “SDIG”. Taking the average proposed offering price puts the IPO at around $100 million. The Kennerdell, Pennsylvania-based firm first filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a Nasdaq IPO in July. It will fund an almost 900% expansion in capacity in the coming year. The final prospectus has already been filed with the SEC, but it has yet to become effective.

The Gambling Commission in the UK has opened an inquiry into Sorare, a popular NFT fantasy soccer game that raised $680M in a funding round last month However Sorare — which closed a $680 million funding round for its NFT trading card platform in September — denied it was involved in anything approaching “regulated gambling”. “We are very confident Sorare does not offer any forms of regulated gambling. This has been confirmed by expert legal opinions at every stage since the company was founded, including during a number of fundraising rounds,” it said on the company blog.

According to data from eth.btc.com，ethereum network's hashrate is702,838.12 GH/s，mining difficulty is9,623.65T. ETH's price ：$ 3,752.87 Avg Gas Price：279.00Gwei Pending Txs ：142558

Crypto exchange giant Binance has hired Mark McGinness, former head of international relations at the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), as its chief regulatory liaison officer. According to an announcement issued on Thursday, Binance stated that McGinness will contribute to the company’s push toward better relations with regulatory bodies across the globe. Indeed, McGinness is the latest Binance hire with expertise in regulatory compliance and engagement with financial regulators.

After almost two years, Bitwise Asset Management has once again applied with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to create a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).  In a Thursday Twitter announcement from Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan, the investment firm will be pursuing a Bitcoin (BTC) ETF with NYSE Arca that holds “actual BTC,” and not derivatives or other indirect exposure to cryptocurrencies. According to Hougan, the Bitwise team has spent more than two years analyzing the firm’s ability to “surveil and enforce” any attempts at manipulation and concluded that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, or CME, is a “regulated market of significant size” for the crypto market. “The market has matured,” said the Bitwise CIO. “An actual BTC ETF can now be approved.”

The Russian Ministry of Energy is looking to introduce special electricity tariffs for cryptocurrency miners following a migration of the industry into the country from nearby China. Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov announced Wednesday that the authority is working on a new framework to differentiate tariffs between general usage and cryptocurrency mining, local news agency RBC reported on Wednesday. Shulginov said that cryptocurrency miners in Russia should not consume electricity at residential tariffs, stating:

President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the country was unlikely to follow in El Salvador’s footsteps by adopting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as legal tender alongside fiat. In a Thursday press conference, Obrador, also known as AMLO, said Mexico “must maintain orthodoxy” in its financial management and would not be changing its position on crypto. The Bank of Mexico and the National Banking and Securities Commission issued a statement in June warning that financial institutions were “not authorized to carry out and offer to the public operations with virtual assets,” but the president has not often spoken directly on the subject. AMLO was responding to a reporter who asked if Mexico would consider following the example of El Salvador, where Bitcoin (BTC) has been accepted as legal tender since September. He added that though there were many innovations in finance, Mexico should also be mindful of issues surrounding tax evasion.

Decentralized exchange Uniswap has been making some interesting hires, the latest being a communications expert with close ties to the U.S. Democrat party. Former senior spokesperson for Barack Obama, Hari Sevugan, has joined the Uniswap Labs team according to protocol founder Hayden Adams who welcomed him aboard on Oct. 14. The hire may be part of the team’s ongoing effort to prepare for stormy regulatory weather ahead in the United States.

Aurora, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) designed to scale decentralized applications (DApp) built on the Near protocol, has announced a $12-million debut funding round. The round included over 100 venture capital investors, including Pantera Capital and Electric Capital. According to an official statement, Aurora will use the funds to expand ​​cross-chain capabilities beyond its current offering, in addition to hiring specialist developers to support the growth of Ethereum scaling.

TradingView, the price charting platform used as a reference for price movements of cryptocurrencies and other assets, has secured $298 million in a funding round to attain a $3-billion valuation. Led by TradingView’s new investor, Tiger Global, the funding follows a strong growth of the platform’s user base, mostly retail investors, during the pandemic. According to the announcement, TradingView experienced a 400% increase in new accounts and a 237% increase in visitors in the last 18 months. TradingView CEO and co-founder Denis Globa highlighted Tiger Global’s expertise in fintech, adding that the partnership would contribute to informed financial trading.

Digital analytics firm Chainalysis reported that the growth in North America’s crypto market has been driven by the rise in popularity of decentralized finance. In its 2021 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report, Chainalysis said the monthly crypto transaction volume across North America grew by more than 1,000% from July 2020 to June 2021. The monthly volume reached a peak of $164 billion in May 2021 before dipping to just over $100 billion in June. According to the report, decentralized finance, or DeFi, was largely responsible for North America continuing to maintain its position as one of the largest crypto markets worldwide. DeFi transactions represented 37% of North America’s overall transaction volume from July 2020 to June 2021, with residents sending roughly $276 billion in crypto to platforms in the DeFi space. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that it’s “still premature” to use cryptocurrencies for settling trades of energy resources such as oil. The Russian president discussed potential use cases of cryptocurrencies in a Thursday CNBC interview following a plenary session of the ​​Russian Energy Week forum. According to a full interview text published on the Kremlin’s official website, Putin said that private cryptocurrencies “can act as a unit of account,” but they are “very unstable.”