Read in the Digest:
- Cryptocurrencies trade flat, while stocks hold onto gain amid China volatility
- MakerDAO approves proposal to place $1.6 million USDC in Coinbase’s custody
- Reddit NFT trading volume hits new all-time high, wallets surpass OpenSea
- United Kingdom’s new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, launches CBDC support
- Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) refuses to grant NFTs an exemption from the App Store’s 30% fee
Cryptocurrencies Trade Flat, While Stocks Hold onto Gain amid China Volatility
Bitcoin’s correlation to the stock market continues to wane as it trades sideways while global stock markets experience a significant bump in price after Rishi Sunak was announced as the United Kingdom’s new Prime Minister.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 had strong performances on Monday to add to the 700+ points they added last Friday after Wall Street closed its best trading week since June.
On the other hand, Bitcoin continues to trade sideways, gaining 0.13% in the last 24 hours to trade at $19,385. BTC opened for trade today at $19,206, reaching a high of $19,401, as it continues its month-long rangebound movement.
The 24-hour price chart for Bitcoin (BTC). Source: CoinMarketCap
The situation is the same for most of the crypto market, with Ethereum (ETH) and Cardano (ADA) being the only top 10 cryptos with gains of over 2%. However, Klaytn (KLAY) continues its strong run of form, gaining over 11% to become today’s biggest gainer.
The 24-hour price chart for Klaytn (KLAY). Source: CoinMarketCap
Flipsider:
- The U.S. equity-index futures are retreating as traders assess a mixed bag of corporate earnings and the Federal Reserve’s ongoing rate-hike campaign.
Why You Should Care
Sideways trading is usually followed by an impulsive swing, which most of the crypto community hopes will be in the upward direction.
MakerDAO Approves Proposal to Place $1.6 Million USDC in Coinbase’s Custody
Members of the MakerDAO community voted overwhelmingly in favor of approving the proposal that will see as much as $1.6 billion in USD Coin (USDC) deposited with Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) Prime.
By depositing USDC in Coinbase’s institutional custody service, MakerDAO will receive a reward of 1.5%. The pilot is part of a trial and the funds will remain custodied with Coinbase until the end of the year.
According to the proposal, MakerDAO will not pay custody fees for the services. Coinbase also announced that the collaboration expands its USDC rewards program to an institutional client for the first time.
Flipsider:
- Chris Blec, a delegate of MakerDAO, has expressed his disapproval of the proposal noting that it could mark the end of decentralization and censorship resistance for Maker protocol.
Why You Should Care
The Coinbase proposal has been hailed by most community members as an important next step to getting the Maker protocol back to profitability.
Reddit NFT Trading Volume Hits New All-Time High, Wallets Surpass OpenSea
On July 7, 2022, Reddit announced the launch of its non-fungible token (NFT) collection, Collectible Avatars. However, it has taken until after its second-generation NFT collection was released to take the market by storm.
On October 21st, Reddit released the second generation of its NFTs and sold out 40 collectibles in 24 hours. The Reddit avatars were created by independent developers and minted on Polygon and Ethereum chains.
According to data from Dune analytics and Polygon, the trading volume of Reddit NFTs topped $2.5 million in the last 24 hours, more than 62% of the cumulative trading volume of $4.1 million since it launched in July.
On-chain data also shows that there are now more than 3 million Reddit avatar wallets, more than OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace. The prices of the Reddit avatars have also shot up, with some being values above $24,000.
Flipsider:
- In contrast to the Reddit Avatars’ triumph, Discord was faced with severe criticism when they tried to introduce NFTs to the community.
Why You Should Care
The spike in the activity of Reddit Avatars adds some much-needed spark to the NFT spaces, which have been greatly subdued by the crypto winter.
United Kingdom’s New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Launches CBDC Support
Former U.K. Finance Minster and a firm crypto believer, Rishi Sunak has been appointed as U.K.’s newest prime minister by the Conservative Party members on Monday following the controversial exit of Liz Truss, who was in office for just 45 days.
In a video shared on Monday, Sunak announced his plans to bring money and finance into the 21st century by first launching a set of policy principles that will help support and inform the exploration of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in the G7 and beyond.
Sunak first proposed the creation and launch of a CBDC, or ‘Britcoin,’ across the UK economy by 2025 to the HM Treasury and the Bank of England while serving as the Chancellor of the Exchequer in April 2021.
During his tenure as Finance Minister, Sunak unveiled a series of plans to turn the U.K. into a crypto hub, including advocating for stablecoins’ recognition as a form of payment and tasking the Royal Mint with creating NFTs before the year ends.
Flipsider:
- Critics have expressed their worry that Sunak’s pro-crypto rhetoric may likely turn the U.K.’s dire economy into that of El Salvador.
Why You Should Care
Sunak aims to ensure that the U.K.’s financial sector benefits from the rapidly growing crypto industry and to attract investments from the industry.
Apple Refuses to Grant NFTs an exemption from the App Store’s 30% Fee
Less than a month after announcing that Apple’s standard 30% “Apple Tax” on in-app purchases applies to NFTs, the iPhone-maker’s de facto ban on NFT trading in apps is likely to remain despite the backlash from the crypto community.
In an update to its Apple App Store Guidelines published on Monday, the tech giant provided specific rules for NFTs in its App Store guidelines. The guidelines approved the minting, listing, and transferring of NFTs within apps on the App Store.
The policy update requires all purchases to be made within the App Store. NFT owners are banned from including external links, buttons, or actions to services like OpenSea auctions that may take customers away from the App Store to facilitate purchases.
In addition, only apps offered within countries or regions where the platform has appropriate licensing and permission can facilitate transactions or transmissions of cryptocurrency on an approved exchange.
Flipsider:
- Apple’s recent policy update has nixed any hopes of accepting crypto for App Store payments in the short term.
Why You Should Care
The policy update is expected to give clarity to businesses to operate on the Apple App Store so NFT owners can avoid sanctions.