Binance’s CZ lashes out at Reuters reporter; Ethereum network at peak performance

The biggest news in the cryptoverse for Oct. 18 includes Japan looking to amend KYC rules for crypto, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao’s post about the company’s recent dealings with a Reuters reporter and Texas’ probe into FTX US and Sam Bankman-Fried for allegedly offering unregistered securities.

Japan looks to amend crypto KYC rules

The Japanese government said it has passed six foreign exchange laws that will see crypto exchanges comply to combat money laundering in the region.

Once the laws are enforced, crypto exchanges will be required to subject their customers to strict KYC processes to confirm their identities.

Quant rises over $200 after surging 100% in 30 days

In the last 30 days, Quant Network’s QNT token has surfaced as an outlier in a bear market after its value surged by over 100% to trade above $216.

The growing interest in the network is closely linked to the launch of its tokenization mechanism “Tokenise”, which allows users to create interoperable QRC20 and non-fungible tokens.

Hoskinson says banks are marketing crypto with their actions after Kanye West, JP Morgan fallout

Popular American rapper Kanye West has cut ties with JP Morgan after the bank asked him to withdraw his assets worth $140 million. In response to the unfair treatment, the rapper wore a Satoshi Nakamoto hat to show his support for the bitcoin revolution.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson said that JP Morgan’s maltreatment of Kanye West is bringing more marketing attention to the crypto space.

People keep asking why isn’t the cryptocurrency space doing a better job at marketing, the answer is that every bank in America does a pretty good job of doing it for us pic.twitter.com/OANsCCDPMw

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) October 17, 2022

Binance’s CZ puts Reuters reporter on blast for intent to report about his children

A Reuter reporter had reached out to Binance with questions aimed at revealing details about CZ’s children.

The Binance founder who seeks to protect his children’s identity has declined to respond to such inquiries and labeled it as “unprincipled and intolerable.”

Bitcoin Association pursuing criminal charges against miner mining empty blocks

A miner in the BSV blockchain has been accused of allegedly producing empty blocks and launching a coordinated distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the network.

The Bitcoin Association has moved to pursue legal actions against the miner and have their block rewards frozen.

Texas is investigating FTX US, Sam Bankman-Fried over unregistered securities offerings

Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) has launched an investigation against FTX.US and Sam Bankman-Fried for allegedly offering unregistered securities.

The regulator has urged relevant authorities to stop FTX.US from purchasing Voyager’s assets for violating securities law.

Australian regulator suspends Holon Investments’ Bitcoin, Ethereum, Filecoin funds

Holon investment submitted an application to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) to offer Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Filecoin crypto funds to retail investors.

ASIC said that Holon’s application was vague as it failed to capture the risk profile of its target market. As a result, Holon was ordered to cease offering its crypto funds for the next 21 days, while it reviews the submission it made.

North Korean Lazarus Group targets Japanese crypto firms

According to Japan’s Police Agency, the North Korean Lazarus Group has been identified as the perpetrator of several cyber-attacks launched against Japanese crypto exchanges.

The hacking group reportedly stole about $45 million (¥6.7 billion) from the Zaif crypto exchange in 2018 and another $24 million (¥3.5 billion) from Bitcoin Japan in 2019.

Research Highlight

On-chain metrics show peak Ethereum network performance post-Merge

One month after the much anticipated Ethereum merge, on-chain data reveals that the network is performing efficiently.

CryptoSlate analysis shows that post-merge, Ethereum’s participation rate has increased above the 99% average level.

Further insights from ETH 2.0 total value staked metrics confirmed that more conviction is growing among ETH holders. As of press time, the total amount of ETH staked has surged to an all-time high of 14 million.

News from around the Cryptoverse

US regulators investigating Three Arrows Capital

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have launched an investigation against bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.

The regulators said 3AC failed to register with relevant U.S. agencies and allegedly misled investors by inflating its balance sheet.

Crypto Market

Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 1.11% to trade at $19,519 in the last 24 hours, while Ethereum (ETH) recorded an increase of 1.46% to trade at $1,328.

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