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Welcome to The Node! This is Marc Hochstein to take you through the latest crypto news. In today's news: The target of Stripe's pending acquisition makes an acquisition of its own; U.S. jobs report falls short of expectations; Kamala Harris' odds climbing on Polymarket; dYdX chief sees parallels between the internet of the 1990s and where DeFi is today. The Takeaway: Now 16 years old, Bitcoin is getting its proverbial driver's license and entering a new phase of development, writes Rena Shah of Bitcoin layer-2 builder Trust Machines. 👇 |
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Stripe's M&A Target Makes a Buy of Its Own |
Triangle, a Web3 wallet infrastructure platform founded by Stripe alumnus Tasti Zakarie, has been acquired by stablecoin payments platform Bridge, the company said in a press release on Friday. As part of the deal, the Triangle team will join Bridge to help build scalable stablecoin systems, the company said. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Bridge itself is a recent acquisition target. The stablecoin company is being bought by Stripe for $1.1 billion, in the largest crypto acquisition by a major payments company to date. That deal is expected to close in the coming months, subject to regulatory approvals. |
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dYdX Chief Says He's Seen This Movie Before |
Regulations and increasing demand for consolidated products could propel growth in the niche decentralized finance sector (DeFi), one that's stuck in a market lull in the past year but could have its “internet” moment as retail offerings grow. That's the view held by Charles D’Haussy, CEO of the dYdX foundation, which supports the development of the onchain perpetual trading protocol dYdX – which boasts $266 million in locked value, according to DeFi Llama data, and has a $674 million market capitalization by token value. D’Haussy spoke to CoinDesk at the sidelines of the Hong Kong Fintech Week this week, predicting growth in the DeFi market to be similar to the internet's recent years – where people interact mainly using applications instead of web explorers or browsers. "The internet, in my opinion, is becoming the split internet, with walled gardens. ...People don’t go to web explorers; they go into apps,” he said in an interview. "The internet’s evolution into silos shows a massive change in how web products are distributed, and DeFi needs to follow users into these spaces." In the 1990s, regulators struggled to understand and control the decentralized nature of the internet, seeking a "CEO of the internet" who didn’t exist, and eventually shifted focus to regulating access providers like AOL and ISPs, D'Haussy explained. While DeFi operates as an open, unpredictable financial ecosystem without central control, regulators will not target the protocols themselves but will instead focus on centralized finance (CeFi) platforms and other gateways as points of regulation, he argued. |
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U.S. Jobs Report Falls Short of Expectations |
Just days ahead of the U.S. presidential election and Federal Reserve policy meeting, the government reported a marked weakening in the labor market last month, though it is unclear to what extent storms in the Southeast affected the data. The U.S. added just 12,000 jobs in October, according to the Nonfarm Payrolls report, well shy of economist forecasts for 113,000. September's job gain of 254,000 was revised down to 223,000. October's unemployment rate was 4.1%, as expected and unchanged from September. In addition to September's downward revision, August's originally reported 159,000 job gain was revised lower to 78,000. Under pressure for the last day or so – perhaps thanks to the reduced chances of a victory next Tuesday for crypto-friendly Donald Trump – the price of bitcoin (BTC) was volatile, but still remaining in the $70,000 area in the minutes following the report. |
As MiCA Looms, Fastex Pushes for Regulatory Compliance What are the three biggest crypto trends of 2024? You could argue the top three trends are regulation, regulation, and regulation. The “Wild West” is no more. Europe’s MiCA framework will soon go into effect. Debates over crypto regulation have spilled into the U.S. presidential election. And one Web3 company is traveling across the globe — quite literally — to show leadership in regulatory compliance: Fastex. Continue reading here. |
Kamala's Odds Rising on Polymarket |
The odds of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris winning next week's U.S. presidential election are rising on betting platform Polymarket, with some observers suggesting the increase reflects hedging positions among traders who've also bet on a victory for her Republican rival, Donald Trump. Harris’ odds have risen to almost 39% from 33% on Oct. 30. Trump's odds dropped in tandem, suggestive of lower expectations of him winning, though at 61%, he's still the preferred candidate. Some market watchers attributed Friday’s crypto market slide to Trump’s slump on Polymarket. Polymarket is a betting marketplace where users can buy “shares” in the outcome of any prediction, winning $1 per share if the outcome occurs. If a Yes share for an event costs $0.60, the market interprets this as a 60% chance of the event occurring. |
The Takeaway: Bitcoin's Sweet 16 |
On October 31, Bitcoin turned 16 — the anniversary of Satoshi Nakamoto publishing the white paper that changed financial history. At 16, Bitcoin is no longer just a rebellious experiment; it’s entering a critical phase where it’s being tested on a much larger scale. Bitcoin is getting its proverbial driver's license, ready to navigate the open roads of the global financial system. The question is: can it handle the complexities ahead? Bitcoin has evolved beyond "digital gold." Today, it's a foundational piece of global financial infrastructure. This year has seen the rise of Bitcoin Layer 2s, Ordinals, and institutional adoption, which shows we’re at a critical inflection point. Perhaps the most defining moment of Bitcoin’s 16th year has been the entrance of institutions. The approval of Bitcoin ETFs, led by financial giants like BlackRock, Fidelity, and Invesco, marked an historic shift. As of mid-2024, these ETFs have collectively attracted over $1.5 billion in assets under management (AUM), providing a significant capital influx into the market. This institutional wave reflects a growing appetite for Bitcoin exposure through traditional financial vehicles. BlackRock alone manages trillions of dollars in assets, and its involvement signals that Bitcoin is no longer seen as a fringe asset but a serious contender in the global financial arena. So how can Bitcoin maintain its decentralized ethos while absorbing billions in institutional capital? For those of us building on Bitcoin, this is the challenge we face: to keep Bitcoin permissionless and resilient, even as it becomes mainstream. Read the rest. |
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