Google and Coinbase strike a deal, BNY Mellon begins crypto custody and other news


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A week in review: October 9–15

Your weekly highlights to stay up to date with the latest crypto news

#1. Breaking: Google taps Coinbase to bring crypto payments to cloud services

Starting in early 2023, Coinbase's payment service, Coinbase Commerce, will facilitate crypto payments for customers purchasing Google's cloud services thanks to a deal between the two companies. Google will only allow certain crypto assets for payment, including Bitcoin. Initially limited to certain participants, the option to pay with crypto will eventually be expanded to other customers, an executive at Google Cloud told CNBC. Google Cloud has taken several other steps toward crypto and blockchain industry involvement in 2022.

#2. BNY Mellon, America's oldest bank, launches crypto services

Banking giant BNY Mellon has entered the crypto custody field, offering certain customers Bitcoin and Ether custody services via a new platform. The 238-year-old bank will provide bookkeeping for clients' crypto in a similar fashion as it does for traditional assets, while also handling clients' private keys. BNY Mellon's CEO of securities services and digital, Roman Regelman, said: "With Digital Asset Custody, we continue our journey of trust and innovation into the evolving digital assets space, while embracing leading technology and collaborating with fintechs."

#3. SEC rejects WisdomTree's application for a spot Bitcoin ETF... again

Following multiple delays, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has denied WisdomTree's spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposal, which the firm filed in January. The SEC cited fears of market manipulation and fraud as the rationale for its decision, which is consistent with its previous rationale for denying spot Bitcoin ETFs. The SEC also denied a spot Bitcoin ETF proposal from WisdomTree in 2021.

#4. Prediction of the week. BTC price hits 3-week lows on US CPI as Bitcoin liquidates $57M

For most of the week, Bitcoin traded sideways, slightly favoring the downside, according to Cointelegraph's BTC price index. The asset sustained a fair bit of price volatility on Oct. 13, however, in line with the release of September's U.S. inflation data. Bitcoin's price dropped down near $18,200 following the news but subsequently rebounded above $19,000.

In an Oct. 13 post, pseudonymous Twitter user il Capo of Crypto tweeted about the possibility of Bitcoin's drop being a bear trap, noting a potential subsequent rally to $21,000, followed by a stark drop.

#5. FUD of the week. US Treasury's OFAC and FinCEN announce $29M in enforcement actions against Bittrex

Crypto exchange Bittrex faces charges from two different United States regulators: the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The regulatory authorities have essentially alleged that Bittrex did not conduct proper due diligence on its customers and transactions between 2014 and 2018, which allowed users from sanctioned regions to use the platform. Bittrex confirmed it would settle with OFAC for around $24 million, which may also be applied as a credit toward its $29 million settlement owed to FinCEN. Looking to move forward from the situation, Bittrex stated that it has been up to date with expected standards since 2018.

#6. FUD of the week. CNN to shut down its NFT marketplace and issue 20% refund

After about four months, media outlet CNN has decided to discontinue its nonfungible token (NFT) endeavor, seemingly another bear market casualty. The media company's NFT project, known as Vault by CNN, essentially offered tokenized memories of historical news events spanning multiple decades through CNN's history. The project's roadmap projected six months of development, although the media outlet has since claimed the project was a "6-week experiment," according to an announcement from the Vault by CNN Twitter account. NFT buyers will get a 20% reimbursement of the price they paid to mint their NFTs, according to a CNN staffer on Discord.