October 31, 2022

The biggest crypto news and ideas of the day

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Hello and welcome to The Node. This is Daniel Kuhn and Xinyi Luo, here to take you through the latest in crypto news and why it matters. In today's newsletter:

In this newsletter: Hong Kong government reconsiders stance on crypto ETFs, tokenized securities and retail trading, stablecoin HUSD falls 72% from dollar peg and Visa filed trademark applications for crypto wallets, NFTs and the metaverse.
The Takeaway: Sovyrn founder Edan Yago writes about Bitcoin's ongoing revolution, on the Bitcoin white paper's 14th anniversary.

– D.K.

Today's must-reads

Top Shelf

Hong Kong Reconsiders Stance on Crypto ETFs, Tokenized Securities and Retail Trading: Hong Kong's Financial Services and Treasury Bureau claimed that it's ready to engage with virtual asset service providers and invite them to the city in a policy statement. If proper safeguards are put in place, Hong Kong is prepared to allow retail trading of crypto assets.

The city is "open to the possibility" of having crypto-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and will no longer classify tokenized securities as complex products just because they are issued on the blockchain.
This move comes as Singapore proposes tightening the threshold for retail crypto trading and Beijing declared all activities related to digital coins illegal last year.

After Huobi Delists HUSD, the Stablecoin Falls 72% From Dollar Peg: HUSD stablecoin has fallen dramatically from its $1 peg, dropping to a low of 28 cents after crypto exchange Huobi delisted the asset on Friday. It is unclear why Huobi decided to move away from the stablecoin it developed.

Huobi said that users can still exchange HUSD tokens for Tether (USDT), the industry's largest stablecoin by market cap. HUSD is trading below 40 cents at press time.
TRON founder Justin Sun said recently on CoinDesk TV that as a recently-hired Huobi advisor he will push for his own Terra UST-like algorithmic stablecoin USDD to be used across the global exchange's ecosystem. He also suggested Huobi may reenter mainland China, if regulations ease.

Visa Files Trademark Applications for Crypto Wallets, NFTs, Metaverse: Payments giant Visa filed two trademark applications to the United States Patent and Trademark Office related to digital wallets, non-fungible tokens and the metaverse. The move follows that of other large corporations and payment companies including American Express.

– Xinyi Luo

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Putting the news into perspective

The Takeaway

(DALL-E/CoinDesk)

Bitcoin Will Usher in a New Era of Governance

Across the world, people are losing trust in the institutions that underpin society. Any thinking person can see the institutions of governance, finance and money are corrupt, incompetent and yet unavoidable. Edan Yago writes about how the creation of Bitcoin is leading to a new way of organizing businesses and societies. Read the full article here.

Overheard on CoinDesk TV...

Sound Bites

"Being able to have that computation where neither party actually knows exactly what's happening is really valuable."

—Nillion Chief Business Officer Slava Rubin, on CoinDesk TV's "First Mover"

The news in a sentence

Headlines

India's Central Bank to Start Wholesale CBDC Pilot Nov. 1 | Attacker Behind $14.5M Team Finance Exploit Returns $7M | Bitcoin White Paper Celebrates 14th Birthday | El Salvador, Lugano Sign Agreement to Help Spread Bitcoin Adoption and Education | Crypto Exchange Coincheck Plans to List on Nasdaq in July 2023 |

What others are writing

Off-Chain Signals

Elon Musk, Twitter, Dogecoin, Bluesky, and the Decentralized Social Media Race (Decrypt)
Vitalik Urges DeFi to Slow Down Integration with Traditional Finance (The Defiant)
Crypto, Cash and Spies: Secret Videos Sink Legal Rising Star (Bloomberg Law)