Aptos , XRP, Celebs Lose, Terra (LUNA) Latest
Crypto News: It’s been another glorious week as Aptos set new records by launching the world’s slowest blockchain ever, and Terra (LUNA) CEO Do Kwon broke his silence.
The war between centralization and decentralization also picked up a few gears, as XRP CEO Brad Garlinghouse gave his not-too-complete thoughts on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Let’s do this.
Aptos stumbles, crashes so hard
The launch of the long-awaited Aptos blockchain happened this week, or did it? Billed as the “Solana killer” by some, the Layer 1 protocol was supposed to deliver transactions in the hundreds of thousands, but for much of the week it struggled to reach double figures.
Aptos was also never supposed to fall into Solana-like downtimes, but with such slow uptimes, there’s not much to brag about. After the launch, the markets gave their verdict on the coin. The price plummeted.
It’s hard to imagine a more disastrous and humiliating start than this… unless your name is Liz Truss. The crypto-positive British Prime Minister stepped into her role on September 8, but after a string of disastrous fiscal policies, she was forced to resign.
Britain now faces a new leadership battle to elect another prime minister as the country’s political system descends into deep chaos.
The battle between cryptocentralization and decentralization
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is making moves in the ongoing battle between centralization and decentralization. The IMF is now claiming Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) as a path towards financial inclusion, but what they mean is something else entirely.
IMF Deputy Managing Director Bo Li said the potential programmability of CBDCs “could help government agencies precisely target their support.”
It creates the frightening possibility that central banks can decide what individuals can and cannot spend their money on.
Sam Bankman-Fried also weighed in on the side of centralization this week, with a report on regulations and industry standards. One of the contentious issues was the proposal that DeFi should fall under the control of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). This is the same agency that blacklisted Tornado Cash. After seeing the proposals Bankless founder Ryan Sean Adams concluded, “This is absolutely sick.”
Jack Dorsey is fighting the good fight on the side of decentralization. The former Twitter boss announced Bluesky this week, a decentralized social networking protocol. Given the drive toward centralization elsewhere, his announcement seems well-timed.
XRP Hates on SEC, Grayscale Unhappy, Too
On Sunday, we revealed that the SEC made Brad Garlinghouse more than a little hot under the collar. According to Garlinghouse, Gary Gensler’s pursuit of Ripple is not for valid reasons. Garlinghouse said it was instead “about power.”
Meanwhile, the Blockchain Association has supported Grayscale in its legal battle against the SEC. Grayscale has been frustrated by the regulator’s intransigence, which has denied the conversion of the Bitcoin Trust fund into a spot Bitcoin ETF.
Islamic coin comes with big news claims
Earlier in the week BeInCrypto reported on Islamic Coin. This is a cryptocurrency designed to be Sharia compliant. The team behind the cryptocurrency expects it to scale to $1 trillion in value. It’s not the first time a Sharia-compliant coin has been attempted, and most have promised big things only to fall short. Given the article’s popularity, it may be an idea whose time has come.
Crypto celebrities lose
Celebrities including Neymar, Madonna, Snoop Dogg and Eminem are sitting on a black hole of unrealized losses thanks to the devaluation of non-fungible token (NFT) prices. Neymar has spent around $700,000 on NFTs only to see the bottom fall out of the market. Previously BeInCrypto reported on Azuki purchased by Logan Paul for $623,000. JPEG is now valued at just $10.
Logan Paul will likely make up the deficit by promoting even more dubious NFT projects.
This week’s news In Do Kwon
No weekly crypto news update would be complete without a reference to Do Kwon. This week, the Terra (LUNA) CEO spoke to reporter Laura Shin to say he made no attempt to hide. At no time, however, did he make any attempt to say where he was either.
The Crypto News Saga continues
But before we let you go, check out how the Halloween effect could affect the crypto market. And don’t worry, there’s nothing to be afraid of!
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