Crypto Flipsider News – Aptos launches; Ripple Debuts ETH Sidechain; 3AC Being Investigated; Texas Probes FTX; BTC’s Encouraging Signs

Read in the Digest:

Aptos mainnet goes live, receiving support from exchanges and Ankr.

Ripple launches EVM-sidechain to bring Ethereum smart contracts to XRPL.

Bankrupt Three Arrows Capital reportedly under investigation by U.S. regulators.

Texas securities regulators probe Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX US.

Bitcoin rebounds with stocks – long-term metrics show encouraging signs.

Aptos Mainnet Goes Live, Receives Support from Exchanges and Ankr

Aptos, the Proof of Stake (PoS) Layer-1 blockchain developed by former Meta employees, has finally launched its mainnet after four years of technical development.

The Aptos blockchain, which runs on the Move language, Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus approach, and virtual machine (MoveVM) for dApps, is reportedly designed to handle 160,000 transactions per second (TPS).

Aptos has received major support from exchanges, with Binance, Coinbase, FTX, Huobi, and OKX all listing the APT token shortly after its launch.

Web 3.0 infrastructure provider Ankr has also offered support, partnering with Aptos to become the first Web 3.0 infrastructure provider to connect dApps to Aptos endpoints. Following the deal, Ankr developers can now create dApps on the Aptos blockchain.

Flipsider:

The first day of the Aptos mainnet has been riddled with controversy, from its missing APT tokenomics, to users complaining about slow transaction speeds, and the temporary closure of its Telegram and Discord community channels.

Why You Should Care

Promoting itself as “the safest and most scalable Layer-1 blockchain”, Aptos has garnered a lot of attention since its October 17th launch.

Ripple Launches EVM Sidechain to Bring Ethereum Smart Contracts to XRPL

RippleX, a community of XRP Ledger (XRPL) developers, in collaboration with blockchain software company Peersyst, has begun testing a new sidechain on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) that will make the blockchain compatible with the Ethereum network.

According to the announcement, XRPL is now live on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible sidechain. This means developers are now able to “assess available technologies”, and deploy “existing Solidity apps on the EVM sidechain.”

RippleX explains that the launch represents the first step toward EVM compatibility with XRP-based sidechain XRPL. The goal for RippleX is to create a permissionless EVM-compatible sidechain on the XRPL.

As per the announcement, the second phase, which will see the sidechain become permissionless, meaning anyone can join, is scheduled to go live in early 2023, while the third phase, in which RippleX will receive a full release, is slated for Q2, 2023.

Flipsider:

In its ongoing case with the SEC, TapJets has filed an amicus brief in Ripple’s favor, stating that XRP’s status as an alternative to fiat currency must be preserved.

Why You Should Care

The project will allow the XRP ecosystem to implement and benefit from the work developers have put into building Ethereum smart contracts on the XRP Ledger.

Bankrupt Three Arrows Capital Reportedly Under Investigation by U.S. Regulators

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are reportedly investigating if the fall of Three Arrows Capital (3AC) was caused by the violation of regulations around investor conduct.

According to a report, two anonymous people familiar with the matter claimed that the regulators are looking into whether the crypto hedge fund violated laws by overstating the strength of its balance sheet to investors, and failing to register with the SEC and the CFTC.

The implosion of the Terra blockchain in May and the extreme market conditions that followed prompted 3AC to file for bankruptcy on July 1st, causing the insolvency of lenders like the Celsius Network, Voyager Digital, and Vauld when it was unable to meet their margin calls.

Flipsider:

At the start of October, 3AC was indicted for transferring a collection of more than 300 NFTs to a Gnosis Safe wallet address.

Why You Should Care

Although the SEC and CFTC are yet to make the probe official, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is already investigating 3AC for a similar matter, regarding its provision of false information about its assets under management.

Texas Securities Regulators Probe Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX US

FTX US, the North American branch of the popular cryptocurrency exchange, along with its Founder Sam Bankman-Fried are being probed by the Texas State Securities Board over the potential offering of unregistered securities in the form of yield-bearing accounts.

The investigation was opened by Texas State Securities Board Enforcement Director Joe Rotunda in a Friday filing regarding Voyager Digital’s bankruptcy proceedings, which is currently under scrutiny by the Enforcement Division.

Rotunda proposed that securities regulators should halt FTX’s $1.4 billion acquisition deal for Voyager until they can verify that FTX Trading, FTX US, and their principals, including Sam Bankman-Fried, are in compliance with securities policies.

He adds that the board is examining FTX US accounts, provided by the firm, which pay investors yield in exchange for staking their crypto (better known as yield farming), as it is suspected that the risk of these offerings was not disclosed to investors.

Flipsider:

Although investigations are ongoing, neither FTX US, nor Bankman-Fried himself have yet been charged with violating any laws.

Why You Should Care

The result of the investigation could delay Voyager’s acquisition and attract other U.S. regulators to look into the offerings of SBF.

Bitcoin Rebounds with Stocks – Long Term Metrics Show Encouraging Signs

Weak U.S. economic data in the form of the ‘Empire State Manufacturing Index‘ saw Bitcoin (BTC) rebound in line with stocks, as the ‘S&P 500' and ‘Nasdaq Composite Index‘ gained 2.7% and 3.2% respectively.

The rally pushed the price of BTC/USD up to $19,672, which represents a 3.5% gain against the weekend’s lows of $19,020. Bitcoin now trades at $19,662 at the time of writing, maintaining gains of 1.1% over the last 24 hours.

The 24 hour price chart for Bitcoin (BTC). Source: CoinMarketCap

Despite Bitcoin’s price remaining in the same range over the last four months, long-term metrics suggest encouraging signs of a turnaround. According to data tracker Santiment, Bitcoin’s mean dollar invested age (MDIA) is at an all-time high.

Santiment also reports that the MDIA and network realised profit-loss (NRPL) of Bitcoin are at the same level as in 2019, just before its now famous surge.

Flipsider:

Bitcoin’s social volume has declined since the market top of last year, and sentiment has made many more lows than highs in the intervening time since.