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Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, has reportedly signed a non-binding letter of intent with FTX to fully acquire http://FTX.com. The announcement came after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said on Twitter that Binance would liquidate any remaining FTX Token on their books, which subsequently caused a liquidity crunch. FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said he had asked Binance to step in with the aim of clearing out liquidity crunches and ensuring all assets would be covered 1:1. The acquisition would not affect the company’s US business, which was shown in a 2021 audit that it covered only 5% of total FTX’s revenue. Zhao also said full due diligence would be conducted in the coming days and Binance has the discretion to withdraw from the deal at any time.

Co-founder and CEO of US-based crypto exchange Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, said at the Singapore FinTech Festival 2022 that Singapore’s ambition to become a Web3 hub is difficult to reconcile with its prohibition of retail trading. In response to his criticism, Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said that retail investors are still not aware of the risks they are exposed to. He also thought the crypto firms are responsible for protecting their customers given the highly speculative and volatile nature of crypto.

The Chinese city of Wuhan has reportedly abandoned its plan to include NFTs in the city’s metaverse development. The latest version of the Wuhan government’s industrial plan on the city’s metaverse development no longer mentioned NFTs, which originally appeared in the draft proposal in August. The latest report, however, still said the government would promote the development of Web3 and encourages companies to explore “decentralized operation models”. The government revealed in the report that it intends to cultivate or attract more than 200 metaverse companies in the city, and build at least two metaverse industrial estates by 2025.

The Canadian government has reportedly launched a consultation on cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on 3 November. The government said the country’s financial system regulation needs to keep up with the development and transformation of its financial system brought by the rise in cryptocurrencies and the digitalization of money. It also revealed the intention to launch a financial sector legislative review focused on digitalization of money and maintaining financial sector stability and security to address the problems of using digital assets and cryptocurrencies for avoiding global sanctions and fund illegal activities domestically and abroad.

Fidelity Investments has reportedly launched Fidelity Crypto, a commission-free crypto trading service for retail investors and has opened an early-access waitlist to users. The service is provided by its subsidiary Fidelity Digital Assets, which enables retail investors to trade Bitcoin and Ether and use custodial and trading services. The firm will include a 1% spread into every trade execution price rather than charging a commission. The firm said the launch of the new product could support its notable portion of customers who are already interested in and own crypto.

The US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase disclosed in its shareholder letter on 3 November that the company transaction revenue in Q3 saw a 44% decrease when compared to that in Q2, which fell from $655.2 million to $365.9 million. The exchange attributed the decline to macroeconomic factors such as high inflation and interest rates and geopolitical factors contributing to a 30% drop in daily average crypto market capitalization. The exchange observed that the lack of regulatory clarity in the US , more retail customers preferred holding to trading crypto and advanced traders chose its competitors with more complex products were also the reasons for the drop in its transaction revenues. However, the company’s net loss decreased by 50% to $544.6 million in this quarter.

Tech giant Meta announced on 2 November that the company will soon allow creators to make their own digital collectibles on Instagram and sell them both on and off the platform. It will initially partner with the Polygon blockchain to provide an end-to-end toolkit for them to create, showcase and sell their digital collectibles. The company’s head of commerce and financial technology, Stephane Kasriel, said no fees would be charged to create or sell NFTs until 2024, and Meta will cover the buyers’ blockchain gas fees at launch, though the exact launch timeline was not specified. These new features would first be tested with a small group of creators in the US.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a news conference during the Web Summit in Lisbon on 2 November that he did not consider CBDC as a threat to Binance or other cryptocurrencies. He thought the governments’ adoption of blockchain technology that applied to CBDC could validate blockchain technology and build trust among those who worry about the technology. His attitude seems to have changed when compared to the comments he made last year saying that CBDC would never provide the same freedom as cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum as many of them would be subject to lots of control by the central banks.

The South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the National Assembly have reportedly aimed to pass a new law in 2023, which authorizes financial authorities to oversee and penalize unfair trade acts, including the use of undisclosed information, price manipulation and fraud while supervising crypto exchanges. It is expected that such unfair trade practice in the crypto industry will have an equivalent regulatory outcomes as compared to the traditional financial industry, though the details on the specific penalties have yet to be disclosed.

BANDESAL, a state development bank of El Salvador, has reportedly refused to disclose information regarding the Bitcoin acquisition in the country to ALAC El Salvador, which is a non-governmental anti-corruption bureau. A $150 million Bitcoin Trust (FIDEBITCOIN) was created by the bank to guarantee the convertibility to dollars. BANDESAL said the trustee or the board of directors of the trust could not share any information related to the trust due to the protection of national interests.

Global digital peer-to-peer (P2P) payments company MoneyGram has reportedly allowed the users in nearly all U.S. states and the District of Columbia to buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) on its mobile app. The company said the new service was launched through its existing partnership with Coinme, a licensed crypto exchange and API-driven crypto-as-a-service provider.

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has published a circular setting out the requirements for the authorization of the public offering of the exchange traded funds (ETFs) that obtain exposure to virtual assets (VAs) primarily through futures contracts (VA Futures ETFs) in Hong Kong on 31 October. The regulator said in addition to the existing regulatory requirements applicable to VA Futures ETFs, the application should meet the additional requirements set out in the circular. The management company shall have a good track record of regulatory compliance and demonstrate at least three years’ proven track record in managing ETFs. SFC said only VA futures traded on conventional regulated futures exchanges are allowed, subject to certain exceptions and it initially only allowed Bitcoin futures and Ether futures traded on Chicago Mercantile Exchange.