The Breakdown First Five - Friday, November 1, 2024

Welcome back to The Breakdown First Five — the 5 most interesting and/or important stories in bitcoin, crypto, and markets to start your day.

5. New Fake Satoshi

Another person has emerged to claim that he is Satoshi. Steven Mollah held a sparsely attended press conference in London yesterday to announce that he is Satoshi. The evidence, according to one attendee, was “a series of easy to fake screenshots.” When asked to move the Genesis coins to prove his claim, Mollah said he would do it in the next few months. Don’t hold your breath for that to happen. 

4. SEC Spray and Pray

Immutable is the latest company to receive a Wells notice from the SEC. The firm claims they received it within hours of their first meeting with the regulator, so much for ‘come in and register.’ The company provides a service to mind NFTs for use as in-game items, hardly an open and shut case. The SEC didn’t even bother to explain the nature of the violation, providing a “fewer than 20 words of material explanation."

3. SEC Cost Industry $400M

A new survey from the Blockchain Association suggests that legal costs from battling regulators now exceed $400M. This was only a sample from association members, so represents a "small slice of the industry.” The lobbying firm highlighted that this number is better counted in lost jobs, innovation and investment in the US crypto industry.

2. Tether Printing Money

Tether’s Q3 results showed a staggering $2.5B in profit. According to the attestation report, the firm has now made $7.7B this year with total assets at $134.4B including stablecoin reserves. The company now holds over $100B in cash and cash equivalents, largely representing US Treasuries. This is a 5% increase from July and could make the firm too big to jail. 

1. Bitcoin Slumps

Bitcoin fell to $69,000 as anxious investors took profit ahead of a still uncertain election. Trump’s odds of victory dipped yesterday on the back as gaffs on each side demonstrated this is still a live Presidential race. Meanwhile the UK bond market is looking shaky again with another sketchy budget released. Uncertainty is the theme of the week. With Bitcoin near all time highs, some traders are taking risk off as we head into the weekend.