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Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Top Stories This Week

SBF received $1B in personal loans from Alameda: FTX bankruptcy filing

Documentation related to FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings revealed the firm was mismanaged on multiple levels. FTX Group was reportedly composed of multiple companies categorized into four silos. A $1 billion personal loan was reportedly allocated to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried from one of those silos. The documentation also revealed many other holes and oddities relating to the function of FTX. Several regulators are reportedly looking into FTX, including the Securities Commission of the Bahamas. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a self-regulatory U.S. organization, has also opened a broader investigation into crypto-involved companies in general, evaluating their communications with the retail public.

Binance creates industry recovery fund to help projects struggling with liquidity

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao unveiled his work on a new fund to help the struggling crypto sector — a sector which has been negatively affected by the fall of FTX. Zhao’s new fund looks to help by assisting “strong” crypto industry companies that have liquidity issues, the CEO said in a Nov. 14 tweet. Such companies should reach out to Binance Labs, as well as players looking to add capital to the fund. The fund will not go toward helping FTX, however, as specified by Zhao.

When it comes to designing a metaverse map, it’s more about the vibe than practicality. From space pods to jungle islands and celebrity neighbors, users want to feel like they are someplace special.

What considerations go into designing a metaverse platform? Insiders explain that one key factor is that virtual worlds need to be created with features familiar to their human users — even if such elements, like beaches and nature preserves, offer no practical benefits in virtual reality. Old habits die hard, and people prefer spaces that are familiar and, ideally, neighboring a celebrity like Snoop Dogg.

Alexis Christodoulou, a 3D architect who has been creating virtual spaces for 10 years and NFTs for two, recently got the job to design 2117, a space-themed metaverse platform imagining the United Arab Emirate’s stated goal to colonize Mars in the year 2117.

“If I was told to just build a metaverse, I’d have had a proper nervous breakdown — starting with a space pod was intuitive.”

Outer space, like the metaverse itself, is a foreign environment for humans. Looking 100 years into the future, it is easy to imagine a creepy, inhuman, alien-like ship without many points of familiarity. Instead, Christodoulou has aimed to form the environment into one that appears comfortable, familiar and inviting. 

Everything makes its way to the sea, and none more so than plastics. There are now five floating plastic islands in different oceans across the world, with the largest island even having a name, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is three times the size of France. Lying between California and Hawaii, it is the world’s biggest ocean waste repository, with 1.8 billion pieces of floating plastic that kill thousands of marine animals each year.

Of course, we now know that 35% of waste originates from wealthy countries and 50% of this waste is exported to developing countries. At the same time, 70% of developing countries mismanage their own waste and lack the infrastructure to collect and recycle waste. Finally, 90% of all plastic waste enters the oceans through rivers, mostly through a few hundred rivers in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Many projects have sprung up looking to tackle the problem of plastic pollution at the end of its journey. On Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador, one of the projects funded by Bitcoin philanthropists is the collection of plastics in the river before they reach the sea. 

Plastiks.io is another project that addresses the end games, identifying credible recycling and cleanup projects typically in developing countries that are funded by business or philanthropic individuals in the west.

Canada-based Plastic Bank also works to incentivize stewards to collect plastic from the oceans and, to date, claims that its Ocean Stewards have stopped more than 64 million kilograms of plastic from entering the ocean.

Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Top Stories This Week

FTX and Binance’s ongoing saga: Everything that’s happened until now

An earthquake rattled the crypto space this week, its impact felt in numerous related stories regarding FTX, Alameda Research and Binance. Although the bad news came rolling in this week, suspicions relating to FTX’s status appear to have started on Nov. 2. The concerns had to do with a large number of FTX Token (FTT) held by Alameda (Sam Bankman-Fried, aka SBF, founded Alameda and co-founded FTX). By Nov. 6, Binance had decided it would sell its sizable position in FTT. FTX withdrawal issues surfaced on Nov. 7, symptomatic of a bank run. Binance expressed interest in buying FTX but declined the purchase, citing concerns on Nov. 9. 

Other developments throughout the week included SBF reportedly requesting $8 billion to cover exchange withdrawals and news of the situation affecting other big players such as Sequoia Capital, as well as related regulatory headlines. 

Nov. 11 saw SBF’s resignation as well as FTX, Alameda and FTX US applying for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States. About 130 entities under FTX Group are filing for bankruptcy.

Breaking: Bahamas securities regulator freezes FTX assets

On Nov. 10, FTX saw its assets frozen and its registration suspended by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas, based on suspicions of mishandled client funds. A provisional liquidator was elected by the Bahamian Supreme Court, meaning FTX must now obtain permission to touch any of its assets. FTX is primarily based in the Bahamas, falling under its jurisdiction. The situation regarding FTX user withdrawals has been touch and go, with some withdrawals seemingly approved and funds leaving the exchange. Additionally, FTX negotiated a deal with Tron to allow holders of TRX, BTT, JST, SUN, and HT to swap assets from FTX to external wallets without penalty.

Crypto communities can often implode, despite the best intentions of everyone involved.

Genuine communities with plausible but convoluted project ideas can fail just as easily as projects like DeFi Wonderland, which imploded because of its CFO’s connection to the controversial, defunct Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX.

Plausible projects face scaling challenges like Zilliqa or project management problems like Bitcoin Diamond… or simply run out of money like any startup. So, they need a strong and well-coordinated community to ensure they can survive if and when things go wrong. 

So, what can be done to help create a healthy community that pulls together to achieve its objectives? Here are some reflections from founders and community managers. 

But for starters what even is a crypto “community?”

Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Top Stories This Week

JPMorgan executes first DeFi trade on public blockchain

A cross-border currency swap was carried out on a public blockchain by JPMorgan as part of a pilot program involving the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Guardian, SBI Digital Asset Holdings, Oliver Wyman Forum and DBS Bank. The Polygon blockchain hosted the swap between tokenized deposits of the Japanese yen and the Singapore dollar, helped by smart contract technology from Aave.

UnionBank of the Philippines launches Bitcoin and Ethereum trading

Philippine banking giant UnionBank now offers certain retail clients access to Bitcoin and Ether trading and custody, thanks to a collaborative pilot between the bank and crypto company Metaco. The offering from UnionBank utilizes Harmonize, a platform from Metaco. UnionBank operates under the regulatory approval of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines. The offering has been almost a year in the making, the result of a January 2022 partnership between Metaco and UnionBank. This is also not UnionBank’s first foray into the crypto sector.

If Andy Warhol — the most famous artist of the 20th century — were alive today, he would make NFTs. The reasoning is simple: because for Warhol, business was art. So, I decided to do some digging and speak to Warhol experts to see if there is a case.

But Warhol was an artist who defies easy definitions, and not everyone was keen to explore the highly speculative nature of the hypothesis. Professor Golan Levin, professor of electronic art at Carnegie Mellon University, said he couldn’t help and instead suggested that I “ask a Warhol biographer or a psychic medium.”

Fair enough. So, I messaged Warhol’s renowned biographer, Blake Gopnik, author of Warhol.

And then I found a Warhol psychic.

Gopnik is an art critic and a regular contributor to The New York Times. He’s the author of Warhol, a definitive biography of the pop artist.

Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Top Stories This Week

Twitter’s top brass gutted as Elon Musk’s takeover begins

Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter became final this week, after which he reportedly fired three top-level executives: CEO Parag Agrawal, head of legal and policy Vijaya Gadde and chief financial officer Ned Segal. Musk reportedly claims the three were dishonest about Twitter spam accounts — an issue that almost caused Musk to abandon the Twitter deal. On a more positive note, Musk said he has big plans for Twitter, including ensuring free speech on the platform. Twitter also commanded other headlines this week as Binance invested $500 million in the platform, and the New York Stock Exchange delisted the now-private company.

Kazakhstan to build central bank digital currency on BNB Chain

Binance’s BNB Chain will host Kazakhstan’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. CBDCs have made headlines in recent years as regions across the globe have taken various steps toward the new form of money. The digital tenge, a product of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, will operate on BNB Chain. Binance has made regulatory strides in Kazakhstan — a country that has shown interest in crypto.

It seems that every time one turns on the TV, something, somewhere, is going catastrophically wrong. Whether it be Hurricane Ian tearing through Cuba and Florida, war raging in Eastern Europe, or floods devastating Pakistan, there has been no shortage of crises in 2022 — both natural and human-caused. 

And as the climate continues to warm, extreme weather events and other natural disasters are only expected to occur more frequently, which may also potentially lead to greater overall regional and global instability. In response, some groups working to build decentralized community resilience are now turning to blockchain and Web3 tools to help strengthen their initiatives.

The United States experienced one of its worst natural disasters in modern history when the Category 5 Hurricane Katrina slammed into the New Orleans area on Aug. 29, 2005. The morning prior, the National Weather Service had issued an ominous warning to the residents of the city and the surrounding area:

“MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS…PERHAPS LONGER. […] POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS…AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

Unfortunately, the bulletin proved to be accurate. Thousands of people lost their lives, and millions were left homeless after the city’s outdated, flawed levee system was overwhelmed by flood waters.

This “Crypto City” guide looks at the San Francisco Bay Area’s crypto culture, its most notable projects and people, its financial infrastructure, which retailers accept crypto, and where you can find blockchain education courses. You really might leave your heart in San Francisco with all the projects in the Bay Area.

Fast facts

City: San Francisco

Country: United States

Population: 887,711

Founded: 1776

Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Top Stories This Week

DC Attorney General sues Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy for tax evasion

MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor faces charges of evading United States income taxes he allegedly incurred while living in Washington, DC. The office of the region’s attorney general, Karl Racine, has sued Saylor and MicroStrategy on claims that the firm helped Saylor evade over $25 million in DC income tax. The charges, stemming in part from an amendment to DC’s False Claims Act encouraging whistleblowers to report tax evasion, mean Saylor could see $75 million in penalties.

Crypto.com backs out of $495M sponsorship deal with UEFA Champions League: Report

Crypto.com has decided not to go through with a $495 million sponsorship agreement in response to possible regulatory issues. The sponsorship deal with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) would have seen Crypto.com advertised in the UEFA Champions League for five seasons. The crypto exchange was reportedly in sponsorship talks after the Champions League removed Gazprom, an energy company owned by the Russian state, as a sponsor. Crypto.com already has several high-profile advertising efforts under its belt, such as a commercial starring American actor Matt Damon.

In episode 12, we recap the series and look at what consumerism should and could look like going forward. Our speakers bring expertise in the circular economy, plastics and biomimicry, and each has a view on policy and responsibilities. Today, most producers and a growing number of consumers will not deny there is a problem with the take, make and dispose model, but there is, and will be, a groundswell of roadblocks. From monolithic governments to multinationals and start-ups, our speakers bring solutions, which are taking advantage of technological advantages or have been staring at us for centuries – or both.

In episode 11, we scrutinise ethics. Today, profits, gross domestic product and growth take precedence over our environment, health and happiness, regardless of the consequences. We explore how we can realistically and holistically change this. After all, hundreds of millions of individuals globally are unable to meet their needs, all while subsidising the affluent and powerful. Private sector must refrain from congratulating itself for selective, superficial, incremental steps, especially when making decisions thousands of miles away from the people and environment that they affect. We address why governments must not abdicate responsibility, even if it means listening to those who may not have deep pockets or degrees, but who know a decent quality of life means. Consumers must also feel agency. As ever, our speakers share some practical lessons we can all learn from.

The financial and capital markets keep economies moving. Episode 10 explores the role of investors – who secure public funds, underpin multinational companies and enable startups to connect and scale – in sustainable production and consumption. We talk about the importance of managing risk and streamlining standards and disclosure that do not deter issuers, but still give investors confidence – all whilehowthey assess and fund companies is evolving. Monetising impact and patient capital are high on the agenda. Regulators are increasingly focused on sustainability, and this is predicted to take even more momentum in the future. Our speakers give recommendations, from credit ratings integrating environment, social and governance metrics, to the investor community and products diversifying further so as to distribute capital more equitably.

NFTs can now serve as court documents… but they might also be unregistered securities, illegal loot boxes, or come with impossible tax demands.

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are thought of by most people as just funny pictures that degens on the internet spend far too much money on for poorly understood reasons. But Jason Corbett, managing partner of global blockchain law firm Silk Legal, says new and innovative use cases are beginning to emerge.

“We’ve seen recently the courts allowing the serving of court documents by way of an NFT,” Corbett says, referring to a recent decision by a United Kingdom court to allow notice of the case to be served by airdropping court documents as NFTs to wallets allegedly stolen from the claimant.

This changes our conception of what NFTs are and what rights and responsibilities come with them. Following this precedent, the sending of NFTs can be understood as a type of electronic communication, with the caveat that it is generally public. The sending of NFTs is more comparable to attaching posters to the outer wall of one’s house versus discreetly sliding them into the mailbox.

This comparison to publicly visible posters begs the question of whether this means that individuals controlling blockchain wallets hold responsibility for the NFTs they hold, in the same way as a homeowner would ultimately be responsible for removing obscene or otherwise illegal posters on their property, even if placed there against their will.

Throughout The Oblique Life Global Goals Season 1, we have partnered with Treepoints, a UK-based social enterprise that helps businesses and individuals offset carbon dioxide. This special episode is an opportunity to learn more about their business, and what they hope to achieve in the long run.

Episode 8 presents the challenges that the food industry must overcome to accommodate the 10 billion human population forecast for 2050, while restoring nature and mitigating climate change. There is much to ‘chew over’, from production to storage, trading, transport, packaging, marketing, purchasing, consumption, waste and hunger. As with our earlier sector-specific episodes, we cannot avoid policy, but we should not wait for it. Our speakers share their own solutions, as well as others’, to keep food nutritious, safe and moving.

Following the meteoric rise of ‘fast’ fashion, there is now increasing pressure to re-think textiles and apparel. In episode 7, we probe into the industry challenges, from the over-production, self-regulation and environmental impact to consumer behaviour and greenwashing. Yet fashion shapes cultures and identities, and so we need solutions. Our speakers provide them, including their own work and other brands. Awareness and respect along the production and consumption cycle is key. If we shift how, what and why we acquire, and if what we wear is given as long a life as possible, we will not just save the planet. We will reignite our relationship with clothes.

Episode 6 presents the myriad challenges the electronics industry is facing, from design and materials to consumer behaviour, obsolescence and legislation. Even if customers want to be more discerning, there are still few sustainable products on the market as of today. Our speakers present a raft of solutions to shift this sector from being one of the biggest villains to a protagonist of sustainable consumerism. Creativity, not waiting for perfection, collaboration and mutual pressure will be key, whether that is across and by governments, manufacturers and consumers, or between Global North and Global South.