The week of October 24 has been exciting for the blockchain and cryptocurrency world. Perhaps the biggest news is Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) on Tuesday launched its new digital wallet for cryptocurrencies called Novi, and the tech giant contracted with Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) to help with logistics. Coinbase is supporting Novi via Coinbase Custody, which keeps funds secure with software that manages crypto transactions. Coinbase said it will store the crypto assets that Facebook will offer to users who sign up for the early test version of the Novi wallet. Facebook is first rolling out Novi in a small pilot program in the US and Guatemala to start, in hopes it will enable people to send and receive money abroad instantly, securely, and without fees. Novi users will be using the Paxos Dollar (USDP), a smaller stablecoin pegged to the US dollar (USD). Facebook says it selected USDP to test their systems with a stablecoin that has been operating successfully with fully backed cash reserves for over 3 years. Facebook added it ultimately aims to migrate Novi to its own stablecoin Diem once it receives regulatory approval.
Here is the rest of the week in review:
FTX announced Thursday it has raised $420.69 million in a Series C funding round with numbers based on meme culture, boosting its new valuation to $25 billion. The Bahamas-based crypto exchange said it raised the new funds from 69 investors including the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, Singapore's Temasek, BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), and Sequoia. FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who is crypto's wealthiest individual with a net worth over $22 billion, said: "Today we are focused on establishing FTX as a trustworthy and innovative exchange by regularly engaging with regulators around the world, and constantly seeking opportunities to enhance our offerings for digital asset investors." The new round came just months after the firm raised $900 million in a Series B funding round in July at a $18 billion valuation. FTX has grown to be one of the world's largest digital currency exchanges, competing with giants like Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken. The firm specializes in offering customers derivatives and trading on leverage.
PIMCO is starting to dabble in crypto and plans to gradually invest more in digital assets that have the potential to disrupt the financial industry. The fixed income management giant's chief investment officer Daniel Ivascyn told CNBC on Wednesday: "Now we're looking at potentially trading certain cryptocurrencies as part of our trend-following strategies or quant-oriented strategies, then doing more work on the fundamental side." He noted that some of PIMCO's hedge fund portfolios are already trading securities linked to crypto. He said PIMCO is trading from a "relative value perspective," attempting to profit from arbitrage between the actual Bitcoin (BTC) asset, the popular Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTC: GBTC), and futures contracts. Ivascyn added that decentralized finance may disrupt the investment management industry, and so PIMCO is thinking about making moves to better compete in a rapidly changing environment that offers a significant value proposition.
Crypto prices edge up to $2.51 trillion as Bitcoin notched a new record high and then pulled back. For the majors, Solana (SOL) and Dogecoin (DOGE) posted outsized gains, while XRP slipped. In the top 100, the biggest losers were DYDX, down 18%, FLOW, down 17%, and Celsius (CEL), down 10%. The biggest gainers were OKB, up 59%, SHIBA INU (SHIB), up 57%, and NEXO, up 53%. Next week traders will see if Bitcoin continues upward.
The author owns a small amount of BTC.