Chinese President Xi Jinping called for China to proactively participate in creating the international regulatory framework on digital currency. Xi stated Saturday in a speech titled "Issues on National Medium and Long-Term Social and Economic Strategies": "We need to take advantage of the momentum and accelerate the digitalization of various fields including our economy, society and government, as well as proactively participate in creating the international regulatory framework on digital currency and digital tax." Xi's urging came days after China's central bank released the proposed banking law to legalize its national virtual currency and ban other yuan-pegged tokens. A number of countries and international organizations have started working on a global legal framework to regulate coins and prevent regulatory arbitrage.

Here is the rest of the week in review:

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde announced Sunday a new survey of public opinion on the central bank's issuance of a digital euro, implying it is studying a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for retail use, not just for use between banks and institutions, which would mark a profound change in policy. Lagarde tweeted: "As Europeans are increasingly turning to digital in the ways they spend, save and invest, we should be prepared to issue a digital euro, if needed. I'm also keen to hear your views on it." In a video, she noted the ECB launched a public consultation so the European people can express their preferences and thoughts, in order to know if people would be happy to use and rely on a digital euro like a banknote. Lagarde's announcement came after Benoit Couere, head of the Innovation Hub at the Bank for International Settlements, wrote on CoinDesk that a public opinion survey heightens the chance of a retail CBDC debut.

A civil lawsuit filed claims that the top officers of HDR Global Trading, the parent company of one of the largest crypto derivatives exchanges BitMEX, systematically looted $440,308,400 from HDR accounts, but a spokesperson for HDR slammed the suit. The lawsuit seeks an order of attachment against HDR assets, while other claims against HDR are still being litigated, including probes from the US Department of Justice and Commodity Futures Trading that were revealed on October 1. The suit claims the executives conducted the alleged embezzlement occurred to reduce the amount of assets that could be seized by federal authorities. It also alleges the executives began diverting BitMEX's profits after becoming aware of potential charges in 2019. A spokesperson for HDR denied the claims: "Pavel Pogodin of 'Consensus Law' has filed a series of increasingly spurious claims against us, and others in the cryptocurrency sector," and HDR vowed to fight back during litigation.

Crypto prices soared to $401.7 billion this week on bullish sentiment. For the majors, Bitcoin jumped 6.2% while the other coins like Chainlink (LINK) and Bitcoin SV (BSV) fell. In the top 100, the biggest losers were ABBC Coin (ABBC), down 35%, yearn.finance (YFI), down 30%, and Aave (AAVE), down 27%. The biggest gainers were Nexo (NEXO), up 22%, Kusama (KSM), up 20%, and Velas (VLX), up 10%. Next week traders will watch for election volatility.

The author owns a small amount of BTC.