Hodler’s Digest, Oct. 26 – Nov. 1 – Cointelegraph Magazine

Top Stories This Week

Bybit halts new user onboarding in Japan, citing ‘emerging’ regulations

Bybit, the world’s second-largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has announced it will pause new user registrations in Japan starting Oct. 31, as it adapts to new regulations from the country’s Financial Services Agency.

The company said the move is part of its “proactive approach” to align with Japan’s emerging regulatory framework for digital assets, according to a Wednesday announcement. 

“It has always been Bybit’s commitment to operate responsibly and in compliance with local laws and regulatory expectations,” the exchange said. 

Existing Japanese customers will not be affected for now, with all current services remaining operational. Bybit said it will share further updates as discussions with regulators progress.

Nigerian fintech plans African stablecoin payment system with Polygon: Report

Flutterwave, Nigeria’s largest fintech company, is developing a cross-border payment platform powered by stablecoins, highlighting the growing role of blockchain technology in streamlining payments across Africa.

The company is partnering with Polygon Labs to launch the service across its 34-country network, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Polygon’s blockchain infrastructure, built to provide scalable, faster and cheaper transactions on Ethereum, will be used to enhance settlement speed and efficiency.

Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola said the move could transform the flow of funds across the continent, enabling businesses and consumers to bypass the high costs and delays that often plague traditional payment systems.

“Stablecoin adoption will drive more flows into Africa,” Agboola said, adding that the initiative “has the potential to 10x the volumes we are currently doing.”

MEXC apologizes to ‘White Whale’ trader over $3M freeze

About three months after pseudonymous crypto trader the White Whale reported that the MEXC exchange had frozen about $3 million worth of their holdings, a representative publicly apologized and released the funds.

In a Friday X post, MEXC Chief Strategy Officer Cecilia Hsueh said the exchange “f***ed up” in handling a situation with the crypto user. In July, MEXC froze $3.1 million of the user’s funds, allegedly due to the exchange’s “risk control rules.”

“We apologize to [the White Whale], and his money is already released,” said Hsueh. “He can claim it at any time. I messed up in communicating with him. I got emotional, and I shouldn’t have.”

Bitcoin’s 4-year cycle isn’t dead, expect a 70% drop next downturn: VC

The price of Bitcoin will continue to experience cyclical booms and busts, resulting in a drawdown of up to 70% during the next market downturn, according to Vineet Budki, CEO of venture firm Sigma Capital.

There will be a BTC retracement of 65% to 70% in the next two years because traders do not understand the asset they are holding, Budki told Cointelegraph at the 15th Global Blockchain Congress in Dubai, UAE. He said:

“Bitcoin will not lose its utility if it comes down to $70,000. The problem is that people don’t know its utility, and when people buy assets that they don’t know and understand, they sell them first; that is where the selling pressure comes from.”

Poor UX is causing stablecoin ‘ticker fatigue’: ZachXBT

The number of different stablecoin tickers and token standards is fragmenting liquidity across the crypto ecosystem and burdening users with a poor experience that is costly, technical, and time-consuming, according to onchain sleuth ZachXBT.

Cross-chain bridging restrictions, gas and transaction fees that must be paid in the native token of the blockchain being used, and a lack of universal token support across exchanges are all obstacles users face in transferring stablecoins across the crypto ecosystem, ZachXBT said. He gave the following example:

“Imagine you receive USDPT to your Solana address but realize your wallet doesn’t have USDPT on the default token list. You also need gas, so you bridge ETH from Ethereum and wait several minutes, and want to swap USDPT for USD on a centralized exchange.”

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $109,965, Ether (ETH) at $3,865 and XRP at $2.50. The total market cap is at $3.71 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100…