Mastercard and Paxos help banks offer crypto, Jack Dorsey details new social platform and Tesla hodls BTC: Hodler’s Digest, Oct. 16-22

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

Mastercard taps Paxos to launch crypto trading for banks

Banks will soon be equipped to offer clients crypto trading and custody thanks to a new program called “Crypto Source” from Mastercard and Paxos Trust Company. As part of the program, Mastercard will cover some of the compliance, security and interface details while Paxos handles crypto custody and trading. Expected in the final quarter of 2022, the Crypto Source program will essentially provide the underpinning that will let banks offer crypto trading and custody to their clients.

Jack Dorsey unveils decentralized social with algo choice and portable accounts

Under the supervision of former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, a new social media platform called “Bluesky Social” has entered its private beta phase after years of anticipation. Underpinning the platform is a protocol known as the Authenticated Transfer Protocol (formerly named ADX). The protocol essentially removes the walls around user data, letting users move their accounts from platform to platform rather than having their profiles and information locked on a single platform.

Hodl! Tesla hangs onto all its remaining $218M in Bitcoin in Q3

After offloading 75% of its Bitcoin holdings in Q2, Tesla decided to retain its remaining BTC in Q3, according to the company’s latest earnings report. The Q3 earnings report detailed Tesla’s balance sheet carrying $218 million in digital assets. In February 2021, Tesla notably unveiled holding $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, but sold most of its holdings the following year due to China-related COVID-19 concerns.

Not like China: Hong Kong reportedly wants to legalize crypto trading

Although a special administrative region of China, Hong Kong is reportedly looking to ease its crypto regulations to favor the industry. China has taken regulatory steps to discourage crypto industry activity in the past. Crypto trading in Hong Kong itself is largely limited to professional investors, thanks to Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). However, the SFC is now taking steps to allow retail crypto trading, as well as other crypto-friendly pursuits.

‘Performing as expected’ — Aptos Labs defends day 1 criticism

Aptos, a blockchain constructed using programming language that was once intended for Meta’s Diem project, launched its mainnet on Oct. 17. The well-funded blockchain created by Aptos Labs claims a processing capacity of 160,000 transactions per second (TPS). However, just 4 TPS was observed at the time of Cointelegraph reporting on Oct. 18. The initial low numbers were expected, according to Aptos on Twitter. Oct. 20 reporting revealed numbers for the blockchain had risen to 16 TPS.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $19,115, Ether (ETH) at $1,299 and XRP at $0.44. The total market cap is at $916.20 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Casper (CSPR) at 32.19%, Lido DAO (LDO) at 16.23% and Maker (MKR) at 16.07%. 

The top three altcoin losers of the week are TerraClassicUSD (USTC) at -24.65%, Axie Infinity (AXS) at -16.18% and EthereumPoW (ETHW) at -15.52%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“Well, I mean, there are a few reasons [for having Bitcoin in space]. One, because it’s cool, and you can.

Adam Back, co-founder and CEO of Blockstream

“Now is the time to tell your friends and explain the benefits about crypto, because when they’re FOMOing at $70,000 [per Bitcoin] you should be telling them not to enter the market.

Marcel…