Musk fires Twitter execs, research stirs blockchain energy debate and CFTC brass shares crypto concerns: Hodler’s Digest, Oct. 23-29

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.

Report: Vast majority of blockchain energy studies ’lack scientific rigor’

Much of the information floating around about blockchain carbon emissions lacks validity on several levels, according to a preprint produced by researchers from multiple universities. In short, the preprint states that numerous studies on blockchain energy consumption use incomplete data, lack clarity on electricity costs, and have made assumptions based on old data, among other points. Blockchains and their energy requirements have been a topic of much debate.

Aussie federal budget reaffirms BTC won’t be treated as foreign currency

Australia will not be making Bitcoin legal tender, according to the country’s latest federal budget. The document detailing the budget indicated that Bitcoin will be taxed in the same category as other crypto assets and not as a foreign currency, despite El Salvador’s move to make BTC legal tender. El Salvador classified Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021. The Central African Republic also classifies Bitcoin as currency. Since 2014, Australia’s tax authority has classified crypto in general as a type of investment rather than a form of currency, according to comments from Koinly head of tax Danny Talwar.

Equifax, known for huge data breach, is building a Web3 KYC solution

Equifax is working with blockchain firm Oasis Labs on a decentralized identity product that may improve Know Your Customer practices. Hosted on Oasis’ platform and working with application programming interface (API) keys from Equifax, the solution will essentially let individuals provide identity confirmation without exposing sensitive information, with the information maintaining a trail on the organization’s blockchain. Tech specifics for the solution were not revealed, however. Equifax’s reputation is overshadowed by a significant global data breach it suffered in 2017.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $20,485, Ether (ETH) at $1,536 and XRP at $0.46. The total market cap is at $994.97 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Klaytn (KLAY) at 77.92%, Dogecoin (DOGE) at 46.52% and TerraClassicUSD (USTC) at 18.72%.  

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Chain (XCN) at -23.33%, Maker (MKR) at -13.67% and Casper (CSPR) at -9.28%.

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

Most Memorable Quotations

“Blockchain is not simply…