Bitcoin price yesterday, October 17.

COMMITS AND ACTIVE DEVELOPERS ON POPULAR BLOCKCHAINS

Vitalik Buterin has published the second article in the "Possible Future of the Ethereum Protocol" series titled "The Surge," in which he emphasized the need for a rollup-centric strategy.

The main goals of The Surge are:

◽️ 100,000+ TPS on L1+L2.
◽️ Maximum compatibility between L2s. "Ethereum should feel like one ecosystem, not 34 different blockchains."
◽️ Preserving decentralization and reliability of L1.
◽️ Ensuring that at least some L2s fully inherit Ethereum's core properties (trustless, open, and censorship-resistant).

To achieve the target TPS, Buterin suggested optimizing the performance of existing solutions such as PeerDAS, Plasma, SNARK, scaling block data compression, improving L2 interoperability, and optimizing L1 throughput (the latter will be covered in the next article).

Santiment: These coins have seen the largest increase in whale activity over the past week.

BEST EXCHANGES BY WEEKLY VISITS

South Korea is tightening control over cryptocurrency transactions: companies dealing with crypto will now be required to complete mandatory registration and report monthly to the Bank of Korea.

Transaction data will be monitored to detect illegal activities such as money laundering and illicit arbitrage.

Emory University acquired a Bitcoin ETF worth $15,000,000 — Form 13F.

Emory University is a private research university in the United States, located in Atlanta, Georgia. It was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia, by a small group of Methodists and was named after John Emory, a prominent Methodist Church bishop.

The new mining machine from Bitdeer - SEALMINER A2!

Specifications: 226TH/s, 16.5J/TH.

DropsTab: top blockchains reaching record Total Value Locked (TVL) in October

The U.S. SEC is investigating the Immutable project over the sale of IMX tokens.

Developers of the Immutable gaming blockchain network reported that the company received a notice of investigation from the SEC, in which the agency threatens to take legal action. As with other crypto platforms, the SEC equates the sale of IMX tokens in 2021 to transactions involving unregistered securities, which violate U.S. law.

These notices (known as Wells notices), one of which was received by the Immutable team, warn of potential enforcement actions as part of the investigation into the recipient company's activities.

Previously, similar notices were sent to exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and CryptoCom, the NFT marketplace OpenSea, the broker Robinhood, administrators of the decentralized exchange Uniswap, and the developers of the MetaMask crypto wallet—Consensys.

The IMX token price reacted to the news with a drop of over 10%.

The trial of Tornado Cash mixer developer Roman Storm has been postponed.

A New York court has delayed proceedings against Tornado Cash crypto mixer developer Roman Storm by four months, moving the date from December 2024 to April 2025. The extension was necessary to address issues surrounding witness anonymity.

In 2022, the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash came under U.S. Treasury sanctions, with the regulator accusing the service of aiding criminals in laundering illicit funds. That same year, Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev was arrested in the Netherlands. In May this year, he was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to five years and four months in prison.

Charges of laundering $1 billion were also brought against two other Tornado Cash founders, Roman Semenov and Roman Storm. Semenov was charged in absentia, while Storm was arrested in August 2023 but later released on a $2 million bond. He has pleaded not guilty.

The postponement of Storm's trial until spring will allow both parties to resolve disputes over the disclosure of expert witness information.

Tornado Cash developers have received support from the crypto community, with supporters arguing that Pertsev and Storm merely created the crypto mixer code and were not involved in any criminal activities associated with its use. Pertsev’s lawyers have called his case unprecedented, as it is the first in which a software developer is being held accountable for third-party use of their code.

Bitcoin could test the $50,000 level if Kamala Harris wins the U.S. presidential election – Bernstein forecast.

If Donald Trump wins, analysts expect BTC to rise to $80,000-90,000.

All of Kamala Harris's political shitcoins have gone to zero.

Capital inflow into BTC continues to grow, indicating a steady increase in new demand — Glassnode Weekly Report

Detroit will become the largest city in the U.S. to start accepting cryptocurrencies for tax and fee payments. This option will be available in mid-2025, implemented through a platform by PayPal.

Notably, residents in three states — Colorado, Utah, and Louisiana — already have the option to make government payments in cryptocurrency.

As of November 12, 2024, Bitcoin (BTC) has appreciated by over 111% year-to-date, while MicroStrategy's (MSTR) stock has surged by approximately 438% in the same period.

Tonhub Launches Visa Debit Card for Its Users

Tonhub, a non-custodial wallet for storing and using the TON cryptocurrency, continues to expand the possibilities of Web3!

Users can now apply for a Visa card directly within the app, linked to their TON or USDt balance, and make payments seamlessly via Apple Pay and Google Pay.

At Tonhub, your account isn't just a bank record but a smart contract connected to your wallet on the TON blockchain. You own your funds and manage them directly, elevating your crypto wallet to the level of a neobank.

Key Benefits of the New Card from @tonhub:

▪️ Registration in just a few minutes — quick KYC procedure.
▪️ Minimal fees — only 1.5% per transaction.
▪️ Global payments — all the advantages of a fiat debit card (including SEPA and SWIFT transfers).
The project was realized in collaboration with the Holders platform, specializing in issuing non-custodial cards.

Currently, the service is available only to users with a European ID.

By 2025, there are plans to expand card availability to users in CIS countries, Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as integrate the service with wallets like TrustWallet, TonKeeper, and MyTonWallet.

Try out Tonhub and discover the possibilities of Web3 payments.

⚡️ Coin of the Day by Market Sentiment -
Hyper GPT $HGPT

$HGPT

Crypto Exchange Upbit May Face Fines Worth Billions of Dollars

On November 14, South Korea's regulatory authority conducted an on-site inspection of the exchange, required for the renewal of Upbit's license. During the inspection, it was discovered that between 500,000 and 600,000 instances involved unreadable documents provided by users for verification on the platform. This indicates that the exchange failed to ensure its active clients provided their real names.

Under local laws, a fine of up to 100 million Korean won ($71,700) can be imposed for each violation of customer identification obligations. Considering the potential 600,000 violations, Upbit could face fines amounting to $43 billion.

All identified violations will now undergo a thorough review, and the financial regulator's subsequent conclusions may impact not only the final amount of the fines but also Upbit's ability to continue its business operations.

BTC reserves on centralized exchanges continue to decline and are now at their lowest levels since November 2018, according to CryptoQuant data.