Leading decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Aave has achieved a remarkable milestone, hitting $10 billion in active loans.
It marks a 300% rise in lending activity from the start of the year when the figure stood at $3.4 billion.
DeFi Renaissance
Data from the on-chain DeFi tracking platform Token Terminal shows that in the last 30 days, active loans on the platform increased by 16.4% to reach $10.04 billion. At the same time, its total value locked (TVL), which is the overall value of crypto deposited on the protocol, went up by 26.7% to $15.96 billion.
Looking at other metrics, fees are up 48% to $40.34 million, annualized to over $490 million, which is a 33% improvement over the last 30 days. This has pushed monthly revenue by 82% to $9.36 million. Similarly,

Ilya Lichtenstein, a 35-year-old programmer, was sentenced to five years in prison for his part in laundering Bitcoin stolen from the Bitfinex crypto exchange.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the sentence, marking a significant development in a case involving the theft of nearly 120,000 BTC, valued at $71.8 million in 2016 but worth over $4.5 billion by the time of his 2022 arrest.
The Bitfinex Hack
According to court documents, the 35-year-old was responsible for infiltrating Bitfinex’s network using sophisticated hacking tools. Once inside, he transferred 119,754 BTC from the exchange to a crypto wallet under his control by executing over 2,000 unauthorized transactions.
Following the hack, Lichtenstein attempted to cover his tracks by removing access

Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s Head of Digital Research, has painted a promising future for Bitcoin going into 2025.
According to him, the world’s largest cryptocurrency could reach successive all-time highs (ATH) over the next few quarters, potentially climbing as high as $180,000.
Bitcoin’s Current Market Trajectory
In a November 14 interview on CBNC, Sigel suggested that the push could come from current market dynamics, which show minimal technical resistance.
Over the last few days, the asset went on a rampaging run, breaking its ATH price on several occasions, including a brief foray above $93,000, before returning to its current level of around $89,000.
His assertion is backed by historical trends, which show that the OG cryptocurrency often makes substantial gains after

President Javier Milei recently advocated for maintaining a separation between cryptocurrency and state control.
Speaking at “Meta Day Argentina,” an event held at the Palacio Libertad Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Milei criticized central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and advocated for the private management of cryptocurrencies, warning against government overreach.
Opposition to CBDCs and State Control
In his speech, the president declared, “Do not let the state take over and carry out the cryptocurrencies.” Milei believes that private cryptocurrencies offer a trusted alternative to state-issued currencies and have emerged in response to public dissatisfaction with seigniorage payments—profits derived by governments from issuing currency.
He described digital assets as a

Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs, once lukewarm on crypto, has surprised the financial world with its newfound commitment to Bitcoin after disclosing an impressive $710 million in BTC holdings through several exchange-traded funds.
The substantial position reflects a significant increase in the banking firm’s exposure to cryptocurrency, which could be key to its continued adoption in the traditional financial space.
Breakdown of Goldman Sachs’ BTC ETF Investments
In a previous disclosure in August, Goldman’s BTC-related ETF holdings were notably smaller, with about $252 million in BlackRock’s IBIT fund and $33.2 million in Grayscale’s GBTC being the two largest.
However, the company’s latest filing, deposited on November 14, shows a dramatic increase. Its IBIT stake has

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is reportedly set to become the Ranking Member on the Senate Banking Committee, replacing Sherrod Brown after his exit.
The shift comes despite major efforts by the cryptocurrency industry, which spent about $40 million to unseat Brown.
Warren’s Upcoming Role
Many crypto advocates saw the departure of the three-term Ohio senator, an outspoken critic of the digital asset industry, as a key turning point in the sector’s future. His Republican opponent, Bernie Moreno, received significant backing from crypto-related Political Action Committees (PACs), helping him clinch the seat with more than 2.8 million votes.
However, just as the community had started celebrating Brown’s ouster, the news of Elizabeth Warren’s likely appointment

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a civil forfeiture complaint to seize cryptocurrency worth about $16 million held in a Binance account.
This action is the result of a years-long investigation into suspected illegal activities tied to alleged bribery schemes involving FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF.
The Alleged Bribery Scheme
The root of the DOJ’s case goes back to November 2021, when Bankman-Fried allegedly authorized a $40 million payment in Tether (USDT) through wallets belonging to FTX’s sister company, Alameda Research.
In documents it filed on November 12, the DOJ claimed that SBF intended the payments as a bribe to unnamed Chinese officials to facilitate the release of $1 billion worth of crypto belonging to Alameda, which had been

Sam Trabucco, the former co-CEO of Alameda Research and a close associate of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, has reached a preliminary settlement with the creditors of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange.
In a proposed agreement, Trabucco agreed to relinquish several high-value assets to help repay the bankrupt firm’s debts.
The Settlement Deal
According to a November 11 court filing, the ex-Alameda chief executive will transfer legal ownership of two apartments he purchased in San Francisco in 2021 for $8.7 million. He will also give up a 53-foot yacht he acquired for $2.51 million in March 2022 at the height of the crypto market boom.
The 31-year-old will also transfer to the FTX debtors all rights to exchange’s customer deposits under his name, valued at

Gary Wang, the co-founder of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is seeking to avoid prison time as he awaits sentencing scheduled for November 20 in Manhattan federal court.
He has asked a federal judge to consider his cooperation in the fraud trial against his long-time friend and former FTX CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF.
Cooperation and Lesser Role in Fraud
According to a Bloomberg report citing his sentencing memo filed on Wednesday, Wang’s attorney, Ilan Graff, argued that his client’s cooperation and comparatively lesser involvement in the FTX fraud scheme should lead to a non-custodial sentence.
Per the report, Graff noted that Wang’s role in the scheme was less central than that of other cooperating executives, including former Alameda

Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis has reiterated her commitment to establishing a strategic Bitcoin (BTC) reserve for the United States.
The lawmaker, known for her strong pro-crypto stance, highlighted these plans following the recent Republican victories in the Senate, more so of largely digital asset-friendly legislators.
Senator to Move Forward With Strategic BTC Reserve Bill
In a November 6 post on X, Lummis confidently declared, “We are going to build a strategic Bitcoin reserve,” signaling a renewed push to move forward with legislation she introduced earlier in the year.
The senator’s proposal, dubbed the Boosting Innovation, Technology, and Competitiveness through Optimized Investment Nationwide Act, or BITCOIN for short, would direct the U.S. Treasury to buy a

Tron founder Justin Sun has offered Gary Gensler, the beleaguered chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a job.
The offer came to light in a recent X post, in which Sun expressed his willingness to hire Gensler provided he could “genuinely treat the crypto industry with sincerity.”
SEC Chair Gets a Lifeline
This unexpected invite comes as the crypto community is celebrating Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Since he was last president, Trump has repositioned himself as an avowed crypto enthusiast. During his campaigns, while soliciting support from the digital asset industry, he promised to fire Gensler on his first day back on the job.
The agency chief has often been viewed as a key antagonist of crypto, especially with his “regulation by

Crypto advocates may soon be celebrating a major political shift, with results from the 2024 U.S. election showing hundreds of pro-crypto candidates winning seats in Congress.
The results have come in the wake of the sector flexing its political and financial muscles, spending more than $238 million to grow its influence in the American legislative space.
Crypto Spending Boosts Key Senate Races
Initial projections from the Fox News Decision Desk and live results from the Stand With Crypto website indicate that pro-crypto candidates have had considerable success across various states.
As of the latest tally, 247 pro-crypto candidates were winning in the House of Representatives, against 113 with the opposite stance. Similarly, in the Senate, 15 crypto-friendly voices were

The State of Michigan Retirement System (SMRS) has significantly increased its Ethereum (ETH) holdings, raising its investment to $10 million and surpassing its Bitcoin (BTC) allocation.
This move makes Michigan the first U.S. state pension fund to invest in an Ethereum-based exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Michigan Pension Fund’s Crypto Portfolio
SMRS, which boasts more than $13 billion in assets, began exploring cryptocurrency earlier this year as part of a broader diversification strategy.
In July, it got into BTC with a $6.6 million purchase of ARK 21Shares’ spot Bitcoin ETF, more than six months after the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) approved the investment product.
According to a recent SEC filing, SMRS now holds 460,000 shares in the Grayscale Ethereum

Defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt.Gox has moved 32,371 BTC worth an estimated $2.19 billion to three new addresses.
Several on-chain transaction trackers caught the movement, including Spot On Chain and Arkham Intelligence.
Bitcoin Transferred to New Wallets
Spot On Chain’s data shows the platform initially moved 30,371 BTC to a wallet starting with 1FG2…Rveoy. It then sent another 2,000 BTC, priced at nearly $130 million, to one of its known cold wallets, 1JbezD…EvhKLAPs6, before shifting most of it to an anonymous address, 15gNRV…Ca8Aok.
The transactions come only four days after Mt.Gox transferred 500 BTC to two unknown wallet addresses, bringing the total amount moved within the period to 32,871 BTC valued at $2.226 billion.
Spot On Chain also disclosed that the bankrupt

Binance co-founder Yi He has spoken to recent speculation about listing fees on the platform, assuring the community that it operates with transparent policies.
The address came in response to allegations by Moonrock Capital CEO Simon Dedic of costly listing fees on Binance.
Binance Accused of Charging Exorbitant Fees for Crypto Listing
On October 31, Dedic took to X with a claim that Binance demanded 15% of a project’s token supply for a listing. He used the example of an unnamed tier 1 project that raised nearly a billion, with the crypto exchange giving them a listing offer that included parting with between $50 million and $100 million for the service.
Additionally, Dedic asserted that the listing offer came at the tail end of a more than year-long due diligence

Bitcoin (BTC) could be gearing up for a historic $100,000 pump, and, according to crypto analysts, the upcoming U.S. presidential election may yet play a key role.
According to experts, the cryptocurrency may achieve this price milestone regardless of who wins. However, they suggest a Trump victory could serve as a short-term catalyst, boosting its momentum much faster.
Election’s Influence on Bitcoin Price Action
The market watchers have noted that on previous occasions, bitcoin’s performance spiked after the election, and with polls set for November 5, they suggest the asset is quite likely to continue the trend this year.
In a November 4 post on X, prominent analyst Miles Deutscher echoed sentiments previously shared by crypto trader Jordan Fish, also known as Cobie,

According to a new report by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), South Korea’s cryptocurrency investor base has surged to 7.78 million. This figure marks a 21% increase from the previous year.
The “Virtual Asset Business Survey” shows domestic crypto investors increased by 1.33 million compared to the second half of 2023, driven largely by an explosive growth in Bitcoin’s value.
Investor Profile and Market Behavior
This growth coincides with a 67% increase in the average daily transaction volume in South Korea’s virtual asset market, which hit a record 6 trillion won ($4.3 billion), up from 3.6 trillion won ($2.6 billion) in the previous period. The market’s total valuation also increased by 27% to 55.3 trillion won, or about $40 billion, in the first half of 2024.

The growing tokenized funds sector could see its value reach $600 billion in the next six years, according to a whitepaper jointly released by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Aptos Labs, and Invesco.
Currently, the tokenized assets market, representing tangible resources such as real estate, art, and traditional securities on a blockchain, boasts more than $2 billion in assets under management (AUM), with future growth expected to accelerate as on-chain finance matures.
Unpacking the Tokenization Boom
According to the BCG report, the shift towards tokenization could offer increased programmability and transparency. It would also allow for instant transactions and 24/7 transferability while offering liquidity and fractional ownership options.
The report foresees tokenized

A 16-year-old boy from East London is facing multiple terrorism charges for allegedly attempting to raise cryptocurrency for Al Qaeda.
Prosecutors claim that the teenager offered his skills in digital currency and cybersecurity to aid the terrorist organization.
Suspect Pleads Not Guilty to Charges
The teenager, who cannot be named due to his age, has been charged with terrorist fundraising, training in acts of terrorism, and possession of documents containing information potentially useful for terrorism. According to a report from the Standard, the boy has pleaded not guilty to all five counts.
Following the October 30 hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court, Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring referred the case to the Old Bailey, where it will be addressed further on

Swiss-based decentralized trading platform dYdX has announced a 35% reduction in its core workforce.
Platform CEO Antonio Juliano initially shared the news in a brief post on X, calling the decision “sad” while promising to provide more measured reasoning for the action later.
A Leaner dYdX
In the social media post, the CEO stressed that the layoffs were not a financial decision, a point reinforced in a subsequent blog entry titled “Letting Go.” Here, Juliano attributed the departures to the need to create a leaner team to help dYdX achieve its long-term goals:
“Today, I made the incredibly difficult decision to lay off 35% of the dYdX core team. We now have the team we need going forward, but first, we say goodbye to those who have left.”
He also noted that the company

A recent investigation has linked popular YouTube personality James Stephen Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, to over $23 million in alleged profits from various cryptocurrency trades that may involve insider trading.
According to a report by advisory firm Loock.io, a group of on-chain investigators claims that MrBeast and his influencer network used their social media presence to promote and profit from several crypto tokens at the expense of investors.
$23 Million in Profits
Lookonchain revealed the tokens allegedly involved in these trades. They include SuperVerse (SUPER), which reportedly yielded $11.45 million, Ethernity Chain (ERN) with $4.65 million in profits, Polkamon (PMON) with $1.72 million, STAK with $1.31 million, and AIOZ with $1 million.
Loock.io’s

Maximiliano Pilipis, a 53-year-old former resident of Noblesville, Indiana, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on five counts of money laundering and two counts of failing to file a tax return.
The indictment alleges that Pilipis laundered substantial funds, including proceeds from Silk Road, through his operation of an unlicensed virtual currency exchange called AurumXchange.
Laundering Silk Road Proceeds
Court documents revealed that Pilipis launched AurumXchange in 2009 and ran it up to 2013. The platform allowed people to exchange Bitcoin and other virtual currencies for U.S. dollars and various international currencies. AurumXchange reportedly facilitated more than 100,000 transactions totaling over $30 million in exchanged funds.
In return for its services,

Japan’s investment firm Metaplanet has increased its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings to over 1,000.
This follows a recent purchase of 156.7 BTC for approximately 1.6 billion yen, or about $10.4 million.
Metaplanet Shares Surge 7.18% Following Purchase
The acquisition, announced on Monday in an X post, brings Metaplanet’s total Bitcoin reserves to 1,018 BTC, valued at an estimated $68.8 million. From July 1 to September 30, the firm also reported a BTC yield of 41.7%, which accelerated to 155.8% between October 1 and October 28.
According to data from Arkham Intelligence, Metaplanet’s Bitcoin investment is showing impressive returns, boasting an unrealized gain of over $6 million due to the recent increase in the cryptocurrency’s price.
Investors have responded positively to the

Grant Colthup, the former CEO of ACCE Australia, is facing a single fraud charge following an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Colthup, who appeared in the Magistrates Court at Ipswich, Queensland, was charged with embezzling $1.47 million (2.2 million Australian dollars) from a customer.
$1.5M Bitcoin Payment Goes Missing
From May 2019 to September 2022, ACCE ran a digital asset exchange platform that provided cryptocurrency trading services to customers under the “Mine Digital” brand.
According to a press release, the incident dates back to July 2022, when a customer paid the company $1.5 million to buy Bitcoin but never received the cryptocurrency.
ASIC alleges that instead of delivering the Bitcoin, Colthup used the

Reports have emerged that bad actors allegedly tied to North Korea’s Lazarus Group executed a complex cyberattack that used a fake NFT-based game to exploit a zero-day vulnerability in Google Chrome.
According to the report, the vulnerability ultimately allowed the attackers to access people’s crypto wallets.
Exploiting Chrome’s Zero-Day Flaw
Kaspersky Labs security analysts Boris Larin and Vasily Berdnikov wrote that the perpetrators cloned a blockchain game called DeTankZone and promoted it as a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) with play-to-earn (P2E) elements.
Per the experts, they then embedded a malicious code within the game’s website, detankzone[.]com, infecting devices that interacted with it, even without any downloads.
The script exploited a critical bug in

VanEck has introduced staking for its Solana Exchange Traded Note (ETN) in Europe, which currently has assets under management (AUM) totaling $73 million.
The Solana ETN, which trades under the ticker VSOL, will now enable investors to benefit from staking rewards that will be accrued and reinvested daily.
A Non-Custodial Staking Model
The announcement was made by VanEck’s Head of digital asset research, Mathew Siegel, in an October 21 post on X. According to him, the rewards will be included in the End-of-Day Net Asset Value (NAV) of the ETN, ensuring that investors can maintain daily liquidity.
An accompanying document reveals that the staking process for the Solana ETN is entirely non-custodial. It means that the owner of the assets retains complete control over the

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari has found himself on the wrong end of a backlash after stating that most cryptocurrency transactions involve drugs or illegal activities.
The comment from the official, a known crypto skeptic, did not go unchallenged, with several members of the community calling him out for it.
Fed Official Says Crypto Mostly Used for Illegal Activity
Kashkari was at a town hall meeting in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, when a member of the audience asked whether the Fed had the capacity to collect data on crypto transactions since most of them happened “outside of the formal channels.”
While acknowledging that the agency was pioneering new data sources to keep abreast of the happenings in the sector, Kashkari said that despite crypto’s

WazirX founder Nischal Shetty has responded to allegations that the company transferred $75 million worth of crypto assets to two major exchanges without informing users.
The situation arose after the Indian crypto platform disclosed more than 240,000 wallet addresses as part of the requirements of a four-month moratorium granted to it by a Singapore court following a $235 million hack in July.
CoinSwitch’s Accusation
Unpacking the disclosure in an October 21 post on X, CoinSwitch chief executive Ashish Singhal said his team had created a system to make it easier for WazirX users to sift through the voluminous information that had been made available.
He noted his firm’s interest in the matter stems from the fact that it holds Indian rupee and virtual digital assets (VDA)

Fintech giant Stripe has finalized a deal to acquire stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion.
This purchase marks the largest acquisition in the crypto industry to date.
Record $1.1 Billion Deal
TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington revealed the news in a post on X, stating, “This deal is done. $1.1b.”
Bridge, co-founded by Sean Yu and Zach Abrams, provides software tools enabling businesses to accept payments in stablecoins. The platform allows companies to create, store, send, and receive such assets.
Zach Abrams previously served as Head of Consumer at Coinbase and founded the peer-to-peer payments company Evenly, which was later acquired by Square. Before co-founding Bridge, Sean Yu held key engineering roles at major companies such as Coinbase, Square, DoorDash,

The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) has dismantled a massive cross-border fraud operation that used deep fake technology to con men into phony cryptocurrency investments.
The scam targeted men through fake online romances, with the victims reportedly being conned out of approximately $46 million.
27 Arrested in Raid on Fraud Center
Local media reports revealed that the police identified a group operating from a fraud center located in a Hung Hom industrial unit between August and September 2024. On October 9, the authorities raided the 4,000-square-foot facility, arresting 27 individuals, including 21 men and 6 women aged between 21 and 34.
Law enforcement officers also seized computers, mobile phones, luxury watches, and approximately $25,750 in suspected crime proceeds