Coinbase to Delist Tether's Stablecoin in Europe

Coinbase to Delist Tether's Stablecoin in Europe

Coinbase announced plans to delist all stablecoins that fail to comply with the European Union's MiCA regulations by December 30, 2024. These rules, which took effect in June, require stablecoin issuers to hold e-money authorization in at least one EU member state. This could be a setback for non-compliant tokens like Tether’s USDT, which dominates the market but has not yet received EU approval.

Coinbase intends to provide users with options to convert their stablecoins to MiCA-compliant alternatives like Circle’s USDC by the end of the year. Other exchanges, including OKX and Bitstamp, have already restricted access to non-compliant stablecoins in anticipation of the full implementation of Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) by December 31.

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EigenLayer Responds to $5.5 Million Token Theft

EigenLayer, the top Ethereum restaking protocol, confirmed that a “malicious attacker” hijacked a $5.5 million token transfer, stealing over 1.6 million EIGEN tokens. The protocol explained that the attack occurred after the hacker compromised an email thread involving one of the project’s investors. The attacker swiftly swapped the stolen tokens for stablecoins and moved them to CEXs.

Law enforcement has managed to freeze a portion of the stolen funds, and EigenLayer is working with exchanges to recover the rest. EigenLayer emphasized that there was no vulnerability in the protocol itself, and that employees and early investors remain prohibited from selling their EIGEN tokens until September 2025.

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Coinbase Pushes for Early Appeal in SEC Case

Returning to Coinbase, but now in the US, the exchange has requested an early appeal in its legal case against the SEC, following the agency's recent appeal of the Ripple ruling. The company is urging the judge to allow an interlocutory appeal, which would provide the Second Circuit Court of Appeals with a complete view of how the Howey Test applies to digital assets, alongside the Ripple case.

Coinbase originally requested an appeal in April, arguing that regulatory and judicial divisions over how to classify digital assets warrant a timely review. While interlocutory appeals are rarely granted, Coinbase believes that the SEC’s appeal in the Ripple case strengthens its case, with legal experts like James “MetaLawMan” Murphy supporting the move as a smart legal strategy.

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Bitwise to Merge Three Crypto Futures ETFs into One Fund

Bitwise announced plans to consolidate three of its cryptocurrency futures ETFs into a single fund that will employ a momentum-based strategy. The new Bitwise Trendwise Bitcoin and Treasuries Rotation Strategy ETF will combine the firm’s Bitcoin and Ethereum futures ETFs with U.S. Treasuries, shifting exposure based on a proprietary signal that tracks crypto price movements.

The new fund is designed to minimize downside volatility by reducing exposure to cryptocurrencies when prices decline and moving into safer assets like Treasuries. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said the strategy aims to improve risk-adjusted returns, and the fund is expected to launch in December with a 0.85% fee ratio.

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Data of the Day

Hyperliquid recently hit a new record for market dominance by volume in the decentralized perpetuals market. In September, Hyperliquid’s market share reached 27.81%, up from 20.38% in August. This surge has pushed its distance from competitors such as Jupiter and dYdX V4, which trailed far behind at 10.19% and 8.66%.

Hyperliquid’s total volume for September amounted to $32.44 billion, a slight drop from August’s $34.69 billion. Despite this, it still maintains a commanding lead, processing more volume than the next three exchanges combined, as Jupiter, Vertex Perps, and dYdX V4 together reached only about $28.39 billion.

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More Breaking News

• Bitcoin ETFs saw $300 million in net outflows last week, reversing three weeks of gains, while Ethereum ETFs also ended the week with net outflows.
• An "ancient" Bitcoin whale has moved $610,000 worth of BTC to Kraken, bringing its total transfers to $3.58 million since last week, according to Arkham.
• Polymarket hit record highs in trading volume ($2.06 billion total), active traders (91,000), and new markets (+26.8%) in September, as the US election nears.
• The US Justice Department filed actions to seize $2.67 million in cryptocurrency tied to North Korean hackers, recovered from the Deribit and Stake.com hacks.
• The IMF urged El Salvador to limit public sector Bitcoin exposure and strengthen oversight in ongoing discussions to stabilize the macroeconomic policies.

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