Kalam Crypto #50: FTX license revoked, BitGo takes custody of FTX assets & more

“Do not pray for an easy life. Pray for a difficult one with the strength to endure it.” Bruce Lee

Ahlan wa sahlan, and welcome to the 50th edition of CoinMENA's weekly newsletter, Kalam Crypto, presented in partnership with CoinTelegraph MENA. This week, VARA revokes FTX license in UAE, BitGo takes custody of FTX assets, and Circle adds support for Apple Pay. All that and more, so let's dive into this week's letter, and talk crypto:

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Local News 📍

VARA revokes FTX MENA license: Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) announced that they have revoked FTX MENA’s license. VARA confirmed that FTX MENA’s license had been suspended before any clients were exposed and clarified that the firm had not yet received the approval required to start its operations and onboard clients. 

FTX impact on the region: With the FTX contagion affecting various sectors of the global crypto ecosystem, Dubai-based industry leaders commented on how the debacle will affect the budding crypto hub within the United Arab Emirates (UAE). CoinMENA CEO Talal Tabbaa commented: “FTX was a failure of governance and risk management, not of crypto. This distinction is very important. When the .com bubble burst, the issue was not the internet. It was the companies building on the internet that failed. The same thing applies to crypto now. Dubai’s history is full of examples of taking on big challenges and rising to the occasion. The collapse of one company won't change the vision of the UAE to become a global crypto hub. In fact, the FTX incident confirms how important it is to have a comprehensive regulatory framework in place.”

Global News 🌍

Former FTX CEO, SBF, invited to speak at New York Times summit: The disgraced former CEO of FTX, SBF, confirmed via tweet that he still plans to attend the NY Times summit as a speaker on November 30th. Throughout this whole saga, SBF has remained quite active on Twitter, but he has failed to respond to allegations about the mishandling of customers’ funds and lack of corporate governance outlined in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings.

Lightning Round ⚡️

BitGo takes custody over FTX assets: Acting CEO of FTX John Ray appoints BitGo to safeguard FTX’s assets during bankruptcy procedures. BitGo, the world’s leading digital asset custodian, is also CoinMENA’s digital asset custodian. Learn more about BitGo in our latest blog post.

ConsenSys (MetaMask) collecting user IP data: According to ConsenSys’s new privacy policy, Metamask and other dApps connected through the Infura API will begin collecting IP, and Ethereum wallet addresses whenever users make a transaction. 

Circle USDC adds support for Apple Pay: Eligible businesses who build with Circle can help further boost their sales by accepting Apple Pay. This is huge as it allows traditional payments to experience the benefits of instant settlement via digital assets. 

Signal Beyond the Noise 🔊

Harvard paper recommends bitcoin to central banks: The research paper concludes that it makes sense for many central banks to hold a small amount of Bitcoin under normal circumstances and much more Bitcoin if they face sanctions risks, though the analysis finds gold is a more useful sanctions hedge. Check out this video that compares Bitcoin to Gold and highlights why the former’s characteristics are more suitable for today’s world.

CoinMENA News 🗞

⚽️Exciting prizes with #CoinMENA_GOAL: We are giving away $1,500 worth of CHZ airdrops, CoinMENA Merch, and prizes in celebration of FIFA World Cup 2022. Visit our Instagram and Twitter accounts to learn how you can participate and win!

Last day to qualify for November Giveaway Festival: Three users can win$1,000 in ETH, $1,000 in USDT, or $1,000 in XRP! Simply trade (buy/sell) for $25 or more before 11 PM Bahrain/KSA time tomorrow to qualify. 

Tweet of the week 🐥

Sad, but true.

Quiz Corner ✅ 

Last week’s question:What is a cold wallet?

Answer: Hardware wallet kept offline to store your crypto 

This week, we have a riddle: I'm a decentralized digital ledger of all the transactions ever made in a particular cryptocurrency. I’m repeatedly copied and saved onto thousands of computers all around the world. What am I?

1. Blockchain

2. Decentralized Application

3. Bitcoin

4. Cryptography

See the answer in next week’s newsletter.