Kalam Crypto #46: Bitcoin Whitepaper Anniversary, Musk buys Twitter, & much more

“What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party” - Satoshi Nakamoto

Ahlan wa sahlan, and welcome to the 46th edition of CoinMENA's weekly newsletter, Kalam Crypto. This week, the Bitcoin whitepaper anniversary, Elon Musk acquires Twitter, and more institutions planning on buying crypto. All that and more, so let's dive into this week's letter, and talk crypto:

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Global News 🌍

Bitcoin Whitepaper’s 14-year anniversary: On October 31, 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto, The pseudonymous founder of Bitcoin, published the Bitcoin Whitepaper. We strongly recommend that you read it if you haven’t yet, as this is where it all began, the birth of cryptocurrencies. In 9 pages, Satoshi elegantly proposed a solution to the “double spend” problem and created the first ever decentralized, trustless, and permissionless peer-to-peer electronic cash system. In 14 short years, Bitcoin has grown to a $0.5 trillion asset class, is used by hundreds of millions of people, and exists on tens of thousands of nodes worldwide. The magnitude of this invention cannot be overstated. To many, including us at CoinMENA, Bitcoin is the most important invention since the internet. We cannot wait to see what the next 14 years of Bitcoin have in store for us. Thank you, Satoshi.

Musk acquires Twitter: What it means for crypto? He finally did it. Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is complete, and he announced it in true meme/troll form by carrying a sink into Twitter headquarters with the caption, “let that sink in.” Musk is known for being a proponent of crypto, TESLA famously invested over a billion dollars in bitcoin, and he publicly stated that he personally owns bitcoin as well. In the first all-hands-on-deck meeting, the “Chief Twit” said it would make sense to integrate payments into Twitter. In the same week, Twitter announced plans to launch a crypto wallet and add new features for NFTs. Interesting times ahead for crypto Twitter!

Lightning Round ⚡️

Meta down: Meta’s metaverse division, Reality Labs, lost $3.7B in Q3. However, CEO Mark Zuckerberg remains steadfast in his commitment to investing heavily in developing Meta’s metaverse infrastructure.

74% of institutions plan to buy crypto: Financial services giant Fidelity’s survey revealed that despite the market downturn, more institutions invested in crypto over the past 12 months, and 74% plan to invest in the future.

Crypto regulation coming to the UK: UK lawmakers have voted in favor of a crypto-related amendment backed by new PM Rishi Sunak. The wide-ranging financial bill aims to regulate stablecoins and other crypto assets. The bill's final vote is expected to occur on November 3rd. 

Crypto VC funding slowing down, but not out: Venture Capital funding in crypto is understandably down compared to 2021. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) fund is down 40% in the first half of 2022 but remains bullish on the builders and the talent currently flocking to the crypto ecosystem. In May 2022, a16z announced a $4.5 billion fund, the largest-ever crypto venture fund.

CoinMENA News 🗞

THREE new digital assets: We added three new digital assets to the platform! You can now buy, sell, and hold SushiSwap (SUSHI), Gala (GALA), and Decentraland (MANA). This brings the total number of digital assets on CoinMENA to 30. Diversify your crypto portfolio now!

🎁November Giveaway Festival: New month means new offers at CoinMENA. Bringing you three giveaways for three winners: $1,000 in ETH, $1,000 in USDT, and $1,000 in XRP. Each giveaway will have one winner. To qualify, simply trade (buy/sell) for $25 or more before November 30, 2022, 11 PM Bahrain/KSA time. The more you trade, the more your likelihood of winning!   

Tweet of the week 🐥

Quiz Corner ✅ 

Last week’s question:  What is the process of encrypting and decrypting information called?

Answer: Cryptography 

This week, we have a riddle: I was born out of a 9-page document. I provided the foundation for many others like me to be built, and my favorite color is orange. What am I?

See the answer in next week’s newsletter.