Saylor falls for fake Trump news, Kraken restructures, and more: Hodler’s Digest, Oct. 27 – Nov. 2

Top Stories of The Week

Michael Saylor posts fake quote from Trump on crypto to 3.6M followers

With the United States Election Day coming up and many voters already going to the polls, social media is rife with misinformation about candidates’ policies. MicroStrategy executive chair Michael Saylor seems to have fallen for a social media post containing misinformation about Donald Trump’s position on taxing crypto.

In an Oct. 30 post on X to his more than 3.6 million followers, Saylor attributed a quote to Trump in which he said crypto shouldn’t be taxed and that “Bitcoin is money.”

An investigation by Cointelegraph suggested that the fake quote originated from the X account Basedkarbon, which claimed in an Oct. 28 post that the Republican candidate made the remarks in “a recent interview.”

Kraken restructures with new co-CEO, layoffs reported

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has declared “a new day” with the appointment of new co-CEO Arjun Sethi and a managerial shakeup. There is also an unconfirmed report that 15% of the staff has been laid off.

Sethi is also the co-founder and chairman of Silicon Valley venture capital investor Tribe Capital and has been a member of the Kraken board since 2021. He will share the top position at Kraken with David Ripley.

In addition to disclosing Sethi’s appointment, Kraken announced upcoming fundamental changes on its blog on Oct. 30. “We need to be leaner and faster,” the firm said. Apparently, Kraken’s organizational structure is in for an overhaul. According to the blog:

“We fell into the trap of building organizational layers. We put managers in charge of the successes or failures of the groups they controlled, and we predicted success based on siloed P&Ls [profits and losses]. […] So, ‘managers’ are incentivized to do the wrong thing.”  

Ex-FTX exec sentenced to time served after guilty plea

A federal judge has sentenced Nishad Singh, the former engineering director of FTX, to time served and three years of supervised release for his role in misappropriating user funds and campaign finance violations.

In an Oct. 30 hearing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced the 29-year-old Singh to time served. He was the fourth individual named in the indictment of FTX executives to stand before a judge following sentencing hearings for former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, and former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame.

According to reporting from the courtroom by Inner City Press, Singh’s lawyers alleged “most of” the fraud at FTX was the result of Bankman-Fried’s and Ellison’s actions. Singh said he was “overwhelmed with remorse” for his role in the FTX saga.

Trump victory may give crypto a ‘dopamine hit,’ but traders should be cautious 

Many crypto industry pundits have predicted that a Donald Trump victory in the United States presidential election on Nov. 5 may trigger a major crypto market rally. 

Still, some analysts warn that crypto investors should remain cautious in the days and weeks surrounding election day, as other factors may be at play.

“A Trump victory would likely provide a dopamine hit,” Swyftx lead analyst Pav Hundal told Cointelegraph, while also warning that markets would be more volatile in the days surrounding the election. 

Derive founder Nick Forster said that “traders should approach with caution” as the market is currently pricing in considerable volatility. He warned that “while there might be an upside, the risks are equally significant.”

Referring to Derive options data, Forster said traders are preparing for significant price movements around the election date.

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Search, autonomous AI ‘big theme’ of 2025

OpenAI introduced a new feature for its artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, which enhances its capability to answer questions by searching the web.

On Oct. 31, the company announced the “ChatGPT Search” feature, allowing users to search the web based on their questions. Users can also choose to search manually by clicking the web search icon.

While ChatGPT previously had limited web access, the new update claims to deliver more relevant answers than traditional search engines:

“You can get fast, timely answers with links to relevant web sources, which you would have previously needed to go to a search engine for.”

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $69,332, Ether (ETH) at $2,510 and XRP at $0.51. The total market cap is at $2.32 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Raydium (RAY) at 21%, Dogecoin (DOGE) at 15.92% and Maker (MKR) at 15.05%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Immutable (IMX) at 21.19%, Celestia (TIA) at 19.87% and Arweave (AR) at 17.49%. For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“If Bitcoin crashes post-election, MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) price would likely fall two to three times more sharply, given its beta to Bitcoin.”

Timothy Peterson, independent network economist

“Overall [cryptocurrency regulation] is actually moving in a very positive direction… By June, Donald Trump is pro-crypto. By the end of June, both parties are pro-crypto. I’m still sitting in prison, like what the hell happened?”

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, co-founder and former CEO of Binance

“Barring some kind of exogenous shock, we’re looking at six-figure Bitcoin prices before year-end. Irrespective of who is in control of the White House.”

Pav Hundal, lead market analyst at Swyftx

“Anything that Vitalik says in that vein gets a cheer from me and from the company, but there’s no extra pressure on us from Vitalik or from anybody outside of Consensys.”

Joe Lubin, CEO of Consensys

“Markets do not care about our analysis or position. You step to the line and take what generates a signal for you.”

Aksel Kibar, trader and former fund manager

“The global financial system is closed, outdated and inefficient. This industry is vital to the U.S., yet it operates at the speed of the post office while the rest of the economy has rapidly innovated by successfully using technology and the internet.”

Charles Cascarilla, CEO of Paxos

Top Prediction of The Week

Bitcoin technical indicator predicts BTC cycle peak in $174K–$462K range

Bitcoin registered its highest-ever three-day candle close at $72,724 on Oct. 29 after the crypto asset rallied 8.75% in 24 hours. With BTC moving above its overhead resistance at $71,500, based on this key indicator, investors could be looking at a return on investment (ROI) range of 145%–530% in the next 12 months.

Bitcoin is close to breaking out of a seven-month price consolidation range, and the market is anticipating a period of price discovery after BTC records new all-time highs (ATHs).

While new studies and data have served various predictions over the past few weeks, Bitcoin has previously adhered to levels outlined by Fibonacci retracement levels between 1.618 and 2.272, where each BTC top has been achieved.

FUD of The Week

Judge pushes Tornado Cash co-founder trial to April 2025

Tornado Cash co-founder and developer Roman Storm won’t stand trial for money laundering and sanctions violation charges until April 2025.

In a Nov. 1 telephone conference for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Katherine Polk Failla ordered Storm’s trial adjourned until April 14, 2025. The Tornado Cash co-founder’s legal team had been petitioning to dismiss his charges, claiming they were based solely on him writing code for the cryptocurrency mixing service.

In 2023, prosecutors charged Storm and Tornado co-founder Roman Semenov with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit sanctions violations and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. The indictment prompted outrage from many in the crypto industry.

M2 crypto exchange hacked for $13M, user funds already restored

Cryptocurrency hackers have struck once more, stealing over $13 million in a new cyberattack on a crypto exchange.

Centralized cryptocurrency exchange M2 was hacked for $13.7 million worth of digital assets, the exchange shared in an Oct. 31 announcement, which stated:

“We would like to report that the situation has been fully resolved and customer funds have been restored. M2 has taken full responsibility for any potential losses, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to safeguarding our customers’ interests. All services are now fully operational with additional controls in place.”

Hackers managed to steal the $13.7 million in Bitcoin, Ether and SOL, from the exchange’s hot wallets, wrote pseudonymous onchain investigator ZachXBT in a Nov. 1 Telegram post.

Panic seller loses $222K in AAVE amid market fluctuation

A millionaire crypto investor with substantial Aave holdings “sold the dip” for a loss of about $222,000 — a classic case of panic selling amid uncertain market conditions.

In mid-October, a crypto wallet associated with the seller withdrew 20,527 Aave worth $3.19 million from the crypto exchange Binance. At the time, the market price of AAVE was $155.

Over the next two weeks, AAVE and many other cryptocurrencies struggled to pick up momentum.

While an investor might opt for a hodl strategy, hoping for a price appreciation in the near future, the AAVE investor decided to sell off the holdings while the market was down, according to onchain analytics platform Lookonchain.

The seller sold off the entire 20,527 AAVE stake at a market price of $144 “in a panic to stop losses,” Lookonchain said. 

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This article first appeared at Cointelegraph.com News