https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/Crypto news for South Africa and the world, five editions a day.en-za Tue, 03 Nov 2026 18:23:26 GMT https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-binance-hack/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-binance-hack/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 14:53:00 GMTSecurityBinance told reporters the 29 October theft was the end of a months-long campaign in which attackers posing as recruiters gave an engineer a coding test laced with zero-day malware, later reaching wallet engineers' machines and using Ethereum's EIP-7702 to take control of a hot wallet; containment took about four hours. The FBI attributes the attack to North Korea's TraderTraitor group, which Pyongyang denies, and roughly $2.85 billion has been frozen while laundering of the remainder continues across thousands of wallets. Former CEO Changpeng Zhao warned the industry to expect more AI-assisted attacks, though he offered no evidence AI was used in this one. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-cftc-equity-perps/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-cftc-equity-perps/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 15:02:00 GMTRegulationThe US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has allowed perpetual futures linked to individual company shares to list on registered US exchanges, treating them as approved under existing security-futures rules with joint CFTC and SEC oversight. Chair Michael Selig framed the step as giving US traders a regulated alternative to offshore venues, though his statement did not name which exchanges or stocks will launch first. The no-expiry contract design originated in crypto markets, where perpetuals logged more than $630 billion in volume over the past month according to DeFiLlama. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-binance-withdrawals/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-binance-withdrawals/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 12:57:00 GMTMarketsData shared by CEO Richard Teng shows customers withdrew $10.97 billion over 46 hours, exceeding deposits by $5.28 billion, with the heaviest pressure on 1 November when net outflows hit $936 million in a single hour. By early Tuesday hourly deposits had edged ahead of withdrawals. Binance has reopened withdrawals for 51 more Ethereum and Solana tokens, while its SAFU bitcoin reserve has fallen to about 7,500 BTC after funding the shortfall; the next proof-of-reserves snapshot is due on 4 November. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-eu-entity-106m-theft/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-eu-entity-106m-theft/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 15:15:00 GMTSecurityZachXBT now traces more than $133 million leaving an unnamed EU entity, about $27 million more than he first flagged on Monday, with much of the stablecoin haul swapped into ETH and part moved to Monero. Kraken restricted linked accounts and Crypto.com blocked funds, both saying customer balances were unaffected, while OKX said it was investigating. Circle and Tether have frozen roughly $4.8 million combined; no victim or authority has confirmed the incident. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-bok-crypto-hack-survey/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-bok-crypto-hack-survey/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 14:42:00 GMTRegulationSouth Korea's central bank has sent its first crypto risk survey to 18 banks and 13 securities firms, including KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup, with answers due on 4 November. The questionnaire asks how each firm would be affected if the country's largest exchange stopped operating after a hack, or if crypto prices fell sharply and stayed low. The bank says it has not seen financial-stability risks materialise and has not decided on any new rules. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-btc-market/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-btc-market/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 11:28:00 GMTMarketsBitcoin dipped to about $76,300 in European trading before recovering toward $77,000, leaving it on track for a fifth straight weekly decline, while ether hovered near $2,270. US spot bitcoin ETFs saw $399 million of net outflows on Monday, led by a $405 million exit from BlackRock's IBIT, its largest since June. Crypto liquidations rose 171% to about $383 million over 24 hours as US midterm voting got under way and Brent crude climbed back above $106 after reported US strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-mercado-bitcoin-hack/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-mercado-bitcoin-hack/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:56:00 GMTSecurityBrazil's largest crypto exchange, Mercado Bitcoin, says it will absorb the losses from Monday's attack so that no customer loses funds. Hot wallets on at least 10 blockchains were drained; the exchange puts the loss at about $38 million, with $11 million frozen with help from Tether, Circle and Chainalysis, while earlier Arkham-based estimates were closer to $46 million. It says no customer data was exposed, and platform access was suspended as a precaution. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-liquid-lbtc-backed/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-liquid-lbtc-backed/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 11:12:00 GMTSecurityThe Liquid Federation says its LBTC token is again backed one-to-one by bitcoin, almost two months after a 6 September software flaw let an attacker mint about 4,000 unbacked LBTC and redeem them for real BTC. Blockstream's incident report showed reserves falling from roughly 4,205 BTC to 197; the attacker sent back 3,400 BTC a day later, and a final 250 BTC transfer has now closed the remaining gap of about 600 BTC. The federation has not disclosed who supplied the shortfall, and direct withdrawals remain under tighter operational controls pending governance changes. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-tether-150k-btc/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-tether-150k-btc/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 10:15:00 GMTInstitutionsSpeaking at the Plan B Forum in Lugano, Tether chief executive Paolo Ardoino said the company holds roughly 150,000 BTC, worth about $11.5 billion. Its third-quarter BDO attestation lists $8.37 billion in bitcoin, implying around 100,060 BTC in USDT reserves, so about 50,000 coins would sit elsewhere, possibly in Tether Investments. The same report showed $191.45 billion in reserve assets against $183.50 billion in liabilities at 30 September. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-ethgas-institutional-blockspace/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-ethgas-institutional-blockspace/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 12:01:00 GMTTechETHGas is building a service that lets institutions book future Ethereum blocks, pick validators and screen counterparties for sanctions, while still settling on the public chain. Participating validators make up about 5% of the network, and compensation for missed commitments is currently set at zero, founder Kevin Lepsoe said. No bank has been named as using the product in production. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-cipher-q3-ai-pivot/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-cipher-q3-ai-pivot/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 05:29:00 GMTInstitutionsBitcoin miner Cipher Digital reported third-quarter net income of $31.6 million, driven by a $127 million non-cash revaluation gain on warrants issued to Google. Revenue fell 63% year on year to $26.7 million, with mining down 71% to $20.8 million, while its Black Pearl site in Texas produced $5.9 million in first data-centre revenue. The company also extended its Barber Lake lease to 20 years, lifting contracted revenue there to about $9.1 billion. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-sec-cftc-vacancies/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-sec-cftc-vacancies/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 18:08:00 GMTRegulationThe SEC currently has two commissioners and the CFTC just one, all Republicans, out of five seats each meant to be filled on a bipartisan basis. The CFTC can still act because its governing law sets no quorum, and the SEC recently changed its rules so a single commissioner can take policy and enforcement decisions. House Financial Services Chair French Hill has said such workarounds are no substitute for crypto market-structure legislation, while the Independent Community Bankers of America is suing the OCC over trust charters granted to crypto firms. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-near-issuance/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-near-issuance/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 09:18:00 GMTTechNEAR's House of Stake passed proposal HSP-029 on Monday, lowering the maximum annual issuance rate from 2.5% to 1.6% over 24 months, with the 90/10 split between stakers and the treasury unchanged. The change still needs Security Council review, a 90-day grace period and a validator-adopted protocol upgrade before it takes effect. Estimates in the proposal put daily issuance falling from about 89,500 to 57,300 NEAR and gross staking yield from roughly 5.3% to 3.4%; the previous cut, from 5% to 2.5%, came in October 2025. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-consensys-interop-stack/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-consensys-interop-stack/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:55:00 GMTTechConsensys launched Sovereign Network Interoperability at Devcon in Mumbai, a toolkit for routing and settling transactions between separately operated institutional ledgers. Target uses include securities settlement, collateral movement, wholesale and cross-currency payments, and fund servicing, with assets staying on their home ledgers rather than crossing bridges. A zero-knowledge-based Cross Ledger Interoperability Protocol supports EVM networks now, with Canton connectivity planned. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-us-midterms-crypto-pacs/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-us-midterms-crypto-pacs/Sun, 01 Nov 2026 14:00:00 GMTRegulationAmericans vote in the midterm elections on 3 November, with control of Congress shaping the outlook for stalled crypto market-structure legislation. CoinDesk tallied roughly $170 million spent by the three largest crypto super PACs, led by Fairshake and its affiliates at about $154 million, much of it directed at Republican candidates in recent weeks. Fairshake put nearly $56 million into opposing Democrat Sherrod Brown in Ohio's Senate race, while the Winklevoss-backed Digital Freedom Fund spent over $8 million across Ohio, Texas and Iowa this month. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-securitize-tokenized-stocks/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-securitize-tokenized-stocks/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 19:15:00 GMTInstitutionsSecuritize added 13 US equities, including ExxonMobil, Disney, Salesforce and GameStop, to its Solana-based tokenized stock offering, bringing the total to 25. In a client note, StoneX analyst Mark Palmer argued that DTCC's new permissioned tokenization service and Securitize's public-blockchain model serve different markets, and kept a buy rating on Securitize shares, which trade around $7.30. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-btcpay-hot-wallet-warning/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-btcpay-hot-wallet-warning/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 05:34:00 GMTSecurityThe open-source bitcoin payment processor BTCPay Server warned that attackers are draining hot wallets on instances running version 2.4.1 or older. Operators are being urged to move to the current 2.4.7 release. The project has not said how much has been stolen. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-thorchain-swap-halt/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-thorchain-swap-halt/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 01:51:00 GMTTechA one-block reorganisation on Ethereum set off a refund bug in THORChain, prompting an automatic suspension of swaps across 10 connected networks from 31 October. Chainalysis said the outage slowed efforts by the Binance attackers to launder stolen funds through the cross-chain protocol. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-hk-tokenized-settlement/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-hk-tokenized-settlement/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 10:00:00 GMTRegulationThe Hong Kong Monetary Authority said its Project Ensemble platform now settles real-value tokenized transactions around the clock, and that licensed stablecoins will join trials of tokenized Exchange Fund Bills. At the same Hong Kong FinTech Week event, HSBC said its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin RedCoin, launched on 23 October through PayMe, had reached 50,000 users. HSBC reported about HK$87.75 million of RedCoin in circulation, fully backed by cash. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-zcash-nu7/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-zcash-nu7/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 09:04:00 GMTTechZcash's NU7 network upgrade is expected to go live on 5 November at block 3,543,405. Other crypto dates this week include a FinCEN public comment deadline on 4 November and scheduled token unlocks for Ethena and Hyperliquid on 5 and 6 November. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-sa-treasury-retreat/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-sa-treasury-retreat/Fri, 23 Oct 2026 07:30:00 GMTRegulationFinance Minister Enoch Godongwana said government will rethink draft rules that would have restricted cross-border crypto transfers and transfers to self-custody wallets. After thousands of public comments, Treasury plans to drop pre-approvals in favour of checking transactions for legitimacy and tax compliance. A revised second draft is promised, with no date yet. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-sa-chainalysis-growth/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-sa-chainalysis-growth/Fri, 30 Oct 2026 10:45:00 GMTSouth AfricaChainalysis figures for the year to June 2026 show growth in every activity category it tracks, led by cross-border stablecoin transfers. The FSCA had licensed 310 crypto asset service providers by the end of March. South Africa now edges past Nigeria, whose crypto economy slipped 3% to $38.1 billion. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-treasury-buys/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-treasury-buys/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 13:00:00 GMTInstitutionsStrategy added 811 BTC for about $65.5 million, taking its holdings to 849,327 BTC. Strive bought 124 BTC at an average of $80,526, funding part of it through its SATS preferred stock for the first time, and now holds 43,124 BTC. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-bitmine-eth/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-bitmine-eth/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 12:00:00 GMTInstitutionsBitMine added 8,573 ETH, bringing its holdings to about 6.06 million ETH, roughly 4.9% of circulating supply. About 86% is staked. Earlier in the week the company said it was favouring share buybacks over new ether purchases while prices are weak. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-tokenized-stocks/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-tokenized-stocks/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 11:00:00 GMTMarketsFirms including Microsoft, Nvidia, JPMorgan and Alphabet have objected to their shares being offered on a planned tokenized stock platform from OKX and Intercontinental Exchange. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-ripple-trust-bank/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-ripple-trust-bank/Tue, 27 Oct 2026 15:00:00 GMTRegulationThe Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has given Ripple the go-ahead to launch Ripple National Trust Bank, putting the company under federal banking supervision in the US. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-eth-glamsterdam-bug/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-eth-glamsterdam-bug/Tue, 27 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMTTechA flaw in the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade that could have routed staking deposits to block builders has been fixed before release. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-occ-stablecoins/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-occ-stablecoins/Mon, 26 Oct 2026 15:00:00 GMTRegulationThe OCC is encouraging smaller US banks to enter the stablecoin payments market, a further sign that federal regulators now treat stablecoins as part of mainstream banking. https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-solana-bug-fee/https://www.cryptoguru.co.za/news/2026-11-03-solana-bug-fee/Tue, 27 Oct 2026 10:00:00 GMTTechSecurity teams introduced the fee to cut down a flood of AI-generated spam reports.