Weekly Recap: Trump vs. Harris, Ripple's Cross-Appeal, Binance Event with CZ, and Satoshi Drama

 

In today’s edition of the weekly recap: the U.S. presidential race is a near-even split among voters in seven key swing states; Ripple’s legal spat with SEC continues; Binance’s Changpeng Zhao to appear at Binance event; HBO’s Satoshi Nakamoto claims get challenged.

Trump vs Harris:

After appearing at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, alongside Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump widened his lead over Vice President Kamala Harris on Polymarket. As of Sunday, Trump's odds stood at approximately 54.4%, while Harris trailed with 45.1%. However, WhaleWire analyst Jacob King questioned the accuracy of these predictions, citing a right-leaning bias among crypto bettors that may be skewing the results in Trump's favor. Meanwhile, a new Wall Street Journal poll shows Harris slightly ahead in Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia, with Trump leading in Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

Ripple cross-appeals:

Last week, Ripple filed a cross-appeal against the U.S. SEC, continuing their long-standing legal battle. This move came just a week after the SEC filed its own appeal challenging the court's previous ruling. In a surprising development, Ripple co-founder and chairman Chris Larsen donated $1 million worth of XRP in support of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, despite the ongoing legal feud with her administration. Meanwhile, amid the regulatory uncertainty, Ripple expanded its footprint in the crypto custody space by introducing new custody solutions designed to help financial institutions securely store digital assets.

Zhao’s first public appearance:

• Meanwhile, Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao  in an X post that he would be making his first public appearance at the Binance Blockchain Week in Dubai on Oct. 30 and 31.

      Wright throws shade at Saylor:

• Craig Wright, the controversial figure who claims to be Bitcoin’s creator, at Michael Saylor, co-founder of MicroStrategy, accusing him of distorting the true essence of Bitcoin.
• Wright’s condemnation comes on the heels of Saylor’s announcing that he wants to turn MicroStrategy into a merchant bank for Bitcoin.

• In a blistering critique, posted to X on Oct. 12, Wright said Bitcoin “has been distorted, manipulated, and centralized—now incapable of facilitating simple transactions without the intervention of intermediaries.”

      MrBeast under scrutiny:

• According to the anonymous crypto sleuth known as SomaXBT, MrBeast — whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson — over $10 million in a pump-and-dump scheme.

• By promoting the tokens to millions of followers (MrBeast has over 230 million on YouTube), only to sell them after their value surges, causes regular investors to suffer a loss.

• “This is the shady stuff they’ve all done in the crypto market,” SomXBT stated on X, referring to social media influencers. “[If] they had done this in the stock market, the SEC would be after them.”

Satoshi’s identity: 

• The HBO “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery” documentary last week that Bitcoin’s pseudonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto was Peter Todd, an early Bitcoin core contributor from Canada.

• However, the crypto community was skeptical, dubbing the evidence presented by Cullen Hobak, the documentary’s producer, as insufficient. Notably, even Todd debunked the claims.

SEC continues crypto crackdown:

In addition to Ripple, the SEC extended its regulatory crackdown to other crypto firms. The agency accused crypto market maker Cumberland of failing to register as a securities broker. Meanwhile, derivatives firm Bitnomial revealed that the SEC classified its XRP futures as securities and sought regulatory oversight, prompting the firm to file a lawsuit for regulatory clarity. Last week, leading exchange platform Crypto.com also sued the SEC after receiving a Wells Notice from the regulator. SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda, in an interview with FOX Business, criticized the agency's approach to regulating the crypto sector, calling it a "disaster."