Musk continues Twitter overhaul, Instagram to host NFT tools and JPMorgan makes public blockchain trade: Hodler’s Digest, Oct. 30-Nov. 5

Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Top Stories This Week

JPMorgan executes first DeFi trade on public blockchain

A cross-border currency swap was carried out on a public blockchain by JPMorgan as part of a pilot program involving the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Guardian, SBI Digital Asset Holdings, Oliver Wyman Forum and DBS Bank. The Polygon blockchain hosted the swap between tokenized deposits of the Japanese yen and the Singapore dollar, helped by smart contract technology from Aave.

UnionBank of the Philippines launches Bitcoin and Ethereum trading

Philippine banking giant UnionBank now offers certain retail clients access to Bitcoin and Ether trading and custody, thanks to a collaborative pilot between the bank and crypto company Metaco. The offering from UnionBank utilizes Harmonize, a platform from Metaco. UnionBank operates under the regulatory approval of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines. The offering has been almost a year in the making, the result of a January 2022 partnership between Metaco and UnionBank. This is also not UnionBank’s first foray into the crypto sector.

Come one, come all! Meta to bring NFT minting and trading to Instagram

New upcoming features on Instagram will help users create, show off and also sell nonfungible tokens (NFTs) on the social media platform. A social media operation under Meta (formerly Facebook), Instagram will provide an “end-to-end toolkit” for NFTs, according to a recent announcement from Meta. NFTs created on Instagram can be sold on the platform as well as off of it. The Solana blockchain was also added to the list of compatible blockchains for Instagram, as per the announcement. 

Elon Musk faces class-action suit over mass Twitter layoffs

Elon Musk has already implemented several changes to Twitter since finalizing its acquisition on Oct. 27. After firing top-level Twitter brass, Musk has reportedly begun significant staff layoffs. The affected staff are reportedly fighting back via a class-action lawsuit aimed at Musk that essentially claims the layoffs required more advance notice. A regulatory filing also recently publicized Musk as Twitter’s only board member after he removed all others.

You have our swords: 12 independent entities pledge legal support for Ripple

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) legal case against Ripple continues after nearly two years. The latest developments see official support from 12 different entities backing Ripple in the form of submitted amicus briefs. The Chamber of Digital Commerce and Coinbase sit among the list of supporters. The SEC claims Ripple’s XRP sale was an unregistered securities offering. The case’s outcome can potentially affect the crypto industry as a whole.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $20,861, Ether (ETH) at $1,626 and XRP at $0.49. The total market cap is at $1.03 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Loopring (LRC) at 45.27%, Dogecoin (DOGE) at 41.72% and Arweave (AR) at 40.73%.  

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Aptos (APT) at -11.80%, Klaytn (KLAY) at -7.22% and Terra Classic (LUNC) at -6.77%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“If the world economy is a circulatory system, it is stagnant. Parts are dying.

Ray Youssef, co-founder and CEO of Paxful

“I think DeFi will replace institutions based on innovative use cases that we are starting to see today.