Trump vs. Harris, Ripple cross-appeal, CZ to appear at Binance blockchain event, Satoshi drama | Weekly Recap

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 alongside Tesla CEO Elon Musk at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump extended his lead over Vice President Kamala Harris on Polymarket.

• By Sunday, Trump saw his chances hover at around 54.4% on Oct. 13, with Harris 45.1%. However, Jacob King, an analyst at WhaleWire, raised doubts about the reliability of Polymarket’s predictions. In a post on X, he argued that crypto bettors lean right politically, skewing the odds in Trump’s favor. 

• A new Wall Street Journal poll suggests that voters in Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia slightly favor Harris, while Trump is leading in Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

Ripple cross-appeals

• Last week, Ripple filed a cross-appeal against the U.S. SEC in the years-long legal battle. This came a week after the securities regulator filed a notice of appeal against the court’s judgment.

• In a surprising twist, Ripple co-founder and chairman Chris Larsen donated $1 million worth of XRP (XRP) in support of Kamala Harris’s presidential ambition despite her administration’s legal battle with Ripple. 

• Amid the regulatory uncertainty, Ripple penetrated the crypto custody scene deeper with the introduction of its custody solutions tailored to assist financial institutions store digital assets.

SEC continues crypto crackdown

• Besides Ripple, the SEC extended its crackdown to other crypto firms. The agency alleged that crypto market maker Cumberland failed to register as a securities broker.

• Bitnomial disclosed that the SEC alleged its XRP Futures are securities and sought regulatory oversight. For this reason, the derivatives firm confirmed it was suing the agency to attain regulatory clarity. 

• Leading crypto exchange platform Crypto.com also filed a lawsuit against the SEC last week after receiving a Wells Notice from the securities regulator.

• SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda said in a FOX Business interview that the agency’s approach to regulating the crypto sector has been a “disaster.”

Zhao’s first public appearance 

• Meanwhile, Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao confirmed 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, lashed out at Michael Saylor, co-founder of MicroStrategy, accusing him of distorting the true essence of Bitcoin (BTC).
  
• 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 — earned 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 claimed 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.