Crypto Trends Weekly – Nov. 5–11

Breaking crypto news from the last week (Nov. 5–11, 2022):

Nov. 5: Google Cloud is adding support for the Solana blockchain in BigQuery, to make it easier to access Solana data. It is also working on bringing Solana support to its Blockchain Node Engine. Support for Solana will go live in the first quarter of next year, Nalin Mittal, Web3 lead for Google Cloud, said at Breakpoint, Lisbon.

Nov. 6: Circle, the issuer of stablecoin USDC, is expanding Euro Coin to the Solana blockchain in the first half of 2023. The payments firm plans to launch its cross-chain protocol, and it will also be expanded to Solana. Currently, it works on the Ethereum blockchain.

Nov. 7: The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that more than $3.36 billion worth of Bitcoin affiliated with the DarkNet marketplace Silk Road was seized by law enforcement last November. This appears to be the DOJ’s second-largest Bitcoin confiscation to date.

Nov. 8: Neon Labs plans to deploy an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), an Ethereum smart contract layer, on the Solana blockchain on Dec. 12. The solution will allow developers to port Ethereum-based decentralized applications (DApps) to the Solana ecosystem.

Nov. 9: The price of Bitcoin and Ethereum has fallen in 24 hours, with the total crypto market cap plummeting below $1 trillion and now sitting at $914 billion, a 10.6% drop overnight. The surprise FTX acquisition claim by Binance has sparked a significant drop for Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Nov. 10: Layer 1 blockchain startup Aptos has partnered with Google Cloud, which powers some of its validator nodes and other services. The move comes as the search giant deepens into the Web3 world with numerous crypto projects.

Nov. 11: The crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy protection in the US, the Bahamas-based company said. Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing attributed to Alameda Research estimates the company has $10 billion to $50 billion in liabilities. Also, FTX CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried resigned from his role.

New Jersey-based exchange BlockFi informed customers that it would be “limiting platform activity” and paused withdrawals amid the crypto market turmoil caused by FTX collapsing. In June, BlockFi secured a $400 million loan from FTX and potential acquisition terms, hoping the new credit line could help them remain afloat.