BNB Undergoes 21st Quarterly Burn, Crypto.com and Blockchain.com to Restrict Russian Users—Top 5 Crypto Stories for Oct 14

Here’s a quick breakdown of the biggest news stories and developments in the cryptocurrency sector for October 14, 2022.

1. More than 2 million BNB is removed from circulation in 21st quarterly burn

The 21st quarterly BNB burn was conducted yesterday, with a total of 2.065 million BNB tokens being permanently removed from circulation. At the time of the burn, the value of the destroyed tokens was around $574 million.

What is a coin burn?

The burn used the Auto-Burn formula, which first came into effect in the last quarter of 2021. The formula uses the average price of BNB and the number of blocks produced by the BNB Chain blockchain to determine how much BNB is to be destroyed in each quarterly burn.

Interestingly enough, the amount of tokens that was burned almost directly corresponds to the amount of BNB that was created out of thin air after an exploit of the BNB Chain token bridge last week.

BNB is up about 4.2% today, and currently commands a market cap of $44 billion.

2. Crypto.com and Blockchain.com to impose restrictions on Russian users

Crypto.com and Blockchain.com are both imposing restrictions on Russian nationals, in accordance with the latest package of sanctions announced by the European Union. According to The Block, Blockchain.com has notified Russian users to withdraw their funds before October 27, at which point their accounts will be blocked.

Meanwhile, Crypto.com has reportedly already blocked Russian user accounts. A similar move was made by Dapper Labs, the company behind the NFT-focused blockchain platform Flow and the NBA Top Shot and NFL ALL DAY platforms for collecting NFTs.

3. CoinShares unveils Twitter bot that helps NFT traders assess fair value of NFTs

Crypto asset management firm CoinShares has launched a Twitter bot that provides a fair value estimate of NFTs. Currently, the bot can make price estimates for 50 NFT collections that  are trading on OpenSea.

Users can receive a price estimate simply by tagging the bot in a Tweet and including an OpenSea link to the NFT they’re interested in. The bot will then reply with an estimate, assuming that the NFT is part of one of the supported collections.

4. Binance launches $500 million lending program for Bitcoin miners

The Binance cryptocurrency exchange has announced a $500 million lending program designed to assist Bitcoin miners by giving them access to capital. The program, which is launched under the exchange’s Binance Pool umbrella, will allow miners to take out loans with terms between 18 and 24 months, at interest rates ranging between 5% and 10%. Miners will be required to provide collateral in either crypto assets or physical assets. 

In addition, Binance says that it’s planning to launch cloud mining products, and is looking to work with mining firms to provide the hash power. This could provide a new revenue stream for participants in the Bitcoin mining industry.

The crypto bear market of 2022 has had a significant impact on Bitcoin miners. Compute North, a United States-based crypto mining company, filed for bankruptcy in September, while stocks of publicly-traded miners like Riot Blockchain (-71.9%) and Marathon Digital Holdings (-65.9%) have seen major declines year-to-date.

5. NYDIG lays off 30% of its employees

NYDIG, a company that provides Bitcoin institutional-grade investment services, is the latest firm to lay off a significant number of employees during the crypto winter of 2022. According to a CoinDesk report, NYDIG has laid off around 100 employees, which corresponds to roughly 30% of its headcount.

NYDIG’s products are designed to allow clients like banks to offer Bitcoin as an investment to customers. With the price of BTC sliding by almost 60% since January 1, however, it appears that the company’s bet on Bitcoin was too big. NYDIG raised a mammoth $1 billion in a December 2021 funding round that valued the company at more than $7 billion.

In October, NYDIG CEO Robert Guttmann and President Yan Zhao both stepped down from their roles.