This week’s Crypto Biz looks at BlockFi’s emergence from bankruptcy, BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF developments, Worldcoin’s operator payment scheme upgrades and more.

Bitcoin's advance this week coupled with gains across all digital asset sectors, highlighting the breadth of the crypto rally.

It’s a bit more complicated than comparing Treasury yields and staking rates.

Riot Platforms, a Bitcoin mining giant listed on Nasdaq, has been opposed by local grassroots organization "Texas Coalition Against Blockchain Mining" and non-profit organization Greenpeace in Texas. Riot Platforms had originally planned to establish a large-scale mining facility in the area, which is said to cover 265 acres and go live in the fourth quarter of this year. It is currently unclear whether this opposition will affect Riot Platforms' scheduled launch.

Bitcoin has maintained its value above $33,600 for two consecutive days, indicating a lack of urgency among buyers to sell. However, if the price continues to rise without significant drops, it could lead to FOMO and further buying, pushing the market into overbought territory. Bitcoin's dominance has increased to 54%, indicating positive sentiment towards the cryptocurrency market, and some altcoins may follow suit.

Bitcoin's bullish momentum has led to gains across all crypto sectors this week, with BTC gaining over 14% and consolidating at around $33,700. The CoinDesk Computing Sector (CPU) saw the strongest gains, driven by Chainlink (LINK) and Fetch.AI (FET) tokens. Even the previously lagging decentralized finance (DCF) and digitization (DTZ) sectors saw gains of over 7%. Notable best-performing cryptocurrencies include pepe (PEPE), LINK, and Injective Protocol's native token (INJ). The bullish week for crypto is particularly significant given the poor performance of U.S. equities, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq slumping while BTC and gold advance.

New research from Florida Atlantic University and the University of Mississippi suggests that blockchains with "full" blocks and transaction queues provide an extra layer of protection against fraudsters and money launderers. The study, titled "Bitcoin Blocksize, Custodial Security, and Price," examines the Mt.Gox crash and other instances of cryptocurrency theft from exchanges. The researchers found that cybercriminals prefer to launder stolen bitcoin quickly, and that full blocks act as a deterrent to hackers and scammers by signaling network congestion and a rise in network security that affects bitcoin price. The study also found that block fullness is 20% lower on average during incidents of cryptocurrency breaches or fraud.

Coinglass data shows that in the past hour, the entire network has liquidated $31.9 million, with $14.64 million in BTC liquidation and $3.64 million in ETH liquidation; long positions have been liquidated for $31.35 million, accounting for about 98.2%.

According to the market data from EuYi OKX, BTC briefly fell below 33,400 USDT before rebounding and currently trading at 33,636 USDT, a decrease of 0.63% in the past 24 hours.

Digital assets platform Matrixport predicts that Bitcoin's price is in the early stages of its fifth bull market, driven by institutional investor demand. The firm expects Bitcoin to reach $125,000 by December 2024, with a current rally expected to peak at $45,000 before a correction and a return to all-time highs. The report cites the ballooning US debt and high inflation as reasons for institutional investors to turn to Bitcoin, and notes that the cryptocurrency's characteristics make it an attractive diversification option. The upcoming Bitcoin halving in mid-April is expected to further increase demand for the cryptocurrency.

As the Bitcoin halving approaches next year, the cryptocurrency's market dominance has reached its highest level in two and a half years, currently standing at 54%. This is seen as a bullish indicator for Bitcoin, which has seen a nearly 30% gain in October alone, rising from $27,000 to $35,000. The halving event, which occurs every four years and cuts the mining reward per block in half, is expected to drive demand for Bitcoin upwards and bring about a bullish trend. With a fixed total supply of 21 million, the halving helps to counteract inflation and maintain scarcity.

live on October 27th, 87,000 BTC options are about to expire with a Put Call Ratio of 0.88 and a maximum pain point of $29,000, with a nominal value of $2.98 billion. 880,000 ETH options are about to expire with a Put Call Ratio of 0.47 and a maximum pain point of $1,650, with a nominal value of $1.57 billion. <br>

On October 27th, the BitVol (Bitcoin volatility) index launched by financial index company T3 Index and Bitcoin options trading platform LedgerX rose to 60.2, with a daily increase of 1.9%. Note: The BitVol index measures the 30-day expected implied volatility derived from tradable Bitcoin options prices. The actual price of the option is formed by the competition of many option traders. Therefore, implied volatility represents the market participants' views and expectations of the future market, and is regarded as the most accurate measure of the true volatility at that time.

Bitcoin's dominance in the cryptocurrency market has reached a multi-year high, accounting for 51.5% of the entire sector. <br>

Argentina presidential candidate Patricia Bullrich said she has reconciled with Bitcoin supporter Javier Milei, who will compete in next month's election, but she did not express direct support for the new liberal elite. Bullrich was cautious in her words on Wednesday. Previously, her pro-business alliance only received 24% support in the October 22nd election, ranking third and was eliminated. Milei won 30% of the vote, ranking second, second only to economic minister Sergio Tomás Massa's 37% vote. "We cannot remain neutral," Bullrich told reporters in Buenos Aires, "this country is in danger." Bullrich's support, as well as former president Mauricio Macri's support, makes Milei more competitive than Massa in the November 19th election.&nbsp;

Recent outstanding performance of Bitcoin is driven by institutional demand, as stated in a research report by JPMorgan on Wednesday. The report indicates that a large amount of Bitcoin has flowed into larger wallets, indicating demand from institutional investors.

2766 BTC ($96,205,508) was transferred from an unknown wallet to Coinbase.

On October 26th, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart stated on social media that cryptocurrency asset management company Bitwise has submitted a modified version of its spot Bitcoin ETF to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), "just a response to Bitwise's comments and concerns about the SEC," and if Bitwise's product is approved by the SEC, it will be traded under the ticker symbol BITB.

Mexican Senator Indira Kempis is pushing for Bitcoin to become a part of her political agenda, after introducing a bill last year to create a central bank digital currency. Initially, the bill did not mention Bitcoin or decentralized assets, but Kempis modified it to include the cryptocurrency. Despite facing backlash from the crypto community, Kempis remains optimistic and hopes to communicate to the Mexican public where legislators stand on the bill. While Mexico has a blossoming tech scene and a tech-savvy population, the bill still has a long way to go before it becomes law.

The BTC dominance rate, which measures Bitcoin's market value relative to the entire digital asset market, has soared to 54.4%, the highest level since April 2021. A ratio of over 50% means that Bitcoin's market value exceeds the sum of all other cryptocurrencies. The index has fluctuated between 39% and 49% over the past two years until it broke through this range in mid-June. This breakthrough coincided with the news that BlackRock had applied for a spot BTC ETF in the US, causing the Bitcoin price to rise above $30,000. Market data shows that BTC prices have risen 32% in the past month.