Mastercard Partners With Bakkt For Crypto; Shares Triple

The biggest news this week has to be the Mastercard and Bakkt Holdings partnership that will soon enable cryptocurrency card payments.

The partnership will allow any of the thousands of banks and millions of merchants on Mastercard's payments network to integrate crypto into their products.

For example, banks will be able to issue cryptocurrency debit or credit cards that let people make payments and earn rewards (think hotel points or airline loyalty programs) in Bitcoin. The cards would also give consumers the ability to pay merchants with Bitcoin.

To do so, the payments network is partnering with Bakkt, the crypto firm recently spun off by Intercontinental Exchange, which will be the behind-the-scenes provider of custodial services for those who sign up.

In true crypto fashion, the announcement caused shares of Bakkt (BKKT) to soar. Those who bought BKKT shares on a whim 7 days ago, congrats... you are already up 260%.

SHIB Hits The Fan

While it's not actually big news, everyone is talking about it for one reason or another... so screw it.

From one meme trend to the next, Shiba Inu (SHIB) just surpassed Dogecoin (DOGE) in market capitalization after a gnarly ~993% run-up over the past month. Despite the overall market slumping today, SHIB is up a staggering ~63%! Go figure.

Simply put, another virtually useless meme coin has launched into the top 10 coins by market cap. That's it. There's really no news, no articles we want to point you to, no breakdown on why it's pumping. Funny games aren't our cup of tea.

What we can do, however, is still voice our opinion...

👌 If you were ballsy enough to ride this meme coin to new heights, congrats. Right about now, literally, right now... we'd be selling if we were in your shoes.

⚠️ If you are thinking about jumping on the hype train, or perhaps gaining some more exposure to SHIB, well... good luck. We've seen how this ultimately plays out before.

On the other hand, we just watched Hertz go bankrupt, raise $4 billion, announce the intent to buy $4 billion worth of Teslas with taxpayers funding 30% of the cost, causing Tesla's (TSLA) market cap rise by $100 billion.

And people think crypto is a scam...

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Now, Miso is working with 10 of the top 25 brands in the QSR industry–including Buffalo Wild Wings parent company, Inspire Brands–and has dozens of pilot programs underway.

Miso Robotics Series D campaign is ending November 18th, don’t miss your chance to invest.

DEEP DIVES

Cream Finance Hacked Again

DeFi protocol Cream Finance (CREAM) has been hacked for more than $130 million, marking the third-largest DeFi hack in history. CREAM dropped more than 25% following the news.

Cream Finance is a decentralized lending protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain. The protocol has notably suffered multiple flash loan attacks in its history, losing $37.5 million in February and then another $18.8 million in August.

This will bring the total amount of funds stolen in DeFi attacks above $500 million to date.

Prestige Worldcoin

Would you let a chrome, volleyball-sized sphere scan your retinas in exchange for crypto?

If so, Worldcoin might be for you.

The ambitious project, which already touts a $1 billion valuation, aims to onboard more people into crypto by doling out free coins to anyone who scans their eyes on a device called “the Orb."

If to you, this sounds like a dystopian, nightmarish, Eye of Sauron, out-of-touch idea... you aren't the only one. For example, here is Edward Snowden calling it a bad idea and here are others pointing out other flaws.

Now, to be fair, here is an argument for why the world might really need it.

Examples of Utility

Take a break from the charts and that number-go-up mindset for a moment and check out some of the real-life crypto/blockchain use-cases coming to fruition this week...

1.) Dish (DISH) announced a partnership with Helium (HNT) to help expand 5G network

The Details: Dish is racing to build a nationwide 5G wireless network and enlisted the help of Helium to extend the signal through customer hotspots.

The plan incentivizes customers to install transmitters in their homes to host hotspots, in turn earning rewards.

2.) First tokenized "ILO" goes live

Backdrop: We first covered the concept of ILO's back in December but it's worth a refresher. The "initial litigation offering," or ILO takes its inspiration from initial coin offerings (ICOs), but instead opens up retail investment in litigation finance, a primarily private field that some expect to reach $20 billion in revenue in a matter of years.

The Details: The first-ever ILO revolves around the case of Apothio, LLC v. Kern County, California. The plaintiff says that Kern County's Sheriff Department destroyed Apothio's cropland in 2019, with officials alleging that the Apothio's hemp crop had exceeded its legal THC limits. The suit seeks up to $1 billion in damages.

The ILO went on sale yesterday, seeking $5 million in investment from retail users on Republic's platform. (Users who want to participate will have to create Avalanche wallets to receive the tokens)

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A Controversial Call...?

A former Wall Street VP and hedge fund manager says he “no longer expects gold to adequately protect your wealth against the money printing happening right now.”

And for the first time, he's telling clients to sell gold... and buy Bitcoin.

But this is about more than just one coin... A new class of cryptos is on the rise, he says. Coins he believes could do MUCH better than Bitcoin in the coming months.

Even better... You can get the name of his next top crypto pick for free. Click here.

REGULATORY FRONT

After ‘Stealing’ $16M, This Teen Hacker Seems Intent on Testing ‘Code Is Law’ in the Courts

In other DeFi protocol exploitation news, a child math prodigy who hacked Indexed Finance for $16 million is refusing to return the funds and intends to face any potential criminal charges with gusto.

This all started when an individual going by the name of "Andy," was fingered as the potential hacker. That's when the Indexed team made an ultimatum: Return the funds or be reported to law enforcement authorities.

In the past, an ultimatum like this has proven successful with hackers returning some, if not all, of the funds. But this time is different.

This time, the hacker wants to fulfill the "code is law" mantra, that in an open system such as DeFi, if the underlying code allows for something to happen, then the action is allowed... even hacking. Andy is therefore arguing that he simply executed a fully legal arbitrage trade. He is now looking for lawyers to support him.

TWEET OF THE WEEK