This Week In Crypto News: Aptos Struggles, XRP Makes Headlines, Celebs Lose Out, and Terra (LUNA) Latest

Crypto news: It has been yet another glorious week as Aptos set new records by launching the world’s slowest-ever blockchain, and Terra (LUNA) chief Do Kwon broke his silence.

The war between centralization and decentralization also picked up a few gears, while XRP chief Brad Garlinghouse gave his none-too-complementary thoughts on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Let’s do this.

Aptos Stumbles, Then Crashes Hard

The launch of the much anticipated Aptos blockchain happened this week, or did it? Billed as the “Solana killer” by some, the Layer 1 protocol was supposed to deliver transactions in the hundreds of thousands, but for much of the week it struggled to hit double figures.

Aptos was also supposed to never fall foul of Solana-like downtimes, but with uptimes this slow that’s nothing much to boast about. Following the launch, markets delivered their verdict on the coin. The price crashed hard.

It’s hard to imagine a more catastrophic and humiliating start than this… unless your name happens to be Liz Truss. The crypto positive British prime minister stepped into her role on Sept. 8, but after a series of disastrous fiscal policies was forced to tender her resignation.

The U.K. now faces another leadership fight to pick another prime minister as the country’s political system falls into abject chaos.

The Battle Between Crypto Centralization and Decentralization

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is making moves in the ongoing struggle between centralization and decentralization. The IMF is now touting Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) as a path towards financial inclusion, but what they mean is something quite different.

IMF Deputy Managing Director Bo Li said that the potential programmability of CBDCs “can help government agencies to precisely target their support.”

That creates the frightening possibility of central banks deciding what individuals can and cannot spend their money on.

Sam Bankman-Fried also weighed in on the side of centralization this week, with a report on regulations and industry standards. One of the issues of contention was the suggestion that DeFi should fall under the control of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). This is the same agency that blacklisted Tornado Cash. On seeing the proposals Bankless founder Ryan Sean Adams concluded, “This absolutely sucks.”

Jack Dorsey is fighting the good fight on the side of decentralization. The former Twitter CEO announced Bluesky this week, a decentralized protocol for social networks. Given the drive towards centralization elsewhere, his announcement seems well timed.

XRP Hates on SEC, Grayscale Unhappy, Too

On Sunday we revealed the SEC was making Brad Garlinghouse more than a little hot under the collar. According to Garlinghouse, Gary Gensler’s pursuit of Ripple is not for valid reasons. Garlinghouse said it was instead “about power.”

Meanwhile, the Blockchain Association has backed Grayscale in its legal battle against the SEC. Grayscale has been frustrated by the intransigence of the regulator which has denied the conversion of its Bitcoin Trust fund into a spot Bitcoin ETF.

Islamic Coin Makes Big News Claims

Earlier in the week BeInCrypto reported on Islamic Coin. This is a cryptocurrency designed to be Sharia-compliant. The team behind the cryptocurrency reckon it could scale to $1 trillion in value. It’s not the first time a Sharia-compliant coin has been attempted, and most have promised big things only to face away. Given the popularity of the article, it may be an idea whose time has come.

Crypto Celebrities Losing Out

Celebrities including Neymar, Madonna, Snoop Dogg and Eminem are sitting on a black hole of unrealized losses thanks to devaluing non-fungible token (NFT) prices. Neymar has spent around $700,000 on NFTs only to watch the bottom fall out of the market. Previously BeInCrypto reported on the Azuki bought by Logan Paul for $623,000. The JPEG is now valued at just $10. 

Logan Paul is likely to make up the shortfall by promoting yet more dubious NFT projects.

This Week’s News In Do Kwon

No weekly crypto news update would be fully complete without reference to Do Kwon. This week, the Terra (LUNA) CEO spoke with journalist Laura Shin to say he was making no effort to hide. At no point, however, did he make any effort to say where he was either.

The Crypto News Saga Continues

But before we let you go, check out how the Halloween Effect could impact the crypto market. And don’t worry, it’s nothing to be scared about!