Its election time in the US, and the race has been marked by the amount of interest in and debate around the crypto industry. One candidate, former President Donald Trump, has generated most of the hype.

Many outlets around the world have dubbed this race the crypto election, due to the debate before the vote but also, and importantly, because of the potential impact on the future of the digital assets industry once the winner is announced.

An opinion piece in Market Watch discusses how Trump, who once called bitcoin a scam, has taken a full U-turn and positioned himself as the defender of decentralised finance.

The author believes that a Trump victory could be a game-changer for the US government’s policies around the crypto industry, especially given the fact that he has the backing of billionaires such as Elon Musk.

“His change of heart seems to be more than just jumping on the digital bandwagon. Trump’s pivot aligns perfectly with growing retail-investor interest in digital assets and the increasing mainstream acceptance of crypto,” the article argues.

The piece also discusses how countries such as China and Switzerland are taking steps to stay ahead in the crypto race, and how future US policies on the digital asset will determine who wins the crypto race.

How will bitcoin react?

Another key question around the US election is how the result will affect the price of bitcoin. The $70,000 value seems to be symbolic, and some traders have suggested the price could go 10% in either direction depending on the result.

Analysts believe “bitcoin needs to see a sustained break above resistance at the $74,000 level to confirm an uptrend that could see the asset rally sharply toward $80,000,” according to an article on CoinTelegraph.

The author also believes that the recent trend in interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve could be a good news for the crypto industry “because safer investments like term deposits become less appealing to investors.”

Launch of derivatives

Crypto ventures around the globe are looking at a new potential source of revenue generation. According to a story in the FT, a number of digital asset firms are expanding their business models by joining the derivatives industry.

Many of these firms are “hoping that tougher regulation and the promise of highly leveraged returns will lure cautious investors into the market,” according to the article.

Dutch venue DX2, London-based firms One Trading and also GF0-X are some of the companies that will soon launch as derivatives.

It is also believed that derivates are at the centre of the recent increase in value for digital assets. CCData says futures and options trading make up for 71% of the total current trading in digital assets.

Experts have also told the FT the fact that some of the firms are registered and can do business more securely provides that extra bit of confidence as well as attraction to try new ways of revenue generation.

Looking for Nakamoto?

Anyone with interest in the crypto industry must have heard the name Satoshi Nakamoto. And that’s all there is, just the name. Most of us have never seen a photo or a video of the person.

Nakamoto is the elusive founder of bitcoin, and despite the multi-trillion dollar digital asset empire that they have founded, their personal identity has so far remained a mystery to many.

The BBC’s Cyber correspondent Joe Tidy has written about the latest episode of the ‘grand revelation’, the appearance of the latest person to claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto in a press conference. It all ended in disappointment.

The article discusses how a certain Charles Anderson sent out invites to media outlets to attend a press conference where they were told Satoshi Nakamoto will finally unmask their true identity.

The fact that they were being asked to pay for attending the conference meant there was scepticism from the beginning. Tidy declined to pay, and arrived at a sparsely-attended event at London’s Frontline press club where initial scepticism was proved right. The person who claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto did or said nothing that proved his claim.

Tidy made no excuses about leaving the event before it ended, along with some other reporters. For now the search goes on.

First industry report on tokenization

And finally, we move to Singapore, where the country’s monetary authority says the The Guardian Asset and Wealth Management Industry Group has published a first ever industry report on tokenization.

The report covers four key areas including “(a) tokenisation and its applications in the fund lifecycle from origination and issuance, distribution and custody, to secondary market trading; (b) composable technical standards and implementation models; (c) risk considerations; and (d) next steps and future work to further meet the investors’ needs.”

The authors say they “recognise the need to start the journey with a robust and reusable approach to the tokenisation of traditional investment vehicles.”

They argue that advancements in technology mean there is a need for a modern and simplified way of managing funds, especially digital assets. Tokenization, they believe, is one way of achieving that goal.

The aim of the report is to standardize the fragmented networks and initiatives that have launched tokenization, to make the whole operation more modern and secure.