Binance and its former CEO CZ have agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine in a deal with U.S. prosecutors, which has led one lawmaker to argue that current laws are sufficient for regulating cryptocurrencies. Rep. Tom Emmer stated that the successful prosecution shows that current laws can weed out bad actors, and that Congress should focus on bringing more crypto companies to the U.S. instead of creating new laws. However, Emmer's stance may not bode well for bills currently moving through Congress, including one regarding stablecoins introduced by his colleague Rep. Patrick McHenry. Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren has called for more government action against the crypto industry, citing Binance's alleged flaunting of anti-money laundering laws as a predictable trend.

Nirmala Sitharaman, India's Finance Minister, shared the latest progress in implementing a regulatory roadmap for cryptocurrencies during yesterday's virtual G20 summit. Sitharaman stated that countries need to establish effective mechanisms to control crypto assets, and emphasized the need for not only G20 countries but also members of the FSB from around the world to participate. While acknowledging that countries may develop their own cryptocurrency laws, she cautioned against implementing a "comprehensive" ban on cryptocurrency activities.

Sock, a San Francisco-based company, has raised $2.8m in seed funding for its self-custodial crypto investment app. The app aims to help users build wealth through crypto investment and offers complete control over finances, including automated orders to minimize losses and take profit automatically. The funding will be used to cover operating costs, hire more technical and UX talent, and fund the go-to-market campaign. Despite being in the early stages since its launch last week, the company has seen promising growth and engagement from its community, with positive feedback received particularly in the App and Play stores. The company plans to respond to feedback and release a major app update before the end of the year.

New Zealand crypto exchange Easy Crypto and Australian blockchain development firm Labrys have partnered to launch a stablecoin pegged to the New Zealand dollar. The NZDD will be backed 1:1 with cash in trust and regulated by the New Zealand Financial Markets Authority. It is currently live on Ethereum and plans to expand to other platforms including Polygon, BNB Smart Chain, Arbitrum, Optimism and Coinbase’s Base. The stablecoin was launched to address difficulties faced by New Zealanders in maximising profits when using US dollar-pegged tokens.

In Latin America in 2023, Web3 and crypto startups face financing challenges, with funding for Latin American startups decreasing by 83% compared to the previous year, with investment totaling only $1.1 billion. Similarly, venture capital funding for global cryptocurrency companies decreased significantly in the first quarter of 2023, plummeting 80% compared to the previous year, with investment dropping from $12.3 billion in 2022 to $2.4 billion in 2023.<br>A survey by Goldman Sachs showed that only 12% of family offices expressed potential interest in cryptocurrency in the future, down from 45%. The extreme volatility of the cryptocurrency market over the past year seems to have cooled their interest, with 62% of people saying they have not invested and are not interested in future cryptocurrencies, a proportion higher than 39%.

Coinglass data shows that the total amount of liquidation in the past 24 hours was $147 million, with long positions liquidated at $102 million and short positions at approximately $44.2952 million. Among them, BTC liquidation amounted to $27.6826 million, and ETH was $19.4684 million.

On November 18th, Yearn finance (YFI) dropped more than 40% in a single day, currently trading at $8,950. According to WhaleWire, a cryptocurrency data tracker, this is due to a large-scale sell-off by the team, as data shows a significant net outflow from their team wallet.

November 17, local time in the United States, political outsider and 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy announced his new crypto policy to unshackle American innovators from the administrative state that persecutes and stymies such innovation in theNorth American Blockchain Summit.

According to the leader of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), their agency needs to take warnings about cryptocurrencies seriously and call for rules to regulate the field. Two Democratic CFTC commissioners, Christy Goldsmith Romero and Kristin Johnson, have been pushing the agency to issue rules or guidance over the past week to address conflicts of interest in cryptocurrencies and protect consumers. Johnson said at a meeting at the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank on Monday that the failures of FTX, Binance, Celsius, and Voyager show the need to protect customers by isolating and protecting their deposits. Therefore, the CFTC should "immediately develop regulations on asset custody," Johnson said, adding that rules for managing cryptocurrencies could be issued in the coming weeks. Johnson said, "The CFTC has a way to strengthen protection of customer assets through rules that isolate or separate customer property. These rules simply say that you cannot mix company funds with customer proprietary funds." (The Block)

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has presented a crypto policy framework called "The Three Freedoms of Crypto" at the North American Blockchain Summit. The framework aims to protect developers of smart contract code from being held liable for the actions of users. Ramaswamy has promised to direct government prosecutors to go after bad actors, not the code they use or the developers who write it. He has also pledged to provide regulatory clarity that gives new cryptocurrencies "safe harbor" exemptions from securities laws and prevent federal agencies from creating rules that limit the use of self-hosted wallets. Ramaswamy is currently polling between 0% and 8% of the Republican vote in New Hampshire.