Nocturne Raises $6M to Enable Private Accounts on Ethereum

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Daily News:

FTX Attracts Multiple Bidders For Relaunch

Nocturne Raises $6M to Enable Private Accounts on Ethereum

Friend.tech Sees Record Outflows as Top User Jumps Ship

FTX Attracts Multiple Bidders For Relaunch:

• Kevin Cofsky from Perella Weinberg Partners has revealed several bids have been placed for a potential restart of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, with a narrowed list of bidders interested in acquisition or investment.

• Key considerations include at least three serious bidders, a decision deadline by mid-December for restart plans, and the potential value of customer data access for bidders. Cofsky remains optimistic about securing a reorganization plan or an agreement with a stalking horse bidder.

• Despite this progress, uncertainties remain due to FTX's dramatic collapse, which was marked by liquidity issues and accusations of mishandling customer funds. The future of FTX hangs in balance as the bankruptcy process continues to unfold.

Nocturne Raises $6M to Enable Private Accounts on Ethereum:

• Nocturne, a protocol for private accounts on public blockchains, has garnered $6 million in a seed funding round led by Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital, with notable contributions from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. The funds are earmarked for accelerating Nocturne’s protocol production and navigating the evolving legal landscape.

• The protocol aims to enhance privacy and user experience within the Ethereum ecosystem, allowing transactions with built-in privacy through private accounts. These accounts, functioning similarly to typical Ethereum accounts, ensure asset privacy using stealth addresses, zero-knowledge proofs, and account abstraction.

• Set to launch on the mainnet in the coming weeks (excluding the USA), Nocturne plans to provide a compliant, non-custodial privacy option for retail users, integrating with wallets, payment companies, and strategic partners. The launch will also debut the first end-user product built atop the protocol, offering various use cases including a private vault interface, a private payments backend, and a private smart contract wallet.

Friend.tech Sees Record Outflows as Top User Jumps Ships

• Friend.tech, a SocialFi app, experienced significant financial outflows, totaling $5.81 million on Oct. 23 and an additional $3.21 million on Oct. 25. These represent the largest and second-largest daily outflows since the platform's inception, as reported by DeFiLlama.

• The platform's most influential creator, ‘Vombatus,’ exacerbated the situation by selling 176 of their own keys, equivalent to approximately $1.5 million. Following the sale, the value of Vombatus' key plummeted from around 8.3 ETH to 1.671 ETH. Vombatus has since transitioned to New Bitcoin City, a Friend.tech spinoff, which operates with bitcoin (BTC) and has seen over $3 million in net inflows in the last two weeks.

• The crypto community is witnessing varied performances across different SocialFi apps. While Friend.tech, Stars Arena, and Friend3 are on a downtrend, New Bitcoin City and Post.Tech are experiencing growth. Despite the outflows, Friend.tech's Total Value Locked (TVL) remains just below $40 million, and it continues to dominate the SocialFi sector, representing 86.8% of the dollar volume among leading projects. This is notable especially after Stars Arena, an Avalanche-based project, faced a security exploit.

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