All Been Crypto — Week 14 Nov 2025 Apologies for the missing letter last week — was not that nothing had happened but I was traveling. Been a bloody week this week with many calling for the official end of the bull market after BTC broke below 100k again -4% WoW and ETH at 3200 also -4%. DATs have been a big focus this time with scary headlines of them trading under water and even MSTR now affected. Probably more a gage of the overall sentiment than anything. In the news we had Greyscale filing for IPO, Perp DEX Lighter raised 68mm at a 1.5bn valuation, a Balancer Hack that spooked market and raised concerns about DeFi Vault curators and backdoor deals. Stay safe out there and enjoy reading! Bat Tai Chi — [email protected] HEADLINES: Balancer Hack — Multi-chain Mayhem and DeFi’s Tough Lesson Balancer’s flash loan exploit was like a nasty wake-up call. Over $120 million drained in minutes from interconnected pools across multiple chains: Ethereum, Arbitrum, Berachain, and more. This multi-chain exposure made the impact feel like a tsunami sweeping through DeFi. The attack exploited a vulnerability in Balancer’s “manageUserBalance” function, allowing unauthorized swaps and draining assets rapidly. What’s scary is how quickly the exploit cascaded across networks sharing the same codebase but with different security postures. Berachain for example paused the chain and did a reorg coz the code sat so deep on protocol level while others went for freezing out attackers address. For OG DeFi protocols like Balancer, reputation takes a hit, and confidence in cross-chain operational security drops sharply. This, combined with USDX’s synthetic stablecoin depeg on PancakeSwap and Lista DAO, shows DeFi’s risk disclosure is still weak — with some backdoor deals and emergency liquidations happening behind the scenes. DeFi is maturing, but the scars of trust remain fresh. Non-US Stablecoins Backed by Gold — Central Asia Leads New Era Kyrgyzstan just launched USDKG, a government-issued stablecoin fully backed by physical gold reserves, pegged 1:1 to the USD. Kazakhstan is also eyeing a 1bn crypto reserve fund, using seized assets to back its initiative by 2026. These moves mark a bold push by governments historically skeptical of digital assets to embrace Web3, yet on their own terms. Meanwhile, across the pond, the UK’s Bank of England announced strict stablecoin holding limits — just £20k per coin for individuals and £10mm for businesses. It’s clear regulators remain wary of stablecoins becoming the “new Euro dollars,” nervous about systemic risks and financial sovereignty in the 21st century crypto economy. A fascinating clash between innovation and regulation is unfolding. Coinbase Launches ICO Platform — Back to the ICO Future? November 10 saw Coinbase unveil its new ICO platform aiming to “set a new industry benchmark” for token issuance. The platform promises more sustainable, decentralized token sales, pulling lessons from past frenzies and the rise of airdrop controversies. Bitwise’s Matt Hogan recently highlighted that crypto capital formation is evolving, with institutional flows ramping up but requiring new transparency standards. This comes as debates rage over token allocation disclosures, notably around Wintermute’s market-making. The era of opaque token deals is facing scrutiny like never before — but will institutional and public crypto users find common ground? QUOTES: Haseeb Quershi — Managing partner at Dragonfly Willy Woo Paul Grewal — Chief Legal Officer coinbase All Been Crypto — Week 14 Nov 2025 was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this storyAll Been Crypto — Week 14 Nov 2025 Apologies for the missing letter last week — was not that nothing had happened but I was traveling. Been a bloody week this week with many calling for the official end of the bull market after BTC broke below 100k again -4% WoW and ETH at 3200 also -4%. DATs have been a big focus this time with scary headlines of them trading under water and even MSTR now affected. Probably more a gage of the overall sentiment than anything. In the news we had Greyscale filing for IPO, Perp DEX Lighter raised 68mm at a 1.5bn valuation, a Balancer Hack that spooked market and raised concerns about DeFi Vault curators and backdoor deals. Stay safe out there and enjoy reading! Bat Tai Chi — [email protected] HEADLINES: Balancer Hack — Multi-chain Mayhem and DeFi’s Tough Lesson Balancer’s flash loan exploit was like a nasty wake-up call. Over $120 million drained in minutes from interconnected pools across multiple chains: Ethereum, Arbitrum, Berachain, and more. This multi-chain exposure made the impact feel like a tsunami sweeping through DeFi. The attack exploited a vulnerability in Balancer’s “manageUserBalance” function, allowing unauthorized swaps and draining assets rapidly. What’s scary is how quickly the exploit cascaded across networks sharing the same codebase but with different security postures. Berachain for example paused the chain and did a reorg coz the code sat so deep on protocol level while others went for freezing out attackers address. For OG DeFi protocols like Balancer, reputation takes a hit, and confidence in cross-chain operational security drops sharply. This, combined with USDX’s synthetic stablecoin depeg on PancakeSwap and Lista DAO, shows DeFi’s risk disclosure is still weak — with some backdoor deals and emergency liquidations happening behind the scenes. DeFi is maturing, but the scars of trust remain fresh. Non-US Stablecoins Backed by Gold — Central Asia Leads New Era Kyrgyzstan just launched USDKG, a government-issued stablecoin fully backed by physical gold reserves, pegged 1:1 to the USD. Kazakhstan is also eyeing a 1bn crypto reserve fund, using seized assets to back its initiative by 2026. These moves mark a bold push by governments historically skeptical of digital assets to embrace Web3, yet on their own terms. Meanwhile, across the pond, the UK’s Bank of England announced strict stablecoin holding limits — just £20k per coin for individuals and £10mm for businesses. It’s clear regulators remain wary of stablecoins becoming the “new Euro dollars,” nervous about systemic risks and financial sovereignty in the 21st century crypto economy. A fascinating clash between innovation and regulation is unfolding. Coinbase Launches ICO Platform — Back to the ICO Future? November 10 saw Coinbase unveil its new ICO platform aiming to “set a new industry benchmark” for token issuance. The platform promises more sustainable, decentralized token sales, pulling lessons from past frenzies and the rise of airdrop controversies. Bitwise’s Matt Hogan recently highlighted that crypto capital formation is evolving, with institutional flows ramping up but requiring new transparency standards. This comes as debates rage over token allocation disclosures, notably around Wintermute’s market-making. The era of opaque token deals is facing scrutiny like never before — but will institutional and public crypto users find common ground? QUOTES: Haseeb Quershi — Managing partner at Dragonfly Willy Woo Paul Grewal — Chief Legal Officer coinbase All Been Crypto — Week 14 Nov 2025 was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story