CoinMarketCap News, Oct. 18: Could Mastercard's New Tool Drive Crypto Adoption?

Mastercard is rolling out a new pilot program to help consumers buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly from their bank accounts. It's called Crypto Source — and will debut in the U.S., Brazil and Israel early in 2023. The credit card giant says 29% of those polled in research hold crypto as an investment, and 65% would like to buy digital assets through institutions they already know and trust. Executives at Mastercard are describing this as "an exciting step in our crypto journey." Its president of cyber and intelligence, Ajay Bhalla, added: "At Mastercard, trust is our business. What we are announcing today is a connected approach to services that will help bring users safely and securely into the crypto ecosystem."

In a new item we're calling "news we didn't expect," Kanye West has inked a deal to buy the "free speech" social network Parler. This app played an instrumental role in arranging the Capitol riots, and has just 137,000 daily active users. It comes days after the U.S. rapper was welcomed back to Twitter by Elon Musk… only to go and post an antisemetic tweet. Confirming the acquisition is in the works, West — who now goes by Ye — said: "In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial, we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves." From a crypto perspective, Parler is best known for launching an NFT marketplace — and its first collection featured images of Donald Trump.

Over in the U.K, a notorious drug baron is about to be freed from prison after 13 years. Chris Warren has been likened to "Briton's Pablo Escobar" — and one condition of his release is that he's banned from owning Bitcoin. If he's caught breaking this rule, the 59-year-old could face another five years behind bars. Warren will also be forbidden from using social media, will need to give a day's notice if he wants to get into a friend's car, and is only allowed to have one mobile phone. During his time in jail, his sentence was extended because he refused to comply with a $225 million confiscation order. This helps explain why there are such heavy restrictions on any potential Bitcoin use, and show British courts can prohibit convicts from holding them.

Liquidators for Three Arrows Capital are seeking permission to serve subpoenas against the bankrupt crypto hedge fund's co-founders via Twitter. Kyle Davies and Zhu Su have been accused of failing to comply with various court orders — compelling them to produce documents related to 3AC's financial affairs. In the unusual motion, liquidators Russell Crumpler and Christopher Farmer claimed both men "continue to conceal their whereabouts and have failed to cooperate." They are struggling to gain control of 3AC's crypto, and fear the digital assets could be moved without their knowledge. The motion argues sending subpoenas through Twitter is now necessary as efforts to determine their physical locations have failed.

FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried are under investigation in Texas, a new court filing reveals. Officials claim American consumers have been able to earn yield on cryptocurrencies — even though this service isn't meant to be offered in the U.S. There are allegations that the exchange "may be offering unregistered securities" as a result — and the director of enforcement at the Texas Securities Board claims he was able to start earning 8% APY on Ether despite giving his full name and residential address. The court filing argues that FTX's planned purchase of Voyager Digital's assets should be stopped "unless or until the Securities Commissioner has an opportunity to determine whether FTX U.S. is complying with the law."