Against the backdrop of uncertainties, Bitcoin gained 4.07% in the past 24 hours to trade at US$17,389. BTC has declined 15.5% for the previous seven days, while Ether (ETH) has risen 7.7% to US$1,277.

Polygon led gains among the top 10 cryptos, rising 15.69% to US$1.08, and was the top 10 token least affected by recent market turmoil, dropping 4.36% over the previous seven days. Solana lost 46.4% over the previous seven days as FTX International’s brokerage arm Alameda Research sold a lot of its SOL holdings to stop the run on FTX’s native token FTT.

The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released on Thursday reported that October inflation rose to 7.7% from September, 0.4% higher than a year earlier, but fell short of the 7.9% that economists predicted and was the smallest monthly increase since January. Some investors see this slowing CPI rate as a sign that the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes are finally working.

In the stock market, Coinbase (COIN) shares gained 12%, trading at $51.90 yesterday. Jack Dorsey's Block (SQ) rose 18%, while Silvergate (SI) is up 5%. Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy (MSTR) rose 9%, despite the bitcoin price drop this week.

The layer 1 blockchain startup, Aptos has announced a partnership with Google Cloud, in a move that will see the search giant power some of its validator nodes, among other services.

Speaking at a panel at Token2049 in London, Aptos’ co-founder and CEO Mo Shaikh outlined the details of the tie-up alongside Simon Baksys, the go-to-market and business development lead for Google's web3 division.

"I think the first time a web2 and a web3 company has come together in such a meaningful way," Shaikh said. Google Cloud will validate nodes and participate on the Aptos mainnet, Shaikh said. The Aptos blockchain will also be indexed and made available on Google Cloud's BigQuery service.

The partnership aims to encourage new talent, with Google and the Aptos Foundation set to launch an accelerator program as well as co-host a hackathon next year. The Aptos blockchain is already known for attracting Solana developers who had become tired of "eating glass" on Solana and were looking for a more intuitive way to program decentralized applications.

In other news,

• After Breaking Up With EA, FIFA Has Announced 4 New Blockchain Games. Read More
• Crypto Firm Bakkt Reports $1.5B in Impairment Losses in Q3. Read More
• Ledger partners with Solana Mobile to enhance security features. Read More
• MetaMask update enables DApp token movement across blockchains. Read More

FTX is scrambling to raise about $9.4 billion from investors and rivals, according to a new report. The exchange is urgently seeking funds to save itself after a rush of customer withdrawals.

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has reportedly discussed raising $1 billion each from Justin Sun, the founder of crypto token Tron, rival exchange OKX and stablecoin platform Tether. He is seeking the remainder from other funds, including current investors in FTX such as venture capital fund Sequoia Capital. It’s currently unclear, however, whether Bankman-Fried will be able to raise the funds he needs and whether these investors would participate.

Yesterday, Bankman-Fried said in a series of tweets and a memo to employees, that he was in talks with "a number of players" in the crypto sector, including Sun, after a potential rescue deal with larger rival Binance fell apart.

The troubles seemed to multiply for FTX. The Securities Commission Of the Bahamas said on Thursday that it had frozen assets of FTX Digital Markets, an FTX subsidiary. Bankman-Fried is also reportedly under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for potential securities law violations.

More updates on the FTX:

• FTX opened withdrawals for some users today, Nansen data shows. Read More
• FTX Japan ordered by country’s financial regulator to suspend operations. Read More
• FTX CEO’s leaked messages give insight into CEX’s death spiral. Read More
• FTX Australia Calls In the Administrators. Read More

Binance Labs, the venture capital arm and accelerator of Binance, has selected 12 top-performing tech-based projects for season 5 of its accelerator program. Binance announced this via a publication on its website, stating that the new season officially kicked off on November 7.

According to Binance, the twelve firms were selected after a “rigorous review” of hundreds of applications worldwide. The chosen projects participating in the new season span infrastructure, zkDID, DeFi, tooling, security, gaming, and payment sectors.

The twelve projects selected by Binance are; Bracket Labs Group, DappOS, HANA EVM, Kryptoskatt, Mind Network, Notebook Labs, Ontropy, PIP, Sandbags Protocol, The Harvest, Wallet Guard, and zkPass.

Binance also stated in its press release that the fifth season of its Incubation Program, is aimed at empowering innovative blockchain projects to shape the future of Web3. Having received over 900 applications for the current cohort, the firm claims this is the program’s most contested iteration.

In other news,

• Coinbase Lays Off Over 60 Employees Amid Crypto Market Turmoil. Read More
• Binance Publishes Details of Holdings in its Hot Wallet. Read More
• Genesis Trading says derivatives arm has $175 million locked up in FTX account. Read More
• Indian Crypto Exchange Giottus Says It Will Provide Proof of Reserves. Read More

Prompted by the FTX debacle, the White House has said that stronger oversight of cryptocurrencies is needed to prevent hurting ordinary American citizens.

At a press conference yesterday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked if regulators should be taking a “harder look” at the crypto world after FTX imploded. She responded that “the most recent news further underscores these concerns and highlights why prudent regulation of cryptocurrencies is indeed needed.” She added that “without proper oversight of cryptocurrencies, they risk harming everyday Americans.”

Whistleblower Edward Snowden responded on Twitter by calling the White House “opportunistic serpents.”

In other news,

• EU Parliament passes cybersecurity legislation for crypto and fintech firms. Read More
• Russia and Turkey to Collaborate on Combating Crime-Related Crypto Transactions. Read More
• Senators moving forward with SBF-backed bill after FTX collapse. Read More
• Crypto Conglomerates Require 'Urgent Regulatory Attention,' European Watchdogs Say. Read More