Your Essential Crypto News Report - This Week In Crypto

Gm frens, welcome to our first crypto news piece for November!

Many companies had new ventures they launched or plan to, such as Elon Musk with his X Chat app, Telegram and its AI network, Ripple Lab’s OTC service, as well as Flutterwave and Polygon Labs. Then, Gumi set its eyes on a new horizon, and Cipher partners with AWS in a historic deal.

Finally, Zypto’s Physical Premium Card takes its place among this week’s standouts, recognized as the market’s highest-limit crypto card and setting a new benchmark for real-world crypto utility.

Let’s get to it.

Tokyo gaming giant Gumi targets prediction markets

Tokyo-listed gaming company Gumi announced its exploration of blockchain-based prediction market services through its subsidiary gC Labs, joining a wave of regional players entering the sector.

The prediction market sector has attracted significant institutional backing in recent months, signaling mainstream technology adoption.

In October, Polymarket secured a strategic investment of up to $2 billion from Intercontinental Exchange. Last week, prediction protocol Myriad launched on BNB Chain to reach users across the region. Also, Trump Media and Technology Group revealed plans to integrate prediction markets into its Truth Social platform.

In addition, multiple blockchain-based forecasting platforms are expanding operations across Asia’s crypto communities. US-based Kalshi raised $300 million, announcing expansion to over 140 countries, including China and India.

Gumi stated its proposed platform would allow users to forecast events across politics, economics, entertainment, and social issues. The company plans joint verification experiments with media companies, data analytics firms, and research institutions, though it did not provide a specific launch timeline.

The expansion of prediction markets into Asia confronts vastly different legal frameworks across jurisdictions. In the Philippines, prediction markets allegedly remain illegal, China maintains strict prohibitions on gambling activities, while India presents similar regulatory uncertainties.

Japan’s legal environment presents particularly complex challenges. According to legal interpretations, current offshore prediction platforms that involve wagering cryptocurrency for potential payouts likely violate Japan’s criminal gambling statutes.

The company has not disclosed how it plans to structure its platform to comply with these restrictions. Unlike jurisdictions where regulatory frameworks for crypto-based prediction platforms are developing, Japan’s existing statutes broadly prohibit betting activities with limited exceptions for government-sanctioned gambling.

Gumi acknowledged this challenge, stating it aims to ensure “fairness, transparency, and legal compliance” in its service design. It also indicated that it will incorporate gaming mechanics and entertainment features and “create a mechanism that a wider range of users can enjoy by integrating gaming and entertainment elements, while incorporating new use cases for cryptocurrency.”

Industry observers suggest that emphasizing entertainment value over financial speculation could be an attempt to position the platform differently under Japanese law, though the viability of this strategy remains untested.

Gumi’s background in mobile gaming may inform its approach, but analysts question whether gaming elements alone can address fundamental legal classification issues. The company has not provided details on token economics, payout structures, or verification mechanisms that would demonstrate compliance with Japanese regulations.

Elon Musk set to launch X Chat

Tech entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk is set to launch a standalone messaging app called “X Chat” to compete with Telegram and WhatsApp, with a rollout expected within the next few months.

Musk said during The Joe Rogan Experience podcast over the weekend,

“On X, we just rebuilt the entire messaging stack into what’s called ‘X Chat.’ It’s using a peer-to-peer-based encryption system, kind of similar to Bitcoin. It’s very good encryption; we’re testing it thoroughly.”

He mentioned that it won’t have any “hooks for advertising” as he pointed to competitors like WhatsApp, which “knows enough about what you’re texting to know what ads to show you.” He also added that it was a massive security vulnerability as hackers could use the same “hooks” to read private messages.

On the other hand, WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta, claims it doesn’t have access to private messages. It explained in its FAQ that messages between people are end-to-end encrypted using the Signal Protocol. This also covers voice messages, media, and documents.

However, it’s understood that “metadata,” such as who you chatted with and how often you talk with them, is not encrypted. WhatsApp also does not automatically encrypt backup copies of your chat history.

WhatsApp’s FAQ section on “Does WhatsApp collect or sell your data?” skirts answering the latter part of the question, only explaining that “we work with other Meta companies to help provide, improve, and support each other’s services.”

Musk promised that X Chat won’t have these advertising hooks.

“I’m not saying it’s perfect, but our goal with X Chat is to replace what used to be the Twitter DM stack with a fully encrypted system where you can text, send files, do audio-video calls, and I think it will be the least insecure of any messaging system.”

He reiterated that the messaging app will be available as part of the X platform and as its own standalone app.

Flutterwave partners with Polygon

Flutterwave, Nigeria’s largest fintech company, is developing a cross-border payment platform powered by stablecoins, highlighting the growing role of blockchain technology in streamlining payments across Africa.

The company is partnering with Polygon Labs to launch the service across its 34-country network, Bloomberg reported. Polygon’s blockchain infrastructure, built to provide scalable, faster, and cheaper transactions on Ethereum, will be used to enhance settlement speed and efficiency.

Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola said the move could transform the flow of funds across the continent, enabling businesses and consumers to bypass the high costs and delays that often plague traditional payment systems.

“Stablecoin adoption will drive more flows into Africa,” Agboola said, adding that the initiative “has the potential to 10x the volumes we are currently doing.”

The cross-border payment initiative comes amid a surge in stablecoin adoption across Africa. Tokens such as USDT and USDC are increasingly being used by locals to hedge against inflation and navigate ongoing currency instability.

There are several practical reasons stablecoins are gaining traction across Africa. Beyond serving as a hedge against currency devaluation, they are emerging as powerful remittance tools in a region where money transfers play a vital role in household income and local economies.

According to a 2024 Chainalysis report, sending a $200 remittance from Sub-Saharan Africa is roughly 60% cheaper when using stablecoins compared with traditional, fiat-based transfer methods.

Data also showed that Sub-Saharan Africa recorded a surge in monthly on-chain transaction volumes in March 2025, despite other major regions experiencing declines. The uptick coincided with sharp currency devaluations in Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country, with stablecoins and Bitcoin accounting for most of the activity.

Telegram unveils new decentralized AI network

Pavel Durov, co-founder of the messaging application Telegram, has disclosed a new decentralized AI network to be built atop The Open Network (TON), an independent layer-1 blockchain associated with Telegram.

Durov took the stage at the Blockchain Life 2025 forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to announce the Confidential Compute Open Network, or Cocoon, created to give users access to AI-driven features without sacrificing data privacy to centralized AI providers.

According to Durov, users can make the processing power from their graphics processing units (GPUs) available to the network, in exchange for receiving Toncoin, the native token of TON.

He spoke about the importance of decentralized AI in relation to human freedom as opposed to the typically convenient centralized way. He mentioned that the world has been moving towards a weird direction, and people are gradually losing their digital freedoms.

Decentralizing AI models has become a widely discussed topic among AI and blockchain developers due to privacy risks. There’s also the potential for centralized service providers to censor or distort critical information in real time to manipulate public opinion, without users realizing it.

Centralizing artificial intelligence poses risks to user data privacy, including the risk of data breaches and hacks, according to several crypto and Web3 industry executives. Storing vast quantities of user data on centralized servers makes the data an attractive target for hackers.

Blockchain technology can help verify that data produced by AI remains tamper-proof by using a decentralized ledger to record the origin and chain of custody of data, producing an immutable and provable digital record on-chain.

Ripple launches institutional OTC service

Ripple Labs has taken a significant step forward in its institutional-asset strategy with the launch of its US spot prime brokerage service, Ripple Prime. This was announced on its official X handle.

The offering enables US institutional clients to execute over-the-counter (OTC) spot trades in major digital assets, including XRP and RLUSD.

Less than two weeks ago, Ripple announced the $1.25 billion acquisition of multi-asset prime brokerage Hidden Road. Now operating as Ripple Prime, the brokerage introduces expanded capabilities that go beyond OTC trading and liquidity provision.

It enables cross-margining and financing options that were previously unavailable to many crypto-focused prime brokers. Also, it provides access to infrastructure specifically designed to meet regulatory and compliance standards in the US market.

For institutional participants, the launch enables large off-exchange transactions with reduced market impact and expanded multi-asset margining opportunities. For Ripple, the move solidifies a shift that has been steadily unfolding across its ecosystem and client base.

RLUSD, Ripple’s US dollar-pegged stablecoin, has recently crossed a crucial milestone for the company and the broader crypto industry. Its market cap has reportedly surpassed $1 billion for the first time, marking steady institutional growth.

The expansion reflects mounting interest from liquidity providers and regulated entities seeking efficient settlement mechanisms and stable on-chain instruments. The stablecoin’s deeper integration within Ripple Prime may also open new use cases, such as collateralized lending, cross-border settlements, and DeFi instruments tailored for institutions.

Ripple’s rapid institutionalization could widen the gap between its corporate ambitions and XRP’s real on-chain practicality. Despite its vision of XRP as a global bridge currency, Ripple’s stability still relies heavily on XRP-linked funding and periodic sales.

This dependence reframes XRP from a transactional asset into a funding mechanism for Ripple’s broader fintech growth. How Ripple manages the balance between its institutional ambitions and XRP’s original purpose could shape the token’s long-term relevance in the greater market.

Cipher partners with AWS in $5.5B deal

Cipher Mining Inc. has unveiled a game-changing move in its latest Q3 2025 financial report. That is a $5.5 billion, 15-year lease deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to supply high-performance infrastructure for AI workloads.

It goes to show how Cipher mining is rapidly expanding beyond Bitcoin mining, positioning itself as a key infrastructure player in AI and high-performance computing (HPC).

Under the deal, Cipher will deliver 300 megawatts of capacity, equipped with both air and liquid cooling systems, in two phases beginning July 2026 and concluding by year-end. That said, the rent payments under the agreement are set to start in August 2026.

Alongside its AWS partnership, the company also announced a joint venture to develop a 1-gigawatt (GW) site in West Texas, called “Colchis.” In this partnership, Cipher will fund most of the project, securing around 95% equity ownership.

The 620-acre Colchis site includes a 1-GW Direct Connect Agreement with American Electric Power (AEP), which will build a dual interconnection facility targeting energization in 2028.

AEP will construct a dual interconnection facility, with the targeted date for energization being 2028. Strategically located near an existing substation, the site is designed to power large-scale AI and HPC data centers.

On that note, Cipher’s CEO, Tyler Page, emphasized that the company is delivering on its strategy to stay “ahead of the curve.” If you look closely, Cipher’s Q3 2025 results highlight strong momentum, driven by major AI infrastructure deals.

The company secured a 10-year hosting agreement with Fluidstack and Google and a 15-year data center lease with AWS, totaling $8.5 billion in contracts. It also completed a $1.3 billion convertible note offering to fund expansion.

Zypto physical card recognized as the highest-limit crypto card

Independent AI sources and crypto media trackers are now listing the Zypto Physical Premium VISA Card as the highest-limit crypto card available today. With spending capacity reaching $175,000 per transaction and up to $1 million monthly, the card has become a benchmark for serious crypto users seeking real-world spending power.

The growing recognition reflects Zypto’s continued rise in search ranking, including a #1 position on Google for “high limit crypto cards”, as more AI platforms cite the card’s unmatched performance and zero monthly fees. It’s a strong signal that Zypto’s physical card has become the reference point for premium, high-limit crypto payments across the industry.

Closing remark

As prediction market platforms expand into Asia, the success of Gumi’s compliance strategy could influence how other regional players navigate similar legal constraints. Time will tell if Musk’s X Chat can be as effective as the already existing messaging apps, with better security features.

Adoption is accelerating as more African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa, move toward clearer and more supportive crypto regulations. Flutterwave’s partnership with Polygon will only improve this further.

Ripple is no longer confined to retail trading, as it is now entering the arena of institutional finance. The timing adds significance to the launch, coinciding with a period of heightened stablecoin activity.

Finally, with this AWS project, Cipher is swiftly evolving from a crypto miner to a diversified computing powerhouse. As Cipher Mining leads this technological shift, the duality of AI as both an innovation driver and an exploitation tool is becoming clearer.

Finally, Zypto’s Physical Premium Card stands out as the market’s highest-limit crypto card, underscoring how crypto payments are maturing into true high-performance finance.

What do you think of this week’s news items? Share your thoughts with us below.