Today in Crypto: Digital Asset Product AUM Surged to $31.7 Billion in October, Binance Validated 300 User-suggested Features

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Investment news

• In October, the total assets under management (AUM) for digital asset products surged by 6.74% to reach $31.7 billion, marking the first increase since July 2023, according to crypto data provider CCData’s Digital Asset Management Review. Average daily aggregate volumes of digital asset investment products went up 44.3% to $230 million. The increase reflected the positive sentiment of market participants surrounding exchange-traded fund (ETF) approvals, it noted. ProShares BITO continued to dominate volumes with an increase of 30.0% to $104 million in average daily volumes, after a decrease of 48.0% from September. Grayscale’s GBTC followed with an average daily volume of $62.0 million, a significant 73.7% increase from September, the report said.
• Aera, an autonomous treasury management protocol for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), announced its official general availability launch and closing an $8 million token sale led by Bain Capital Crypto. The pre-launch funds generated from the token purchase will be used exclusively for developing and maintaining the Aera protocol, said the press release. Protocols and institutions currently manage more than $4.3 million of their treasuries using Aera, it added.

Exchange news

• Binance’s Feature Request & Feedback Board gets hundreds of requests and suggestions every month: in September alone, the exchange validated over 300 suggested features from its users, said the exchange’s CEO Changpeng Zhao. The team already shipped many of them, he said, adding that more information on this will be shared soon. Binance has dedicated staff focused on processing users’ requests and feedback, feeding them to the product teams, and many of them are eventually built, the CEO stated.
• Bitget announced the success of its inaugural Bitget Builders Program, unveiling its second phase. Following the recruitment of 100 young talents in the first phase of the Blockchain4Youth charity initiative, the exchange is now preparing to engage another hundred young individuals globally, offering them education, training, and hands-on industry exposure in the realms of crypto, blockchain, and Web3, said the press release. Launched in May 2023. the initiative has committed $10 million in funds over the next five years.

Blockchain news

• Solana Labs, which builds products and tools on the Solana blockchain, announced the launch of the Solana Incubator program. According to the press release, the program is designed to attract technical teams who want to utilize the Solana network’s benefits while leveraging the knowledge, resources, and connections provided by Solana Labs. “By providing start-ups an avenue to work closely with the experienced team at Solana Labs, the Solana Incubator aims to ease the engineering and go-to-market pain points that many founders face in Web3,” it added.

Career news

• Binance promoted Kyrylo Khomiakov, its Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) General Manager, to Regional Head for both CEE and Central Asia. In this role, he will work to enhance the exchange’s product delivery, growth, education initiatives, fiat channels development, and user experience, said the announcement. Having previously served in various leadership roles, Khomiakov, with his deep understanding of local markets, is set to guide development across 14 countries.