Latest Crypto News | Bitcoin, Ethereum and Altcoin Updates

Ducat is gradually shutting down its protocol, saying many participants did not fully understand the mechanism designed to maintain a price floor. During the wind-down, Ducat says each DUCAT token represents a proportional claim on protocol treasury assets, which the team says fully back the token. Eligible holdings include vested bonds and Pass rewards, staked or cooling-down pDUCAT, and circulating DUCAT in wallets. Holders do not need to wait for a staking cooldown to end before redeeming. Eligibility is based on a snapshot: DUCAT bought through liquidity pools after the snapshot is not eligible. The team has updated its interface to let eligible holders redeem the fair value of their tokens from the treasury.

Hong Kong semiconductor stocks mostly fell on 26 October, according to market data. Hua Hong Semiconductor dropped more than 6%, while Biren Technology, ASMPT, Montage Technology and GigaDevice each fell more than 5% or close to 5%. The decline puts Hong Kong chip stocks under pressure, although the report did not identify a specific cause. The move concerns semiconductor equities and has no direct link to cryptocurrency prices.

ETH remained below 2,300 USDT in the latest update from OKX market data cited by Odaily. On 24 October, ETH traded at 2,298.06 USDT, down 4.23% over 24 hours. By 26 October 2026, its price had edged up to 2,299.86 USDT and the 24-hour decline had narrowed to 2.97%. The ETH price data shows some moderation in selling pressure, but the token remains below the closely watched 2,300 USDT level. Neither report gave a reason for the move or details on trading volume and broader market conditions.

Keystone disclosed that a breach of its Shopify-powered online store exposed hardware wallet customers’ names, contact details, shipping addresses and order information. The company said it blocked the unauthorized access, fixed the vulnerability and is notifying affected customers. It has not disclosed how many people were affected or who was responsible. Payment details and wallet credentials, including seed phrases and private keys, were not exposed, according to Keystone. The Keystone breach has renewed scrutiny of the company’s data-retention claims. Keystone said in 2023 that it had shortened its retention period to 180 days, but customers who placed orders more than two years ago reported receiving breach notifications. Its privacy and help-center terms also describe retention conditions that differ from its marketing claims, including records retained under certain circumstances and Shopify’s role in final deletion. Keystone has not responded to questions about the data or affected customer count. While the exposed information does not include wallet keys, it could enable targeted phishing and social-engineering scams. Security researcher Taylor Monahan warned that leaked delivery details could also create physical safety risks. CertiK reported 52 verified wrench attacks worldwide in the first half of 2026, up 33% from 39 in the same period last year. The incident adds to previous hardware-wallet customer-data breaches involving Trezor’s logistics partner ShipMonk and SafePal’s order-tracking system. Keystone has said it is investigating and promised a fuller report.

Crypto funding shifted from real-world asset (RWA) infrastructure and stablecoin settlement in October 12–18 to stablecoin payments, DeFi and AI infrastructure in October 19–25. The later week recorded more than $48 million across eight blockchain deals. Mural raised $15 million in a Tether-led Series A for cross-border payments; Dataline secured $10.6 million for a decentralized data network for AI agents; Orochi Network raised $8 million for verifiable data infrastructure supporting tokenized RWAs; and Nectar Group raised $5 million for its Bitcoin yield platform HoneyB. Other investments backed Solana-based Hylo and Bolivia fintech Peso, with Tether leading Peso’s pre-seed round. The earlier week saw more than $54 million across six deals. Fission raised $10 million to improve the liquidity of tokenized fund shares, while Uniform Labs secured $8 million for Multiliquid, which settles tokenized assets against stablecoins on Ethereum and Solana. Tether also invested in EFY Finance to expand institutional use of USD₮ and USA₮, and Sui Foundation invested $30 million in DATA Network, which plans to migrate its protocol and token to Sui. Crypto M&A added to the latest developments: RedotPay acquired Japan’s BTCBOX, while ether.fi bought Zeal Wallet to bring wallet, lending and yield features together. Large AI and robotics financings, including Tenstorrent’s $1.5 billion round, and reports of a possible 100 billion yuan DeepSeek fundraise point to competition for capital beyond crypto. Bitcoin mining sites are also being considered for AI data-centre use. Overall, the funding points to continued interest in stablecoin payments, tokenized assets and crypto infrastructure, but does not by itself signal an immediate market-wide price move.

MINIMAX fell 10.8% in one hour and 8.7% over 24 hours, trading at 21.59 USDT as of 10:09 UTC+8 on 26 October 2026. The sharp short-term decline points to selling pressure in MINIMAX, although the report gives no cause, trading-volume data or broader market context.

The UK plans to invest £100 million in an AI biosecurity lab to identify emerging biological threats and help develop and test vaccines and treatments. OpenAI and Anthropic will provide access to AI models and computing worth up to £200 million, with Google DeepMind and Basecamp Research also expected to collaborate. The AI biosecurity lab forms part of a broader package of more than £600 million in AI safety and industry measures. Further allocations include £65 million for pathogen countermeasures, £120 million for the AI Security Institute, £23 million for the AI Economy Institute and £130 million to improve cybersecurity across critical infrastructure. The government says more capable AI could lower barriers to harmful biological activity. The lab’s location, leadership, launch date and governance have not been confirmed, and its reliance on commercial AI providers raises questions about independent risk assessment. The plans have no direct cryptocurrency-market impact, but add to wider debate over AI oversight and technology-sector risks.

A crypto whale with about $132 million in cumulative trading profits has added roughly $4.14 million to a CL short position, according to monitoring by Odaily. The move increases the whale’s bearish exposure to CL, but the report does not specify the position’s leverage, entry price or liquidation level. A single trader’s CL short position may influence sentiment, yet it does not by itself establish a broader market trend.

Bill Gates says AI could eventually create “true abundance,” but warns that the transition may bring about 20 years of major disruption and clear economic winners and losers. He told The Verge’s Decoder podcast that AI could replace white-collar roles such as telemarketing, customer service and accounting, while humanoid robots may take on physical work including construction, farming and surgery. Gates says AI could make many goods and services less dependent on human labour. He also notes that work provides income, purpose and social connection, so societies may choose to preserve some human activities. His warning adds to debate among tech leaders about AI-driven job cuts, social safety nets and the long-term economic impact of automation.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has backed Kimi’s decision to remove top-tier offensive cyber capabilities from its AI training process. He argues that limiting high-risk uses is preferable to restricting access based on a user’s identity, nationality or credentials. Kimi’s maker, Moonshot AI, says it removed cyber-related data during mid-training and reinforcement learning for its Kimi K3.1 Pro open-weight model while retaining general coding skills. On the xdev-bench-hard vulnerability discovery and exploitation benchmark, an unmitigated checkpoint scored about 90.5% pass@3, versus 81.0% for the final model. Full model weights are expected by 4 November 2026. Buterin says this approach could buy time to strengthen systems, review legacy code and formally verify new software before advanced cyberattacks become widespread. He warns that mishandling AI risks could instead bring stricter model limits, mandatory KYC and intrusive surveillance. The debate has implications for open-source AI and crypto communities, but no direct impact on ETH’s price is established.

Bitcoin and Ethereum showed mixed signals in a market update covering prices, derivatives and token supply. Analyst Darkfost said Ethereum fell about 15% in three weeks, wiping roughly $54 billion from its market value. ETH open interest dropped by $1.3 billion on Binance in a month, while total market-wide open interest fell to $11.5 billion. The pullback reflects liquidations and traders cutting risk; past deleveraging has sometimes preceded a rebound, but does not guarantee one. Bitcoin trader Killa said BTC’s structure resembles 2023, with a potential higher low if it holds above the former range. Darkfost, however, reported that small-holder BTC deposits to Binance reached a six-month high, while whale deposits declined. That divergence may point to retail selling into strength and larger holders staying cautious. Other developments include scheduled unlocks for FF, CARDS, SUI, KMNO, EIGEN and SIGN; a report that an institution may have transferred about $45.38 million in WLD, ETH and AAVE to exchanges; and Galaxy Research’s view that recurring Bitcoin inscriptions are likely automated script tests, not hidden messages. Israel’s opposition leader warned that using crypto to evade sanctions could threaten national security. Overall, traders are weighing potential support from deleveraging against retail inflows, token unlocks and possible exchange selling.

The Saudi-led coalition says it destroyed two missile launchers in Sanaa, Yemen. Coalition sources alleged that one launcher had been used in an attempted attack on Riyadh. The report comes amid tensions between the coalition, which backs Yemen’s internationally recognised government, and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which controls Sanaa. The reported destruction of the missile launchers points to continued military activity, but the article provides no independent confirmation or details on casualties. It also cites prediction-market odds of 0.9% for the Houthis entering Aden by October 31, 2026. The event has no direct cryptocurrency connection; any market effect would likely depend on whether the conflict broadens and affects wider risk sentiment.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Brazil’s presidential runoff, securing a fourth term and becoming the country’s first president to do so. With 99.99% of votes counted, Lula received 51.78% (64,248,884 votes), defeating Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who won 48.22% (59,822,138 votes). Prediction-market odds on Polymarket shifted toward Lula after results began to emerge, despite Flávio Bolsonaro being favored before voting. Lula had trailed in the first round, with 45.16% against Bolsonaro’s 47.03%, before winning the runoff. Following Lula’s victory, Hyperliquid perpetual contracts linked to the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (EWZ) fell more than 22%. The move reflects an immediate reaction in Brazil-related trading, but the article reports no direct impact on major cryptocurrency prices.

Bitget recorded $52.02 million in net inflows over 24 hours, ranking second among centralised crypto exchanges, with Binance in first place, according to DeFiLlama. A later report put Bitget’s net inflows at $768 million over seven days, also ranking it second among centralised exchanges. The weekly figure signals substantial funds flowing to Bitget, but DeFiLlama data does not identify the assets involved or show whether deposits indicate buying or selling. The inflows alone therefore do not confirm a bullish price outlook for Bitget or the broader market.

Three wallets suspected of belonging to the same whale deposited 494,300 HYPE, worth about $37.83 million, to Coinbase over 24 hours, according to blockchain monitor Lookonchain. The large HYPE transfer to a centralized exchange may indicate potential selling pressure, as traders often monitor exchange inflows for signs that tokens could be sold. However, the deposit alone does not confirm that a sale has taken place. Traders may watch HYPE’s price, trading volume and further exchange flows for confirmation.

The Coinbase Bitcoin Premium Index remained negative for 33 consecutive days, reaching -0.1259% as of October 26, according to CoinGlass. The index compares Bitcoin prices on Coinbase and Binance; a negative reading suggests weaker buying pressure or heavier selling in the US market relative to the broader market. The Coinbase Bitcoin Premium Index is a sentiment indicator, not proof that institutional investors are withdrawing funds. Institutional and ETF-related trades may occur through over-the-counter desks or Coinbase Prime and may not appear in public spot-market price differences. Traders should consider the index alongside ETF flows, trading volume and broader risk sentiment. Past negative streaks have lasted for months, and a return to positive territory has sometimes coincided with Bitcoin price recovery, but history does not guarantee a repeat.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Blockchain for Good Alliance announced a two-year blockchain cybersecurity programme on October 19. It will provide training and advisory support to public institutions, with a focus on digital payments and data protection. The initiative highlights that secure blockchain payments depend on more than reliable software. Institutions also need clear approval roles, protected payment workflows and tested recovery plans. A blockchain can record a transaction accurately even if an attacker has altered payment details before approval. The programme’s impact will be best judged by practical results, such as completed incident-response exercises, stronger approval controls and services that can be restored for users—not simply by staff attendance.

Bitcoin fell below its 50-day moving average for the first time since August, ending a 66-day run above the indicator. US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $137.9 million in net outflows on Friday, following $635.6 million in outflows the previous day. The two-day total was about $773.5 million. Bitcoin remained roughly 10% above its 200-day moving average. Maelstrom, the investment firm led by Arthur Hayes, sold its ETH, ENA, UNI and other altcoin positions to take profits. Hayes said macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty could push crypto prices lower before a recovery, and that he would wait for clearer signals before re-entering. Other developments included CZ’s support for BNB Chain’s new high-performance Layer 1 plan, describing its approach as “multiple chains, one coin”; a reported 43 DeFi price-manipulation attacks in 2026, exceeding the previous annual record of 27; and plans by Stripe and Plasma to expand stablecoin payment cards to more than 100 countries by 2027. The news presents a mixed outlook: near-term Bitcoin and altcoin trading faces pressure from technical weakness, ETF withdrawals and cautious positioning, while payment adoption and infrastructure development point to longer-term growth.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has backed Kimi 3.1’s decision to exclude advanced cyberattack capabilities from its training data. He said restricting AI by use case is preferable to discriminating against users. Buterin argued that society needs time to strengthen systems, review legacy code and formally verify new code against increasingly powerful AI-enabled cyberattacks. He also warned that mishandling early AI risks could lead to a dystopian system of strict model access controls, pervasive surveillance and unequal access based on identity documents or nationality. The comments have no direct market catalyst for crypto traders, but add to debate over AI safety, cybersecurity and access regulation.

A high-frequency market maker on Arcus, identified by the public address 0x00cb…aad1, accounted for 27%–29% of trading in two sampled hours and traded across 60 markets. The article estimates its daily turnover at about $116 million, based on its sampled market share and Arcus’s 24-hour volume. Analysis of 6.3 days of NVDA-USD trades suggests the Arcus market maker earned most of its gross profit by taking liquidity: about $1,446, compared with $268 from maker trades. Its taker trades captured an estimated 0.99 basis points per trade by acting on Binance price moves before Arcus quotes updated. Inventory-related losses were about $71. Fees were crucial. At Arcus’s standard taker rate, the sampled strategy would have lost money; the address’s observed VIP-level fees and maker rebates brought estimated net profit to about $662. The account held positions across 60 markets, with roughly $45,774 in equity supporting $678,000 in notional exposure. Researchers found no clear evidence of immediate Binance hedging or hedging between NVDA and index positions on Arcus. The analysis is based on public data and cannot rule out hedges elsewhere.

An investment analyst sees potential for a pre-election market rally despite political uncertainty. The outlook is supported by historical post-midterm strength and interest rates that have stabilised below 5%. The analyst says a sharp sell-off in technology and artificial intelligence stocks may have exhausted some selling pressure. They are using hedges to manage volatility, trimming expensive holdings and shifting towards selected companies, including Alphabet (GOOGL) and Micron (MU). Strong results from major technology firms, particularly Alphabet and Amazon (AMZN), could help revive interest in AI and tech stocks and support a broader rally. These are the analyst’s views, not confirmed market outcomes.

Hong Kong stock-linked contracts extended their losses on 26 October, according to market data. MINIMAX fell 7.2% in one hour and 5.3% over 24 hours to 22.36 USDT. HK0992 dropped 6.2% over 24 hours to 21.24 USDT, while ZHIPU lost 5.7% in one hour to 61.55 USDT. The declines point to selling pressure in these Hong Kong stock-linked contracts, but the report provides no evidence of a broader move across the cryptocurrency market.

A Connecticut tax preparer has been charged with allegedly filing false cryptocurrency loss claims for clients who never owned the assets. The IRS says Yuridia Trujillo’s business, Yuri’s LLC, filed at least 4,335 tax returns from 2017 to 2024, with alleged false claims involving retirement contributions, dependent care, businesses and rental properties as well as crypto losses. Prosecutors also allege that she used Form 8888 to divert some clients’ tax refunds into bank accounts belonging to herself and an associate. A federal grand jury brought 19 counts related to false income tax returns on October 7. Trujillo was arrested two days later and released on $50,000 bail pending trial. The allegations have not been proven in court.

Senator Bam Aquino and Representative Leila de Lima are urging the Philippine House of Representatives to pass the CADENA Act, a bill that would record national government spending on an immutable digital ledger. They renewed their appeal as Congress reviews the proposed 2027 national budget. The Senate approved Senate Bill No. 1506 in December 2025, but the House version remains pending in committee. De Lima filed a matching bill to avoid delays in reconciling separate versions. House progress has slowed as lawmakers work to combine several blockchain-related proposals into one substitute bill. The lawmakers say the CADENA Act would let the public track government disbursements, discourage corruption and help ensure emergency funds reach frontline services. The legislation’s next step depends on House deliberations and whether it advances from committee.

H5N1 has continued spreading for more than two months among thousands of mink at C&T Fenn Farms near Provo, Utah, according to investigations by ProPublica and The Guardian. State and federal authorities have not ordered a full cull, and workers have not been proactively monitored, despite CDC guidance recommending monitoring for people exposed to the virus. Experts warn that mink could provide a setting for H5N1 to evolve or exchange genetic material with seasonal human flu viruses. Sequencing linked the farm’s virus to a strain circulating in US dairy cattle, although how it reached the mink remains uncertain. Early USDA samples showed no especially concerning mutations, and there is no confirmed human-to-human transmission or evidence of a resulting pandemic. Unlike poultry, for which a positive case can trigger a federally required flock cull and compensation, there are no equivalent federal rules for infected mink. Utah officials say the outbreak has not spread beyond the farm, but experts caution that limited worker testing and monitoring make it harder to detect infections. The situation has heightened concern about H5N1 surveillance and potential public-health risks, not established that a human outbreak is underway.

Ariel Investments says some emerging-market financial stocks may offer buying opportunities because investor perceptions have not kept pace with their businesses. In an excerpt from its Q3 2026 shareholder letter, the firm says Greek banks trade at about 9–10 times fiscal 2027 earnings, despite expected returns on tangible equity of around 17%. Lion trades at roughly 0.7 times fiscal 2027 earnings. Ariel also argues that Kaspi is being valued mainly on the limits of its home market, rather than on the broader platform it is developing. The excerpt frames these valuations against investor concerns about past crises, geopolitics and local-market risks. It does not provide further detail on the companies or the risks.

The crypto market roundup highlights mixed trading signals. Retail investors transferred Bitcoin (BTC) to Binance at the highest rate in six months, while whale inflows continued to decline, pointing to differing behaviour among market participants. Separately, institutions that have invested in Aave and Worldcoin transferred 16.1 million WLD and 35,000 AAVE to several centralised exchanges (CEXs), a development traders may monitor for potential selling pressure. StandX also launched a page for checking DUSD airdrop allocations. Meanwhile, 22 companies are now reportedly opposed to trading tokenised stocks on platforms associated with OKX and ICE. The headlines provide no further details on the transfers or the companies’ objections.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are expected to report a combined 184.4 trillion won in operating profit for the third quarter of 2026, as demand for AI chips rises and memory prices strengthen. The forecast is more than double their combined 90.8 trillion won in operating profit in 2025. Samsung reported preliminary third-quarter operating profit of 107.4 trillion won on October 8, nearly eight times its result a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by FnGuide expect SK Hynix to post 98.2 trillion won in revenue and 77 trillion won in operating profit. SK Hynix is due to publish its results on Wednesday, followed by Samsung on Thursday. The outlook highlights the strength of the AI chip and memory semiconductor sector.

The open-source Zagitta/gpu-unlock project uses a Linux kernel module to raise FP16 and BF16 performance on NVIDIA Ampere consumer GPUs, including the RTX 3090 Ti, without modifying the vBIOS. In the project’s tests, the 3090 Ti’s BF16 performance rose from 87.50 to 157.41 TFLOPS, while TF32 increased from 42.58 to 82.61 TFLOPS. Community reports suggest the RTX 30 unlock can improve large language model prefill performance by roughly 14% to 36%, particularly for matrix-heavy workloads. Benefits are workload-dependent: decoding, INT8 inference and memory-bandwidth-limited tasks may see little improvement. The tool is experimental, currently focused on Linux, and may require disabling Secure Boot; compatibility and stability are not guaranteed. Reports of rising used prices for RTX 3090-series cards have fuelled concern that renewed local AI demand could make older GPUs more expensive, potentially reducing bargains for gamers. Claims that RTX 40-series cards receive similar gains remain unverified. The development may reshape GPU demand, but it has no direct, established impact on cryptocurrency prices.