Latest Crypto News | Bitcoin, Ethereum and Altcoin Updates

Gate Live will host an AMA on 22 October at 20:00 (UTC+8), examining the BTC rally, surging Meme coins and institutional activity, including BlackRock’s positioning. Hosted by @JoeyJia11, the session will feature @Rocky_Bitcoin, @Meta8Mate and @Godot_gate. The guests will discuss whether the BTC rebound can continue, how much further Meme coin prices may rise, and how institutional moves could shape market expectations. The discussion is also set to cover market trends, emerging opportunities and potential risks. The AMA is a market commentary event; the article reports no new investment or trading decisions by the named institutions.

A Bitcoin whale was liquidated for 121.33 BTC, worth about $9.91 million, during a market downturn, according to monitoring by Lookonchain. The forced liquidation highlights the risks of leveraged BTC trading during price declines. The report did not specify the whale’s position details or indicate whether other large liquidations occurred.

Bybit has listed three new stock perpetual contracts: Procter & Gamble (PGUSDT), Lockheed Martin (LMTUSDT) and MaxLinear (MXLUSDT). The contracts offer up to 20x leverage. For a limited time, maker orders carry zero fees, while taker fees are discounted by 50%. The listing expands Bybit’s range of equity-linked derivatives, though the announcement does not indicate any direct change to cryptocurrency market conditions.

An article citing Anthropic’s Claude AI outlines a highly speculative scenario in which Solana becomes the main settlement layer for a global network of autonomous AI agents. In that hypothetical case, machine-to-machine payments and tokenized computing resources could drive substantial on-chain activity and demand for SOL. The article says the scenario would require extraordinary coordination among major technology companies and AI labs, and is highly unlikely—not a base-case forecast. The article reports SOL at $104, down 1% over 24 hours, with daily trading volume rising to $2.7 billion from $2.4 billion. Solana has been consolidating around $100–$110, with near-term support at $100–$103 and another support zone at $90–$95. Resistance is around $110–$120; a sustained move above $130–$150 could signal stronger intermediate momentum. The prior all-time high is near $295. Under the extreme adoption scenario, combined with a renewed crypto bull market and supportive global conditions, the article speculates that SOL could reach $1,200–$2,500 by January 1, 2027, with a stretch target above $4,000. These figures are hypothetical and should not be treated as reliable price targets.

A serious PHP vulnerability has forced two long-running Japanese games to shut down rather than risk exposing players’ information. World Quest ended service on 21 October, about 21 minutes after the PHP security fix was released. My Demon World! announced its closure on 22 October, after emergency maintenance. Both games launched in 2011 and ran on ageing infrastructure. Their operators said they could not adequately address the PHP vulnerability on their existing systems. Updating was also difficult: official fixes cover PHP 8.2 to 8.5, while older versions depend on support from operating-system vendors or separately applied backported patches. The episode highlights the security and continuity risks of legacy software, especially when upgrading servers and operating systems is impractical.

Bitunix has increased its Care Fund from $30 million to $50 million USDC and published an on-chain address so users can verify the reserve. The exchange says the fund now covers the full value of its hot wallets. Launched in 2025, the Care Fund is intended for exceptional incidents that require exchange action, not losses caused by ordinary market volatility. Any compensation will be assessed case by case after an investigation. Bitunix says the fund complements other security measures, including Proof of Reserves, account controls, third-party custody through Fireblocks and Cobo, and cold storage. The expansion may support confidence in Bitunix’s safeguards, but it does not directly affect crypto prices or remove custody and operational risks.

Global stablecoin transfers now exceed $400 million an hour, with volume quadrupling since 2023, according to a Coinbase and The Block report. About 73% of screened transfers occur outside US banking hours, highlighting stablecoins’ 24/7 use and growing role in cross-border payments. The report puts stablecoin payment failure rates at 0.145% for transactions of $100 to $1,000, compared with 1.51% for legitimate card payments falsely flagged as fraud. Visa and Mastercard are expanding their stablecoin payment infrastructure. Mastercard launched its Global Money Platform, which supports multi-currency accounts, stablecoin-linked cards, conversions and bank payouts. It also introduced a stablecoin risk-monitoring service and opened early access to Agent Pay for Machines, designed to let AI agents make automated payments. Visa moved stablecoin prefunding and payouts through Visa Direct into commercial deployment and partnered with Mesh to let users spend crypto and stablecoin balances at Visa-accepting merchants. Meanwhile, Trump-linked USD1’s market capitalisation fell about 10% in two weeks, from $4.45 billion to just under $4 billion. Onchain Benchmark attributed $200 million of the decline to one address on BNB Chain, though the full cause remains unclear. The developments underline intensifying competition to connect stablecoins with mainstream payments, even as individual tokens face supply volatility.

IBM stock fell by as much as 5.1% in after-hours trading on Wednesday, despite the company beating third-quarter earnings expectations and raising its free cash flow outlook. Revenue rose 5% year over year to $17.1 billion, topping the $16.82 billion analyst forecast. Adjusted earnings per share were $2.95, compared with expectations of $2.86. Software revenue increased 8% to $7.8 billion, supported by demand for artificial intelligence. Infrastructure revenue rose 4% to $3.7 billion, while consulting revenue was flat at $5.3 billion. Chief Executive Arvind Krishna said enterprise customers are using AI to change their operating models. IBM raised its full-year free cash flow outlook but kept its revenue growth forecast at 4% to 5% at constant currency. The company also raised the lower end of its 2026 software growth forecast to 7%, giving a range of 7% to 8%. The reversal in IBM stock suggests investors remain cautious about the durability of its recovery, despite stronger results and improved cash flow expectations.

Coor Service Management Holding AB published a slide deck alongside its 2026 third-quarter earnings call. The available article provides no revenue, profit, outlook or other financial figures, so it does not detail the company’s quarterly performance. The Coor Service Management 2026 Q3 earnings presentation is the only substantive item reported.

An October screen of monthly dividend stocks highlights 21 “IDEAL” picks described as safer dividend candidates, with positive free cash flow and yields that may exceed the share price on a $1,000 investment basis. The article estimates forecast net gains of 28.06% to 89.66% by 2027, averaging 50.94%, based on analyst price targets and dividend yields. Argentine banks Banco BBVA Argentina (BBAR) and Banco Macro (BMA) lead the group for potential total returns and share-price upside. The author says yield-based selection matched analyst upside forecasts 70–80% of the time and points to financial and real estate stocks as attractive sectors. These are estimates, not guarantees; the article also cautions that volatility and dividend risks remain. Monthly dividend stocks may appeal to income-focused investors, but the figures are equity-market analysis and do not address cryptocurrencies.

IBM published its Q3 2026 earnings-call presentation after reporting earnings per share of $2.95, beating estimates by $0.08. Revenue was $17.10 billion, up 4.73% year on year and $260.04 million above expectations. The presentation accompanies the company’s quarterly results; the article does not provide further slide details. The figures offer an update on IBM’s performance in the technology sector but do not describe cryptocurrency exposure or blockchain initiatives.

Meta third-quarter revenue rose 26% year on year to $64.6 billion, beating estimates, while its fourth-quarter forecast also topped expectations. Advertising revenue climbed 26% to $63.06 billion, nearly 98% of sales, as ad impressions rose 10% and average prices increased 14%. Meta said AI tools and recommendation systems are helping improve ad performance. Meta’s AI spending is also weighing on cash flow. Capital spending and finance lease principal payments reached $34.91 billion, above operating cash flow of $32.79 billion, leaving free cash flow at negative $2.12 billion. The company set its FY2026 capital expenditure outlook at $135 billion–$145 billion and said investment would remain aggressive in 2027. Its fourth-quarter revenue forecast of $73 billion–$76 billion was above market expectations at the midpoint. Meta’s AI assistant Muse drew more than 10 million accounts in the US and Canada in about six weeks, with roughly one in four users active on a typical day. The company expects to improve Muse’s cost efficiency more than tenfold over the next year, but it has yet to establish a proven revenue model. Shopping, subscriptions and developer services are potential monetisation routes. Meta is also seeking to reduce Reality Labs losses, has cut jobs and plans to issue non-voting Class C shares, allowing financing and stock compensation flexibility without changing voting control. Shares rose about 2.9% in after-hours trading. For crypto traders, the report has no direct token catalyst; it is chiefly a signal about AI-sector investment, corporate cash flow and broader risk sentiment.

Tesla Q3 earnings showed improving margins and a sharp recovery in free cash flow, but revenue and net income remained under pressure. Revenue was $28.05 billion, down 0.2% year on year and below analysts’ expectations. Adjusted earnings per share of $0.48 beat forecasts, while GAAP net income fell 43% to $787 million. Tesla’s GAAP gross margin rose to 19.6%. Automotive gross margin excluding regulatory credits climbed to 18.1%, despite a steep decline in credit revenue. Operating cash flow reached $6.26 billion, and free cash flow was $1.53 billion, reversing a loss in the previous quarter. Capital spending came in below expectations, and Tesla lowered its 2026 investment plan to about $20 billion from more than $25 billion. The results also showed mixed business trends. Vehicle deliveries declined 2% year on year, while energy generation and storage revenue fell 15.6%, despite higher storage deployments and stronger margins. Tesla cited growing FSD subscriptions and progress in its Robotaxi and Optimus programmes, but large-scale commercial impact remains unproven. Shares initially fell after the report. For traders, Tesla Q3 earnings point to better near-term cash generation and automotive profitability, offset by soft revenue growth and questions about investment pace and future demand.

US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $526.7 million in net inflows on October 19, led by BlackRock’s IBIT, which attracted $665.2 million. Fidelity’s FBTC and Grayscale’s GBTC saw outflows of $83.6 million and $54.9 million, respectively. The later update reported about $528 million in inflows on October 21, extending the rebound to three consecutive sessions and roughly $1.08 billion in total. October’s cumulative ETF flows returned to positive territory, with IBIT taking in $235 million and FBTC about $213 million in the latest session. Bitcoin ETF demand strengthened, but BTC did not sustain its gains. After reaching about $83,117 in the earlier report, Bitcoin later climbed to an intraday high near $84,777 before retreating to around $81,963 by October 22. Traders are watching support near $80,000 and resistance between $85,000 and $87,000. CryptoQuant put newer Bitcoin whales’ average cost basis at $77,120. US spot Ether ETFs also recorded about $15 million in net inflows, while Solana and XRP funds saw smaller gains. The Bitcoin ETF inflows signal renewed institutional product demand, but price weakness shows flows alone do not confirm a sustained recovery.

HashKey RWA has launched the first product in its hToken series on HashKey Exchange’s wealth-management channel. The tokenised security became available on 22 October and is the channel’s first product that can be subscribed to with USDT. It is restricted to eligible professional investors. The product is backed by Class A shares in HashKey Fintech Opportunities Limited, a fund managed by HashKey Capital Management (BVI) Limited. HashKey says its end-to-end issuance service covers asset custody and legal segregation, on-chain registration, token lifecycle management and distribution. The smart contracts are deployed on HSK Chain. The launch marks the first commercial deployment of HashKey RWA’s one-stop issuance solution and expands the exchange’s range of real-world asset (RWA) products. HashKey says it may extend the service to tokenised funds, bonds, equities and structured products. The offering is not authorised by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission and is available only to qualified professional investors. The company also highlights smart-contract, custody and counterparty risks.

Asian markets sold off on Thursday as China’s CSI 300 fell 2%, taking its decline from June’s peak to 20% and meeting the common threshold for a bear market. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng each fell about 3%, while South Korea’s Kospi dropped 3.5%. Technology shares led losses amid uncertainty over artificial intelligence spending and mixed U.S. earnings. Brent crude rose above $112 a barrel, and the VIX climbed 10% to around 18. Bitcoin retreated toward $82,000 after trading above $84,000, alongside declines in gold and silver. The broad risk-off move may weigh on Bitcoin and other crypto assets in the short term as traders reassess exposure to volatile markets.

OKX market data showed Bitcoin at 80,960 USDT, down 0.69% over 24 hours in an earlier update. A later snapshot put Bitcoin at 81,984.5 USDT, below $82,000, with its 24-hour loss widening to 1.5%. The reports give no reason for the decline or further market details. The latest figures indicate short-term weakness in the BTC price, but the limited data does not establish a broader trend.

JPMorgan strategists say the AI stock sell-off may lose momentum as investors have already cut their exposure to semiconductor shares. The team, led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, said hedge funds and trend-following investors have largely unwound their previous large bets on semiconductor stocks. JPMorgan also noted that its measure of overall equity positioning has fallen significantly from its mid-September peak. The strategists believe concerns about financing AI infrastructure investment may be overstated, while reduced positioning could limit further downside in AI stocks. The view points to a possible easing in selling pressure, not a confirmed market rebound.

Prediction-market odds for an Anthropic IPO before 2027 have rebounded to 86%, after falling from 85% to 69% over a week, according to data shared by predict.fun. The latest update showed the probability climbing overnight from 74% to 86%, despite a report that the AI company could record an $80 billion net loss. These figures reflect market expectations, not a confirmed IPO plan. The news has no direct implications for cryptocurrency prices.

BlackRock filed for the proposed iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF, ticker PBIT, on 19 October 2026. The Bitcoin ETF remains subject to review, and its fee, listing venue and launch date are still unknown. It could become effective around 2 January 2027, but that would not necessarily mean trading starts then. The PBIT Bitcoin ETF would not hold Bitcoin or IBIT shares directly. It plans to use options linked to IBIT or similar Bitcoin exposure, alongside fixed-income assets. Three overlapping tranches of call spreads are intended to provide some downside protection, while sold call options limit gains. The filing’s roughly 10% figure describes the initial maximum loss exposure of an individual tranche, excluding fees. It is not a guaranteed loss limit for the whole fund. Overlapping tranches mean PBIT has no fixed portfolio-wide protection floor, and performance may vary with market conditions, tranche timing, fees and investor entry points. The fund could lose significantly and lag Bitcoin during a sharp rally or decline. For Bitcoin traders, the proposal signals demand for structured exposure but is not itself a source of direct spot-Bitcoin buying pressure. Watch for SEC review, final fees, listing details and disclosures on holdings and upside caps.

A severe PHP2Shell vulnerability has triggered urgent security responses, with lihi founder Baker Cai reporting that attackers accessed 553 email addresses from the short-link service. Cai said no passwords, payment-card details or other personal information were taken, and the company’s operations remain unaffected. The addresses came from a membership database of more than 100,000 records; lihi is still checking how many belong to real users. The PHP2Shell flaws, identified as CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, reportedly allow unauthenticated remote code execution and carry a severity score of 9.2 out of 10. PHP released patched versions on 21 October. Japan’s prime minister urged website operators to check their PHP systems, and a number of Japanese public and commercial websites temporarily shut down or restricted services for maintenance. Taiwan’s cybersecurity authorities said about 28,000 publicly accessible local websites use PHP, including around 200 government sites. They advised operators to update PHP, use a web application firewall if they cannot patch, or temporarily take sites offline if neither option is possible. Authorities had not announced confirmed domestic victim cases at the time of the report. The PHP2Shell incident raises cybersecurity and operational risks for online businesses, but the article reports no direct effect on cryptocurrency markets.

INCHEM TOKYO 2027 will take place from 15 to 17 September 2027 at Tokyo Big Sight, with Japan Management Association (JMA) now recruiting exhibitors, including companies from overseas. The event focuses on Japan’s chemical and plant industries, with themes including AI, green transformation (GX), advanced materials, plant maintenance and digital transformation. Early-bird registration closes on 26 February 2027, and general registration closes on 28 April. The exhibition will comprise five specialist shows covering plant equipment, water technologies, explosion protection and safety, maintenance and repair, and plant DX, AI and cybersecurity. The previous edition brought together 315 companies across 625 booths and drew about 12,000 visitors. INCHEM TOKYO 2027 aims to connect exhibitors with Japanese industry customers and potential business and technology partners.

Fhenix has brought its CoFHE coprocessor to Ethereum and Arbitrum mainnet, with its October 21 Arbitrum launch adding the Genesis platform for exploring apps, shielding and unshielding assets, and making confidential transactions. The system uses fully homomorphic encryption (FHE): intensive computation is handled off-chain, while smart contracts receive results without exposing the underlying data onchain. Fhenix says dual-mode tokens can switch between public and confidential balances in one transaction, without bridging. Fluton and AlphaEngine launched with CoFHE, and Fhenix has outlined plans for more applications and a confidential stablecoin with Tandem, Offchain Labs’ venture arm. The company says the system was audited by Consensys Diligence, though the report was not publicly available to Unchained. Fhenix can conceal payment amounts, but not the sender, recipient or transaction time, so transaction links may remain visible. Privacy also depends on the asset: not every Arbitrum token is confidential, and users should distinguish dual-mode tokens and wrappers such as cUSDC from standard public ERC-20s. Public balances, unshield claim amounts, information shared with service providers and potential reliance on CoFHE availability are further considerations. The launch expands privacy-focused DeFi options, but adoption, operational dependencies and regulatory concerns may limit its impact.

Nestlé S.A. published its Q3 2026 sales and trading statement presentation on 22 October 2026. The available article identifies the presentation but provides no sales figures, business updates or financial guidance. As a result, Nestlé’s Q3 2026 performance and its implications for the company’s shares cannot be assessed from this content.

APA Group chairman Michael Fraser opened the group’s 2026 annual meeting on October 21, with a quorum present. The hybrid meeting covers APA Infrastructure Trust and APA Investment Trust. Security holders can vote in person or online, with resolutions decided by poll. The excerpt provides meeting procedures but no financial results, new business decisions or cryptocurrency-related developments.

Enea reported a 4.8% decline in net sales in Q3 2026, according to CEO Teemu Salmi and CFO Ulf Stigberg. The company cited two key headwinds: uncertainty linked to the war in the Middle East has delayed customer decisions and deal closures in the region, while higher memory and hardware prices are extending purchasing timelines. Management said these factors are weighing on near-term sales. The available transcript excerpt does not provide further financial results or an updated outlook.

Zcash is an AI-era privacy hedge, according to Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. In a podcast interview, they said growing AI-driven blockchain analysis could make the financial privacy offered by transparent networks such as Bitcoin increasingly scarce. They described Zcash as “encrypted Bitcoin” and argued that privacy completes Bitcoin’s original vision of decentralised digital money. The twins said they led Zcash’s seed round in 2016 and have since backed the project through Cypherpunk, a company that buys ZEC and supports Zcash mining and other privacy technologies. They estimate ZEC’s market capitalisation at about $25bn, or roughly 2% of Bitcoin’s. If privacy were valued at 10% of Bitcoin’s market capitalisation, they argued, ZEC could have fivefold upside, exceed $5,000 per coin and potentially reach $10,000. These are their projections, not guaranteed outcomes. They see AI advances, rather than Bitcoin’s four-year halving cycle, as a possible catalyst for Zcash. They also presented Zcash as a hedge against quantum computing, while Bitcoin’s public ledger could make transaction analysis easier. However, the interview’s claim that Zcash is inherently resistant to quantum attacks because shielded transactions are not visible is not established by transaction privacy alone; resistance depends on the cryptographic systems used. For traders, the comments are a bullish narrative catalyst for ZEC, but price targets should be treated cautiously. Adoption, liquidity, regulation and technical security remain key factors.

NEAR Protocol co-founder Illia Polosukhin has warned that vulnerabilities in widely used software are exposing internet services to growing cybersecurity risks. He cited PHP, TLS certificates, Node.js and LiteLLM, and called for stronger AI-assisted security, formal verification and cryptographic authentication. He urged users and developers to apply updates, patch vulnerable components and rotate credentials. Published advisories document specific flaws, but do not confirm a single coordinated attack or widespread exploitation. The warning follows a separate October 1 exploit involving NEAR Intents, in which attackers drained $3.8 million in USDT on BNB Smart Chain. NEAR said it restored the service, fixed the issue and pledged to compensate affected users; the incident was not linked to the software vulnerabilities in Polosukhin’s warning. NEAR traded near $5.02 on October 22, down 3.61% over 24 hours but up 8.21% over the week. Futures open interest fell 7.45% to $1.50 billion, indicating reduced leveraged positioning without revealing whether longs or shorts led the decline. The cybersecurity warning raises attention to NEAR’s security risks, but the article reports no direct connection to the token’s price move.

Injective and South Korean digital-asset custodian BDACS have signed a memorandum of understanding to use KRW1, a won-backed stablecoin, to settle tokenised real-world assets (RWAs) on Injective. The proposal would let eligible institutions settle directly in Korean won rather than first converting funds into US dollar stablecoins. BDACS says KRW1 is backed one-to-one by won held in escrow at Woori Bank. First issued on Avalanche in September 2025 as a technical proof of concept, KRW1 would initially be minted and redeemed on Injective only by approved institutional partners, subject to regulatory approval. No launch date or partner list has been announced, and retail access is not available. The deal comes as South Korea prepares its Digital Asset Basic Act, while the country’s five largest crypto exchanges have reportedly seen about $10.4 billion in net stablecoin outflows over 18 consecutive months. Injective says its network has processed more than $7.5 billion in RWA transactions and supported over $1 billion in tokenised asset issuance; these figures do not establish likely KRW1 demand. The proposal could improve Injective’s appeal to Korean institutions, but its market impact depends on regulation, implementation and adoption.