Crypto News

SlowMist’s Cosine has urged iPhone and iPad users to update their operating systems and watch for apps infected with the DarkSword malware. The malware reportedly targets selected iPhone crypto users in attempts to steal digital assets. By exploiting iOS vulnerabilities to escape the app sandbox, DarkSword can access sensitive data, including Keychain passwords, locally stored wallet private keys and notes. Crypto users should update their devices and treat potentially compromised apps and stored wallet data with caution.

This week’s crypto news roundup covers shifting regulation, institutional activity and market risks. Gold fell below $4,000 an ounce, while a16z expanded its crypto fund into a broader Frontier strategy focused on AI and cryptography. The roundup also tracks the end of the SEC’s consultation on proposed crypto rules and new US stablecoin regulations that bar issuers from paying interest directly, while leaving some third-party rewards possible. On-chain and sector data highlighted mixed adoption. Circle reported about $1.4 billion in first-half revenue and more than $36 trillion in USDC settlement volume, but its net margin was around 7%. A separate review found $2.61 billion stranded across more than six million wallets, much of it potentially recoverable. Meanwhile, 343 of 588 tracked chains had less than $1 million in total value locked, underscoring intense competition among blockchains. Other developments included Aave’s planned tokenomics changes, including buybacks and burns; tokenized stocks and ETFs recording more than $37 billion in Q3 on-chain trading; and new platforms connecting tokenized pre-IPO assets with crypto trading. The collection also flags risks from concentrated token ownership, thin liquidity, security incidents and uncertain demand. For traders, the week’s crypto headlines point to continued regulatory and infrastructure change, but offer no single clear directional signal for prices.

The US has removed tariffs on selected Canadian goods, including plywood, some paper products and machinery, while adding duties on carpets and certain valves. The tariff changes, signed by President Donald Trump, are due to take effect on October 30 and do not resolve the broader US-Canada trade dispute. The revised tariffs could affect trade costs and inflation, factors the Bank of Canada may consider at its October 28 rate decision. The article cites market pricing that puts the probability of a 25-basis-point rate increase at about 79%. The tariff changes and interest-rate outlook may influence economic sentiment, but the article reports no direct effect on cryptocurrency markets.

Revolut has expanded its PRAGMA foundation model from research into production systems for real-time banking services, including recurring-payment detection, instant credit decisions and in-app recommendations. The model was developed with NVIDIA and trained on 26 million anonymised user histories. At NVIDIA GTC Berlin, Revolut executives Anton Repushko and Amey Baokar described the infrastructure behind deployment. The platform pre-processes and tokenises customer activity outside the decision-making request path, and serves an initial base of 80 million customers. It is designed to scale threefold and support up to 10,000 events per customer. Revolut targets a double-digit millisecond p99 data-read time within a sub-second end-to-end inference budget. For efficient GPU use, Revolut keeps a shared model backbone resident and swaps in task-specific LoRA adapters, which adjust 2–4% of core parameters. It also uses dynamic batching to process multiple users together. The company says immutable data pipelines, versioned tokenisers and audit trails support regulatory requirements. Revolut pairs PRAGMA’s event-sequence modelling with STRIDER, a tabular foundation model, for cases such as applicants with limited transaction histories or external credit data. The announcement highlights the growing use of AI infrastructure in financial services, but does not report new cryptocurrency products, trading activity or performance results that would directly affect crypto markets.

Sui is adding an opt-in object tombstone pipeline to improve how its key-value storage handles deleted and wrapped objects. The Sui object tombstones record an object’s removal status and version, preventing reads from incorrectly returning an older live version. New readers can retrieve an object at a specified version or list live object versions while excluding tombstones. The change includes tests for object creation, mutation, wrapping, unwrapping and deletion. Operators must deploy a compatible kv-rpc build before enabling the pipeline; once the backfill begins, rolling back to an older build is not supported.

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) plans to launch a revised Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) by the end of November, according to Jarod Koopman, head of the agency’s criminal investigation division. The changes aim to cut case-processing times to no more than 120 days after taxpayers submit complete documentation, reduce penalties and potentially allow instalment payments. The revised voluntary disclosure program will not have a separate pathway for crypto assets. The IRS says digital assets will be treated like other taxable income and handled through its general VDP process.

CME Group chief executive Terry Duffy says Hyperliquid may struggle to enter the US market without addressing Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. Speaking on Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast, he argued that a derivatives platform cannot avoid regulatory responsibilities simply by providing infrastructure. Hyperliquid offers leveraged trading and automated liquidations, but currently does not require identity verification and is not registered with US regulators, according to the article. The comments highlight a potential compliance barrier to US expansion. Traders will be watching for changes to Hyperliquid’s KYC policies, partnerships or regulatory approach. No specific regulatory action or token price move was reported.

The NEAR-ICP dispute escalated on 21–23 October after DFINITY founder Dominic Williams criticised NEAR Intents’ privacy design and alleged that NEAR used DFINITY-developed cryptographic techniques without permission. He also raised concerns about former employees and NEAR’s early validator setup. These are allegations from Williams; the article does not report a court ruling or independently verified evidence of infringement. NEAR’s response, as described in the article, is that Confidential Intents is an optional feature and its permissioned validator shard and trusted execution environment (TEE) design are publicly documented. NEAR also said its mainnet multiparty computation network had grown to 17 independent operators, with an 11-of-17 signing threshold. The dispute highlights competition between ICP’s cryptography-focused Chain Fusion approach and NEAR’s product-led chain abstraction and intent-routing strategy. The article cites NEAR Intents transaction volume of $35.6 billion, but provides no independent verification of that figure. For traders, the exchange is mainly a source of short-term narrative and reputational risk. Any lasting market effect is likely to depend on evidence, legal developments, security performance and adoption—not the public dispute alone.

INPEX’s 2026 Investor Day, held on October 20, opened with discussions on the company’s growth strategy amid changes in the global energy market. The agenda included a session titled “The World Post Closure of Hormuz Strait” and coverage of INPEX’s growth potential, investment plans and shareholder returns, followed by a question-and-answer session. CEO and President Takayuki Ueda and other senior executives were among the company participants. The transcript excerpt outlines the event’s topics but does not report specific decisions, financial figures or business outcomes.

OpenAI researchers uncovered a critical Brotli vulnerability, CVE-2026-111497, also known as Node2Shell. The flaw is an out-of-bounds write in the compression library’s decoder that could let an unauthenticated attacker execute code using maliciously crafted compressed data. It has a CVSS score of 9.2 and may affect both client- and server-side applications. The Brotli vulnerability has prompted security updates across Node.js, Bun, Envoy and several Python packages. Node.js users should upgrade to versions 22.23.4, 24.22.1 or 26.12.1; Bun versions before 1.4.4 are affected. Proof-of-concept code has emerged, and Imperva researchers demonstrated reliable exploitation against affected Node.js builds, although there was no public evidence of widespread attacks as of October 23, 2026. Crypto traders are not directly affected by the software flaw, but exchanges, wallet services and other crypto platforms should check for vulnerable Brotli components, especially where they process untrusted compressed data. The incident highlights the cybersecurity risks facing software infrastructure used across the digital asset sector.

Delphi Digital markets head Jason Pagoulatos said Papertrade was right to worry that freely transferable PAPER tokens could be targeted by price-manipulation attacks. But he called the project’s decision to rule out transfers after users deposited roughly $140 million “a bad look,” saying it changed the terms after users had committed funds. Papertrade, a high-leverage trading venue on Hyperliquid’s HyperEVM, launched on Oct. 10. Its initial plan listed token transfers as a later phase, but the team said on Oct. 19 it had no current plans to allow off-contract transfers. Users earn PAPER when they lose money and can stake the token to receive a share of fees. Pagoulatos said transferable PAPER could make coordinated attacks profitable, and noted that the team had already blocked positions linked to large Hyperliquid orders that moved ether’s price on launch day. He also said limiting leverage or pool size could undermine the platform’s appeal. Papertrade had distributed about $57 million to PAPER stakers through Oct. 21, according to DefiLlama. Pagoulatos said recent activity appeared more organic, but warned that retaining users who had hoped to farm and sell the token would be difficult.

Papertrade XYZ says it will offer up to 1,000x leverage with no conventional trading fees. Instead of routing trades to the open market, it matches users against an internal liquidity pool, where losing traders’ funds pay winning traders. This setup may attract users, but it makes the platform a counterparty and raises the risk that payouts could be delayed if the pool lacks funds. Traders are also watching the project’s fully diluted valuation (FDV) after launch. Polymarket odds put the chance of Papertrade XYZ exceeding a $25 million FDV threshold at about 52%. The launch, trading volumes, technical performance, token transferability and liquidity pool health are key factors to monitor. The article does not identify a launch date or a token ticker.

Papertrade is facing criticism for keeping transfer restrictions on its PAPER token, despite attracting about $140 million in deposits. Delphi Digital analyst Jason Pagoulatos said making the token freely tradable could expose it to manipulation, since perpetual markets can be created quickly. He also called the decision to change the restrictions a “bad look.” Prediction-market odds of Papertrade’s fully diluted valuation exceeding $25 million one day after launch fell to about 52% YES, from 95% a week earlier. The debate over PAPER token security, transferability and governance may affect confidence in the project. Traders are watching for changes to restrictions, exchange listings and liquidity developments; the odds reflect market expectations, not a confirmed valuation.

Bit2Me Group has launched Bit2Me Bit2Shield, a specialist unit to support police, public bodies and banks with crypto seizures and investigations. Announced on September 8, 2026, the unit will provide on-chain tracing, forensic reports, training and institutional cold custody. Former Guardia Civil investigator Adrián Maroño will lead investigations. Bit2Me says the team handled more than €1.5 million in seized crypto during 2025, in work linked to Interpol, Europol and Spanish police. Bit2Shield plans to secure seized assets in isolated multisignature cold wallets until authorities authorize their disposal. If a court orders conversion to euros, Bit2Me’s MiCA-authorized provider Bitcoinforme will process the liquidation and send the proceeds to public accounts. The launch formalizes crypto seizure, custody and liquidation services for Spanish institutions. It is not a retail trading product, and its market impact is likely limited unless the model expands or affects the handling of major cases.

Glassnode and Fasanara Digital’s Q4 2026 institutional market report describes a changing bitcoin market: while crypto trading activity weakened for much of the past year, demand for stablecoin settlement, tokenized stocks and perpetual contracts tied to traditional assets continued to grow. An August short squeeze lifted bitcoin above three key on-chain cost benchmarks: the average cost basis of all tokens, actively circulating tokens and recent buyers. The report says holding above these levels is a sign of a healthier bull market, though sustained strength depends on keeping them as support. Traditional-asset perpetuals are also gaining ground on crypto platforms. In July 2026, trading across the five largest crypto exchanges totalled $2.28 trillion, around 11% of the $20.5 trillion turnover on US stock exchanges. On Hyperliquid, perpetual contracts for stocks, indices and commodities reached more than four-fifths of bitcoin perpetual trading volume, after first surpassing it in April. The report also examines macroeconomic conditions, on-chain capital flows, liquidity, derivatives, ETF flows and digital-asset treasury holdings. These developments point to expanding market infrastructure, but the report’s indicators—not the trading-volume comparison alone—will be important in assessing whether the bitcoin market recovery can last.

CoinDCX says it has credited users who sent crypto to deposit addresses deprecated after its July 2025 hack, and will absorb the resulting losses. The Indian exchange said its routine sweep of deposits to those addresses failed for a period, but did not disclose the duration, number of affected users or total loss. The update followed an on-chain transfer of about 15.8 million USDT from an address linked to the incident. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT questioned whether user deposits had been accounted for, but CoinDCX has not confirmed that the transfer was part of its losses. The exchange says its current user and central addresses, as well as customer assets held in segregated cold wallets, were not affected. CoinDCX advised customers to use deposit addresses shown in its app or website. It has not said whether it will continue reimbursing deposits sent to deprecated addresses.

A ballistic missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi forces reportedly malfunctioned and struck a home in Nihm, east of Sanaa, killing a family and damaging a neighboring house, according to Yemeni military sources. The Houthi missile was reportedly fired from Ayal Sayyad but failed to stay on course. The incident has renewed concerns about missile-launch risks and civilian safety. The article also highlights prediction-market odds of 18.5% for Saudi airspace to be closed by 1 January 2027, and 22.5% for the Houthis to enter Aden by 31 December 2026. These figures reflect market expectations, not confirmed outcomes. Any escalation or response from Saudi authorities could affect regional risk sentiment.

Hyperliquid Strategies (NASDAQ: PURR), a digital-asset treasury company focused on HYPE, raised its share repurchase authorization from $30 million to $100 million. About $72 million remains available, and the board extended the program through October 31, 2027. The company may buy shares through open-market or privately negotiated transactions, but purchases are not guaranteed and may be suspended. The expanded buyback comes after PURR fell about 33% from its October 5 high, trading near $8.80. HYPE, Hyperliquid’s native token, was down more than 18% from its October peak near $95, at around $77. Bitcoin declined about 6% from its monthly high near $87,000. The figures show that both PURR and HYPE have underperformed Bitcoin this month. The buyback may support demand for PURR shares, but it does not directly commit the company to buying HYPE.

Rising oil prices and uncertainty over artificial intelligence spending weighed on US stocks, extending the Nasdaq’s decline for a second week. On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 0.52%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.23%, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.21%. WTI crude settled at $103.27 a barrel, up 3.8%, as conflict in the Middle East pushed oil prices to their highest level since April. The VIX hovered near 20, signaling continued market unease. Attention now turns to the Federal Reserve’s rate decision and a busy earnings calendar. Markets assign a 90.6% chance that the Fed will hold rates at 3.75%–4.0%, while the probability of a 25-basis-point December hike has eased to 70.7%. About one-third of S&P 500 companies report next week, including Alphabet and Microsoft on Wednesday and Amazon on Thursday. Their results may clarify AI infrastructure spending and productivity. Higher oil prices, interest-rate expectations, and corporate earnings are key factors for traders to watch.

Former US President Barack Obama has endorsed Democrat Amy Acton in Ohio’s 2026 governor race, according to a post from the Democratic Party’s official account. Acton is challenging Republican Vivek Ramaswamy to succeed term-limited Governor Mike DeWine. The article reports that a prediction market put the chance of a Democratic victory at about 81.5% after the endorsement. That figure reflects market pricing, not a confirmed election forecast, and the article does not provide polling evidence showing how much the endorsement changed voter support. The endorsement adds a high-profile development to the Ohio governor race. Traders following election prediction markets may watch for new polling, further endorsements and campaign developments that could move contract prices. The story has no direct connection to cryptocurrency prices or blockchain projects.

Bitwise’s Dogecoin ETF, ticker BWOW, reached its scheduled liquidation distribution date on October 22. Investors who still held shares after trading ended on October 14 are set to receive cash based on the fund’s net asset value calculated on October 21. The distribution is expected on or around October 22, though the timing of account credits may vary by brokerage. The closure applies to the ETF, not Dogecoin itself, which continues to trade in the broader crypto market. Bitwise said the wind-down was part of an effort to optimize its product range. The Dogecoin ETF closure is a reminder that exchange-listed crypto funds can shut down and that investors should understand liquidation procedures, brokerage processing and potential tax consequences.

Arc stablecoin supply rose 33.51% in the week to October 23, reaching about $830.34 million from roughly $622 million, according to DefiLlama. USDC accounted for about $821 million, or 98.9% of Arc’s stablecoin balance. The increase points to more dollar liquidity being held on Arc, Circle’s EVM-compatible Layer 1, but does not establish why the funds moved there. The global stablecoin market moved in the opposite direction. Its total supply fell about $1.25 billion, or 0.41%, to approximately $304.89 billion. USDT remained the largest stablecoin, at $182.51 billion, while USDC stood at about $72.10 billion across chains. The data suggests a shift in where stablecoin liquidity is held, rather than a broad recovery in stablecoin demand. The Arc increase could support local trading, collateral and payment activity, but its effect on the wider market is limited. DefiLlama’s circulating-supply figures do not reveal whether the increase came from new issuance, transfers between chains or treasury reallocations.

Blockstream has launched Blockstream Consulting Services for financial institutions and opened a new office in Lugano, Switzerland. The business will advise banks, asset managers and other clients on evaluating, designing and implementing Bitcoin-based financial infrastructure. Blockstream Consulting Services will focus on areas including tokenized asset issuance and confidential settlement, offering technical strategy, architecture, integration and implementation support. The Lugano office will serve clients across Switzerland and act as a hub for the company’s European operations. Consulting engagements are available to institutions across Europe; Blockstream did not disclose pricing, staffing or named clients. The company says the initiative builds on its experience in cryptography, protocol engineering and financial technology. CEO Adam Back said integrating Bitcoin into existing financial systems is the next phase of adoption. The expansion could strengthen institutional access to Bitcoin infrastructure, although it does not by itself indicate immediate changes in Bitcoin demand or market prices.

Off-chain security flaws can become on-chain crypto losses when attackers compromise the software, credentials or services that protocols depend on. The article cites PHP’s urgent fixes for two critical remote-code-execution flaws and a malicious LiteLLM release that stole credentials. Either kind of breach could expose administrator or deployer keys. The risk can extend several steps beyond a crypto position, through price feeds, multisigs, bridges and collateral issuers. A 2025 attack on Safe{Wallet}’s web interface led Bybit signers to approve a transaction that transferred about $1.5 billion. The article also estimates that Aave v3 on Ethereum held about 2.20 million WETH and 778,000 wstETH, worth roughly $7.6 billion combined, relying on the same ETH/USD feed. A compromised feed could affect both reserves and other markets that use it. The article recommends mapping dependencies at least two hops deep, estimating the value exposed to each failure, and monitoring administrator changes, feed disruptions and unusual token mints or burns. These off-chain security risks matter to crypto traders because a compromised dependency can affect protocol valuations, liquidity and market confidence.

Meta has acquired Sundial, an AI-powered data analytics startup founded in 2021 by former Meta executives Chandra Narayanan and Julie Zhuo. The company confirmed the deal to Axios on October 23, 2026. Sundial develops self-service analytics tools that combine AI, contextual data and expert playbooks to help businesses make decisions faster. It raised $23 million, including a $16 million Series A in 2025, with backing from Sequoia Capital and GPV. Its clients included OpenAI. Sundial will join Meta’s new data analytics organization, led by Alex Schultz, rather than operate as a standalone product. The acquisition supports Meta’s broader effort to strengthen its analytics capabilities as demand for AI-driven insights grows. The terms were not disclosed. The deal’s implications for Sundial’s existing clients, including OpenAI, remain unclear.

Bitcoin recovered to around $81,700 on Friday, gaining about 0.5% since midnight UTC after a tech-led market selloff. The rebound followed roughly $635 million in net outflows from US spot Bitcoin ETFs on Thursday, ending a three-day streak that had brought in more than $1 billion. Bitcoin ETF flows are now a key short-term gauge of institutional demand: renewed withdrawals could weigh on sentiment, while fresh inflows may support the recovery. Risk appetite remains fragile. The Nasdaq fell 2.6% on Thursday, its steepest daily decline since June, while Brent crude traded near $113 a barrel. Higher oil prices could keep inflation elevated and limit the scope for interest-rate cuts. Markets broadly expect the Federal Reserve to hold rates at 3.75%–4.0% at its October 27–28 meeting, but December policy remains uncertain. Traders will watch the Fed’s statement and press conference for clues on rates, alongside ETF flows and broader market conditions.

PEPE rose 9% in four hours on October 23, 2026, reaching about $0.00000502 and outperforming Bitcoin, which gained around 0.5%. The rally pushed PEPE above local resistance near $0.00000476. CoinGlass data showed roughly $2.42 million in 1000PEPE short liquidations over 24 hours, compared with about $1.31 million in long liquidations. Forced buying to close short positions may have amplified the move, although the data does not establish how much it contributed. Reports of declining PEPE balances on centralised exchanges may also have supported the price, but their effect is unclear. Traders will watch whether PEPE holds above the reclaimed resistance. The sharp gain and liquidation-driven buying point to near-term momentum, but the rally could fade if demand weakens.

SpaceX reported strong third-quarter results, with revenue up 161% year over year and adjusted EBITDA rising 306%. Its expanding compute business is now the main growth driver, and management is targeting as much as 13 GW of capacity by the end of 2027. Demand from external customers could help fund SpaceX’s AI development while generating revenue from its computing capacity. However, the stock’s valuation—about 67 times estimated 2027 earnings—leaves limited room for error. Possible normalization in compute prices and IPO lockup expirations are further risks. The article rates SpaceX a Hold, despite its rapid growth.

JPM Coin (JPMD) has recorded zero supply and zero transfers on Ethereum, according to blockchain analytics firm Sentora, following JPMorgan’s launch of the deposit token for approved institutional clients. Sentora found one allowlisted address in the Ethereum contract it reviewed. Its Base deployment held about $1 million across two addresses, with supply unchanged since November 2025. The firm reported no live on-chain integration linking JPM Coin to JPMorgan funds or DeFi protocols. Separately, Sentora reported $400 million in redemptions from J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s JLTXX fund on Ethereum on Oct. 21–22, while its Solana deployment reached $450 million. The figures do not prove that the same investors moved funds between networks or that the amounts represent a direct migration. JPMorgan says qualified U.S. investors can access JLTXX and its MONY fund on Solana. The findings point to limited visible activity for JPM Coin on Ethereum so far, while tokenized fund activity across networks is developing.