Crypto News

Crypto analyst Dennis Liu, known as VirtualBacon, says he is more bullish on altcoins than at any point in four years. He points to the Federal Reserve’s expanding balance sheet since November 2025, arguing that renewed liquidity could support altcoins relative to Bitcoin (BTC). He also says the altcoin-to-Bitcoin ratio is near historical lows and that a recent pullback may offer a better entry point. Liu does not expect a repeat of the 2020–2021 boom. He assigns a 50% chance to altcoins moving sideways against BTC, a 40% chance of outperformance and a 10% chance of further underperformance. Analyst Matthew Hyland says the median altcoin is ahead of BTC year to date in 2026, the first such occurrence since 2021. Recent price action remains weak: BTC was rejected below $85,000 and the crypto market lost more than $60 billion from its previous daily peak. BTC was around $82,000, with dominance above 58%; Ethereum (ETH) was near $2,400, down 2% over seven days, while Monero (XMR) gained 8% to about $613. The outlook for altcoins is therefore based on liquidity and relative valuations, while short-term market momentum remains uncertain.

MetaMask 8.16.1 is an over-the-air hotfix release focused on wallet reliability. It updates transaction payment handling to prefer checksummed asset IDs and adjusts the implementation of 7702 delegations, including a revert and subsequent fix involving exactExecutionBatch. The broader release work also includes updates to swaps, Quick Buy, perpetuals trading, social trading and token pages. Notable changes include live price-based profit and loss metrics, copy trading from the social feed, and a unified meme-token details page. The release history also references Bitcoin and Stellar wallet Snap updates, plus changes affecting USDC, PEPE and other app features. These are product and infrastructure updates rather than changes to crypto token fundamentals. Traders may benefit from smoother transaction flows and added trading tools, but the changelog does not report market-moving announcements or performance data.

The Nasdaq 100 fell 5.5% last week, its steepest weekly decline since the April 2025 tariff shock. Semiconductor stocks also recorded their longest losing streak since 2008, as investors worried about financing costs and the sustainability of tech-sector investment. The article highlights SpaceX’s expanding AI business and computing plans, alongside Meta’s capital expenditure, which is up 80%. Meta’s cash flow has fallen below zero, while early returns are emerging in its core business. The author argues that costlier credit could make the current market cycle last longer. The provided article excerpt ends before giving the 10-year Treasury yield figure or further details.

Bitcoin Core has added an “easily discoverable” category to its vulnerability disclosure policy, developer Antoine Poinsot said on 22 October 2026. The category includes flaws that can be found with little effort, including through simple prompts to large language models (LLMs). For bugs in this category, Bitcoin Core will immediately backport fixes to all actively supported major versions and publish a security advisory at the same time, rather than use the usual embargo period. The revised Bitcoin Core policy responds to a rise in reports involving AI-assisted bug hunting and reflects the view that delaying disclosure offers little protection when a flaw is easy to rediscover. Existing timelines remain in place for other low-, medium- and high-severity vulnerabilities. Critical bugs will continue to be handled case by case. No vulnerability has yet been assigned to the new category, and the policy applies based on how easily a flaw can be found—not whether AI was used. Node operators should watch for coordinated patches and public advisories; how the team defines “easily discoverable” remains an open question.

Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance defended a controversial campaign ad targeting Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate for Ohio governor. The ad features Acton’s estranged mother and has drawn criticism from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and other Republican leaders, who have called for it to be withdrawn. The dispute highlights divisions within the Republican Party over campaign strategy and could affect the Ohio governor’s race. Crypto Briefing reported prediction-market odds of about 82.5% for one outcome and 17.5% for the other, but the article does not clearly identify which candidate each figure represents. The political story has no direct cryptocurrency-market catalyst.

Frax is testing receivables financing on FraxNet, aiming to expand stablecoin use among businesses. The product would let companies borrow against unpaid invoices through onchain lending vaults. Lenders supply capital, which is repaid with returns when customers settle invoices. Frax plans to develop vaults that can finance multiple receivables and accept liquidity from outside lenders. CEO Sam Kazemian said Frax has signed agreements with several large companies, with announcements expected soon. The company is targeting firms with international customers and significant payment flows. Businesses can hold frxUSD and earn up to 5% annually through the sfrxUSD savings product, while keeping funds available for payments or collateral. Frax says frxUSD has about $100 million in circulation and more than $10 million in daily minting, redemptions and transfers; the reported transaction volume has not been independently verified. FraxNet already supports business accounts for minting and redeeming frxUSD through banking infrastructure, while receivables financing and FraxPay integrations remain in development. The initiative reflects Frax’s view that business payments—not just consumer crypto cards—could drive the next phase of stablecoin adoption. Kazemian said user experience, trust, education and switching costs remain barriers. For traders, the lending product and pending company announcements are potential adoption catalysts, but they are still developing and do not yet establish material demand for frxUSD.

OpenZeppelin has released audited Confidential Token contracts for Stellar in version 0.8.0 of its Stellar library. The contracts let users make token balances and transfer amounts private while transactions still settle on the public network. The Confidential Tokens are designed for institutional and commercial uses such as payroll, treasury transfers and settlement. The contracts follow the ERC-7984 interface and include compliance controls such as configurable identity policies, scoped auditor access, selective disclosure, account freezing and authorized asset recovery. In this release, they work as wrappers for existing SEP-41 tokens; direct confidential issuance is not yet included. OpenZeppelin says its audit covers the onchain contracts and circuits, while the SDK and client tools remain an unaudited demo in development. The release adds privacy infrastructure to Stellar, but does not announce a new token or commercial deployment.

NEAR says all Chain Signatures operations now run inside trusted execution environments (TEEs), allowing their execution to be independently verified onchain. The network uses Intel TDX hardware and a threshold of 11 signers out of 17 independent operators, including Everstake, Nansen and Bitwise. Chain Signatures lets a NEAR account authorize transactions across blockchains without an intermediary bridge or custodian. It underpins NEAR Intents, which the article says has processed more than $35 billion in cumulative volume in under two years; the system supports more than 35 networks. A new Read MPC process also checks cross-chain deposits against a quorum of RPC providers. The upgrades strengthen the security and transparency of NEAR’s cross-chain infrastructure, though the article notes that post-quantum protection remains under research. For traders, the development may support confidence in NEAR’s long-term ecosystem, but it does not by itself establish an immediate token-price catalyst.

Artenis (ATNS) began trading against USDT on LBank on October 7, 2026, following the close of its presale. The ERC-20 token has a stated fixed supply of 50 million and is intended to support participation in GMA’s art- and culture-focused Web3 ecosystem. GMA plans to connect an art and design marketplace, digital certification, community features and a Virtual Museum that remains in development. Its white paper describes possible ATNS uses such as marketplace activity, memberships, events, digital access and NFT integrations. These services and token functions are still being developed, so their adoption will be important to ATNS’s longer-term utility. Hacken’s public assessment describes the token contract as immutable and non-upgradeable, with no further minting or burning. It reports two findings as resolved and flags the concentration of the initial supply in a Safe multisignature treasury as an operational consideration. The audit does not assess the wider ecosystem or predict market performance. GMA says ATNS does not confer ownership, profit rights or guaranteed returns. The LBank listing adds a live trading venue, but ATNS remains a volatile digital asset.

A VentureBeat Intelligence survey found that 79% of 218 enterprises running AI in production used their GPUs at 50% capacity or less between July and September. In the September survey, the figure was 81%, while 31% of respondents said their GPUs were doing useful work no more than a quarter of the time. Despite low GPU utilization, 70% of respondents reporting underused hardware said they plan to adopt a new, additional or replacement AI compute platform within 12 months. In the September wave, 63% of 102 qualified respondents planned a platform change or addition. Only 10% had a finance-reviewed return on investment for their existing infrastructure, and 12% reported using specialized AI cloud providers such as CoreWeave or Lambda. The findings point to a mismatch between GPU utilization and continued AI infrastructure investment. Some planned changes may replace unsuitable systems rather than add capacity. The trend could create opportunities for providers offering better workload optimization or alternative compute models. Future GPU utilization and spending data will show whether enterprises can reduce idle capacity and demonstrate clearer returns.

US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $635.6 million in outflows on Thursday, according to Farside Investors, as rising oil prices renewed risk-off sentiment. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust saw the largest withdrawals at more than $254 million, followed by Fidelity’s fund at nearly $218 million. Bitcoin briefly fell below $81,000 and was later trading near $81,669, down about 1% over 24 hours. The withdrawals came after tensions in the Middle East pushed Brent crude to a five-month high, raising concerns about energy supply disruptions and the potential for higher interest rates. Higher rates can weigh on Bitcoin and other risk assets by tightening liquidity. Despite Thursday’s outflows, spot Bitcoin ETFs had attracted more than $439 million in net investment over the week. Bitcoin has rebounded in recent months after trading well below its October 2025 record of $126,080. The latest ETF outflows point to renewed short-term caution, although the broader weekly inflow remained positive.

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko said the network should prioritize applications with substantial assets under management and retail trading volume. He named Phantom, Pump.fun, Fomo, Jupiter and Kamino, placing their needs ahead of validators, developers, market makers and core engineers. Yakovenko made the comments in an Oct. 23 post responding to criticism of Ethereum protocol designers’ use of their own network. He praised the Ethereum Foundation for considering Aave’s need for reliable transaction processing during congestion or outages. The remarks describe a priority for Solana network optimization, not a specific upgrade or change to validator rules. Yakovenko announced no funding, implementation timeline or new arrangements with the named apps. The comments may renew discussion about whether Solana should focus network design on high-volume consumer applications, but they do not by themselves indicate an immediate change to SOL’s fundamentals.

Securitize says 12 tokenized U.S. stocks are now available on Solana through Securitize Stocks. The offering includes Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, Microsoft and Amazon, alongside Alphabet, Meta, Netflix, Circle, SpaceX, Strategy and Palantir. The tokens are backed one-for-one by shares held in segregated accounts, which Securitize says are not lent out. Eligible investors in the U.S., EU and other permitted jurisdictions can trade after onboarding and identity checks. Purchases can be made with USDC and tokens held in approved Solana wallets. Holders receive security entitlements through a broker-dealer, not direct shareholder registration; conversion is required for registration, subject to available arrangements. The underlying companies have not sponsored or endorsed the products. The Oct. 23 availability posts confirm the launch announced on Oct. 8 rather than adding a new set of stocks. For crypto traders, the development expands Solana’s tokenized-asset offering, but access restrictions and the distinction between token ownership and conventional share ownership remain important.

Belgian bank KBC Group bought 39,826 shares of Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR), worth about $5.9 million, adding to its indirect Bitcoin exposure through the company’s stock. Earlier figures cited in the reports say KBC held 311,624 shares, valued at about $50.44 million, at the end of 2025, after adding 88,501 shares in the fourth quarter. Strategy held 848,517 BTC as of October 19, 2026, according to the article; KBC’s share purchase does not indicate a change in those reserves. KBC is also preparing to offer Bitcoin and Ether trading through its Bolero platform under the EU’s MiCA rules. The investment adds to institutional exposure to Bitcoin-linked equities, but its size is unlikely to affect Bitcoin’s spot price directly. KBC’s exposure also depends on Strategy’s financing, leverage and capital-allocation decisions.

Dune has launched Market Data Feeds, a service that standardizes spot and perpetual DEX trades across blockchains. The feed includes details such as trading instrument, venue, execution side, price and US dollar value, helping institutional desks compare fragmented on-chain execution. Dune says spot coverage spans more than 200 venues, with data delivered about one second after the transaction’s block. The feed is not a pre-settlement view or a complete record of private and off-chain activity. Dune documents exclusions and sends separate correction messages when blockchain reorganizations alter transaction history. The service could support market makers and data vendors with execution comparisons and transaction-cost analysis. Its usefulness will depend on reliable coverage, consistent pricing and how it handles late or incomplete data. Dune’s launch improves access to normalized crypto market data, but does not itself indicate a change in market direction.

Gold prices briefly fell below $4,000 on October 23, reaching $3,986.50, and were on track for a weekly loss of about 3.5%. Spot gold later traded near $4,024. The decline came as Brent crude approached $115 a barrel after attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure raised supply concerns. Higher oil prices may keep inflation elevated and make the Federal Reserve less likely to cut interest rates. That outlook can weigh on gold, which pays no interest, even as geopolitical tensions and inflation concerns typically support demand for bullion. US consumer prices rose 3.7% year on year in September. Goldman Sachs estimated central banks bought 79 tonnes of gold in August, but that demand has not stopped the recent decline. The Fed’s October 27–28 meeting is the next major catalyst. Gold’s near-term levels include $4,000 as psychological support, with $4,050 and $4,100 as potential recovery thresholds. A sustained break below $4,000 could put $3,950 and then $3,900 in focus. For traders, the gold price outlook will depend heavily on interest-rate signals, inflation data and movements in oil and Treasury yields.

Tempus AI (TEM) is described by a Seeking Alpha contributor as a higher-conviction Buy, after earlier concerns about minimal residual disease (MRD) ownership and cash flow eased. The stock had gained about 39% since the contributor’s June Buy call, but recently pulled back roughly 20%, which the contributor views as a potential opportunity to accumulate shares. Tempus AI’s acquisition of Personalis gives it MRD capabilities and access to data that may support pharmaceutical partnerships. The article also points to FDA approval of the xT CDx test as a potential source of higher pricing from 2027. Its Data and Applications segment continues to grow at about 28%, with a growing backlog, although headline growth has slowed and computing costs remain a concern. Adjusted EBITDA has turned positive. The contributor values TEM at about 6.5 times estimated 2027 enterprise value to revenue and sees upcoming third-quarter free cash flow results as an important milestone. These are the author’s investment views, not a guarantee of future performance.

Sky reported $30.8 million in September gross revenue, up 49.7% year on year, and completed its first Stage 2 burn, permanently removing 2.86 million SKY tokens on Sept. 13. Net protocol revenue was $12.32 million, but Sky cautioned that year-on-year comparisons are affected by changes in expense classifications and a large base of legacy costs in 2025. Galaxy allocated $100 million to sUSDS and approved the savings token as collateral for institutional loans. A separate Grove-Galaxy $500 million credit facility was 75% utilized, financing $375 million in loans. Sky said stablecoin supply reached $9.70 billion and protocol collateral totaled $11.41 billion at the end of September. The update also reported $7.15 million in remittances to Sky Reserves. Reserves closed the month at $85.08 million, about 56.7% of the $150 million target. The results highlight growth in Sky revenue, institutional use of sUSDS and the start of SKY token burns, while the accounting caveat warrants care when assessing the revenue improvement.

Mozilla CTO Raffi Krikorian says open-source AI needs more than downloadable models: it also requires user-controlled memory, secure tool access, deployment systems and reliable safety guardrails. These components could help people and organisations build AI agents that serve users’ interests rather than those of a single provider. Mozilla’s 2026 State of Open Source AI report says open models are within about 3% of frontier models, while as much as one-third of real-world usage may already involve open models. Yet open AI is harder to deploy than commercial APIs, and only 4% of model-layer revenue reaches the open-source ecosystem. Krikorian argues that better tools and open standards could close this gap and make systems interoperable. The discussion also highlighted the value of open models as long-term infrastructure and as a backup against provider outages or government restrictions. Krikorian warned that model supply is concentrated geographically, while stronger external safety frameworks remain necessary. For traders, the debate points to potential long-term growth in AI infrastructure and deployment services, but it offers no direct cryptocurrency market catalyst.

TikTok US is reportedly seeking multiple gigawatts of computing capacity, according to an unverified post on X. TikTok has made no public confirmation, and its known data centre projects are much smaller, so the claim is not yet a confirmed investment plan. A gigawatt equals 1,000 megawatts. TikTok’s Finland Project Clover is planned at about 150 MW, while a Brazil project is expected to begin at roughly 300 MW. The reported US ambition would put TikTok US closer to hyperscalers such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon in the race for data centre power. Oracle, which leads the consortium controlling TikTok’s US entity, could benefit if expansion relies on its cloud and data centre infrastructure. But additional demand could intensify competition for electricity and grid connections. Traders should look for confirmation through site announcements, utility filings or capacity contracts; for now, the report is speculative and has no clear direct impact on crypto markets.

Brent crude rose above $116 a barrel, its highest level since April, as US consumers’ one-year inflation expectations remained at 5%. The combination weakened hopes for near-term interest-rate cuts and added pressure to risk assets, including cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin traded near $81,000, down 3.1% over 24 hours but 1.0% over the week. Ethereum fell 3.1% to about $2,400, while Solana slipped 2.9% to $104. XRP also declined to $1.31. The synchronized daily losses suggest macroeconomic factors, rather than project-specific news, drove the crypto market pullback. The Fear & Greed Index fell from 63 to 50, shifting from Greed to Neutral. Meanwhile, quantum-resistant tokens gained 51.8% over the week, an isolated rally that may reflect speculative interest rather than broader market strength. Traders are watching whether Brent crude holds above $116 and whether upcoming inflation data reinforces elevated rate expectations. Sustained high oil prices could keep inflation concerns alive, constrain rate-cut prospects and weigh on crypto risk appetite.

PaperTrade, an on-chain perpetual-futures protocol, reportedly attracted $140 million in deposits before changing its token plans. The project had intended to make its PAPER token transferable but has since canceled that plan, leaving the token non-transferable. The change has raised concerns about liquidity, market viability and potential dilution for early token recipients. PaperTrade’s market outlook has weakened: the odds of its fully diluted valuation (FDV) exceeding $25 million one day after launch fell from 95% a week ago to about 52%. These prediction-market odds reflect uncertainty, not a confirmed valuation. Traders are likely to watch for changes to transferability, exchange access, token issuance and incentives. Until PaperTrade clarifies those points, limited secondary-market liquidity and concerns over token supply could weigh on sentiment.

Stacks founder Muneeb Ali’s TOKEN2049 keynote set out a 2030 vision for Bitcoin finance: BTC could earn yield, be borrowed and transact privately, with activity settling to Bitcoin and designed for a post-quantum world. The keynote reinforces Stacks’ aim to expand Bitcoin-based decentralised finance (DeFi). The newsletter also says demand is rising for stBTC, StackingDAO’s liquid, yield-bearing Bitcoin staking token. After two reported mints of about 80 and 24, it says roughly 10 units of capacity remain; the units are not specified. Separately, Xverse introduced a self-custodial wallet for AI agents on Stacks, enabling them to check balances, send STX and swap for sBTC. A Stacks incentive programme is offering 3 BTC over three months to users deploying Bitcoin through Bitflow trading and Zest lending. These updates highlight activity across Stacks and Bitcoin DeFi, but the article provides no independent verification or broader market data. The capacity claim may draw attention to stBTC, while the announcements alone do not establish a market-wide shift in BTC or STX prices.

Coinbase will take its Derivatives section offline for about nine hours on October 24 for scheduled maintenance. During the outage, users will be unable to trade futures or perpetual futures on Coinbase Financial Markets, but account access will remain available. The exchange says it will post updates on its X account and derivatives status page. Coinbase also plans to delist Ampleforth Governance Token (FORTH) on November 23. Withdrawals will remain supported, but FORTH fell about 15% after the announcement, reflecting concerns about reduced liquidity and availability. The news comes as Coinbase faces access restrictions in Taiwan and Kazakhstan. Taiwan reportedly blocked the exchange over concerns about election-related betting. In Kazakhstan, a court backed restrictions on Coinbase and five other crypto platforms for allegedly operating without authorisation.

Bitcoin briefly fell below $81,000 as US stocks opened lower and Brent crude oil climbed to $116 per barrel, its highest level since March. BTC later recovered to about $81,600, with traders watching whether it can reclaim its 50-day simple moving average near $81,781 by the daily close. The rise in oil prices, linked to heightened US-Iran tensions, added to risk aversion in markets. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell, while the US 10-year Treasury yield remained below 5%. Economist Robin Brooks said oil prices appeared to include a substantial risk premium, despite Persian Gulf oil flows approaching pre-war levels for many countries. Material Indicators cofounder Keith Alan said failure to reclaim the 50-day average could put Bitcoin support between $78,000 and $80,000 in focus. A separate support area between $80,000 and $81,500 reflects the aggregate cost basis of spot Bitcoin ETF investors. Traders are monitoring oil, equities and these BTC price levels for signals on near-term market direction.

AI data centers are emerging as a major growth market for fuel cells as developers seek power without waiting years for grid connections. Rystad Energy estimates annual fuel-cell spending by data-center operators could rise from $2.8 billion in 2025 to about $30 billion by 2030. Bloom Energy reported third-quarter revenue of $1.24 billion, up 138% year over year, and raised its 2026 revenue outlook to $4.4 billion–$4.6 billion. Its agreement with Oracle supports up to 2.8 gigawatts of fuel-cell capacity, with 1.2 gigawatts contracted. The fuel-cell market faces manufacturing and materials constraints, while Bloom reported $27 million in negative operating cash flow during the quarter. Nuclear power, gas generation and grid upgrades are competing options.

Former Bloomberg journalist Jack Clark has an estimated $15.5 billion fortune, largely from his founding stake in AI company Anthropic, which develops the Claude chatbot. Clark moved from covering artificial intelligence to joining OpenAI in 2016, where he worked on policy, communications and safety. In 2021, he co-founded Anthropic with six former OpenAI colleagues. Forbes estimates each co-founder owns slightly more than 1.6% of the company. Anthropic was valued at $965 billion in a reported May 2026 funding round, although Clark’s wealth is primarily paper wealth tied to the value of his shares. The company’s valuation and potential public listing have drawn investor attention, while its rapid growth and AI policy work place it at the center of debates over commercial competition, employment and safety.

Telegram casinos can receive a player’s Telegram user ID, name, username and profile photo when the player signs in through a bot or mini app. Phone numbers and permission to send direct messages require separate approval. Connecting a crypto wallet can expose its address and public on-chain transaction history. The article ranks seven Telegram casinos by the data requested, clarity of their terms and disclosure of their operators: Dexsport, TG.Casino, Mega Dice, Lucky Block, CoinCasino, BC.Game and JetTon. The ranking highlights that a quick bot login does not rule out later identity checks; several platforms’ terms allow verification, including at withdrawal. Telegram casino users are advised to review phone-number visibility, usernames and profile photos, enable two-step verification, check active sessions and revoke unnecessary bot or website access. Platform terms, licensing and legal requirements vary by jurisdiction and can change. The article does not report market prices or trading data, so its main relevance is privacy and user risk rather than an immediate crypto-market catalyst.

Anthropic’s expected IPO is highlighting how the AI boom is reshaping venture capital. Major firms including Menlo Ventures, Lightspeed and ICONIQ raised larger funds and sought co-investors to finance the company’s huge funding rounds. Its upcoming filing is expected to show a cap table led by corporate investors and late-stage megafunds. OpenAI is also reportedly discussing a $30 billion fundraise at a $1.25 trillion valuation. But the megafund model faces limits: many startups still lack exit options, IPO markets remain selective, and investors may be reluctant to commit more capital before receiving returns. Smaller, less conventional investors have also won valuable stakes in AI leaders, suggesting opportunities remain beyond the biggest firms. Other developments included a ranking that placed Andreessen Horowitz first among AI-focused venture firms, and major funding rounds for AI startups Flapping Airplanes ($1 billion) and Legora ($550 million). The article also covered debate over data-centre capacity forecasts and investor concerns about Meta’s rising AI spending.