Crypto News

Keystone will destroy 18,835 unsold hardware wallets and halt outstanding shipments after an attacker obtained the permanent factory key used to verify device authenticity. The company discovered the breach on October 20 and says the stolen key cannot access recovery phrases, private keys or transaction signing. Devices delivered before the incident are considered unaffected if they pass authentication; customers who received later devices using the old key should contact Keystone support before use. New website orders are being taken by preorder while production switches to new verification keys. The incident also exposed customer data held by Keystone’s Shopify store. Of 51,083 records initially implicated, 25,964 still contained personal and order details, while 12,873 unpaid checkout records also held customer information. The later update says 25,119 personal records have been deleted; customers who bought through Amazon and other channels were not affected. Keystone acknowledged that a faulty bulk-erasure tool left some records beyond the planned 180-day retention period. It has reduced retention to 90 days and asked Shopify to delete overdue data, with completion expected by November 3. The company has reported the incident to authorities in the EU, UK and other jurisdictions. For crypto traders, the Keystone breach highlights risks in hardware-wallet supply chains and customer-data handling, but there is no reported loss of crypto assets or compromise of transaction signing. The incident could weigh on confidence in Keystone’s products, but it does not indicate a direct security issue with Bitcoin or the wider crypto network.

HSBC RedCoin (RCHKD), HSBC’s Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, has reached HK$80.8 million in circulation, backed by HK$81.8 million in cash, according to a disclosure updated on 25 October. The 1:1 HKD-pegged stablecoin initially launched through PayMe, where more than 3.3 million users are expected to gain access for peer-to-peer transfers and payments at over 100,000 merchants. Buying and redeeming RedCoin are currently free, and redeemed funds are due in Hong Kong dollars within one business day. RedCoin is issued under a Hong Kong Monetary Authority licence and runs on HSBC’s private, permissioned ledger. Its use remains limited: users and transfer recipients must be HSBC customers, PayMe and HSBC’s mobile banking app cannot transfer RedCoin between their wallets, and the stablecoin is not connected to a public blockchain. It is not a bank deposit and is not covered by Hong Kong’s deposit protection scheme. HSBC plans to add RedCoin to its mobile banking app and support tokenised investment products, including a Hong Kong dollar money market fund. The bank expects its first independent reserve attestation after the fourth quarter of 2026. For crypto traders, RedCoin’s growing circulation is a test of regulated retail stablecoin payments, but its closed ecosystem limits immediate use in DeFi and broader crypto markets. Unlike widely used stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, RedCoin currently has limited interoperability.

Ripple says the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) gave final approval on October 26, 2026, for Ripple National Trust Bank. The charter adds a federal oversight framework for RLUSD reserve management and, once the bank opens, institutional digital-asset custody and collateral-trust services. It is not a conventional commercial bank: it cannot take ordinary retail deposits or make loans, and no opening date has been announced. The approval does not change RLUSD’s issuer. Ripple subsidiary Standard Custody & Trust Company, regulated in New York, remains responsible for issuing the stablecoin. Ripple’s October 22 transparency snapshot reported $2.3828 billion of RLUSD in circulation and $2.5280 billion in reserves, or about 106.1% coverage. The snapshot is not a guarantee of immediate redemption: direct redemption is limited to eligible customers under separate agreements, and RLUSD is not FDIC-insured. CoinGecko data cited in the earlier report put RLUSD’s market capitalisation at about $2.615 billion on October 28, nearly double its roughly $1.3 billion level when conditional approval was reported in December 2025; trading volume was about $429 million on October 27. There is a disclosure caveat: as of October 28, the OCC’s public decisions page showed the December 2025 conditional approval, but the corresponding final decision letter was not identified there. Ripple announced the final approval, so traders may want to watch for the public record, bank opening details and updated reserve disclosures. BNY has expanded institutional custody to XRP and RLUSD, while direct bank-facilitated RLUSD minting and redemption remain under exploration. The OCC approval strengthens Ripple’s regulatory position and could support institutional adoption of RLUSD. However, it does not directly establish new demand for XRP or change RLUSD’s issuer. RLUSD operates across multiple blockchains, so growth in its market capitalisation may not translate proportionally into XRP Ledger fees or XRP demand. The key market signal will be whether the new oversight leads to greater institutional payment and settlement use.

Andreessen Horowitz has renamed a16z crypto as a16z Frontier, widening the fund’s focus to include artificial intelligence, autonomous machines, biology and other early-stage technologies. The firm says the change is an expansion, not an exit from crypto, and will continue backing crypto companies and advocating for crypto regulation. Chris Dixon will lead the fund alongside other a16z partners; its most recently reported size was $2.2 billion, announced in May. General partner Ali Yahya is leaving to start a company, without linking his departure to the rebrand. Dixon says blockchain is becoming part of mainstream financial products and could provide payment infrastructure for AI agents, including through stablecoins. The broader mandate means crypto startups will compete with other sectors for capital and attention. The change comes amid weak crypto venture activity: $4.4 billion was raised across 224 deals in the third quarter, the lowest deal count in three years, while the ten largest rounds attracted 58% of funding. In the latest market snapshot, bitcoin traded near $81,800 as US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $635 million in net outflows and Ether ETFs saw $110 million in outflows. The a16z Frontier rebrand changes how a major venture firm presents its crypto business, but does not by itself signal a change in its commitment to crypto.

Aviva Investors launched a tokenized share class of its Sterling Liquidity Fund on the XRP Ledger on October 26, 2026, investing £50 million ($66 million) of its own capital. The underlying fund has about £22 billion in assets, but that is not the size of the tokenized class. The tokens represent holdings in the off-chain fund; its investment objectives, risk profile, daily liquidity and UCITS protections remain unchanged. The class is restricted to eligible institutional investors, and tokens cannot be transferred between holders. The launch follows Aviva’s tokenized US-dollar liquidity fund class in July 2026, bringing its tokenized money market fund assets to more than £86 million ($116 million). BNY, custodian of the underlying assets, also said its digital asset custody platform supports XRP and RLUSD. The XRP Ledger fund use case is a sign of institutional blockchain adoption, but the restricted tokens and their modest scale relative to the £22 billion fund limit immediate trading implications. For XRP traders, the announcement is an adoption development rather than a clear short-term price catalyst; future relevance will depend on subscriptions, holdings and practical uses such as collateral management.

South Korea is weighing a fourth delay to its cryptocurrency capital gains tax, shifting the proposed start date from 1 January 2027 to 1 January 2029. The presidential office reportedly favors postponement, but a final decision is expected in early December and any change requires parliamentary approval. Lawmakers are expected to debate amendments to the Income Tax Act from November. The tax was originally due to begin in 2022 and has already been postponed three times. A petition seeking a two-year delay drew 50,000 signatures, adding to pressure from lawmakers across party lines. The proposed crypto tax would apply to annual net gains from crypto transfers and lending. The rate is 20%, or 22% including local income tax, with a 2.5 million won deduction after acquisition costs. Officials cite gaps in cross-border tax reporting as a key concern: South Korea, Japan and the UK are scheduled to exchange data under the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) from 2027, Singapore, Switzerland and Hong Kong from 2028, and the US from 2029. Without US data, authorities may find it harder to track overseas exchange activity, potentially leaving domestic-exchange users facing a greater reporting burden. A fourth crypto tax delay could give South Korean investors and exchanges more time before the levy takes effect, but the proposal remains uncertain until lawmakers decide. The extended timeline may ease near-term compliance pressure while prolonging uncertainty over crypto taxation and cross-border reporting.

US spot Bitcoin ETFs drew $176 million on Tuesday and $137 million on Wednesday, extending their inflow streak to three days. The funds attracted about $424 million over the period, recovering from nearly $774 million in outflows late last week and bringing October net inflows to $111 million. The renewed Bitcoin ETF demand suggests institutional buying has returned, although Bitcoin fell about 1% in 24 hours to $79,848. The Federal Reserve held rates at 3.75% to 4%, while Chair Kevin Warsh said inflation remained above the 2% target. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index stayed neutral at 51. Ether ETFs diverged, recording about $149 million in outflows on Monday and Tuesday and a further $21 million on Wednesday, taking October net outflows to $1.35 billion. Ether slipped 1.7% to $2,310, leaving crypto market sentiment mixed despite the Bitcoin ETF inflows.

Ripple expects its RLUSD stablecoin to reach Robinhood app users later in 2026, though the companies have not announced a launch date or eligible regions. Robinhood reported 28.6 million funded customers in August, giving RLUSD a potentially broad retail distribution channel. RLUSD is already available on Robinhood Chain and Bitstamp, and its market capitalisation has risen from more than $2.4 billion to about $2.62 billion in the later report. The partnership also includes plans to use RLUSD for institutional settlement on the XRP Ledger and Robinhood’s adoption of Ripple Treasury for global cash and liquidity management. Ripple Prime is expanding financing and trading services for Bitstamp, with perpetual futures planned later this year. The developments could increase RLUSD’s reach and institutional use, but no transaction targets or financial terms were disclosed. They do not guarantee higher demand for XRP, which is separate from the dollar-backed stablecoin.

Objections to the OKX-ICE tokenized stocks plan have risen from nine companies on Oct. 15 to 26, including Intel, Oracle, IBM and IonQ, as well as Alphabet, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs. The venture proposed tokenized shares from 62 US companies, meaning about 41% of those named had opted out by Monday. Co-chair Andrew Cuomo said objections were natural and expected more companies to join. The plan would let approved users trade tokenized US shares around the clock through permissioned Uniswap v4 liquidity pools on OKX’s XLayer blockchain, using stablecoins such as USDC. The proposed listings rely on an SEC exemption for limited tokenized-stock trading, amid temporary innovation exemptions for the sector. Nasdaq has urged issuers to be cautious, even as it invests in Kraken parent Payward and pursues tokenized assets. For crypto traders, the growing opposition adds uncertainty to the tokenized stocks market and the prospect of issuer participation. The proposal also raises investor-protection questions: it is unclear whether self-custodied shares would qualify for SIPC protection if a tokenizer’s broker-dealer failed. Trades must be fully funded, and liquidity providers can withdraw liquidity at any time.

Anthropic has filed to list Class A shares on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT, although it has not set the offering price or share count. Reports place its potential IPO valuation at $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion. The Anthropic IPO filing has renewed scrutiny of FTX’s 2024 sale of its stake for about $1.34 billion. FTX invested $500 million, and its 7.84% holding at the time would imply a hypothetical value of $117.6 billion at a $1.5 trillion valuation, or $156.8 billion at $2 trillion. These calculations assume no dilution and do not reflect the current value of the shares sold. Buyers included Abu Dhabi-linked ATIC, Jane Street, Fidelity-managed funds and G Squared. Anthropic reported first-half 2026 revenue of $16.3 billion, up more than 1,300% year on year, while sequential growth slowed to 45%. It recorded an $80.7 billion net loss, largely attributed to non-cash valuation adjustments, and a $693 million operating loss. The company may seek to raise as much as $100 billion to support infrastructure commitments estimated at $500 billion to $800 billion. FTX creditor repayments remain based on allowed claims valued around the exchange’s November 2022 collapse, not later asset gains, so the IPO does not change repayment terms. For traders, the listing will test demand for high-growth AI companies with substantial losses and funding needs; it has no direct impact on cryptocurrency prices.

Electrum released version 4.8.3 on 24 October 2026 to fix an Electrum vulnerability that allowed malicious servers to display fake unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions. Attackers could exploit Replace-by-Fee (RBF) to trick users into signing a replacement transaction that sent funds to an attacker, without accessing their private keys. Electrum received two reports, dated 11 and 18 October, and confirmed that some servers were actively exploiting the flaw; one user reportedly lost Bitcoin after trying to raise a transaction fee. The update checks signatures on wallet-owned inputs before adding certain pending transactions to local history. Users of older versions should upgrade and verify recipient addresses and amounts before signing. Electrum said users connected only to trusted servers, including self-operated servers, were not affected by the reported attack. The Electrum vulnerability highlights the importance of checking transaction details, particularly when using RBF.

Bitcoin Core has changed its vulnerability disclosure policy amid a wave of AI-assisted security research. Researchers reported 4,962 potential vulnerabilities across 390 Bitcoin-related projects; these were not all confirmed Bitcoin Core flaws. Of the reports, 85 were initially rated critical and 635 high severity, pending further verification. Under the policy merged on October 22, developers will issue fixes for vulnerabilities that are easy to rediscover, including with a simple AI prompt, and publish security advisories alongside the patches. Bitcoin Core plans releases for its three supported major branches, 30.x, 31.x and 32.x. Other bugs will continue to follow severity-based disclosure schedules, while critical network issues will be handled case by case. The reports do not establish that Bitcoin Core itself contains a newly confirmed vulnerability, and AI-generated findings still require technical validation. Developers say AI could make concealed flaws easier for attackers to find, but faster patch releases may leave less time for testing. Bitcoin Core does not update nodes automatically, so exchanges, custodians, miners and other operators must install relevant fixes themselves. For BTC traders, this is primarily a network-security and operational-risk development, not a direct change to Bitcoin’s supply, rules or demand. Patch quality and adoption may affect confidence in network stability, but the policy alone is unlikely to change BTC’s price outlook materially.

DTCC has launched its Tokenization Service (DTS), allowing eligible institutions to represent securities held at the Depository Trust Company (DTC) as blockchain tokens. Twenty institutions, including JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America, State Street and Citadel Securities, have signed up. The DTCC Tokenization Service initially supports 34 securities—selected Russell 1000 stocks, index ETFs and US Treasuries—and operates on Canton Network and DTCC’s private Besu blockchain. The often-cited $30 trillion figure is the market value of securities eligible for tokenization, not assets already issued on-chain. DTCC has not disclosed token issuance or transfer volumes. The tokens represent securities held in custody, retain their CUSIPs and associated ownership rights, and are not new shares or synthetic stock tokens. Access is restricted to participating institutions and approved wallets. Conversions between traditional and tokenized forms are limited to business hours, while same-network transfers between registered wallets can take place around the clock. For crypto traders, the DTCC Tokenization Service is a longer-term signal of institutional blockchain adoption, not evidence that US stocks have moved to public blockchains or that retail markets now trade 24/7. Adoption, links to cash settlement, interoperability, measurable efficiency gains and the future of the SEC staff’s three-year no-action position remain open questions. The launch is not a confirmed near-term price catalyst for Canton’s CC token.

Coinbase says a security incident at third-party analytics provider Amplitude exposed contact information belonging to a “small subset” of Coinbase customers. Coinbase says its own systems were not breached and customer funds remain safe. It has not disclosed the number of affected users or the specific details exposed. SlowMist security chief 23pds claimed more than 70,000 users’ contact details were obtained, but Coinbase has not confirmed that figure. The exchange says it is notifying affected customers and regulators. The Coinbase data exposure could make users more vulnerable to phishing and social engineering, so traders should be alert to suspicious messages. Amplitude has not publicly explained how the incident occurred. The disclosure came as South Korea’s Bithumb investigated possible unauthorized access to an internal workplace tool, while Daishin Securities reported a leak affecting 38,490 customers. The incidents highlight third-party and workplace-system security risks, but no loss of crypto funds was reported in the Coinbase case. Coinbase also disclosed a separate breach in May 2025 that affected fewer than 1% of its monthly transacting users and could cost up to $400 million to address. The latest vendor incident’s scale and financial impact remain unclear.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $110.3 million in net inflows on Monday, while spot Ether ETFs lost $88.58 million. The latest Bitcoin ETF inflow came entirely from BlackRock’s IBIT, which has accumulated $66.24 billion in net inflows, while other tracked Bitcoin funds reported no net flows. Ether ETF outflows were led by BlackRock’s ETHA, which lost $104.7 million; Fidelity’s FETH partly offset the withdrawals with $16.13 million in inflows. The latest figures add to a wider October divergence: Ether ETFs have lost more than $1.1 billion this month, their largest monthly outflow this year, while Bitcoin ETFs recorded $301 million in net inflows for the week ending around October 23–24 despite roughly $774 million in late-week redemptions. Since launch, Bitcoin ETFs have attracted more than $57 billion in net inflows and hold about $102 billion to $104 billion in assets; Ether ETFs have drawn roughly $12.6 billion to $12.7 billion and hold about $14.5 billion to $14.6 billion. The contrast points to stronger relative demand for Bitcoin ETFs, but Monday’s inflow was concentrated in IBIT rather than broad-based across issuers. Solana, XRP and HYPE funds also saw outflows, while Zcash and NEAR products recorded inflows. Ahead of the Federal Reserve’s October 28 rate decision, traders will watch whether Bitcoin ETF inflows broaden and whether ETHA redemptions persist. Ether was around $2,309.58, with $2,280–$2,300 identified as a key support zone.

The Central Bank of Ireland fined Coinbase Ireland Limited €3,252,618 (about $3.6 million) for breaches of customer-fund safeguarding and outsourcing rules between November 2020 and August 2025. Coinbase Ireland admitted the violations and agreed the facts; the fine includes a 30% settlement discount from an assessed €4,646,597. The sanction requires approval by Ireland’s High Court before it takes effect. The regulator said Coinbase Ireland, an e-money institution, did not adequately protect customer funds and relied too heavily on services from its US parent without sufficient oversight. It stressed that licensed firms remain responsible for outsourced services and compliance controls. The case does not report a crypto-asset compromise or establish customer losses. For traders, the Coinbase Ireland penalty is a compliance development to monitor, but it does not by itself indicate an immediate effect on cryptocurrency prices; attention will turn to court approval, remediation and any further regulatory action.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the Trump family-linked crypto firm, faces a lawsuit filed in Circle’s name by Circle shareholder J. Benjamin Greenberg. The complaint alleges that two deals involving entities linked to UAE official Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan violated the US Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause and harmed Circle’s business. The allegations have not been proven, and Circle says it did not initiate or direct the case; WLFI has called it baseless. The suit concerns a reported $500 million purchase of a 49% stake in WLFI by Abu Dhabi entity Aryam Investment 1 in January 2025, and Abu Dhabi fund MGX’s $2 billion investment in Binance, settled using WLFI’s USD1 stablecoin. The shareholder argues that foreign-linked funding helped USD1 compete with Circle’s USDC, but the transactions alone do not establish that Circle lost business or suffered damages. A key early question is whether Greenberg can bring the case on Circle’s behalf. Separately, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has granted preliminary conditional approval for a national trust bank charter for World Liberty Trust Company. Approval is not final, and the regulator said foreign-emoluments and conflict-of-interest concerns were outside the scope of its review. The lawsuit adds legal and regulatory scrutiny to WLFI and USD1, but its immediate market impact is uncertain. Traders may monitor court developments, the final bank-charter decision and any changes in USD1 adoption or stablecoin confidence.

Zcash is debating whether to end the 8% block-reward allocation to Zcash Community Grants (ZCG), as the fund’s treasury has grown to an estimated $125 million, including assets after outstanding commitments. Co-founder Sean Bowe argues the fund can cover years of spending and has proposed redirecting future allocations to the Network Sustainability Mechanism. ZCG would keep its existing assets and grant-approval authority, while a separate 12% funding program would remain unchanged. The proposal has not been adopted. Other ideas include phasing out the allocation, abolishing the fund or moving surplus assets to a community pool. The debate follows criticism of a ZCG-funded outreach project, though Bowe’s draft does not address that controversy. For ZEC traders, this is a governance and funding debate rather than an immediate change to the issuance schedule or a clear market catalyst. Its eventual effect on developer funding and tokenomics remains uncertain.

Bitcoin mining infrastructure firm Luxor has raised $16 million in a strategic round led by CMT Digital, with participation from Canaan, MicroBT, Halo, Steelhead and angel investors. The financing includes primary and secondary capital. Luxor plans to expand its AI cloud platform, fund AI hardware operations, grow compute derivatives trading and market making, and hire staff. The move builds on its Luxor AI launch and its existing mining infrastructure experience in energy, hardware and compute markets. Luxor says its ASIC brokerage has traded $1 billion in mining hardware, its energy business serves more than 75 megawatts of load in ERCOT and SPP, and its cloud platform processed 1.8 million workloads year to date as of September. In a later discussion, Luxor’s CEO and CMT Digital’s Sam Hallene said mining expertise can help companies build and operate AI infrastructure. They also pointed to strong GPU demand, reportedly including Nvidia hardware sold out for the year, and Luxor’s work on AI-agent sandboxes and compute derivatives. Luxor plans to keep Bitcoin mining at its core while pursuing AI and high-performance computing as demand for data-center capacity grows.

The NBA has named Kalshi and Polymarket its preferred prediction market exchanges, giving them NBA branding and marketing rights and access to authorized game data for settling eligible event contracts. The league will limit which NBA-related markets can be traded, and NBA and team personnel are barred from trading those contracts. The NBA has also set information-sharing procedures for suspicious trading and investigations, signed a cooperation memorandum with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and expanded its existing DraftKings agreement to cover prediction markets. It plans to pursue similar arrangements with other partners. The agreements add formal oversight to prediction markets while leaving unresolved whether sports event contracts are governed by federal derivatives rules or state gambling laws. DeFi Rate data cited in the later report puts Kalshi’s 30-day notional trading volume at about $90.3 billion as of October 26, and Polymarket’s US and international platforms at about $18.7 billion. Separately, NBA-related contracts on Polymarket reportedly recorded $3.44 billion in volume in the 2024–25 season and $4.5 billion in 2025–26; a LeBron James transfer market drew about $275 million across Kalshi and Polymarket. For traders, the partnerships may improve market access and monitoring, but insider-trading risks, market integrity concerns and regulatory uncertainty remain.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed preparing an economy that could operate under possible international sanctions, including measures against the country’s banks. He named blockchain as a possible tool and said he had commissioned a plan, but no proposal or implementation details have been published. The Bank of Israel has rejected the idea, saying cryptocurrency cannot bypass sanctions and urging the country to protect economic ties with major trading partners. More than 100 economists, including former central bank governor Jacob Frenkel and several Nobel laureates, warned that the plan could cost jobs and deter foreign investment. Political opponents also criticized it ahead of Israel’s Oct. 27 election. The debate underscores the limits of blockchain as a sanctions workaround: transactions on public ledgers can be traced. Israeli authorities have previously sanctioned 37 crypto wallets that the National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. No direct market measures have been announced, so the proposal currently has no clear trading catalyst for cryptocurrencies.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is asking a court to order NovaTech founders Cynthia and Eddy Petion to pay about $1.37 billion over an alleged cryptocurrency investment scheme. The request includes roughly $1.13 billion in disgorgement and $232.5 million in prejudgment interest; the court has not yet ruled on the amount. A default judgment was entered against the founders in August 2025 after they failed to respond, but the latest filing is not a new criminal conviction and does not guarantee that funds can be recovered. New York alleges NovaTech promised weekly returns of 2% to 4%. Payment processor records cited by the state show about $1.16 billion flowed into NovaTech from August 2019 to May 2023, while only $26 million went to a trading platform, where traders reportedly lost $18.2 million. The state also says Cynthia Petion approved at least $134.5 million in withdrawals to wallets held by the couple and that they have not provided investor records or a financial accounting. More than 11,000 New Yorkers reportedly invested in NovaTech and the founders’ earlier venture, AWS Mining, which authorities say used high-return and recruitment incentives to target Haitian and other immigrant communities. Separately, four promoters agreed to pay a combined nearly $6 million and were permanently barred from the securities, commodities and cryptocurrency industries. The settlements are separate from the claim against the founders and amount to less than 0.5% of the requested judgment; the state has not confirmed that the money has reached investors or outlined how it will collect the larger sum. For crypto traders, the case highlights ongoing enforcement and investor-protection risks, but it does not directly concern a specific traded cryptocurrency. The next key development is the court’s decision on monetary relief and any recovery effort.

Singapore’s Monetary Authority says Malaysia’s central bank and the Bank of Thailand have joined BLOOM as policymaking members, expanding the initiative’s central-bank participation. BLOOM is studying how regulated stablecoins and tokenised deposits could support cross-border settlement, including how different forms of money are accepted, settled and connected across systems. It is also exploring programmable controls for identity checks and sanctions screening, with potential uses in payments, corporate treasury and trade finance. Participants include Mastercard, Visa, Ripple, Circle, Coinbase, Airwallex and the World Bank Group, alongside regional financial and payment firms. Ripple’s RLUSD is the only token publicly identified in a BLOOM pilot so far; Ripple and trade finance firm Unloq announced a test in March. Visa has also said it will pilot weekend and holiday settlement with Nium using unnamed dollar and euro stablecoins. BLOOM has not announced a live service, payment corridor, launch date or confirmed transaction volumes. The expanded initiative signals growing institutional interest in regulated digital money, but provides no clear immediate catalyst for a specific crypto asset.

Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded $137 million in net inflows on 28 October, marking a third consecutive day of inflows, according to SoSoValue. BlackRock’s IBIT attracted $136 million, while Bitwise’s BITB received about $1.32 million, meaning most of the latest daily total went to IBIT. Bitcoin spot ETFs held $104.877 billion in net assets, equal to 6.41% of Bitcoin’s market capitalisation, and cumulative net inflows reached $57.607 billion. The three-day inflow run suggests renewed demand for Bitcoin exposure through ETFs, though the concentration in IBIT is worth watching.

Strategy shareholders approved daily dividends for preferred stocks STRF, STRC, STRK and STRD, with 99.3% of votes cast in favor. Dividends will accrue every calendar day, including weekends and holidays, but payments will be made on business days. The change affects payment timing, not annualized rates or total dividend income, which remain roughly 8% to 12%. STRC is scheduled to begin daily payments on November 2; STRF, STRK and STRD are due to follow on January 4, 2027. Strategy says daily dividends could support liquidity and price stability by shortening the wait between accrual and payment. The move comes as Bitcoin treasury firm Strive competes for income-focused investors with its SATS preferred stock, which offers a 15% annualized rate and plans to start daily payments on November 9. Strategy recently repurchased $204.9 million of STRC as it traded just below its $100 par value, while pausing Bitcoin purchases. Traders will watch whether daily dividends help the preferred shares narrow their discounts to par and reduce future funding costs for Bitcoin purchases. The impact is uncertain and may be offset by competition and potential MSCI index-removal risk for Strategy.

Google Cloud is testing Google Multi-Party Compute (MPC), an institutional crypto custody service that splits signing keys across bank hardware and multiple cloud providers. The service is in private preview with unnamed banks and partners, and Alphabet is already using it to protect its Ethereum and Solana holdings. General availability is targeted for early 2027, with pricing yet to be announced. Google MPC uses threshold signing, so a preset number of parties must approve a transaction without bringing the complete key together in one place. Its policy engine can check spending limits and approved destinations, although signers can override a denial. Google says it cannot access key shares in unencrypted form. ECDSA support for Bitcoin and Ethereum, and Ed25519 support for Solana, are planned for general availability; potential post-quantum support has no timetable. The service aims to reduce the risk of stolen credentials and unauthorized transfers, a notable custody concern given Chainalysis’ finding that compromised private keys accounted for 43.8% of cryptocurrency stolen in 2024. Google MPC enters a competitive institutional custody market that includes BitGo, Fordefi and Fireblocks. The launch could strengthen long-term institutional infrastructure, but it does not directly change the assets’ supply or utility, so an immediate price effect is uncertain.

Itaú Unibanco, Brazil’s largest private bank, filed a crypto notice with the central bank on 27 October, ahead of the 30 October deadline for regulated firms already offering digital-asset services. The Itaú crypto filing covers client crypto trading and custody, which Brazil classifies as brokerage services. It is a formal notification, not a licence application, and requires independent technical certification. The central bank can request more information or order the bank to wind down its operations. Itaú has offered crypto trading since December 2023 and supports more than 14 assets, including Bitcoin, Ether and USDC. Brazil’s licensing framework also sets requirements for asset segregation, capital, governance and anti-money-laundering controls, with further security requirements due from 2027. From 6 November, regulated firms will also be barred from facilitating certain transactions involving unauthorised providers. The filing reflects tighter oversight and growing bank involvement, but does not itself signal a change in Itaú’s services or a direct shift in crypto demand.

Ethereum developers have postponed the Glamsterdam upgrade on the Hoodi testnet, which was scheduled for October 26, while they investigate how EIP-8037 interacts with existing smart contracts. The Ethereum Foundation said on October 22 that no replacement activation date has been set and no confirmed exploit or failure has been identified. The change removes the planned Amsterdam execution-layer and Gloas consensus-layer activations from Hoodi’s schedule, as well as a planned increase in the testnet gas limit to 200 million. Hoodi operators should follow updated execution- and consensus-client instructions. The Foundation said Ethereum mainnet users do not need to take action. The Glamsterdam delay is a testnet readiness measure, not a mainnet rollback or a confirmed change to network performance. Its immediate impact on ETH trading is likely limited, though traders may watch for findings from the EIP-8037 investigation, client updates and a revised Hoodi schedule.

The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has finalised a GENIUS Act rule for payment stablecoin issuers under its supervision. The OCC stablecoin rule takes effect on 18 January 2027 and covers authorised issuers, certain foreign issuers and some custody activities at OCC-supervised institutions. It sets standards for reserves, redemptions and risk management, potentially increasing compliance costs and demand for high-quality liquid assets such as short-term US Treasuries. Issuers with up to $10 billion in outstanding stablecoins may remain under approved state regimes. Existing issuers with substantially complete applications pending by the deadline may request waivers, but the OCC has not announced when applications or waivers can be processed. Separate Treasury-coordinated rules will address anti-money-laundering, sanctions and Bank Secrecy Act requirements; application guidance, reporting procedures and the treatment of third-party stablecoin rewards also remain unresolved. For traders, the OCC stablecoin rule is a significant step towards clearer US oversight, but it does not authorise prospective issuers automatically or guarantee wider adoption. Watch for application procedures, further guidance and evidence of issuers meeting reserve and redemption standards. The rule may affect stablecoin operations and reserve-asset demand, but does not by itself signal an immediate price move in any cryptocurrency.