Crypto News

India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched premises linked to Mudrex, Saber.money and Instadapp on Oct. 27 as part of investigations into alleged cross-border crypto transactions. The agency announced preliminary findings on Oct. 29, putting the total amount under scrutiny at more than ₹5,000 crore (about $525 million). The ED alleges that Mudrex operator RPFAS Technologies and Saber.money used USDT and USDC to facilitate unauthorized overseas transfers. Investigators estimate more than ₹4,600 crore in alleged transfers and crypto balances held abroad, and named Binance and Bybit among the platforms involved. The agency said the findings are preliminary; it did not announce arrests or penalties against the exchanges. In a separate case, the ED alleges that Instadapp-related entities routed stablecoin revenue and investor funds through overseas companies and accounts, then sent money to India under purported software and consultancy payments. The agency estimates the alleged foreign-exchange violations at about $40 million. The investigation is ongoing, and the release did not provide transaction-level evidence. The searches add to India’s scrutiny of crypto remittances, offshore exchange activity and compliance with foreign-exchange rules.

Crypto trading platform Frontrun.pro has publicly asked to buy the company behind Blast, offering $50,000 to start negotiations. Frontrun says it has a team ready to improve the Layer 2 network and unnamed investors willing to fund it, but only if a sale goes ahead. The proposal does not identify the purchasing legal entity or investors, specify what assets would be acquired, or clarify whether $50,000 is an initial payment or the full offer. Blast has not announced an agreement or acceptance. The approach follows Blast’s wind-down announcement, which cited operating costs exceeding Layer 2 revenue and a lack of a credible path to sustainability. Blast asked users to withdraw assets to Ethereum; its regular withdrawal interface deadline was Oct. 26. Its public status page nevertheless showed key network services operating on Oct. 29. For traders, the Blast sale proposal is unconfirmed and does not establish a change to the network’s shutdown plans or the outlook for the BLAST token.

Curve yields and protocol updates were mixed in Week 44, 2026. Selected pools offered 19.7% APR for sUSG/reUSD and 7.6% for reUSD/sUSDe. Llamalend v2 showed modeled 20x looped APRs of 37.1% for sDOLA and 23.4% for syrupUSDC, but leverage can magnify losses and rates are variable. Curve launched StableSwap on Stellar mainnet in beta, enabling swaps and liquidity provision. The DAO also approved oracle pricing for the YieldBasis crvUSD/WETH pool using Pyth ETH/USD reports, and approved raising the sreUSD market’s crvUSD lending limit from 30 million to 60 million. Key Curve metrics were mixed: crvUSD mint-market debt rose 2.1% to $69.7 million, while Llamalend TVL fell 3.7% to $247 million. The crvUSD oracle price was $0.9994. These Curve yields are selected estimates, not guaranteed returns; liquidity, collateral and smart-contract risks remain relevant to traders.

A miner using FutureBit’s Apollo Solo setup found Bitcoin block 973,262, earning the 3.154 BTC block reward plus transaction fees from 2,477 transactions. FutureBit said its Apollo device or Solo Node assembled and submitted the block, but the public record does not identify the specific hardware or hashrate responsible. This is at least the fourth block attributed to FutureBit Apollo Solo. Solo mining remains a long-shot: against a Bitcoin network hashrate of about 1,070–1,087 EH/s, a home setup rated around 10–18 TH/s could face expected waits of centuries. The find highlights the possibility of earning a full block reward independently, but it does not change Bitcoin’s network fundamentals or the dominance of large mining pools.

Polymarket users have reported unauthorized asset transfers, including one trader who said about $800,000 was taken from their account after all positions were sold. The trader also said a friend lost about $600,000. Other users reported losses of around $200,000 or unexpected withdrawal-signature requests on the website. The reports have raised concerns about a possible attack on Polymarket’s front end, but the platform had not commented at the time of publication. Polymarket suffered a separate front-end phishing attack in June, linked to a compromised third-party supplier, in which about $2.94 million in user assets was reportedly stolen.

Pontoro and regulated digital-asset firm Archax have launched an Automated Liquidity Pool on Stellar, announced during Meridian 2026. The pilot combines liquid money-market assets with private-market fund exposure, using predefined pricing and allocation rules to manage subscriptions and redemptions. Archax handles regulated tokenization and issuance of permissioned interests; Pontoro provides the pool model and operating infrastructure. The Stellar liquidity pool aims to make private-asset exposure easier to distribute and manage, but it does not make illiquid holdings instantly redeemable. Pool liquidity depends on available liquid assets, credible valuations and how the rules perform under stress. Tokens are permissioned and held in identity-verified wallets, while the fund manager retains authority over asset selection, valuation and governance. The Stellar Development Foundation disclosed investments in both companies. The pilot demonstrates a potential framework for tokenized private assets, but sustained investor demand and redemption performance have yet to be established. Traders should watch for reported subscription volumes, redemption outcomes and results during market stress. The announcement does not by itself establish a liquid secondary market or signal a direct price catalyst for Stellar’s token.

The S&P 500’s ten worst-performing stocks of 2025, tracked as the “Thanksgiving Leftovers,” staged a strong rebound before retreating in October 2026. The equally weighted group bottomed in late September at about 15% below its value on 28 November 2025. It recovered to that starting level on 22 October, but then fell to 94.4% of it in less than a week. The market-cap-weighted portfolio followed a similar pattern. It bottomed at 80% of its starting value on 7 October, climbed to 86.5% on 22 October, and then slipped to 84.3%. The figures show a sharp recovery in the S&P 500’s weakest 2025 performers, followed by renewed losses.

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at its meeting concluding on October 28, as markets had widely expected. But the pause does not necessarily signal a dovish shift: the Fed described the economy as strong, while persistent inflation and elevated Treasury yields continue to weigh on the outlook for equities. The article points to energy prices and robust capital investment as factors keeping inflation sticky, potentially increasing the chance of further rate hikes. High long-term yields also make equity valuations look expensive and can pressure corporate free cash flow. The author argues that these conditions do not support broad equity gains. For traders, the key issue is whether inflation and Treasury yields ease enough to change expectations for the Fed’s future policy; the rate pause alone may not provide a lasting boost to risk assets.

Celestia Labs has introduced Voyager, a blockchain architecture designed for high-volume payments between AI agents and online services. In a five-hour benchmark, Voyager averaged 21.2 million transactions per second (TPS), peaking at 21.6 million across 100 million accounts. Celestia says Voyager uses Celestia Fibre for data availability and separates transaction processing into parallel tasks to boost throughput. The benchmark was run on a single node and did not include state-root computation, data replication across machines or real-time transaction-status queries at that scale. Voyager is not yet described as production-ready; Celestia says those capabilities are among the next development steps. The project aims to enable micropayments for agent-driven web services, but its claimed capacity has yet to be demonstrated in a live payment environment.

The crypto industry has spent about $176 million on more than 100 US midterm races this election cycle, but a survey suggests crypto itself is a low priority for voters. Only 13% of Americans say it is very or extremely important for candidates to support technologies such as blockchain, crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi). A broader message about keeping financial technology development in the US resonated more: 35% said it was very important, making it the survey’s top-ranked policy position. Support for that message was higher among Republicans than Democrats, at 45% versus 30%. The survey of 1,545 adults was conducted by Ipsos for the DeFi Education Fund from Sept. 8 to 16, with a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points. Reuters’ review found that crypto groups spent about $176 million across more than 100 races, with Fairshake and its affiliates accounting for about $150.8 million through Oct. 20. The industry’s political push comes after the Clarity Act failed a key Senate vote in September. The survey also found that voters are more focused on financial security and personal investment choice: 63% want the financial system upgraded to address threats such as AI and cybercrime, while 49% oppose the government deciding which products they can invest in.

Ledger has published 23 papers from its 2026 Ledger N3XT research competition, spanning the agentic economy, privacy and open research. Students from seven countries examined digital ownership through experiments, hardware prototypes and security audits, with a recurring focus on how to authorize and hold value-bearing AI agents accountable. The three track winners were Charles Sneed of the University of Oregon, who audited a Solana trading agent and identified a gap between its recorded decisions and signed transactions; Drew Manley, who proposed zero-knowledge medical credentials controlled by patients; and Ivan von Greiff of TUM, who built a fuzzing framework to test zero-knowledge virtual machines for soundness flaws. Their work and other submissions also questioned whether hardware-based custody alone can guarantee privacy or prove user intent. Each winner attended Ledger Op3n in Paris on October 15–16. The research offers no direct market-moving announcement, but highlights growing security and accountability challenges as AI agents interact with crypto wallets and onchain markets.

Bullish CEO Thomas Farley expects tokenized securities to gain mainstream adoption within one to two years, bringing forward his earlier five-year forecast. He said a major IPO or a new financial product could act as the catalyst for tokenized equity adoption. Bullish has tokenized its equity on Solana, and its tokenized BLSH shares began trading on its Gibraltar-regulated exchange in August 2026, with settlement in a US dollar stablecoin. The company is also planning to acquire transfer agent Equiniti for $4.2 billion, a deal expected to close in January 2027. The acquisition could help Bullish provide tokenized securities infrastructure to other issuers. Farley’s forecast comes amid a regulatory shift: the article says the SEC established a five-year innovation exemption framework for tokenized securities venues in September 2026. Together, the infrastructure and regulatory developments could support broader institutional adoption, though a high-profile market launch may be needed to accelerate demand.

Samara Asset Group’s Bitcoin CPI fell 19.30% month over month in September but rose 43.75% year over year. The index re-prices the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer basket in Bitcoin, showing how many BTC are needed to buy goods and services such as food, housing and transport. A lower reading means the basket costs fewer bitcoins. The Bitcoin CPI is not an official US inflation measure. Its movements largely reflect changes in Bitcoin’s price against a relatively stable basket of consumer goods. Available 2026 readings show monthly declines in April, August and September, while year-over-year readings remained positive: 25.90% in April, 90.00% in August and 43.75% in September. Samara launched the index in 2025 for institutional investors and corporate treasurers tracking Bitcoin’s purchasing power.

Canadian AI startup Cohere has completed the first closing of a funding round that could raise up to $5 billion, valuing the company at $20.5 billion—about twice its valuation a year ago. Investors who have committed funding include the Canadian government and Nvidia. A previously announced $600 million investment from Germany’s Schwarz Group is also included. The Canadian government has agreed to invest up to $1.14 billion. Cohere says the first closing covers most of its fundraising target, but has not disclosed the amount secured. The company plans to keep its headquarters in Canada and expects to invest about $1.2 billion in new computing infrastructure there by 2030. If completed, the round would be the largest private financing in Canadian history. The reported valuation excludes the new funding.

About $11 billion in Bitcoin options, covering roughly 135,000 BTC, are set to expire on Deribit on Friday. The contracts represent about a third of the exchange’s Bitcoin options open interest. Bitcoin was trading near $81,500 ahead of expiry. Calls outnumber puts by nearly two to one, with a put-to-call ratio of 0.52. However, about 86% of contracts are out of the money at current prices, and the $11 billion figure is notional value—not cash changing hands. Deribit’s max-pain level is $78,000, below the market price, but it is not a reliable price forecast. The expiry could prompt options sellers to adjust their Bitcoin hedges, potentially adding short-term volatility. The Federal Reserve also held rates at 3.75%–4% in a 10–2 vote, with two officials favoring a rate increase. That hawkish split and a 5.05% 10-year Treasury yield remain broader factors for risk-asset sentiment.

OKX-ICE joint venture co-chair Andrew Cuomo said a Wall Street Journal ad warning companies about tokenized stocks signals that competition is shifting from whether tokenization will happen to which platform will lead the market. He pointed to the ad’s QR code linking to Nasdaq’s FAQ and described the dispute as a contest between tokenization platforms. The ad, paid for by the Common Sense Leadership Fund, urged companies to use their SEC opt-out right and warned that their shares could otherwise trade on unregulated venues. Nasdaq said it plans to opt its own shares out of tokenized securities venues, but denied involvement in the ad. Securitize and Jito Labs’ Rebecca Rettig disputed the ad’s warnings, arguing that properly regulated tokenized stocks are different from offshore synthetic products. An Oct. 28 OKX-ICE notice listed 38 companies objecting to tokenization, up from 33 the previous day. Under the SEC innovation exemption, each company has 30 days to object after receiving notice. Cuomo said some firms have also expressed interest in opting in, but gave no names, numbers or launch date. The growing dispute highlights regulatory and competitive uncertainty around tokenized stocks, rather than a confirmed change to crypto-market activity.

Bitcoin recovered above $81,000 on Thursday after briefly falling below $80,000, despite a sharp sell-off in US technology shares. The Nasdaq dropped 1.5% as investors retreated from companies linked to artificial intelligence spending. Alphabet fell 12% after disappointing results, while ServiceNow slid 23% after missing forecasts. Treasury yields also eased: the 10-year yield fell seven basis points to 4.98%, and the two-year yield dropped 7.5 basis points to 4.66%. The implied probability of a December rate hike fell below 80%, after nearing 90% the previous day. Bitcoin’s rebound diverged from the equity downturn, suggesting some investors may have shifted capital towards crypto during market stress. US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded three straight days of inflows totalling about $424 million; Tuesday’s inflow was $176 million, with BlackRock’s IBIT leading. The move offers a potentially supportive signal for Bitcoin, though the article does not establish a lasting safe-haven trend.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) traded near $0.00000484 on October 29, down 2.6% for the day and 13.4% over the past month. The decline pushed SHIB below the key $0.000005 level and toward its 2026 lows. A technical reading put immediate support near $0.00000480 and resistance around $0.00000503; the relative strength index was about 38, signalling weak momentum but not confirming a market bottom. For a stronger recovery, SHIB would need to reclaim $0.000005 and hold above resistance. Further potential resistance levels are $0.00000519–$0.00000535, followed by around $0.000006. A drop below $0.00000480 could expose support near $0.00000462 and the $0.00000410–$0.00000420 zone. Shibarium’s development and SHIB token burns have not yet offset selling pressure. Shibarium uses BONE for transaction fees, so increased network activity does not necessarily create direct demand for SHIB. Although nearly 298 million SHIB were reportedly burned in one period in early October, that amount is small compared with the roughly 589 trillion tokens in circulation. Price levels are conditional technical scenarios, not guaranteed targets.

PEPE rose more than 11% over 24 hours, reaching a high of 0.00000568 USDT. It was later trading at 0.00000540 USDT, according to OKX market data. The move points to strong short-term momentum in PEPE, though the report gives no specific catalyst.

Polymarket Perps has launched ANTHROPIC-USD, a pre-IPO perpetual contract tracking Anthropic’s valuation. The contract supports up to 10x leverage, trades 24/7 and settles in pUSD. Its reference price is Hyperliquid’s io:ANT market. Polymarket Perps plans to convert the contract into a standard perpetual after Anthropic completes an IPO. The launch gives traders leveraged exposure to Anthropic’s pre-listing valuation, but also carries the risks of high leverage and pricing uncertainty before a public listing.

MetaMask has made Stellar the default network on its mobile app and browser extension. Existing multichain accounts will receive Stellar addresses derived from their recovery phrases. MetaMask users can access XLM, USDC and Soroban tokens through the integration. The change broadens access to the Stellar network, though the announcement did not provide details on a rollout timeline or expected user numbers.

Securitize plans to integrate the Stellar network into its institutional infrastructure for issuing and managing tokenized financial assets. Announced on October 28 at Meridian 2026 in Lisbon, the planned Stellar integration is intended to give asset managers more blockchain options. No specific Stellar-based product or launch date has been announced. For XLM traders, the development adds an institutional adoption narrative, but it does not establish new revenue for the network or prove that asset managers or investors will need to buy XLM. The announcement also does not imply unrestricted trading of tokenized securities, which may remain subject to investor eligibility and transfer rules. The next indicators to watch are a named product, its launch timeline, and evidence of actual issuance, subscriptions, redemptions or other usage. Until those details emerge, the Stellar integration is an infrastructure milestone rather than evidence of measurable network activity or investment returns.

Solana has integrated with Polygon’s Open Money Stack, adding payment services for businesses operating on the Solana network. Solana Foundation President Lily Liu marked the announcement with the phrase “unblocked and unmuted,” but did not explain its context or describe any prior dispute between the teams. The Polygon integration connects bank deposits, cards and other funding methods with wallets, asset conversion and payouts. Businesses can accept or convert stablecoins and other supported assets, including USDC, USDT and PYUSD, and route funds across Solana, TRON and Ethereum-compatible networks. The service also offers virtual accounts and embedded wallets, while allowing companies to keep their existing compliance and settlement providers. Polygon says its U.S. payments business has 37 state money transmitter licences and 11 applicable exemptions. The launch follows Polygon’s August rollout of Trails, its cross-chain routing service, and comes after Solana appointed former Polygon Labs executive Jamal Raees to lead payments. The article also reports that Solana processed more than $5 trillion in stablecoin transaction volume during 2026, citing a Solana executive. The integration could make it easier for businesses to use Solana for stablecoin payments and connect those transfers to traditional bank accounts. It expands payment infrastructure rather than announcing a new token or a change to Solana’s protocol.

Coinbase tokenized stocks have surpassed $4 billion in cumulative decentralised exchange (DEX) trading volume on Base, according to the latest figures. Volume grew from tens of millions of dollars after launch on August 24, 2026, to more than $1 billion by mid-September, $2.26 billion by October 11 and over $3 billion by October 19. Coinbase also reported $1.5 billion in Base DEX trading over a 30-day period, up 313% from the previous 30 days. More than $260 million of Coinbase tokenized stocks is now deployed in Base DeFi protocols, up from about $14.66 million at the start of 2026. The tokens represent fractional shares in companies such as Apple and Nvidia, and can be traded on decentralised exchanges or used as loan collateral. Aerodrome accounted for 76% to 98% of trading during key periods, while Aave was among the protocols receiving deposits. The activity points to growing use of Base-based markets and on-chain equities, but does not establish increased demand for Coinbase shares or crypto assets more broadly. The tokens are described as backed one-for-one by shares held in regulated custody, but are available only to eligible non-US users, with the custody arrangement regulated in Abu Dhabi. These access and jurisdiction limits remain relevant risks for traders.

Tokenized stocks need more than 24/7 trading to attract larger trades, Gravity Team CEO Mārtiņš Beņķītis said. Market makers need enough capital to manage inventory and hedge risk when traditional exchanges are closed. Reliable redemption into underlying shares, predictable settlement and access to securities are also essential to keep token prices close to stock prices. An October report by the International Monetary Fund found tokenized equities are significantly less liquid than traditional stocks and have about 1.5 times their realized volatility. Weekend trading and lower trading volumes can contribute to sharper price deviations. Stablecoin conversion and local banking restrictions may add costs, particularly in emerging markets. Separately, 38 public companies have objected to having tokenized shares represented on OKXICE, a proposed venue backed by OKX and Intercontinental Exchange. The platform plans around-the-clock trading with stablecoin settlement under the SEC’s Innovation Exemption. The objections highlight issuer acceptance as another challenge for tokenized stock markets.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) plans to launch binary options on 12 securities, including Nvidia, Apple, Tesla and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF. The contracts offer a fixed payout if a share closes above or below a set price; otherwise, they expire worthless. NYSE expects trading to begin within days of its October 27 announcement. The NYSE binary options plan also includes proposed contracts tied to company results, such as revenue and earnings per share. These KPI options would pay $1 or zero, but still need SEC approval. Rival exchange Cboe has authorization for similar products. The move comes amid record activity in prediction markets. Kalshi reported about $65 billion in October-to-date volume, while Polymarket US recorded roughly $10 billion. Robinhood generated $173 million in prediction-market revenue in the third quarter, surpassing its $120 million in crypto transaction revenue. NYSE’s securities options would fall under SEC oversight, unlike federally regulated event derivatives on platforms such as Kalshi, which are overseen by the CFTC.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is closely monitoring prediction markets for fraud and securities violations, with insider trading and market manipulation among its main concerns. SEC enforcement director David Woodcock said the agency expects to take enforcement action in the sector. He added that trades tied to public companies’ key performance indicators or earnings data could fall under SEC jurisdiction. Prediction markets including Kalshi and Polymarket’s US business are currently primarily overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The comments raise the prospect of closer regulatory scrutiny for prediction market trading.

Glassnode estimates that long-term holders own about 4 million Bitcoin bought between $85,000 and $118,000, mostly in 2025. At current prices, the holdings are worth about $326 billion and are at a loss. Glassnode defines long-term holders as addresses that have held Bitcoin for more than 155 days. The $84,000–$85,000 range has turned Bitcoin lower four times this year. Since January, Bitcoin has closed above that zone on only five days. A recovery toward holders’ cost basis could prompt some to sell to break even, creating potential resistance. US spot Bitcoin ETFs have an estimated average cost basis of $81,500–$82,000. Glassnode puts ETF investors’ average unrealized losses at about $2.63 billion as of Monday; the estimate tracks fund flows and excludes the cost basis of secondary-market buyers. The concentration of underwater Bitcoin holdings may therefore weigh on rallies, although actual selling will depend on market conditions.

Standard Asset Company (SAC) has announced a planned $1.5 billion strategy combining a Bitcoin reserve with investments in UAE real estate. The company has not disclosed how the capital will be divided between the two areas or provided a purchase timeline. Coinbase Asset Management will exclusively manage SAC’s Bitcoin holdings. The plan describes phased Bitcoin purchases based on valuation and liquidity, alongside a managed-yield strategy that considers liquidity and counterparty risks. Proceeds could support further Bitcoin purchases and selected property investments, including UAE hospitality assets and branded residences. SAC lists Dubai royal family member Sheikh Mohammed Bin Maktoum Bin Juma Al Maktoum among its advisers and shareholders, alongside former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and Coinbase Institutional co-CEO Brett Tejpaul. The company is registered in Abu Dhabi Global Market as a proprietary investment company. Its disclosures say it is not licensed to provide financial services to third parties and do not promise returns.