Crypto News

Moody’s Ratings has assigned Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin an A2 long-term and P-1 short-term deposit rating, making it the first stablecoin rated investment grade by the agency. The assessment covers reserve quality, coverage, liquidity, custody, legal safeguards and redemption operations. It evaluates credit and operational risks; it does not guarantee that RLUSD will always trade at $1 or ensure instant access to dollars. RLUSD reserves consist mainly of cash and short-term US government assets. BNY holds most of the reserves, while issuer Standard Custody & Trust Company targets 103% reserve coverage. Eligible holders can generally redeem at face value within two full business days after a valid request. Moody’s notes that the reserves are set aside for holders, but the issuer is not bankruptcy-remote and holders do not directly own the assets. Redemptions could be delayed in bankruptcy, and legal, operational and cyber risks remain. The rating followed the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s final approval of a national trust bank charter for Ripple. Launched in December 2024, RLUSD has a market capitalisation of about $2.5 billion. The rating may help RLUSD meet institutional risk and approval requirements, but its effect on adoption and supply remains uncertain. Moody’s could lower the rating if reserve quality, coverage, liquidity or redemption performance weakens. A2 is investment grade but below many major bank deposit ratings; RLUSD is not a bank deposit and is not covered by deposit insurance.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), owner of the New York Stock Exchange, plans to develop a US-regulated perpetual futures market with Trade[XYZ] using Hyperliquid infrastructure. ICE will make a strategic minority investment in Trade[XYZ], although the amount was not disclosed. The proposed 24/7 contracts could track cryptocurrencies, equities, indexes, commodities and foreign exchange, with US access subject to regulatory approval and KYC/AML checks. An ICE-OKX joint venture is among the potential distribution channels, but its regulatory status is also pending. Trade[XYZ] says its Hyperliquid markets have processed more than $650 billion in cumulative volume over the past year. Investor Stanley Druckenmiller also disclosed an investment in Trade[XYZ], while Elon Musk amplified his post. HYPE rose by double digits around the announcement, and prediction-market odds of HYPE reaching $100 by the end of 2026 increased to 66% from 24% a day earlier. The proposal does not confirm whether HYPE will be used as collateral or for payments. For HYPE traders, the partnership signals a potential institutional route into the US market, but approvals, launch timing and token utility remain uncertain.

Singapore police say users lost about S$3.5 million (US$2.7 million) in at least two cases involving tampered Ledger hardware wallets. The first case dates to September 10, before Ledger publicly warned on October 9 that compromised devices had appeared in the CryptoBilis supply chain. The investigation is at an early stage, and it is unclear when the September case was reported. Ledger says there is no evidence its own systems were compromised and has asked retailers in several Asian markets to suspend sales while investigations continue. The Singapore cases form part of a wider supply-chain security concern. Bitquery estimated that suspected losses linked to devices sold through CryptoBilis reached about US$102 million across 335 wallets on five blockchains. Authorities advise users to stop using suspicious devices, never enter recovery phrases on them and move remaining funds to a trusted wallet with a newly generated recovery phrase. Alongside the Ledger hardware wallet concerns, Asian digital-asset initiatives continue: Malaysia and Thailand joined Singapore’s BLOOM cross-border payments initiative, which explores stablecoins and tokenized deposits. South Korea is considering delaying its planned 22% crypto gains tax until 2029; Hong Kong named Nasdaq-listed Solana Company a strategic enterprise; and China aims to build a national blockchain network by 2030. The wallet cases highlight security risks but have no clear direct effect on broader crypto prices.

Franklin Templeton has launched two Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin DRIP ETFs, FBEQ and FIBT, combining U.S. equities with rules-based bitcoin exposure. Both funds begin with an approximate 95% allocation to stocks and 5% to bitcoin, using dividends to build bitcoin exposure rather than reinvesting them in additional shares. The Bitcoin DRIP ETFs do not hold bitcoin directly; exposure may be gained through an affiliated exchange-traded product and derivatives, including futures, options or depositary receipts. FBEQ tracks large-cap U.S. stocks and charges a 0.09% annual fee. Its rules reduce bitcoin exposure to 4.5% at quarterly reviews if it exceeds 5%; if it rises above 20% between reviews, it is cut to 4.5% within two business days. FIBT tracks about 100 large Nasdaq-listed U.S. companies, excluding financial firms, and charges 0.19%. The launch offers a regulated way to combine U.S. equities and bitcoin, but actual bitcoin purchases depend on dividend income and allocation rules. With a 5% initial weighting, the near-term effect on BTC demand is likely limited.

Coinbase added Ripple USD (RLUSD) to its consumer app, Coinbase Exchange and Coinbase Prime on October 28. Eligible customers can deposit and withdraw RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, Ethereum and Base, with a 1:1 conversion rate from US dollars and eligible dollar stablecoins. Ripple says RLUSD’s market value has exceeded $2.4 billion since its December 2024 launch. The wider exchange access expands RLUSD’s distribution, and Ripple plans to provide liquidity for the stablecoin on Base. Coinbase says Global Exchange access and RLUSD collateral support may follow, but timing and terms have not been disclosed. RLUSD is issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, with BNY serving as its primary reserve custodian; Ripple says its reserves include dollar deposits, short-term US Treasuries and cash equivalents. Listing and transfer access do not guarantee direct redemption, which depends on eligibility, platform rules, liquidity and banking arrangements. The listing is not a direct signal for XRP: RLUSD and XRP are separate assets. Traders can monitor RLUSD liquidity, trading depth, network balances and real-world use, while checking regional availability, network fees and redemption terms.

Robinhood reported record third-quarter revenue of $1.42 billion, up 12% year on year, as prediction markets, options and equities offset weaker crypto trading. Crypto revenue was $120 million, down 55% from a year earlier, although it rose 20% quarter on quarter. Robinhood Chain contributed $26 million in its first quarter on mainnet; excluding the new Ethereum Layer 2 network, crypto revenue would have fallen 6% quarter on quarter. The chain, built with Arbitrum technology, processed more than $80 billion in decentralised exchange volume and generated over $50 million in fees. Traditional crypto transaction revenue was $94 million, down 6% quarter on quarter despite a 23% rise in trading volume to about $49.8 billion. Prediction-market event contracts generated $173 million, surpassing crypto revenue. Robinhood’s net income fell 14%; the latest report put it at $415 million, partly reflecting a $67 million unrealised loss on its Ventures Fund I portfolio. The company also agreed to use Ripple’s RLUSD for international settlement, treasury operations, trading and financing. Early fourth-quarter average daily volumes across equities, options and crypto were about 5% below the strong third-quarter pace. The results show Robinhood crypto revenue increasingly depends on new infrastructure while its traditional crypto trading business remains under pressure.

Google has introduced its Multi-Party Compute (MPC) crypto custody platform for banks and other financial institutions. The service splits private-key shares across customer hardware and multiple cloud environments, so no single party holds the complete key. Institutions can set signing thresholds, such as 2-of-3 or 5-of-7, and use policy checks for spending limits, approved addresses and multi-person authorization. Signers can override a policy denial. The MPC crypto custody service is in private preview, with broader commercial availability targeted for early 2027. Google says unnamed financial institutions are testing it, while Alphabet uses the technology to protect digital assets on Ethereum and Solana; the holdings were not disclosed. Planned support includes ECDSA for Bitcoin and Ethereum and Ed25519 for Solana. The launch puts Google in competition with institutional custody providers such as BitGo, Fordefi and Fireblocks. Pricing has not been announced.

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.

Strive bought 6,182 BTC for about $511.4 million between October 17 and 23, its largest Bitcoin purchase to date. The SEC filing put the average all-in price at $82,732 per BTC, raising the company’s holdings from 36,818 to 43,000 BTC. That follows a rapid October expansion from 28,000 BTC at September’s end. Strive reported $504.4 million in cash and cash equivalents on October 23, up $186.9 million in a week, while its total Bitcoin holdings had cost about $3.8 billion at an average of roughly $87,785 per BTC. Bitcoin was trading near $81,000, below that average cost. Strive also announced a $1 billion at-the-market programme for its 15% Series A Perpetual SATS preferred stock, alongside reported preferred-stock fundraising. However, disclosures do not establish that these financing measures funded the Bitcoin purchase. The acquisition adds to corporate Bitcoin demand, but price volatility, financing costs and potential dilution remain risks.

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.

Bybit says its Dubai entity, Bybit Fintech FZE, has secured a Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) licence for exchange services, including spot trading. The approval applies to the named local entity, not all Bybit products or global users; derivatives are not covered and require separate approval. Bybit announced the licence on October 22, 2026, while VARA’s register gives a June 20 licence date. A report said the listing still showed “Pending” on announcement day, leaving the status timeline unclear. The licence concludes a process that began with provisional approval in March 2022. Bybit also holds a UAE federal licence issued by the Securities and Commodities Authority in October 2025, and says it plans to seek approval for Dubai derivatives services. The regulatory progress follows the February 2025 theft of nearly $1.5 billion in ETH and other tokens from Bybit, which the FBI attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. The licence could support Bybit’s local operations and institutional relationships, but traders should watch for clarification of the VARA listing, customer eligibility and any further product approvals.

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.

Bitcoin fell below $80,000 on October 26, reaching an intraday low of roughly $79,279–$79,332 before trading near $79,950. The move keeps the $79,000–$80,000 area in focus and comes ahead of the Federal Reserve’s October 28 decision and September PCE inflation data due October 29. Leverage remains a source of volatility. Bitcoin futures saw about $32.2 million in liquidations over 24 hours, around 84% from long positions. A broader sell-off on October 24 triggered $436.4 million in crypto-market liquidations in four hours, with 92.6% from longs. Bitcoin open interest was about $53.79 billion, and a liquidation heatmap showed potential long liquidations near $79,310. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $773.5 million in outflows on October 22–23, but still had net inflows of $301.2 million across the five-session week. The mixed figures suggest demand has weakened on some days but remains positive for the week overall. Key levels are estimates, not guaranteed support or forecasts. Glassnode’s October 21 research put previous buying around $80,000–$81,500 and its True Market Mean near $77,600; Bitfinex had identified $79,821 as a possible liquidation trigger. A sustained break lower would be more concerning alongside heavier spot selling, further ETF outflows, thin order-book bids and forced long closures. Traders are also watching $75,000 and $70,000 as conditional downside scenarios. A sustained recovery above $80,000–$82,000, backed by spot buying and steadier ETF flows, would ease immediate downside concerns. Bitcoin traders should monitor daily closes, ETF flows, leverage and upcoming macro data rather than treat an intraday break as confirmation of a crash.

US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw heavy withdrawals late in the week: Thursday’s $635.6 million outflow was followed by $137.9 million on Friday, bringing reported two-day withdrawals to about $773.5 million. Yet Bitcoin ETFs still recorded roughly $301 million in weekly net inflows, ending a two-week run of weekly losses. October outflows reached about $314 million, while cumulative net inflows stood at $57.6 billion. Ethereum ETFs took in $4.4 million on Friday but lost about $221 million over the week and roughly $1.18 billion in October. Solana ETFs recorded no net flows Friday and remained down about $68 million for the month. In the latest snapshot, Bitcoin fell about 1.1% over 24 hours to around $80,490, with Ether and Solana also lower. Myriad traders raised the odds of Bitcoin falling to $77,500 by month-end to 43%, from 32% a day earlier. The outflows and weaker price outlook signal cautious sentiment, although Bitcoin ETFs’ positive weekly total and large cumulative inflows suggest institutional demand has not disappeared.

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.

South Korea’s KOSPI came under sharp selling pressure, with separate Gate data reports showing different market snapshots. An earlier report said the index fell below 6,000 and dropped 5.59% intraday, while a later report put its decline at 4%. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix also fell: the earlier figures showed losses of more than 6% and 7%, respectively, compared with 5% and 4% in the later report. No specific cause was identified. The KOSPI decline signals weakness in South Korean stocks and the technology sector, but neither report cited a direct link to cryptocurrency prices or trading.

France’s crypto tax proposal advanced after the National Assembly approved an amendment by 38 votes to 37; only 100 of 577 deputies voted. It would tax gains from swaps of crypto assets into qualifying MiCA-defined e-money tokens, including euro- or other currency-pegged stablecoins, from 1 January 2027 at France’s 31.4% flat rate on crypto disposals. The France crypto tax amendment would calculate gains using the acquisition cost of the specific assets sold, with a one-time choice for holdings acquired before 2027. Deputies rejected a proposal to carry crypto losses forward for 10 years. The measure is not law: it remains part of a contested budget bill, with further National Assembly consideration expected from 3 November and the Senate able to remove it. Industry representatives warn the tax could discourage regulated stablecoin use and push some traders toward offshore exchanges, peer-to-peer trading or DeFi. If enacted, it could raise the cost of stablecoin conversions and complicate trading and portfolio rebalancing, but the final rules remain uncertain.

Mt. Gox has delayed creditor repayments by one year, moving the deadline from October 31, 2026, to October 31, 2027. Approved by a Tokyo court, the extension applies to Base Repayment, Early Lump-Sum Repayment and Intermediate Repayment. The trustee said some creditors have not completed required procedures or have encountered processing problems, but did not disclose how many remain affected or when individual cases will be resolved. The Mt. Gox repayment delay is the fourth annual extension since the original 2023 deadline; about 19,500 creditors have already received repayments. Arkham data cited by Decrypt showed around 34,388 BTC, worth roughly $2.8 billion, in Mt. Gox-linked wallets on October 20. The estate had made no reported transfers since moving 10,422.65 BTC in June, a transfer that did not indicate a sale or a new repayment round. The Mt. Gox repayment delay postpones uncertainty around potential creditor distributions but provides no new payment schedule. The remaining Bitcoin could draw attention to possible future selling, although the holdings are relatively small compared with current market liquidity and trading volumes.

Strive bought 4,045 Bitcoin between October 12 and 16, lifting its reported holdings to 36,818 BTC. A later SEC filing detailed a 1,223 BTC purchase from October 14 to 16 for about $100 million, at an average price of $81,734; the company had bought another 2,822 BTC earlier that week. The total spending was reported at roughly $335 million, with an average purchase price of about $82,803 per coin. Strive partly financed its buying through warrant exercises that raised about $369.2 million and issued 13.67 million Class A shares, increasing its share count by about 13.5% in a week. It also priced a $630 million offering of 15% SATS perpetual preferred stock, expected to settle on October 20. The purchases reinforce Strive’s Bitcoin treasury strategy and make it one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin holders. For traders, the accumulation is a notable corporate-demand signal, but its effect on Bitcoin may be limited; dilution and financing costs are risks for Strive shareholders, not direct evidence of Bitcoin’s future price direction.

Circle generated about $1.4 billion in revenue and reserve income in the first half of 2026, but retained only around $103 million in net profit. Distribution partner payments and transaction costs reached $819 million, with another $473 million spent on operations, infrastructure and other expenses—leaving roughly seven cents of profit per revenue dollar. Reserve income is central to Circle’s earnings: it accounted for about 95% of second-quarter revenue and brought in $668 million, even as the average reserve yield fell 66 basis points year over year. The results leave Circle’s profitability exposed to interest rates and USDC circulation. Circle shares reserve income with platforms that distribute USDC; Coinbase-linked average USDC balances rose 44% year over year to $20 billion in the second quarter. Circle also signed a five-year commercial agreement with Binance in September, though it has not disclosed partner-by-partner payments. The costs support a broad network: Circle operates across more than 35 blockchains, works with over 25 banks and has more than 150 distribution participants. USDC on-chain transaction volume exceeded $36 trillion in the first half of 2026, while its share of global stablecoin trading volume rose to 77% in June from 60% a year earlier. Competition is intensifying: Open USD, launched in June, offers free minting and redemption and shares reserve income with participants. For traders, Circle’s figures show strong USDC adoption but also highlight competition over fees and reserve income, as well as sensitivity to rates and circulation.

Strategy raised its preferred securities buyback authorization by $1 billion to $3 billion, covering STRC, STRF, STRK and STRD. During the week ended October 18, it spent $193.1 million repurchasing 1,938,780 STRC shares—nearly nine times the $22.1 million spent on Bitcoin. About $1.16 billion remains available, but the authorization does not require further purchases. Strategy also bought 267 BTC at an average price of about $82,900, bringing its holdings to 848,517 BTC. The company reported a total Bitcoin acquisition cost of about $64.02 billion, or an average of $75,446 per coin. Most of the latest Bitcoin purchase was funded by selling MSTR shares, while the STRC buyback used existing cash. As of October 18, Strategy held $4.83 billion in a USD Reserve and $447.3 million in USD Cash. The latest figures show Strategy continues Bitcoin accumulation, although its weekly preferred securities buyback was much larger than its BTC purchase—a capital-allocation and liquidity signal traders may monitor.

Cysic suspended its cross-chain bridge after an attacker exploited it on 17 October to mint 10 million unauthorised CYS tokens on BNB Chain—about 1% of the token’s total supply. Cysic said its mainnet was not affected and users’ existing wallet assets were not directly taken. The Cysic bridge exploit involved a false minting request submitted after the attacker accessed a database supporting the bridge; the precise access method and validation failure remain under investigation. Within about 28 minutes, the attacker sold roughly 7.2 million CYS for USDT and BNB, then moved the proceeds across chains and received about 306.6 ETH, worth approximately $727,000 at the time. Cysic blocked the receiving address around 76 minutes after minting, with about 2.8 million unauthorised tokens remaining. The project has not announced how it will handle the tokens or any resulting losses. The Cysic bridge incident may weigh on CYS prices in the short term as traders assess potential dilution, liquidity risks and the project’s response. Longer-term effects will depend on the investigation and remediation; the bridge suspension alone does not indicate that Cysic’s wider network was compromised.

TSMC reported record third-quarter 2026 revenue of NT$1.494 trillion, up 50.9% year over year and 17.6% from the previous quarter. Net income rose 68.7% to NT$763.06 billion, beating analyst expectations. AI-related high-performance computing accounted for 68% of revenue. Chips made on 7nm and more advanced processes contributed 79% of wafer revenue, including 33% from 3nm; 2nm technology’s share rose to 8% from 3% in Q2. TSMC forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $52.3 billion to $54.3 billion and expects 2026 revenue to grow about 44% in US dollar terms. Gross margin eased to 66.4% from 67.7% in Q2, while capital expenditure guidance remained at $60 billion to $64 billion. The company plans to expand 3nm capacity in Taiwan and has committed an additional $100 billion to investment in Arizona. Management flagged uncertainty about 2027, and TSMC shares fell after the results despite the strong figures. Traders will watch TSMC’s Q4 guidance, the 2nm production ramp and investment execution for signals about AI chip and data-centre demand. The results may inform broader technology-sector sentiment, but the reports identify no direct effect on cryptocurrency prices or markets.

HEX plunged nearly 30% after early reports said founder Richard Heart, legally known as Richard James Schueler, had been detained in Istanbul. Later reports said Turkish authorities arrested him on Wednesday, following an Interpol Red Notice requested by Finland over alleged crypto fraud. Authorities said they seized more than $7 million in cash, along with electronic devices, firearms, ammunition, drones and luxury goods. The arrest has renewed scrutiny of HEX, PulseChain and PulseX. In 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission accused Heart and companies he controlled of raising more than $1 billion through unregistered crypto offerings and alleged that at least $12 million was misused. A federal judge dismissed the case in 2025 on jurisdictional grounds, and the SEC did not amend its complaint. The allegations have not been established as fact. HEX fell nearly 50% in less than 24 hours on October 14, from about $0.00090 to $0.00046, before recovering to around $0.00060. The sharp move highlights elevated volatility and legal uncertainty for HEX traders; reports so far indicate the selling has been concentrated in HEX, with no clear broader-market effect.

US and international authorities have dismantled infrastructure used in a crypto scam targeting Russian-speaking investors across the country. In a three-year investigation, officials found that operators used Facebook ads and fake investment platforms to persuade victims to send cryptocurrency, then blocked withdrawals or demanded extra fees and taxes. Some victims were later contacted by scammers posing as asset-recovery services and asked for more money. On 14 October, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said the operation shut down 112 servers and 241 websites, disrupting systems used to run the crypto scam and target victims again. Investigators believe the network stole tens of millions of dollars, while authorities have seized about $300,000 so far. No arrests or victim repayments were announced. The takedown may make it harder for the operators to launch replacement sites or reuse victim data, but it does not establish that stolen funds will be recovered.

Blur will shut down its blur.io front end on November 12, while its NFT marketplace protocol will remain operational on-chain. On the same date, Blend will stop matching new loans; existing borrowers must repay by the deadline or risk default. Blur says it plans to offer a withdrawal tool afterward, but has not provided details. The move follows a steep decline in activity: monthly trading volume was about $12 million in September, and fell from roughly $1.43 billion in March 2023 to less than $7 million in March 2026, according to the reports. Protocol fees have also nearly disappeared over the past 30 days, although BLUR holders retain control of the fee switch. After the announcement, BLUR dropped more than 30% in 24 hours, from $0.018 to $0.0127, and Upbit flagged the token for a trading warning and suspended deposits and withdrawals. The shutdown does not immediately close Blur’s on-chain marketplace, but the loss of its main interface and new lending activity may further weaken user demand and confidence in BLUR.

Evernorth Holdings completed its merger with Armada Acquisition Corp. II and began trading on Nasdaq as XRPN on 12 October. Shares opened at $16.68, climbed to $19.39 and closed regular trading at $16.91, up about 1.4%, with roughly 1.29 million shares traded. The stock later reached $17.49 in after-hours trading. The deal and related private placements raised more than $1 billion, including about $300 million in gross cash proceeds, and drew support from Ripple, SBI Group, Kraken and Pantera Capital. Evernorth holds about 473 million XRP. Led by former Ripple executive Asheesh Birla, it plans to manage the XRP treasury through strategies that may include lending, providing automated market-maker liquidity, options and investment in XRP Ledger infrastructure. It has also discussed using the RLUSD stablecoin in XRP-focused DeFi. The company aims to increase the XRP represented by each share, a model compared with Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy. XRPN’s debut offers institutions that may not be able to hold crypto directly a listed route to XRP exposure, but it does not guarantee demand for XRP or growth in its ecosystem. On the first trading day, XRPN rose while XRP fell 3.5%. XRP was around $1.37, down nearly 9% over seven days and about 62% below its $3.65 all-time high. Analyst Scott Melker said the launch could test demand for crypto treasury stocks after the sector’s speculative boom cooled. Evernorth has also disclosed about $233.7 million in digital-asset impairment for 2025, while cumulative net inflows to XRP spot ETFs have reached $1.8 billion. The longer-term prospects for XRPN and its XRP treasury depend on asset returns, operating performance and sustained investor demand.