Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

An early Bitcoin address first funded in September 2013 shifted 411.45 BTC, currently valued at approximately $33.4 million, to a new wallet on Sunday. This marks the first-ever outgoing transaction for the long-dormant account and adds to a recent uptick in activity among old Bitcoin wallets.

Whale movement traced to lawsuit over abandoned walletsThe address, which begins with “13Coop,” had not sent any Bitcoin since it was first loaded on September 11, 2013, according to data from both Galaxy Research and analytics platform Arkham. At the time, Bitcoin prices hovered around $130, making the initial value of the 411.45 BTC roughly $54,000. Galaxy analysts calculated the wallet’s average cost basis at about $127 per coin, giving the owner an unrealized gain of more than 64,000% after 13 years of inactivity.

The transferred coins are now located in a single, newly created address. Blockchain data shows no evidence that the receiver is linked to any known cryptocurrency exchange, leaving it unclear whether the funds are being prepared for sale or will remain dormant.

Galaxy Research tagged the sending address as “Noah Doe #970,” placing it among 39,069 dormant wallets named in a lawsuit filed earlier this year in New York by a plaintiff using the pseudonym Noah Doe, alongside two Wyoming-based firms.

Mini dictionary: Galaxy Research, the analytics arm of digital asset financial services firm Galaxy Digital, is known for tracking long-term trends in Bitcoin address activity and providing blockchain analytics and research.

In the New York lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim approximately 3.8 million BTC held by dormant wallets should be considered abandoned property under state lost-and-found law. However, the plaintiffs do not possess the private keys for these wallets.

Testing the lawsuit’s claimsAccording to Galaxy Research, the activation of these old wallets undermines the legal case, as spending coins requires possession of the private keys. This evidence shows at least some targeted wallets remain in active ownership. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy, has observed a steady acceleration in the number of “Noah Doe” wallets showing on-chain activity month over month.

Galaxy also indicated that the wallet was one of those targeted in a 2025 “dusting” campaign. This scheme sent tiny amounts of Bitcoin embedded with messages to dormant addresses, possibly to help bolster the claim that such wallets were abandoned. Arkham analysis confirms a history of dust transactions, with some flagged as phishing attempts.

Every new transaction out of these addresses creates challenges for arguments that the wallets have been abandoned, according to industry observers.

Uptick in old coin movementsThe recent transfer joins a growing list of substantial sums moving out of long-inactive wallets. Data from Galaxy Research points to a notable acceleration in the awakening of Bitcoin’s oldest coins throughout 2026.

Barely a week ago, a Satoshi-era address mined in 2010 moved for the first time in 16 years. In late September, approximately $161 million in decade-old Bitcoin was shifted over two weeks. Last week, another whale moved $377 million after holding through all major market downturns since 2020.

This pattern indicates an emerging trend in the landscape of long-dormant crypto wallets and raises fresh questions about potential future movements as legal scrutiny intensifies.

Strategy bought the Bitcoin dip—again. The digital asset treasury giant disclosed Monday that it added more than $22 million worth of the cryptocurrency last week, as prices swung between roughly $80,000 and $84,000.

The latest purchase added 267 Bitcoin to Strategy’s total holdings, which are currently worth around $64 billion. The company also spent roughly $193 million buying back shares of STRC, one of its preferred stocks, which pays investors regular dividends. Its board also approved an additional $1 billion for preferred-share buybacks, bringing the total authorization to $3 billion.

Strategy’s latest acquisition comes a week after its previous purchase of $21 million worth of Bitcoin. Since August, the company has bought Bitcoin on six separate occasions, renewing its aggressive buying streak.

Its latest purchase comes amid sharp swings in Bitcoin’s price that briefly threatened to erase its gains over the past two months. In August, the cryptocurrency snapped its losing streak, climbing from roughly $63,000 to $77,000. By late September, it had topped $80,000 for the first time since May and reached a peak of about $86,000.

But over the past week, a series of tensions have fueled swings in Bitcoin’s price. Oil prices jumped Friday as attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz raised fears of supply disruptions, adding to inflation concerns. Prices fell Monday after President Donald Trump waived some Russia-related sanctions and tariffs, raising hopes that more fuel would reach global markets.

Technology stocks also sold off as investors questioned whether the AI boom could last. The Nasdaq fell more than 2% Friday, but regained most of those losses by Monday morning.

But Strategy’s latest purchase shows the company is continuing to build its holdings despite the market’s swings, in line with executive chairman Michael Saylor’s long-standing preference for holding Bitcoin. “You do not sell your Bitcoin,” he said last October.

Strategy briefly departed from that stance earlier this year, however, selling Bitcoin on four separate occasions during a bear market that pushed the cryptocurrency’s price as low as $58,000 in June.

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By Joseph Wilkins and Kirk Maltais

Bitcoin rebounded early in the day Monday, briefly crossing over $83,000 as falling U.S. Treasury yields and lower oil prices helped risk assets begin the week higher.

The flagship cryptocurrency pared gains later in the day, rising 1.2% to $81,844. Today's price action comes after a losing week that saw bitcoin fall as low as $80,112.

U.S. Treasury yields fell in Asian trade Monday, allowing yields to remain comfortably below recent multidecade highs at the long end of the curve. Oil prices also pulled back after Friday's gains as traders weighed a U.S. decision to waive newly imposed sanctions on Russia against persistent Middle East supply risks.

But cryptocurrency investors remain on edge, as metrics show that new buyers of bitcoin remain in short supply. Fund traders are not hungry for bitcoin exposure, with last week finishing with bitcoin ETFs having a net outflow of $228.4 million, according to data from Coinglass.

"The average ETF holder remains underwater relative to their estimated $84,358 cost basis," said analysts with Bitfinex in a note published Monday. The firm adds that increased leveraged bets on bitcoin by investors leaves bitcoin open to a new rush of liquidations, which if they materialized would bring the price below the $80,000 mark.

For 2027, many analysts said they expect bitcoin prices to climb back above the $100,000 mark. Such a rebound would likely provide support to gains in the wider crypto market, said Bret Kenwell, an analyst with eToro Group.

"A sustained rebound could help drive broader gains across the crypto space," said Kenwell in a note Monday.

Write to Joseph Wilkins at [email protected] and Kirk Maltais at [email protected]

Strive has expanded its Bitcoin reserves, securing 4,045 BTC worth about $335 million last week as the leading cryptocurrency traded just below $81,000. The latest move brings Strive’s total Bitcoin purchases over the last two months to 15,462 BTC, valued at $1.27 billion.

Broader accumulation continues despite price uncertaintyBlockchain analytics firm Lookonchain reported that Strive acquired 4,045 BTC at an average price of $82,803 during the most recent week. Over the previous two months, Strive bought 15,462 BTC at a cumulative average of $82,417 per coin.

The company’s ongoing accumulation comes as the Bitcoin market faces significant uncertainty. Market watchers have noted that while corporate purchases like this can signal institutional confidence in using Bitcoin as a treasury asset, they do not necessarily lead to immediate price gains. Factors such as liquidity shifts, broader investor sentiment, and activity in both spot and derivatives markets also continue to influence Bitcoin’s short-term trajectory.

Strive, an investment management firm, has become increasingly active in the digital asset sector, drawing attention for its sizable and steady Bitcoin acquisitions.

Mini dictionary: Lookonchain, a blockchain analytics and monitoring platform, tracks and analyzes flows of digital assets across major chains, providing real-time insights and transparency for institutional and retail investors.

Traders are closely watching whether Bitcoin can maintain support at $80,400 or recover above $82,500 to signal renewed strength.

Technical structure and price levels in focusAt present, Bitcoin is trading near $81,000. Technical analysis by Bitcoin Meraklisi, a widely followed cryptocurrency analyst, highlights a critical support level at $80,400 and resistance at $82,500. If Bitcoin’s price drops below the $80,400 threshold, the next downside target becomes $78,500. Conversely, a move above $82,500 could create space for upward momentum, with $84,400 regarded as the level where the current bearish price pattern would no longer hold.

The 2618 pattern, based on Fibonacci retracement and extension levels, remains valid according to the analyst, with $80,400 already tested as an initial support. Traders are waiting for confirmation of a breakout or breakdown to determine Bitcoin’s near-term direction.

LevelSignificance$80,400Key support$82,500Immediate resistance$84,400Bearish pattern invalidation$78,500Next downside targetDespite Strive’s aggressive buying, there is no clear indication that these corporate purchases provide a floor for Bitcoin’s price. Analysts caution that the current costs and strategies of large-scale buyers like Strive are only one factor in a complex market structure.

“The costs associated with institutional accumulation may not translate directly into price stability or new support levels, as market direction is influenced by several intertwined factors.”

Short-term outlook and market dynamicsStrive’s acquisitions illustrate the interest among institutions to build Bitcoin positions, even while prices remain volatile and technical signals appear mixed. Whether this trend continues among other investment managers is yet to be determined, as comprehensive data on industry-wide institutional inflows remains limited.

Traders are focused on watching daily closing prices, key technical levels, and any shifts in volumes or on-chain flows, which could provide further clues to market sentiment and trend durability.

The next decisive movement in Bitcoin’s price will likely provide stronger signals about whether current support holds or a new leg down is forthcoming. Both bulls and bears are closely tracking the $80,400 and $82,500 marks for actionable signs.

As institutional accumulation continues and technical volatility persists, Bitcoin’s market direction remains highly dynamic heading into the new week.

Two Bitcoin wallets dormant for more than 12 years moved about 417 BTC, worth $33.85 million, according to Lookonchain.

The movements brought Bitcoin held in the addresses for over a decade back into circulation between wallets. However, the available records do not say that anyone sold the coins or sent them to an exchange.

Two wallets account for the $33.85 million transfer
Arkham data show two main outgoing transfers. One address moved 248.854 BTC, valued at about $20.22 million, while the other transferred 167.84 BTC, worth around $13.63 million. Together, those transactions were 416.694 BTC.

The data also show earlier incoming transactions dating back roughly 12 and 13 years. For the larger wallet, the 248.854 BTC received was valued at about $88,460.

Moving Bitcoin does not confirm a sale
A crypto wallet transfer takes record of coins moving between addresses. But the transaction alone cannot tell why they moved or whether ownership changed.

In this case, the data does not identify the holders or show what they want to do. It also does not show exchange destination, which would suggest that the coins were being prepared for sale.

What can then be concluded defensibly is that two addresses associated with long-held Bitcoin saw huge outgoing transfers.

Bitcoin steadies near $82,000 after its pullback
Bitcoin traded around $82,152 at the time of this writing, following a retreat from recent highs near the $87,000 price area.

At the time of this writing, there were smaller price swings around the $81,000–$83,000 price level. This suggests that the decline had slowed down, but Bitcoin was yet to show a clear recovery sign.

Source: TradingView
The nearby area around $82,500 remained an initial hurdle, while the $80,000–$80,500 below it is an area to watch. If it is able to hold that lower area, it would help it preserve the recent stabilization it is seeing.

Final Summary

Lookonchain reported two long-dormant wallets moving about 417 BTC, worth $33.85 million.
Bitcoin traded near the $82,152 price level, but there was no link between its price performance and the transfers.

Money determines where we live, what we can afford, and how wealth accumulates across generations. Yet the mechanisms that create and distribute it remain largely occluded, even as their consequences become harder to unsee. For Dutch artist Carlijn Kingma, investigative financial journalist Thomas Bollen, and monetary researcher Martijn Jeroen van der Linden, that disconnect became the impetus for The Waterworks of Money. This ambitious project maps the hidden architecture of the financial system through drawing and animation, rendering it understandable to the people living within it without flattening its complexity.

The Waterworks of Money depicts the financial system as a vast network of reservoirs, channels, and pumps, revealing how money moves through banks, governments, businesses, and households. Some areas receive an abundance of liquidity, while others remain perpetually dry. The resulting drawing operates simultaneously as an artwork, an educational tool, and an examination of financial power.

The project emerged from two years of research, including interviews with more than 100 experts across banking, government, academia, and monetary reform movements. Kingma spent more than 2,200 hours translating that research into an intricate architectural landscape. Bollen, whose investigative journalism examines the workings of the financial system, and van der Linden, whose academic research explores money and monetary reform, helped develop the economic research and narratives behind the work.

One of the project’s scenarios explores a monetary future shaped by bitcoin. As bitcoin enters traditional finance, an alternative monetary system either challenges existing structures of financial power or eventually becomes part of them, and the project’s collaborators have watched both happen.

Ahead of Bitcoin Amsterdam, November 5-6, where Bollen joins two panels, I sat down with all three of the project’s collaborators to discuss making money visible, the relationship between monetary systems and inequality, and bitcoin’s place in Europe’s financial future.

BMAG: The Waterworks of Money illustrates the financial system as a network of reservoirs, pumps, and channels, with some parts of society receiving abundant liquidity while others remain dry. After two years of research and interviews with financial experts, what surprised you most about how money actually works? What do you think the public most fundamentally misunderstands about it?

Thomas Bollen: What surprised me most is that many people inside the system know a great deal about their own corner of it: interest rate derivatives, asset management or mortgage lending. Very few of them can oversee the larger system in which they operate.

What is clearly not well understood is that banks create new money when they make a loan. They are not just intermediaries that pass on the savings of their depositors.

But can you blame ordinary people for that? During the research phase we spoke to many bankers and even a CEO of a major bank who did not know they were working for a money creating institution.

If we want to improve understanding we should start at our schools and universities. Many textbooks still get it wrong, and economics education hardly pays any attention to it. In 2022 even the Riksbank’s prize in economics (the Nobel prize that is not really a Nobel prize) was awarded for research that presents banks as mere intermediaries.

BMAG: One of the central ideas in The Waterworks of Money is that money doesn’t flow evenly through society. Housing affordability has become a major issue in Europe and the United States, while asset prices and financial wealth have increasingly outpaced wages. How much of this inequality results from the design of our monetary system, rather than broader economic forces?

Thomas Bollen: It is impossible to capture that in a precise number, because so many factors play a role. But it is quite clear that the money system exacerbated inequality enormously during all those years when credit was extremely cheap.

Ray Dalio, founder of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, summed it up in 2019: “Money is free for those who are creditworthy.” For everyone without money or creditworthiness, it was out of reach.

Cheap credit for rich people and large multinationals (who used it for share buybacks and M&A deals) drove up the price of shares, and of houses. Bank money creation produced a specific kind of inflation: asset inflation. Wealthy households and large multinationals, who already owned those assets, profited far more from it than people without them or small businesses that did not have the same kind of access to cheap credit as their larger competitors.

The Waterworks of Money, Carlijn Kingma 

BMAG: The Waterworks of Money is filled with details that help explain how the financial system works. What was the most difficult part of the monetary system to illustrate? Did anything you learned during the research change how you approached the drawing?

Carlijn Kingma: The biggest challenge was the way all the parts are connected. How do you show that clearly?

Water is the obvious metaphor for money, and it takes you a long way. Liquidity, cash flows, money drying up: they are already in the language of finance. It was also great for connecting the different parts of the system, because I could draw the pipes and canals that run between them.

But in some places you need more than that if you want to be completely accurate. Money comes in many forms: commodity money, public money, private credit money, and further out short-term debt and repo contracts can also serve as money or near-money. It was not possible to draw that many different kinds of water running through the system.

BMAG: The Waterworks of Money has been shown to both art audiences and people interested in economics, including at Bitcoin Amsterdam last year. Have you noticed differences in how these audiences respond to the work? Has their feedback influenced how you think about the role of art in explaining complex ideas?

Carlijn Kingma: The response depends on what people already know. Visitors with more financial knowledge usually laugh more, because they catch all the small jokes. We renamed Basel III to “Babel III”, for instance, because the bank rules written after the crisis add up to about three bibles.

In our bitcoin future scenario, The Republic of a Thousand Coins, we put in a lot of jokes about central bankers. You can see Alan Greenspan there as an inflatable doll. That works best if you know who he is, and the bitcoin crowd knows far more about monetary history than the general public.

Above all, we noticed that art opens doors. The drawing gives people a visual starting point for a conversation. Even without any prior knowledge, the metaphor lets you see the social outcomes of how money flows.

BMAG: Your research has examined how financial crises can reinforce the influence of institutions considered too important to fail. More recently, you’ve explored the growing power of asset managers such as BlackRock and Vanguard. Are we witnessing a genuine transformation in how financial power operates, or have the same underlying problems simply taken new forms since 2008?

Martijn Jeroen van der Linden: Following the crisis of 2008, there was a general consensus among mainstream policymakers, think tanks and many economists that the banking sector needed to be repaired. In Europe, the influential de Larosière Group concluded that the causes of the crisis were excessive leverage, opaque securitisation, shadow banking risks, and fragmented supervision in the EU, and argued that “repair is necessary and urgent.” The banking repair consisted of new and stricter regulations, stronger coordinated supervision and new crisis management procedures. The underlying architecture remained unaltered, meaning that fundamental change never occurred.

But the architecture remained fragile. Take, for example, 2023. When Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse got into trouble, the crisis playbooks developed after 2008 stayed in the drawer. The US authorities guaranteed all SVB deposits, including the more than 90 percent above the insured limit. In Switzerland, the state backed the rescue of Credit Suisse by UBS.

Advocates of banking repair often claim to have made the system safer. But the inherent fragility of funding long-term loans with runnable bank deposits is still there. Even with all the regulation, you cannot prevent a bank run, and that fragility is precisely what they refuse to solve. The banking system only survives because of massive public safety nets and privileges given to banks.

Large powerful non-banks have indeed emerged but they do not play a pivotal role in money and payments. This is a key distinction between the two sectors.

BMAG: Bitcoin began as an attempt to create money outside the control of governments and banks. Today, it’s increasingly held through investment funds and traditional financial institutions, including some of the same powerful asset managers examined in your recent work. Does this integration strengthen bitcoin’s ability to change the financial system, or risk reproducing the concentration of power it originally sought to challenge?

Martijn Jeroen van der Linden: As a financial asset, bitcoin has benefited from investments from traditional financial institutions. But the increasing use of bitcoin as an investment has compromised its promise of an alternative payment system.

At the same time, bitcoin and the rise of stablecoins have challenged the banks on their payment infrastructure. The banks are now innovating too: look at Wero, the payment wallet that a group of European banks launched in 2024. That is a change. But it is something different from the structural reform of money and banking.

BMAG: Your project imagines bitcoin as an alternative to the existing monetary system. Amsterdam also has a remarkable history of monetary experimentation, from the development of modern financial institutions to David Chaum’s pioneering work on private digital cash decades before bitcoin. Given that history, how do you see bitcoin’s role in Europe’s financial future? Has your perspective changed since you began working on the project?

Thomas Bollen: What I appreciate about bitcoin’s design is that it resembles full reserve banking. A bitcoin is not a claim on something else, so it carries no risk of a bank run. Bank deposits are: they are a promise that you can withdraw your money at any moment, while the bank can never keep that promise to all its customers at once.

We can learn a lot from our history. The Amsterdamsche Wisselbank, founded in 1609 and often seen as the world’s first central bank, started out as a full reserve bank: every bank guilder was backed by coins in its vault. It went under only after it secretly began lending more and more to the Dutch East India Company.

That is the risk of every monetary experiment: it can go in the wrong direction. In the crypto world, all kinds of companies started copying the banks. They lent out their customers’ bitcoins, while those customers still saw their coin-balances in their accounts. Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX shows how this practice can go horribly wrong.

Detail: Republic of a Thousand Coins, Carlijn Kingma 

Thomas Bollen will participate in two panel discussions at Bitcoin Amsterdam on November 6, 2026, on the Treasury Stage. Europe’s Monetary History & Future: Austrian Economics, Banks & Bitcoin (11:00–11:30 AM), alongside Rahim Taghizadegan and Willem Middelkoop, and Staat vs. de Markt: Hoeveel Overheid Hebben We Nodig in Geld? (1:55–2:25 PM), alongside Paul Buitink and Simon Lelieveldt.

Watch the full two-part animated exploration of The Waterworks of Money on YouTube and support the project by purchasing a signed, limited-edition print by Carlijn Kingma or making a donation toward its continued research at waterworksofmoney.com/buy.

The Bitcoin Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG) organizes international exhibitions, auctions, and artist collaborations exploring bitcoin and its cultural implications. Learn more at museum.b.tc.

Join us at Bitcoin Amsterdam, November 5–6, 2026. Get your tickets here and use code BA26-BMAG20 for discounted admission.

XRP and Bitcoin Price trends reflected improving sentiment as traders awaited the Federal Reserve’s October 27–28 interest rate meeting. 

Bitcoin traded near $81,700, while XRP remained above $1.30 as the overall cryptocurrency market recovered.

The overall market capitalization of cryptocurrencies increased 1.07% in 24 hours to reach 2.73 trillion during a wider relief rally.

FedWatch Puts October Rate Hold Probability at 82.8% CME FedWatch shows that traders prefer the Federal Reserve interest rates to remain at the same level during the October 28, 2026, meeting. The chart gives a probability of 82.8% to remain in the existing target range of 3.75% to 4.00.

fedwatch In the meantime, there is a 17.2% chance of an increase in the rates and a zero chance of a decrease. The target range would be increased to a quarter-percentage-point between 4.00% and 4.25%, which is an increase.

FedWatch computes these probabilities based on the prices of federal funds futures contracts, which are an expectation of the monetary policy by traders. The numbers reflect market anticipations and do not affirm the decision of the Federal Reserve.

Bitcoin Whales Add 88,987 BTC as Holdings Hit Six-Month High Bitcoin wallets with 10-10,000 BTC have added about 88, 987 coins within the last month, according to Santiment. Their combined holdings surpassed 13.69 million BTC, reaching the highest level since April.

Santiment data September 19 accumulation is an indication that there is increasing exposure of major holders even though the prices are volatile. Further accretion would help sustain confidence in cryptocurrency markets, but growing whale balances will not give any assurance of a Bitcoin price recovery.

Bitcoin and XRP Price Prediction: Key Levels and Targets to Watch The daily chart of Long-term BTC projection indicates the first level of resistance at $82,000, and a successful breakout would attract attention to $85,000. Additional gains may aim at the peak of September at $87,395 should renewed purchasing momentum be enhanced. Support is at $80,600, and a long run failure would push the focus to $79,000.

Source: TradingView XRP price must defend $1.29 to limit further losses after its recent decline. Any fall below that floor will open up $1.256 as the next lower point. The initial resistance to recovery attempts is at $1.35, $1.40, and $1.50. 

Recapturing such obstacles would enhance the prospects of XRP but its daily RSI of about 37 remains an indication of poor momentum. The two assets require increased buying power in order to maintain gains beyond their short-term resistance levels.

XRP, Bitcoin and Ethereum Funds Record Net Outflow As per the data provided by SoSoValue, XRP spot ETFs experienced net outflows of $2.47 million on October 16. Canary XRPC explained the withdrawals and total assets in the XRP funds were at 1.47 billion.

Source: Sosovalue data Bitcoin spot ETFs have registered net withdrawals of $229 million between October 1216, with the BlackRock IBIT registering 165 million. Ether funds showed greater withdrawals with the net outflows amounting to 320 million during the same reporting period.

The numbers represented the third week of outflows of Ethereum ETFs, continuing the trend of withdrawals. Combined, both Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs had $549 million withdraw their money over the five trading days.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Oct. 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pepeto has officially announced that its AI DeFi tools are ready, topping crypto news feeds this week, and the total raised has passed $11.2 million. Buyers walk in every day, and plenty of them walk in heavy. When money this experienced keeps choosing one new crypto, the market asks the only question that matters: what have these wallets understood ahead of everyone?

The market behind them is flashing the signal every trader waits for: a bull run setting up, with Bitcoin back above $82,000 and Michael Saylor expects Bitcoin price prediction to reach $1.000.000.

Bull runs carry a famous habit, meme coins surge hardest inside them, exactly the way Dogecoin did. Every trader remembers watching Dogecoin sit at $0.002 and doing nothing while $1,000 turned into $365,000.

Crypto News: Pepeto Announces Its AI DeFi Tools as Whale Moves Supports the $1M Bitcoin Price Prediction Target

Pepeto announced its AI DeFi tools this week, and what makes it a must watch is simple: it is a presale meme coin, the kind of crypto that explodes hardest in a bull run. And that bull run is getting closer, because the Bitcoin price prediction keeps turning more bullish by the week. Michael Saylor now says Bitcoin can reach $1,000,000 per coin, and that it is only a matter of time (Source: Forbes). Here is why: People around the world keep about $40 trillion in gold and bonds to protect their savings. Bitcoin does the same job, but so far it holds only 4% of that money. If just half of it moves into Bitcoin over the next ten years, that is $20 trillion going into only 21 million coins, and $20 trillion divided by 21 million comes out close to $1,000,000 per coin (source: Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan explains - CoinDesk).

But what about the whales, the wallets big enough to move the market? Are their moves supporting this prediction? Yes. Since late July, new buyers have quietly collected around 570,000 BTC at an average cost near $75,000, right through ETF selling and every dip, per Bitfinex data reported by Yahoo Finance on October 18, and another 888 BTC left Kraken the same day. That is why a drop under $80,000 healed overnight to $81,700: the whales push the price down to scare retail into selling, then buy those coins cheap, and the fear on every screen is the discount they created for themselves.

But their favorite move is a quieter one. Even if Bitcoin reaches $1,000,000 from $82,000, that is only a 12x over years of waiting, because the bigger a coin already is, the smaller its next jump can be. So whales take part of their profits and move them into new coins that can do 30x on listing day alone. That is exactly why they buy presales.

Pepeto Revives the 2020 Dogecoin Energy With Innovative AI DeFi Tools

Right now, the presale getting the most attention is the one that just announced its DeFi tools, and those tools bring real innovation: Pepeto. The proof that smart money and whales are choosing it is in the numbers. 43,000 holders are already inside, $11.2 million has been raised, and each stage sells out faster than the last while the price steps up every round. Money does not move like that by accident. What they are buying is easy to see: trading that costs nothing on Ethereum, the busiest and most expensive chain in crypto, built by a developer trained at Binance and audited by SolidProof. That is why the people inside treat a 30x at listing as the starting point, not the dream, and why Pepeto sits at the top of every crypto presale watchlist for October 2026.

Then the hype, and anyone who saw Dogecoin back in 2020 knows it. The memes spread by themselves, the name pops up in every feed without a dollar of ads, and every watcher gets the same choice as 2020. The people who made that choice and bought Dogecoin at $0.002 in March 2020 turned $1,000 in, $365,000 out, fourteen months. That is what one early decision was worth.

And the loudest card makes perfect sense. Elon Musk powered a huge piece of Dogecoin's run, and today he is the king of AI itself, which is exactly why the whisper tying him to Pepeto keeps growing. Pepeto is precisely the kind of innovation he celebrates, advanced AI runs its tools, the Exchange, the cross-chain bridge and the advanced token security scanner. Whale wallets inside are sized like they already know, and new buyers multiply every week. Like the Bitcoin price prediction target of $1M, Pepeto's breakout reads as a matter of time.

Conclusion

Pepeto announced its tools into a market set to explode soon, with Bitcoin price prediction targeting $1,000,000. The pattern after every shakeout is identical, capital rushes first into viral tokens with real products, and in 2026, all signs lead to Pepeto as the next Dogecoin.

The whales are buying it now, and they rarely move without information. Perhaps it concerns Musk, perhaps the listing date. Either way, following their moves early has minted fortunes in every cycle.

For more information about Pepeto (PEPETO): Website: Official Pepeto Website

Disclaimer: The information provided in this press release is not a solicitation for investment, nor is it intended as investment advice, financial advice, or trading advice. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of capital. It is strongly recommended you practice due diligence, including consultation with a professional financial advisor, before investing in or trading cryptocurrency and securities. Neither the media platform nor the publisher shall be held responsible for any fraudulent activities, misrepresentations, or financial losses arising from the content of this press release.

MEDIA CONTACT Contact: Dani Bonocci Email: [email protected] Website: https://pepetocoin.com/ Phone: +971586738991

Crypto News: Pepeto Announces AI Tools While Bitcoin Price Targets $1M Per Michael Saylor and Whales Chase Next Dogecoin

Crypto News: Pepeto Announces AI Tools While Bitcoin Price Targets $1M Per Michael Saylor and Whales Chase Next Dogecoin Source: Pepeto

Top European Bank just launched spot trading of XRP and more...

Bitcoin recovered above $83,000 on Monday, October 19, as technology futures snapped a weeklong decline. The rebound eased fears of a repeat of the October 19, 1987, stock market crash, although persistent fund outflows and macroeconomic concerns continued to weigh on sentiment.

Bitcoin climbed from an overnight low near $80,700 to briefly exceed $83,000 before currently trading around $82,000.

The recovery followed last week’s higher-than-expected U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) readings. Bitcoin fell from above $84,000 to just below $80,000 last week as investors reassessed inflation and interest-rate risks.

Solana also recovered, rising more than 4% from approximately $100.50 on Sunday night to $105 on Monday morning as risk appetite improved.

Strategy and Strive Continue Accumulating Bitcoin Corporate treasury purchases continued despite market weakness. Michael Saylor’s Strategy acquired a modest 267 $BTC, bringing its holdings to 848,517 $BTC. The company also repurchased another $193 million of its $STRC preferred stock and increased its repurchase program from $2 billion to $3 billion.

$STRC fell to $97.72 during last week’s selloff, potentially encouraging further repurchases rather than new share issuance to fund Bitcoin purchases.

Meanwhile, Matt Cole’s Strive added 1,223 $BTC, increasing its holdings to 36,818 $BTC. The company expects another $600 million in purchasing capacity when proceeds from its $SATA preferred stock offering reach its bank account later this week.

Separately, Metaplanet moved closer to expanding into U.S. capital markets after Super League shareholders approved its proposed takeover. At closing, Metaplanet plans to contribute 2,100 $BTC from its 44,000 $BTC holdings and $2.5 million for approximately 93.7% ownership. The combined company plans to rebrand as Superplanet ($SUPA), a U.S.-listed Bitcoin treasury platform, with shares locked up for 5 years.

Saylor Blames Macro Pressures as ETF Outflows Continue Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor attributed Bitcoin’s weakness to restrictive trade policies, rising yields, and artificial intelligence spending. Speaking at ParaFi Capital’s Investor Day, he argued that Bitcoin suffers more than equities during risk-off shocks because it represents “pure capital.”

Saylor cited repeated trade war declarations against Canada, rising yield curves, and an estimated $1 trillion AI investment buildout competing for investor capital. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has also warned that government deficits and technology demand compete for limited capital. Despite these pressures, Saylor maintained that Bitcoin was returning to a bull market.

Fund flows tell a more cautious story. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $681 million in net outflows for the week ended October 9 and another $228.6 million for the week ended October 16. Solana ETFs lost $24.81 million and $25.52 million over the same respective weeks.

CoinShares research head James Butterfill described last week’s decline as “a reminder of how sensitive Bitcoin remains to monetary policy over short horizons.”

According to CoinGlass, liquidations reached $327.08 million over 24 hours, affecting 93,756 traders. The largest recorded order involved an $11.81 million ETHUSDT position on Binance.

Can Bitcoin Still Deliver a November Rally? November has historically been Bitcoin’s strongest month, with average returns exceeding 40%. However, the upcoming U.S. midterm elections could increase volatility, while Bitcoin’s 4-week range around $80,000 and rising leverage leave the market vulnerable to sudden liquidations.

Bitcoin rallied more than 30% in November 2024 following the U.S. presidential election, as optimism surrounding President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto policies supported prices. November’s midterm elections could potentially trigger a repeat of 2024 as traders reassess the outlook for risk assets.

Read More on SolanaFloor $1B in 24 Hours: Is Jupiter’s YOLO Solana’s Answer To Papertrade?
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Hyperliquid vs. Solana

A new hard-fork of bitcoin called eCash is expected to go live by the end of the month, providing new features and modernizing a blockchain that has seen only sporadic changes since its inception nearly 20 years ago. In a note, analysts with CoinDesk say that eCash (ECX) will activate seven new sidechains for users that opt in.

"eCash brings an app platform to Bitcoin, with seven sidechains going live at mainnet launch, from payments and privacy to prediction markets, identity and tokens," says CoinDesk. The fork will take place at block 973,728, says CoinDesk, crediting users with eCash tokens on a 1:1 basis with whatever bitcoin they hold. Bitcoin is up 1.2% to $81,878. ([email protected])

TLDR:

MARA-linked wallets deposited 1,000 BTC worth $82.8 million into Binance and Gate over five days.
The transfers equal roughly 2.8% of MARA’s 35,577 BTC holdings reported in late June.
Exchange deposits do not confirm selling, although MARA previously sold 23,093 BTC for $1.63 billion.
Bitcoin faces resistance at $82,500, while analyst Minga identifies $79,700 as a potential downside target.

MARA Holdings has transferred 1,000 BTC worth approximately $82.8 million to Binance and Gate over five days, according to Lookonchain.

The transfers have raised questions about whether the publicly listed Bitcoin miner is preparing to sell more of its reserves. However, exchange deposits alone do not confirm that a sale has occurred. 

Bitcoin is up 1.54% over 24 hours but down 1.37% over seven days, according to CoinGecko. Meanwhile, market analyst Minga identified $82,500 as a key resistance level that could determine Bitcoin’s next short-term move.

MARA Bitcoin Transfers Raise Questions About Potential Selling
Lookonchain reported that wallets linked to MARA Holdings deposited 1,000 BTC into Binance and Gate over five days. The transfers represented approximately 2.8% of the company’s 35,577 BTC holdings reported in late June.

Transaction tracking showed repeated outflows, with individual batches ranging from approximately 100 to 500 BTC. At current reported valuations, these movements represent a substantial amount of Bitcoin potentially entering exchange liquidity.

MARA has previously sold Bitcoin to support its financial strategy. Earlier in 2026, the company sold 23,093 BTC for $1.63 billion to reduce debt and finance its artificial intelligence expansion.

The company is also expanding into AI and high-performance computing, businesses that require substantial infrastructure investment. Bitcoin mining itself carries significant electricity, equipment, and operational expenses that can influence how miners manage their reserves.

However, the latest transfers do not establish MARA’s intentions. Bitcoin sent to an exchange could be sold, transferred between accounts, or used for other purposes. Confirmation of actual selling would require additional transaction or company disclosures.

If MARA does sell these holdings, the transactions could add to available exchange supply. Their effect on Bitcoin’s price would depend on market liquidity, buyer demand, and the scale of any completed sales.

Bitcoin Price Faces $82.5K Resistance as Traders Watch $79.7K
Bitcoin traded at $82,830.29, with $23.68 billion in 24-hour trading volume, according to CoinGecko. Despite its daily gain, BTC remained down 1.37% over the previous seven days.

BTC price on CoinGecko
Minga identified $82,500 as the key support-and-resistance level to watch. The analyst said Bitcoin needs to reclaim this level as support to strengthen the case for further upside.

If Bitcoin fails to hold above $82,500, Minga sees a possible move toward the current weekly low of $79,700. The analyst identified that area as a potential zone for long positions.

Conversely, a break above resistance followed by a failed attempt to maintain higher levels could create another short opportunity. Minga cautioned that BTC remained within a range, making risk-to-reward conditions less attractive for some trades.

Separately, Ali Charts examined Bitcoin’s historical performance after U.S. midterm elections. BTC gained 30.91% in 2010 and 6.61% in 2014, before falling 47.13% in 2018 and 18.15% in 2022.

BITCOIN POST U.S. MIDTERM ELECTIONS

Bitcoin’s performance in the month following U.S. midterm elections has been mixed:

• 2010: +30.91%
• 2014: +6.61%
• 2018: -47.13%
• 2022: -18.15%

Interestingly, the pattern shifted after 2014, with $BTC delivering negative returns… https://t.co/u7pxFLuxYH pic.twitter.com/mX2ATToNqR

— Ali Charts (@alicharts) October 18, 2026

The next U.S. midterm elections are scheduled for November 3, 2026. These historical returns show differing outcomes rather than a reliable forecast for Bitcoin’s future performance.

For now, MARA’s exchange transfers and Bitcoin’s resistance test are separate developments that traders should monitor. The key questions are whether the transfers lead to confirmed selling and whether BTC can sustain a move above $82,500.

Bitcoin at $1 Million? Michaël van de Poppe Points to a Dot-Com-Style Rally

Updated Published

2 min read

Bitcoin mining offshoot loses Microsoft AI deal as power delay stretches into 2030s. (Winston Chen/Unsplash)Summary

Microsoft abandoned a planned Nscale AI data center in the U.K. after the local grid operator said sufficient power might not be available until the early-to-mid 2030s.The facility was expected to supply 50 megawatts of computing capacity to Microsoft’s Azure cloud by early 2027, using 23,040 Nvidia chips.The setback highlights the power and financing challenges facing bitcoin miners expanding into AI infrastructure, as U.K. data center grid-connection requests total about 73 gigawatts.Technology giant Microsoft MSFT walked away from a planned U.K. AI data center run by Nscale, a company spun out of bitcoin BTC$82,180.68 mining, after the local grid operator said it may not be able to power the site for a decade.

The site in Loughton, Essex, about 6 miles northeast of London, was meant to house 23,040 Nvidia chips and supply 50 megawatts of computing to Microsoft’s Azure cloud by early 2027, according to the Guardian, which followed initial reporting by the Financial Times. UK Power Networks, which runs the local grid, told Nscale there may not be enough capacity until the early-to-mid 2030s.

Nscale announced the project last year alongside Microsoft, Nvidia NVDA and OpenAI. When the Guardian visited in February, the site was still a working scaffolding yard. Nscale has since cleared the location and is looking at other ways to bring in power. It said its other Microsoft contracts remain in place.

Nscale grew out of Arkon Energy, which built sites for bitcoin mining. Its founder, Josh Payne, took that experience in locking down land and power and turned it into a business selling computing to AI companies. Much of the listed mining industry is now running that playbook.

When CoinDesk looked at the industry shift in March, public miners had announced more than $70 billion in AI and high-performance computing contracts. They had also cut their combined bitcoin holdings by more than 15,000 BTC from their peaks, partly by selling coins to pay for the buildout.

Mining was already getting squeezed then. The report put the average listed miner’s cash cost to produce one bitcoin near $80,000 in the fourth quarter of 2025, and bitcoin was trading around $70,000 by March.

AI contracts pay steadily for years, but the sites are far more expensive to build. Estimates suggest an AI-ready facility runs $8 million to $15 million per megawatt, compared with roughly $700,000 to $1 million for bitcoin mining, and AI customers expect the servers to stay up around the clock.

The money also takes time to show up. In its latest mining report, fund manager CoinShares counted more than 4 gigawatts of AI capacity under contract across the miners it tracks, with only about 550 megawatts actually billing customers. Contract backlogs topped $100 billion, while annualized AI revenue stood at just over $1 billion.

Unless Nscale finds its own power or gets the grid to move a lot faster, the site it just cleared could sit idle for years.

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ARB and RAY has rocketed the most over the past day, while TIA and STRK have posted the biggest losses.

After dipping to $80,500 once again on Sunday, bitcoin has rebounded swiftly and tapped $83,000 earlier today for the first time since the CPI-induced nosedive in the middle of the previous week.

Most altcoins are also up in the green today, defying expectations for a Black Monday as markets opened earlier. At least for now.

No Black Monday? The CPI and PPI announcements on October 14 and 15 last week brought a new wave of concern in the markets that inflation is not going down, as both metrics exceeded expectations. Naturally, risk-on assets such as bitcoin felt the pressure. BTC dumped from over $84,000 to a monthly low of just under $80,000 in about 24 hours.

It reacted well to this major leg down and jumped to $82,800. However, it was rejected again on Friday alongside most financial markets and dipped below $81,000 again. The weekend was somewhat strange in terms of price action. Instead of the usual dull movement, there was a flash crash on Saturday evening, which intensified the calls for a Black Monday, as it happened 39 years ago.

Analysts were predicting another massive black swan event as markets started to open on Monday morning, but that hasn’t been the case so far. Just the opposite: the US futures markets are in the green, and so is BTC. The leading cryptocurrency is up by over 1% today and sits around $83,000.

Its market cap has climbed to $1.660 trillion, while its dominance over the alts is well above 60%.

BTCUSD October 19. Source: TradingView Alts in Green Too Ethereum has defended the $2,400 support after a mild increase since yesterday. XRP is also above a key support level, currently trading close to $1.32. SOL, HYPE, XMR, LINK, NEAR, and BCH have marked similar increases, while ZEC is up by 2.6% to $1,170.

The biggest gains today come from ARB (9%) and RAY (7%), while TIA, STRK, and BTW have posted the most substantial losses.

The cumulative market cap of all crypto assets has increased by over 1% on a 24-hour scale, and now sits at $2.760 trillion on CMC.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview October 19. Source: QuantifyCrypto Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.

OpenAI is reportedly testing its next-generation image model: three codenamed "Aurora" have emerged, with red and green variants exposed.

Beating AI News Flash: On October 18, developers discovered three mysterious codenames briefly appearing on OpenAI’s API model list: aurora-red-alpha, aurora-green-alpha, and aurora-blue-alpha. All three models are named after Aurora (the Northern Lights). Initially, some netizens speculated they were follow-up experimental builds of GPT-6. But AI model evaluation account Lumina later tested the red and green versions in an Arena image generation blind trial, sharing cat images generated by both. The red version produces images faster, while the green version delivers higher quality. No public samples of the blue version have been made available yet. The community therefore suspects these may be different test iterations of OpenAI’s next-generation image model.

3 minutes ago

Binance: Users with at least 255 points can claim the Alpha airdrop at 21:00 today.

Binance officially announced that Binance Wallet will distribute the latest Binance Alpha airdrop at 21:00 Beijing Time today. Users holding at least 255 Binance Alpha points can claim the tokens on a first-come, first-served basis, until all tokens in the allocation pool are distributed or the airdrop campaign concludes.

3 minutes ago

ESMA adds 9 new crypto asset service providers, bringing its total number to 375.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has added nine crypto asset service providers (CASPs) to its register under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. The new additions include BingX’s Austrian entity MEGE zweite, YouHodler’s Italian subsidiary, and Santander’s Openbank Deutschland, bringing the total number of registered CASPs to 375.

3 minutes ago

QCP: Bitcoin demonstrates resilience against price declines; a drop below the $80,000 to $88,000 range could trigger a sharp repricing.

QCP Capital’s daily market report today noted that Bitcoin traded in a range of $80,000 to $83,000 last week, with strong support near the $80,000 level and showing resilience amid ongoing pressure on tech stocks. AI financing risks continue to simmer: CoreWeave’s 5-year credit default swap (CDS) spread widened to over 1,100 basis points, reflecting market concerns over debt-driven AI investments. On the macro front, higher-than-expected U.S. CPI once pushed 2-year U.S. Treasury yields to 4.9% and 10-year yields above 5.3%; yields later pulled back on defensive demand. Fed Chair nominee Warsh’s comments on Friday also lowered market expectations for an October rate hike to 15%, down from nearly 30% earlier this week. The pullback in U.S. Treasury yields has supported Bitcoin’s rebound. QCP pointed out that funds are shifting from the semiconductor sector to healthcare and bank stocks, with markets likely reducing exposure to crowded AI trades, though there is no clear evidence of direct inflows into crypto markets so far. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s implied volatility remains below its one-year average, and market makers’ positive Gamma positions may temporarily cap price swings. However, this stability could weaken as options expire and positions roll over; if Bitcoin breaks sustainably above the $80,000 to $88,000 range, the market may face more sharp price revaluations. This week’s tech giant earnings reports will be a key watchpoint.

3 minutes ago

Placeholder Partner: The current market resembles early bull market opportunities, advising long-term investors to systematically accumulate tokens.

Placeholder co-founder Chris Burniske wrote in a post that long-term crypto investors should not repeatedly agonize over entry or exit points, but instead accumulate tokens in a planned, consistent manner, and must not confuse long-term investing with short-term trading. He advises investors to use their most successful investment as a benchmark to calculate target holdings based on the proportion of each network’s total token supply. For instance, Ethereum (ETH) has a total supply of around 120 million tokens. If an investor once held 10 ETH, applying the network proportion rule would mean holding roughly 53 Solana (SOL) (total supply ~636 million) or 97 Celestia (TIA) (total supply ~1.16 billion). To hold a TIA network share 10 times that of their original ETH holding, they would need approximately 970 TIA. For Zcash (ZEC), whose supply is similar to Bitcoin (BTC), investors can also use their ideal BTC holding amount as a reference to set ZEC accumulation goals. Regarding the current market, Burniske notes that many crypto assets have fallen 20% to over 40% from their peaks, while BTC’s decline is less than 10%. He argues that BTC’s relative resilience so far has already triggered significant adjustments in assets with lower market risk appetite, making the current situation more of an opportunity in the early stages of a bull market rather than a warning sign of a bull trap. Still, he reminds investors to account for the possibility of further price drops, advising them to deploy remaining cash in batches and allocate investment amounts based on the likelihood that different price levels will form local bottoms. It is acceptable even if some preset price levels are never reached, leaving cash reserves. During market downturns or early bull market pullbacks, consistently accumulating target assets with a high-confidence strategy is more important than repeatedly trying to time market fluctuations.

3 minutes ago

BNB Foundation completes its 37th quarterly burn, destroying 1.6462 million BNB.

According to official announcements, the BNB Foundation has completed its 37th quarterly token burn, with a total of 1,646,200 BNB tokens burned in this round, valued at approximately $1.197 billion. Post-burn, BNB’s total circulating supply has fallen to around 131.5 million tokens.

3 minutes ago

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Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, has recovered after falling below $80,000 last week and is trading around $82,700 at the start of the new week.

While expectations for Bitcoin’s price at the end of 2026 remain high, they are declining due to uncertainties surrounding the trajectory of inflation in the US and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy.

At this point, Bitwise predicts that Bitcoin could rise above $100,000 with the support of institutional investor demand and regulatory developments, while LOTECH expects a more limited increase.

Is it Possible for Bitcoin to Surpass $100,000? Speaking to CoinDesk, Bitwise Research Director Ryan Rasmussen stated that Bitcoin could end the year at higher levels, potentially above $100,000.

Rasmussen cited purchases through ETFs and companies, a shift towards alternative assets in the face of rising public debt, and reduced regulatory uncertainty in the cryptocurrency market as key factors supporting the rise.

However, the analyst added that market volatility could occur ahead of a potential Fed interest rate hike and the US midterm elections.

There Are More Cautious Predictions Too! Cryptocurrency company LO:TECH, however, takes a more cautious view. LO analyst Adam Morgan McCarthy states that he expects Bitcoin to trade between $85,000 and $95,000 by the end of the year.

McCarthy stated that the 0.6% monthly increase in US consumer prices in September and the 0.3% rise in core inflation increased uncertainty regarding interest rate policy, and that markets were pricing in a probability of approximately 75% for an additional rate hike in December following the Fed’s September increase, indicating continued pressure on monetary policy.

At this point, according to McCarthy, for the $100,000 level to be surpassed, inflation and oil prices need to decline, and expectations of interest rate increases need to give way to a more cautious policy.

Corporate Funding Inflows Will Be Decisive! Finally, CoinShares Research Director James Butterfill noted that despite $11.1 billion in inflows into cryptocurrency investment products since mid-July, purchases have slowed. According to Butterfill, institutional investors need to continue injecting capital for a sustained rise.

*This is not investment advice.

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Bitcoin (BTC) starts the third week of October at $82,000 as crypto and stock markets begin a tentative rebound.

Key points:

South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index gained nearly 1.8% on Monday after last week’s tech-driven losses.Markets have priced out two further interest-rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in 2026, seeing 75% odds of only one 25-basis-point hike by the end of the year.Bitcoin delivered a weekly close below key local support after the Coinbase Premium Index hit -0.14, its lowest level since late June.Asia leads equities bounce ahead of tech earningsA lighter week of US macro data prints will shift the market’s attention to corporate earnings as stocks rebound from last week’s sell-off. Some 15% of S&P 500 companies are due to report third-quarter earnings figures this week, including SpaceX on Tuesday and Tesla and Meta on Wednesday. 

Tech-stock performance remains in focus after a major drawdown last week that began with South Korean markets. The KOSPI Composite Index lost 2.8% on Oct. 12 before dropping to the week’s low of 5,455 on Thursday, bringing the week-to-date losses temporarily to 17%. 

KOSPI Composite Index one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Contagion spread to neighboring Asian markets before US equities began to weaken later in the week. The S&P 500 index finished Friday down 2% for the week.

As in early August, tech stocks saw considerable sell-side pressure amid concerns over AI expenditure plans and the associated debt obligations. In Korea, the threat of competition in semiconductor manufacturing from China exacerbated the downturn.

Warnings of a “Black Monday” event on global stock markets spread through social media over the weekend. The panic, which coincided with the 39th anniversary of the 1987 Black Monday crash, appeared misplaced, with KOSPI gaining 1.8% on Monday and S&P 500 futures 0.7% higher at the time of writing.

S&P 500 futures one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Commenting on the disconnect between public sentiment and market performance, market commentator The Kobeissi Letter suggested that stocks should outperform based on investor demand. Persistent high US inflation and a global energy crisis have positioned equities for a surge on any potential signs of conditions improving.

“All while the AI Revolution continues to accelerate and many large-cap technology stocks become cheaper on a forward earnings basis, even as their stock prices rise. And in the background, the demand for asset ownership is historically robust,” it summarized in analysis last week.

Kobeissi noted that while tech giants led S&P 500 strength, 80% of index stocks are trading at least 10% below all-time highs.

Fed rate-hike bets cool despite inflation data overshootAhead of the Federal Reserve’s next decision on interest-rate changes on Oct. 28, markets have tempered their expectations on policy tightening.

Data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool shows 85% odds of rates staying within their current 3.75-4.00% range in October. The Fed’s December meeting, meanwhile, carries just 11% odds of a further pause. Instead, markets see a 75% chance of a 25-basis-point hike, with a 50-basis-point move attracting 13% odds.

Fed target-rate probabilities (screenshot). Source: CME Group

In a discussion with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva last week, Fed chair Kevin Warsh avoided any hints of forward guidance on policy, reinforcing a pledge made at the Jackson Hole economic symposium in August. 

“I don’t prejudge meetings. I don’t believe in saying now what I might do at the meetings that we have in the balance of this year,” he said.

Markets, however, interpreted the lack of information as a dovish signal, doubling down on the Fed hiking rates just once more before 2027.

Adopting a cautionary tone, meanwhile, market commentator Mosaic Asset Company saw inflation trends forcing the Fed to avoid easing off, keeping a crypto and risk-asset headwind in place.

“While investors expect the Federal Reserve to hold rates steady at its next meeting later this month, a growing inflation problem will keep favoring tighter monetary policy,” it wrote in analysis on Sunday.

The September print of the US Producer Price Index (PPI) released last week showed the ongoing impact of the Middle East crisis on fuel prices. PPI delivered its largest month-on-month increase since March 2022 at 1.7%.

“Half of the September increase in the index for final demand goods can be traced to prices for gasoline, which jumped 20.3%,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

Fuel also accounted for more than half of the September increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which beat expectations by 0.1% to hit 3.7% year-on-year.

BTC price analysis sees more $80,000 support retestsBitcoin price action completed a weekly candle close below a key support zone of interest between $82,500 and $82,800.

The weekly close came in at $82,000, a move that crypto trader and analyst Rekt Capital warned could spark further retests of the $80,000 mark in the future.

“Such a Weekly Close would position Bitcoin for a potential bearish retest of ~$82500 into new resistance. And if that bearish retest occurs successfully then it could set price up for a drop below $80k within the next few weeks,” he wrote in analysis on X.

BTC/USD one-week chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Previously, Cointelegraph reported on September’s local high near $87,000 now hosting multiple resistance components, including the 2026 yearly open and its 20-month simple moving average (SMA). 

In its latest market overview, onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant flagged declining US investor demand as a reemerging BTC price headwind this month. The Coinbase Premium Index, which measures the difference in price between Coinbase’s and Binance’s BTC/USDT pairs, fell to -0.141 on Oct. 18, its lowest levels since June 30.

“This reading is particularly significant. If the index remains in negative territory, it could indicate insufficient demand to absorb selling pressure, potentially increasing the likelihood of a continued price correction in the short term,” CryptoQuant commented. 

Coinbase Premium Index. Source: CryptoQuant

The lack of demand contrasts with BTC/USD holding gains made since the end of June, having bounced from new multiyear lows under $58,000 on July 1.

Magazine: Can the SEC and CFTC’s pro-crypto rules be overturned? Legal opinion

This article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph's Editorial Policy and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or recommendations. All investments and trades carry risk; readers are encouraged to conduct independent research.

The bounce follows a week of hot U.S. inflation data and $228.6 million in spot bitcoin ETF outflows.

Bitcoin returns above $82K

Posted October 19, 2026 at 6:45 am ET.

A pullback in oil and a firmer start for U.S. stock futures are giving bitcoin room to climb past $82,000 on Monday.

BTC changed hands near $83,007 as of 09:38 UTC, up about 1.1% over 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. Over that 24-hour window it traded between $80,672 and $83,035, while ether rose about 0.8% and Solana about 1.7%, CoinGecko data showed.

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Levels Analysts Flagged Monday’s price leaves bitcoin above the average price U.S. spot ETFs paid for their coins, which onchain analytics firm Glassnode put at about $81,500 in its Oct. 14 weekly report. Glassnode’s Frederik Theissen wrote in that report that “a return to steady ETF inflows would be the clearest sign that demand is back.”

Nexo analyst Iliya Kalchev set out a similar test in the firm’s Oct. 16 market note, written before Monday’s bounce: “For Bitcoin, a move back above $84,000 and a second day of ETF inflows are the signs buyers are returning, with the $80,000 area, defended three times in a week, the level to hold.”

ETF Flows and Oil Fund flows haven’t turned yet. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs shed $681 million in the week ended Oct. 9 and another $228.6 million in the week ended Oct. 16, according to SoSoValue.

Front-month Brent futures were at $108.47 a barrel as of 09:29 UTC, down 1.3% from Friday’s $109.86 close, according to Yahoo Finance data. Friday’s close was the highest since May 19. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1.1% and S&P 500 futures gained 0.5% as of 09:29 UTC, according to Yahoo Finance data.

A Rough Week Behind It Bitcoin ended last week about 2% lower, CoinGecko data show, after hotter-than-expected September inflation data on Oct. 14 pushed it toward $80,500 the next day.

James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, wrote in an Oct. 16 market update that the slide was “a reminder of how sensitive Bitcoin remains to monetary policy over short horizons.”

Related Listen: Bitcoin Reclaims Its Bear-Market Ceiling. Is the Rally Real?

AI-assisted content: This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and was reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by a member of the Unchained editorial team before publication.

CZ Says Peter Schiff Will Be Right About Bitcoin One Day. There’s a Catch

Standard Chartered has enabled eligible wealthy clients in the United Arab Emirates to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum directly through their existing bank accounts.

Standard Chartered has begun offering direct cryptocurrency trading to its wealthy clients classified as professional investors in the United Arab Emirates. Under the new service, eligible clients will be able to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum using their existing bank accounts.

According to the bank’s statement, custody and settlement operations will be conducted within the Standard Chartered ecosystem via a closed-loop model. Therefore, customers will not need to create a separate cryptocurrency wallet, store private keys, or open an account on a third-party exchange.

The service combines Standard Chartered’s asset and retail banking units with its corporate and investment banking activities. Transactions are conducted through the Zodia Markets platform, which is backed by the bank’s venture capital arm, SC Ventures.

Standard Chartered announced that it has received the necessary license approval from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority for the service. The bank states that this product is the first of its kind offered by an international bank in the United Arab Emirates. This also marks Standard Chartered’s first foray into offering cryptocurrency trading directly to wealthy individual clients in any country.

The bank had previously launched institutional Bitcoin and Ethereum spot trading through its UK arm, later expanding its institutional service to the UAE. It also offers crypto ETFs, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives to eligible clients.

It shouldn’t be assumed that the service is open to all individual customers. Users need to meet professional investor requirements, and initially, only Bitcoin and Ethereum are supported. While Standard Chartered has stated its intention to expand the system to other markets, it has not announced any new countries or implementation schedule.

*This is not investment advice.

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Table of contents

The best crypto to buy right now comes down to one number: market cap. Bitcoin has reclaimed $82,000, Ethereum is holding $2,400, and Solana is two days from the largest consensus change in its history — three dated setups where the arithmetic, not the chart, decides which one gives $1,000 the most room to run. As of 01:00 UTC on October 19, 2026, the only one of the three where a 10x is still mathematically possible is Solana, whose Alpenglow upgrade goes live at about 14:50 UTC on October 21, according to Solana’s official upgrade page.

The 10x arithmetic that rules Bitcoin out of the moonshot Bitcoin trades at $82,249, up 0.9% over 24 hours, with a market cap near $1.65 trillion and dominance still north of 60%, per CoinGecko. The size is now the whole story. A 10x from here would value Bitcoin at roughly $16.5 trillion — about six times the value of the entire crypto market today. That is arithmetic, not a forecast, and it makes Bitcoin the capital-preservation pick rather than the upside pick. The reclaim of $82,000 after a Saturday dip below $81,000 follows the same pattern our last look at a Bitcoin reclaim described: round levels hold until a macro catalyst moves them, then they give way. A return to the $126,080 all-time high is a slow grind, not a rerating.

Ethereum’s catalyst is a schedule, not a candle Ethereum trades at $2,414, up 0.3% on the day, with a market cap near $295 billion. The story is the upgrade calendar, not the price. Glamsterdam — the largest change since the Merge — bundles enshrined proposer-builder separation (EIP-7732) with Block-Level Access Lists (EIP-7928), and it is moving through its testnets: Sepolia ran first, Hoodi is next, and mainnet is targeted for the fourth quarter. A 2x from here is a $590 billion outcome, credible for the network that still settles more value than any other, but the trade carries no hard date yet. Ethereum is the middle-risk pick — bigger than Solana, smaller than Bitcoin, still waiting on its catalyst instead of counting down to one.

Why Solana’s Alpenglow is a dated event, not a rumor Solana trades at $104.23, up 0.6% on the day, with a market cap near $61 billion. The catalyst is Alpenglow, which replaces TowerBFT — the consensus mechanism Solana has run since launch — with a voting protocol called Votor. Under TowerBFT, validators post their votes as on-chain transactions and a block becomes final only after 32 slots of votes pile up, a process that takes about 12.8 seconds. Votor changes the mechanics: validators message each other directly, bundle those votes into certificates, and lock a block in one or two rounds of voting. The target is roughly 150 milliseconds to finality — about 99% faster.

Mainnet activation begins at epoch 1064, around 15:00 UTC on October 21, behind feature gate SIMD-0384. That is a hard date attached to a specific mechanism, and our full breakdown of the Alpenglow upgrade walks through what the handoff requires — validators certifying a new genesis block with at least 82% of stake — and what breaks if it misfires.

The arithmetic is where Solana separates. A 10x from a $61 billion market cap is $614 billion, roughly Ethereum’s size today. Solana is the only one of the three where that multiple is still on the table, and the only one with a dated catalyst firing this week. The risk is execution: a consensus migration of this size has never been done mid-flight on a network settling this much volume, and 150 milliseconds is a target, not a measured result. Bitcoin offers safety with the 10x math closed. Ethereum offers a credible 2x with no hard date. Solana offers the only live 10x path, gated on a handoff that has to go right in a single slot. That is the arithmetic and the calendar — the only honest way to answer “what to buy now” while the market chops sideways.

Frequently Asked Questions What is the best crypto to buy now? It depends on the goal. Bitcoin is the capital-preservation pick with the 10x arithmetic closed, Ethereum is a credible 2x play still waiting on its Glamsterdam upgrade, and Solana carries the only live 10x path via the Alpenglow consensus upgrade on October 21 — at the highest execution risk.

Why can’t Bitcoin deliver another 10x? Market-cap arithmetic. A 10x from Bitcoin’s $1.65 trillion market cap would value it near $16.5 trillion, roughly six times the entire crypto market. Larger assets need far more capital to move the same percentage.

When does Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade go live? Mainnet activation begins at epoch 1064, around 15:00 UTC on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, behind feature gate SIMD-0384. It replaces TowerBFT with Votor and targets about 150-millisecond finality, down from roughly 12.8 seconds.

Is Solana’s 150-millisecond finality guaranteed? No. 150 milliseconds is a design target, not a measured result. The migration happens in a single slot and the handoff must be certified by validators holding at least 82% of stake, so execution risk is real.

AUTHOR

Tokoni Uti is a Lagos-based writer with several years of experience. Her work has appeared in the Huffington Post, the Los Angeles Free Press and the San Diego Free press among others. She is a graduate of Bowen University.

Nearly half of Binance-listed altcoins have dropped back below their 200-day moving average. That share reached 48.4% on October 18, up from under 10% in early October.

Blockchaincenter’s 90-day Altcoin Season Index still reads a neutral 51. However, its 30-day Altcoin Month Index has dropped to 29, close to the 25 level that marks Bitcoin season.

The Rally That Pulled 9 in 10 Altcoins Above Their TrendThe breadth reversal follows a run that started in late August. At that point, 81% of Binance altcoins traded below their 200-day average, analyst Darkfost wrote in a post.

By early October, that share had shrunk to less than 10%. That left roughly 9 in 10 of the exchange’s altcoins in a confirmed uptrend. Darkfost estimated that more than $814 billion flowed into altcoins over those two months.

However, over the past 15 days, more than $134 billion has left altcoins, the analyst estimated. He said quick profit-taking likely drove a large part of that exit.

Percentage of Altcoins Below 200 MA. Source: X/DarkfostFollow us on X to get the latest news as it happens

Bitcoin Takes Back the Lead While Exchange Stablecoins ShrinkThe cooling also appears when altcoins are measured against Bitcoin (BTC). Blockchaincenter’s indexes track how many of the top 50 coins beat Bitcoin over a set period.

Its 30-day gauge rose above the 75 altcoin season threshold in late September before falling to 29. The 90-day index has held up better because its window still includes the August and September gains.

Altcoin Month Index Falling From Above 75 to 29 in October 2026. Source: BlockchaincenterOver the past 90 days, Bitway (BTW) led the top 50 with a 2,993.3% gain. The token of the Bitcoin-compatible blockchain only began trading on March 2, 2026.

Quant (QNT) and NEAR Protocol (NEAR) followed with gains of 199.3% and 163.3%, compared with Bitcoin’s 25.9%. Among the top 50, 7 coins more than doubled, while Ethereum (ETH) beat Bitcoin by just 1.5 points.

Still, the Altcoin Season Index has gone 388 days without reaching altcoin season.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin dominance has climbed to about 60.7%. The metric tracks Bitcoin’s share of total crypto market value, so a rising reading means Bitcoin is holding its value better than the rest of the market.

The reading has risen from roughly 59% in late September. Dominance pushed back above 60% in the second week of October and now sits above its early-September high near 60.4%. That puts it at the highest level on the daily chart since at least late May.

Bitcoin Dominance Daily Chart Climbing to About 60.7%. Source: TradingViewOn the buying side, CryptoQuant data puts exchange reserves of Ethereum-based (ERC-20) stablecoins at $57.4 billion. That compares with almost $78 billion in November 2025. Smaller reserves leave less stablecoin capital parked on exchanges for fresh purchases. 

Darkfost noted that altcoin sentiment shifts quickly, but he pointed to a pattern for patient buyers.

“Yet history shows that it is when interest in and performance of altcoins are at their lowest that it becomes worthwhile to consider building an appropriate exposure,” he said.

For now, the 30-day index sits 4 points above Bitcoin season territory, while stablecoin reserves on exchanges continue to shrink.

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