Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder of the crypto exchange Binance, has reinforced his stance that he's a fan of major cryptocurrencies like XRP, Zcash (ZEC), and Solana (SOL). It's in the wake of a controversy arising over Solana's aggressive attempts to expand in China.
The former Binance CEO made it known in a recent post on X that he's a fan of blockchain adoption irrespective of the cryptocurrency or network.
"I'm always supportive of any blockchain making any progress in any country," CZ said.
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He listed Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), BNB, XRP, SOL, HYPE, ZEC, SIGN, and stablecoins as the digital assets that he's bullish on.
The comments came as Solana's ambitious move to expand in Shanghai hit an unforeseen roadblock, with speculation that CZ's previous public statements may have led to the current controversy.
CZ reacts to Solana controversy in ChinaSolana became a topic of interest early this week after it made public its new office in Shanghai, in addition to its massive advertising campaign in the city.
CZ at first showed excitement over the development. He implied that Solana's advertisement and physical presence in Shanghai could be a gateway for other blockchain projects.
Furthermore, CZ pointed out that developments like this might be a sign that China could be loosening its crypto restrictions.
However, things didn't quite go as planned, as Solana's planned event at Shanghai's Shangri-La Hotel was postponed on October 16.
It was reported that people at the event found themselves facing law enforcement authorities. The organizers, on the other hand, said that the event was postponed due to logistical reasons. Solana Foundation's President, Lily Liu, later shared that there was a sudden 4x spike in registrations, which exceeded the number of people they had filed with local authorities to attend.
The event led some people on social media to speculate that CZ's previous comments on Solana's expansion may have caught the attention of the Chinese authorities.
CZ, however, denied those claims. He pointed out that in Shanghai, the Solana advertisement on a building was taken down reportedly within 10 minutes.
He reiterated that his post on X couldn't have led to the advertisement being pulled down, as he became aware of the advertisement only 12 to 24 hours after it was already out there.
Solana’s blockchain network is set to enhance its transaction processing capabilities, according to a recent update from Grayscale. The network currently processes approximately 1,400 transactions per second and is anticipated to reduce transaction finality to 150 milliseconds following an upcoming upgrade. This development, known as Alpenglow, aims to improve Solana’s efficiency without altering its transaction execution or fee structure. The news has been circulating among market participants, suggesting a potential positive impact on Solana’s market perception and price trajectory.
Key Takeaways
Market activity suggests participants view Solana’s transaction speed improvement as potentially supportive of increased price expectations.
The upgrade, Alpenglow, aims to drastically reduce transaction finality time, which could attract more users and bolster network utility.
Current market pricing indicates a moderate probability of Solana achieving higher price targets in the near term.
What to Watch
Observers should monitor the successful activation of the Alpenglow upgrade and its impact on Solana’s performance metrics. Any delays or issues could affect market sentiment and pricing scenarios. Additionally, the broader cryptocurrency market conditions and regulatory developments will play a crucial role in shaping Solana’s price movements in the coming weeks. Markets will be particularly attentive to any announcements from key actors such as Solana Labs and potential regulatory changes from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, who founded the leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has reiterated his positive outlook on major cryptocurrencies including XRP, Zcash (ZEC), and Solana (SOL), amid controversy over Solana’s expansion efforts in China.
CZ voices support for blockchain adoptionCZ stated on X that he remains an advocate for the advancement of blockchain technology regardless of the country or network involved. He emphasized his support across a broad range of digital assets, naming Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), BNB, XRP, SOL, HYPE, ZEC, SIGN, and several stablecoins as projects he remains optimistic about.
He wrote that he consistently supports any blockchain project making progress in any jurisdiction. This position comes at a time when interest in blockchain innovation in China continues to attract global attention.
“I’m always supportive of any blockchain making any progress in any country,” CZ conveyed on X, highlighting that he is bullish on several established and emerging cryptocurrencies.
Solana’s Shanghai event postponedThe recent discussions followed Solana’s ambitious plans to establish a stronger presence in Shanghai, which encountered an abrupt obstacle. The project’s scheduled event at the Shangri-La Hotel on October 16 was postponed after an unexpected surge in registrations led to complications with local authorities.
On the day of the event, attendees reportedly faced intervention by law enforcement. Organizers explained that logistical challenges—specifically, a fourfold increase in registrants compared to those previously reported to authorities—necessitated the last-minute postponement.
Lily Liu, President of Solana Foundation, addressed the incident, attributing the postponement to overregistration. The spike in interest surpassed expectations and exceeded the numbers approved by local authorities, highlighting the level of demand for blockchain-related gatherings in the city.
Mini dictionary: Solana Foundation, an independent organization responsible for the development and growth of the Solana blockchain ecosystem, supports educational initiatives, events, and partnerships worldwide to advance decentralized technology.
CZ addresses speculation over Chinese authoritiesSome observers speculated on social media that CZ’s previous encouragement for Solana’s expansion may have alerted Chinese regulators, potentially contributing to the event’s disruption and the removal of Solana advertisements from public spaces in Shanghai.
CZ responded to these rumors directly, clarifying that he had no involvement in the removal of Solana’s building advertisement in Shanghai. According to his account, the digital billboard was taken down within 10 minutes of its display but his public comments were made at least 12 to 24 hours after the advertisement first appeared, making any direct connection unlikely.
He reiterated that his awareness of the Solana advertisement only came several hours after it was already in place, ruling out any suggestion that his comments triggered its removal.
Despite setbacks for the Solana event in Shanghai, CZ continued to emphasize his enthusiasm for blockchain adoption and developments worldwide. He maintained that broader engagement in the sector is positive for the future of crypto, regardless of jurisdiction or region.
Circle has minted roughly $750 million worth of USDC on the Solana blockchain over the past 24 hours, increasing Solana’s native USDC supply to a range between $7.3 billion and $7.45 billion. The move injects additional dollar-denominated liquidity into Solana, which remains one of the most active layer-1 blockchains in the industry.
Surge in Solana Activity and Stablecoin IssuanceData from DefiLlama, referencing Solana’s SPL token contract tracked on Solscan, confirms the significant uptick in newly minted USDC. The tokens being created natively, as opposed to being bridged from other chains, underline direct demand from within the Solana ecosystem.
Solana’s transaction volume has climbed to over 420 million this month, signaling continued growth in network throughput and utility. The USDC supply on Solana is seen as a key indicator of market liquidity, often reflecting increased demand from institutional clients and market makers seeking on-chain dollar assets.
Circle, based in Washington, D.C., acts as both the issuer and redeemer of USDC tokens across multiple chains, including Solana. Its role has become more prominent as demand for stable, dollar-pegged assets on high-speed blockchain platforms grows.
Implications for DeFi and Institutional UsersOver the course of 2026, Circle’s cumulative gross USDC issuance on Solana has reached about $68.26 billion, with a recent weekly pace around $3.5 billion. This sustained activity points to a pattern of recurring and robust demand rather than a single event, even as not all USDC immediately enters circulation.
For decentralized exchanges, market makers, and DeFi protocols operating on Solana, a larger USDC pool enhances liquidity, narrows spreads, and can boost lending markets. Investors track these inflows alongside key indicators such as total value locked, DEX volume, and stablecoin market share to assess market trends.
Developers using Solana benefit from the greater availability of USDC, which supports building payment, treasury, and other tools requiring dollar stability, all while remaining within the Solana environment.
Broader Ecosystem ContextStakeholders such as traders and arbitrageurs may find improved execution and arbitrage opportunities between Solana-based venues and centralized platforms. Institutional users are provided with evidence of Solana’s ability to process large, stablecoin-denominated flows, a factor that could gain relevance as tokenization of real-world assets grows.
Exchanges have also reported elevated deposit and withdrawal activity involving USDC on Solana, while regulatory attention remains focused on issues of reserve transparency, redemption rights, and operational integrity. Circle’s multi-chain vision positions USDC as a core interoperable asset, with Solana remaining a competitive venue against other networks like Ethereum and BNB Chain for hosting significant dollar liquidity.
Complementing this increase in stablecoin supply, current market dynamics have highlighted the importance of monitoring on-chain trends such as real-time capital flows and investor behavior. In particular, within the meme token market, an internet sensation can rapidly turn into substantial financial activity. Fomo App recently documented a $99 trade in “Niu Lai” that swelled to about $370,000, underlining the speed and unpredictability of these markets. As a result, tracking not just price movements but also timing and token selection by investors has become essential for both professionals and retail participants. Fomo App centralizes token discovery, trade notifications, investor rankings, and social feeds, simplifying access for those seeking insights in this fast-moving ecosystem.
Industry analysts are monitoring Solscan flows and DefiLlama stablecoin charts to track where the newly minted USDC is being deployed. If this momentum translates into increased decentralized exchange activity and lending volumes, Solana could become a model for regulated stablecoin adoption at scale, reinforcing best practices in transparency and cross-chain liquidity management.
USDC Solana supply is a key signal for liquidity conditions in crypto markets. When issuers mint at scale, it often reflects institutional or market-maker demand for on-chain dollars that can be deployed as collateral, trading balances, or payment rails within the USDC Solana ecosystem.
Solana is preparing to activate Alpenglow, a major overhaul of its consensus layer, on mainnet-beta during epoch 1064. That epoch is expected to begin on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, near 15:00 UTC.
The change replaces the network’s longstanding TowerBFT voting system with a new protocol called Votor and aims to shrink the time required for a transaction to become irreversible from roughly 12.8 seconds to about 150 milliseconds—an improvement the Solana Foundation describes as approximately 99 percent faster.
Under the current design, validators cast votes by submitting on-chain transactions, and a block reaches finality only after sufficient votes accumulate across 32 slots.
Alpenglow discards that approach.
Validators instead exchange votes directly with one another and aggregate those votes into certificates.
A block can finalize after a single round if 80 percent of stake agrees, or after a second round at a 60 percent threshold.
The result is deterministic finality on a sub-second timescale rather than the multi-slot confirmation process used today.
The protocol is also engineered to remain live even when up to 20 percent of stake acts maliciously and another 20 percent is offline.
Importantly, the upgrade does not alter transaction execution.
The Solana Virtual Machine, program behavior, transaction formats, and fee mechanics remain unchanged.
Ordinary users and most application developers therefore require no action; wallets and dApps continue to function as before, with the practical difference that settlement becomes nearly immediate.
Infrastructure providers that stream block data, however, must adapt.
Vote transactions disappear from blocks entirely, which will sharply reduce headline transaction counts and reported throughput figures even if actual user activity stays constant.
Streaming interfaces such as Geyser also gain a bank identifier so consumers can handle the possibility of multiple candidate blocks within a single slot, and Proof of History ceases to pace block production.
The rollout is staged.
Votor, the voting and finalization component, ships with the Agave 4.3 client and constitutes the October 21 activation.
Rotor, a later phase that would replace the Turbine block-propagation mechanism with a single-relay design, remains unscheduled.
The upgrade has already operated on public testnet and on devnet, where it activated in late September.
Mainnet migration follows a carefully sequenced handoff on a live network: a feature gate activates at the epoch boundary, TowerBFT continues for roughly the first 5,000 slots, blocks temporarily stop carrying user transactions, validators form an Alpenglow genesis certificate once 82 percent of stake agrees, and consensus then transfers to Votor.
Anza, the team responsible for the Agave client, has characterized the effort as 18 months of preparation culminating in a one-slot switch.
Validator operators face two concrete requirements before the epoch begins.
They must run an Agave-based client (Agave, Jito-Solana, or Harmonic Salsa) built on version 4.3.0; Firedancer and Frankendancer are not supported during the migration window.
In addition, each vote account must hold at least 0.8 SOL above its rent-exempt minimum to cover a new per-epoch Validator Admission Ticket fee that replaces the prior on-chain vote fees.
Failure to meet the balance means the validator cannot vote or produce blocks in the following epoch.
Collectively, these changes represent the largest modification to Solana’s core consensus machinery since the network’s launch.
By moving votes off-chain, accelerating finality, and preserving the execution environment, Alpenglow is intended to deliver a more responsive network while keeping the developer and user experience largely continuous. Real-world performance will of course depend on live network conditions once the switch occurs.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Crypto analyst Ali Martinez has identified concurrent Tom DeMark (TD) Sequential buy signals for XRP, Solana, Dogecoin, and Hyperliquid following the latest market pullback, raising expectations about a possible shift in price momentum for these major altcoins.
Multiple altcoins trigger buy signalsMartinez, known for his technical analysis in the cryptocurrency space, observed that several top altcoins are presenting potential local bottoms on their charts. On October 15, 2026, new TD Sequential buy signals appeared for XRP, Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Hyperliquid (HYPE)—all following notable declines in recent trading sessions.
For XRP, the price currently displays a confluence of buy setups, including a Sequential 13, a TD 9, and an Aggressive 13, according to the analyst’s review of the recent trading activity. This clustering may indicate that selling pressure is subsiding and a local bottom could be forming if buyers return to the market with strength.
XRP faces initial upside targets at $1.40, with additional resistance expected near $1.50 should buy-side interest increase at these levels.
Solana, Dogecoin, and Hyperliquid outlookSolana is currently challenging the $100 price zone after registering a fresh TD Sequential buy signal on its daily chart. Historically, a late September sell signal on SOL accurately forecasted a subsequent correction of approximately 14%. The newly emerged buy set-up may support a rebound toward $111, with further resistance anticipated around $120 if buying momentum strengthens.
Dogecoin has moved back to the critical $0.080 support, where its daily TD Sequential has flashed a buy signal as well. Maintaining this support is key; if achieved, DOGE could rise toward the $0.087 mark, followed by resistance near $0.094.
Hyperliquid, abbreviated as HYPE, trades close to $80 as it presents a new buy signal according to TD Sequential analysis. A similar setup triggered on October 1 led to a nearly 11% rally for HYPE. A comparable move could send the token to $86, with the next resistance area forming around $93.
Mini dictionary: Tom DeMark TD Sequential, a popular technical indicator that aims to identify trend exhaustion and potential reversal zones in asset prices using sequential price bar patterns.
Market reaction remains uncertainMartinez emphasized that while four large-cap altcoins have simultaneously flashed buy signals, positive market follow-through is necessary to confirm a sustainable rebound. The signals alone do not guarantee upward price action without sustained buying volume or stronger investor conviction benefiting the respective support levels.
Technical buy signals point toward a potential bottom, but only active demand and increased trading volumes can validate the reversal scenario.
The broader crypto market has experienced a tentative recovery following an inflation-driven downturn, putting these four digital assets under heightened scrutiny from traders and investors watching for confirmation of any price reversal. Whether these technical setups translate into extended rallies or face renewed selling remains an open question.
AltcoinSupportFirst TargetSecond ResistanceXRPCurrent zone$1.40$1.50Solana$100$111$120Dogecoin$0.080$0.087$0.094Hyperliquid (HYPE)$80$86$93Investors are closely following the technical signals and key price levels for signs of renewed strength or further losses in the wake of recent market volatility.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Organizers postponed the Solana Shanghai event on Friday morning after several law enforcement officers kept guests outside the Shangri-La Hotel, attendees said. The official email cited venue logistics.
The delay came only two days after the Solana Foundation showed off a new Shanghai office. Mainland China has banned crypto trading since 2021, although blockchain technology itself remains legal.
Officers at the Door Stall the Solana Shanghai EventSeveral officers guarded the hotel entrance, according to an attendee on X. Guests waited outside for more than an hour, and the program did not start.
In a later email to registered guests, the Solana Accelerate China team blamed venue logistics for postponing the morning agenda.
The team apologized for the short notice and said it would contact attendees directly once it confirms a new schedule. The email made no mention of the officers.
CZ Calls It a Repeat, Not a One-OffBinance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) called it “sad to see” on X. He asked whether organizers really didn’t know the local policies and added that the same thing happened less than a year ago.
Days earlier, he had welcomed Solana’s new Shanghai office as a win for the whole industry. He also noted that BNB Chain had not taken a similar step so far.
CZ pointed to Solana Accelerate APAC in Shenzhen in October 2025. Local police made an on-site inquiry there, and organizers cut the final hackathon session, citing overcrowding.
That makes the Solana Shanghai event the second Solana gathering in China disrupted within a year.
Meanwhile, a February joint notice banned unauthorized yuan-pegged stablecoins and reaffirmed the blanket crypto prohibition.
At the same time, the state is building a national blockchain network of its own, with no role for tokens.
That puts Solana’s China push in an awkward spot. Coinbase faces a similar gray zone after reportedly opening easier access for mainland users.
CZ’s question now hangs over the rest of the series, which also includes stops in Hangzhou, Shenzhen, and Beijing. For foreign crypto firms, the Solana Shanghai event is a reminder to check local rules first.
Solana Foundation Chair Lily Liu posted that the large-scale light display on the entire exterior wall of Citigroup Building in Shanghai’s Lujiazui area on the evening of October 14 was meant to showcase Solana’s deep affection for the Chinese community and express gratitude for the warm welcome extended by the community. Due to promotion efforts, registrations for the "Solana Shanghai Event" quadrupled overnight, far exceeding the maximum number declared to local authorities. Officials were unable to prevent the excessive influx of attendees. To comply with local regulations, the event will be postponed, pending a time when it can better accommodate the community’s scale and reach. We extend our apologies to all friends who traveled near and far to join the Shanghai Solana event.
Spout Finance has raised $2 million in a strategic funding round to develop a Solana-based lending platform that would let investors borrow USDC against tokenized U.S. stocks without paying interest.
Summary
Spout raised $2 million from investors including Draper Dragon, Anchorage Digital, and Flow Traders Thursday. The Solana based protocol proposes USDC loans against tokenized stocks with 0% borrower interest rates. Borrowers can access loans worth 50% of their pledged stock collateral through the proposed platform. Spout plans to generate lender returns by selling weekly covered call options against tokenized equities. The platform currently operates on Solana Devnet, with private beta access planned before mainnet deployment. Spout announced on October 15 that the round attracted Draper Dragon, Anchorage Digital, Flow Traders, Taisu Ventures, Vessel Capital, Solayer, 2Square Capital, Bering Waters Ventures, and Blockstreet Capital, with strategic backing from Solana Labs. The company plans to use the funding to expand its development team and build lending infrastructure for tokenized securities.
The proposed service allows customers to pledge digital versions of U.S. stocks as collateral and borrow USDC at a fixed 50% loan-to-value ratio. Spout intends to fund lender returns through options premiums generated from the pledged shares, eliminating conventional interest charges for borrowers.
The platform remains in development, with its existing beta operating on Solana Devnet. Spout has not announced a public mainnet launch date, although it plans to introduce a private beta.
Spout plans 0% interest loans backed by tokenized stocks Spout’s lending model allows investors to access cash without selling the shares they hold. Under the proposed arrangement, a customer deposits tokenized stocks as collateral and receives a USDC loan worth half the value of those assets.
For example, an investor pledging $10,000 worth of eligible tokenized shares could borrow $5,000 in USDC. The collateral remains pledged to the lending protocol while the loan is outstanding.
Unlike traditional margin lending, Spout does not plan to charge borrowers an annual interest rate. The company said borrowers could keep their loans open without accumulating interest, provided they continue meeting the platform’s lending requirements.
Marc Ryan, Spout’s co-founder and CEO, said the product was developed in response to differences between borrowing services available to wealthy clients and those offered to smaller investors.
“Borrowing against your own portfolio has always been a product for people who already had a private banker,” Ryan said.
He argued that investors should have access to financing without meeting the minimum wealth requirements commonly associated with private banking.
The company compared its proposed service with U.S. brokerage margin loans. In its October announcement, Spout stated that Charles Schwab and Fidelity charged annual rates of 12.075% on margin balances below $25,000.
It placed private banking securities-backed lending rates between 4% and 6%, although those arrangements generally require customers to maintain substantial account balances or meet other eligibility conditions.
The figures were supplied by Spout and do not represent an independently verified comparison of all borrowing costs. The company’s announcement did not provide a complete schedule of liquidation terms, collateral management charges, or other potential borrower expenses.
Spout plans to pay lenders through stock options Spout’s lending model relies on covered call options written against the shares deposited as collateral. The company plans to sell these options weekly and use the premiums collected to compensate lenders supplying USDC.
A covered call gives another market participant the right to buy an asset at a predetermined price within a specified period. In exchange for granting that right, the seller receives an upfront payment known as an option premium.
Spout intends to write options with exercise prices well above the current market value of the pledged shares. The strategy generates premium income while limiting potential gains on the underlying collateral if the stock rises beyond the option’s exercise price.
The company describes the arrangement as a way to finance borrowing costs through returns generated by the collateral. However, the premiums depend on options market conditions, and Spout has not disclosed a guaranteed lender yield.
Former Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo, an investor and regulatory adviser to the project, described the system as an alternative to traditional stock-backed lending.
“Spout covers its costs in a different way: by selling options contracts tied to the pledged shares,” Giancarlo said, explaining that the premiums would compensate lenders instead of interest payments from borrowers.
Draper Dragon partner Samiz Bayan focused on the potential uses of tokenized equities once they become available for lending. He said creating blockchain-based shares represents only one part of their development, with borrowing products providing another application for those assets.
The proposed system is part of a developing market for tokenized securities used as collateral. According to earlier coverage of tokenized stock deposits across DeFi lending platforms, Uniswap V4 held $59.1 million in tokenized stock deposits in September, while Kamino Lend followed with $41.7 million.
That market report placed Solana’s tokenized stock deposits at approximately $79.1 million, the largest amount among the blockchains included in the dataset.
Solana investors back Spout’s $2 million funding round Spout’s strategic financing attracted companies involved in cryptocurrency custody, trading, venture capital, and blockchain infrastructure.
Draper Dragon participated alongside Anchorage Digital and Flow Traders, while Taisu Ventures, Vessel Capital, Solayer, 2Square Capital, Bering Waters Ventures, and Blockstreet Capital joined the round.
The project received strategic support from Solana Labs, although the announcement did not identify the value or structure of that support.
Individual investors included Solana co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal, former CFTC Chairman Giancarlo, Injective co-founder Eric Chen, Superstate co-founder Dean Swennumson, Perena founder Anna Yuan, and investor Paul Taylor.
Several other angel investors participated, including Shane Qiu, James Parillo, Stefano Glauser, Whales Lee, Steve Schoonebeek, and Riley Wild.
Spout named Saiprasad Raut, formerly a cryptocurrency technology adviser at Worldpay, as a product adviser. Neil Amhis, who previously worked at BNP Paribas and Natixis, serves as a quantitative strategy adviser.
The financing arrives as financial companies continue developing blockchain-based versions of traditional securities.
Earlier in October, Securitize introduced tokenized versions of 12 U.S. equities on Solana, including shares linked to Apple, Nvidia, and Tesla.
Securitize said its products are backed by underlying shares and available to eligible investors through regulated infrastructure. The launch introduced additional tokenized securities to Solana, although Spout has not announced an integration with those specific assets.
Spout prepares private beta before Solana mainnet launch Spout currently operates a testing version of its lending application on Solana Devnet, a separate network developers use to test blockchain products before releasing them publicly.
The company plans to introduce private beta access but has not specified a launch date. Interested participants have been directed to contact the project through its official social media accounts.
Spout said the $2 million funding would support hiring and development of a credit system that other financial applications could integrate. Its proposed customers include tokenized asset issuers, cryptocurrency exchanges, and digital wallets seeking stock-backed lending services.
The team previously described a partnership with Stork to provide pricing data for tokenized assets. Accurate collateral valuations form part of the proposed borrowing infrastructure, particularly when stock prices change during market trading sessions.
Solana’s existing lending market includes institutional products such as Galaxy’s USDC and USDT vaults on Kamino, which launched in September with separate strategies for stablecoin lending.
Galaxy said its team would determine eligible lending markets, manage exposure limits, and monitor risks. The company did not offer a fixed or guaranteed return on those vaults.
For Spout, the next announced development is its private beta, followed by any subsequent mainnet deployment. The October 15 funding release did not specify the launch timetable, the amount of lending liquidity committed, or the date when live USDC borrowing would begin.
In brief GTA 6's launch trailer was released on Thursday and briefly mentioned "Dacity Coin," which has caused an on-chain frenzy. A copycat Solana meme coin skyrocketed 2,900%, thanks to the trailer, with dozens of traders profiting more than $10,000 each. The token existed five days before the trailer release, after degens found mention of Dacity Coin in leaked GTA 6 footage. Two seconds of the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer was all it took for a Solana meme coin to fly, making some traders pretty rich.
Dacity Coin was seen plastered along the side of a plane in the GTA 6 launch trailer released on Thursday, with a man setting off a neon pink flare on the wing. This prompted a real meme coin of the same name to skyrocket 2,900% from a $104,000 market capitalization to $3.18 million, in the hour following the trailer's release.
Interestingly, the token had been created five days prior, after notorious Rockstar hacker "Cyberleek" leaked GTA 6 gameplay revealing that Dacity Coin was set to be in the game—but only a comparatively small group of traders noticed.
Upon its October 11 launch on Solana launchpad Pump.fun, Dacity Coin hit a peak market cap of $1.14 million before falling to $144,700 over the coming day and trading sideways until Thursday's sharp rise.
As a result, traders had plenty of time to buy into the meme coin before it skyrocketed. According to DEX Screener, 24 traders profited more than $10,000 on the token, with the top trader turning $1,912 into $44,000.
Dacity now sits at a $1.5 million market cap, dropping around 53% from its $3.18 million peak.
What is Dacity?In the launch trailer, the plane reads "DacityCoin AudaCity," and in previously leaked footage, the game's protagonist Lucia can be seen skydiving wearing an AudaCity parachute. When the parachute opens, per the leaked screenshots, it features the slogan "Quit your job. Sell your house. Move [ineligible]."
According to the GTA wiki, Lucia is asked to parachute as a stunt to advertise the AudaCity brand and attract investment to the Dacity Coin.
If true, the game appears to be satirizing the stunts that meme coin creators have performed to promote their tokens over the years. In 2024, Decrypt reported that a man set himself on fire to promote his meme coin while others smoked drugs on livestream, pretended to be a dog, or recklessly shot a pistol out of their window.
Myriad: Where does Solana go next? Click to make your prediction.This falls on the backdrop of years-long rumours of cryptocurrencies featuring in GTA 6. Several theories were thrown out, including play-to-earn features, NFT-owned properties, and even an entire blockchain for the game. However, all of them were unsubstantiated—Dacity Coin is the first solid sign of cryptocurrency being in the upcoming game.
How prominent will Dacity Coin be in the upcoming GTA 6 game? That's the question currently on the lips of traders. If it's a mainstay of the game, then degens might stand to profit handsomely from holding the token for longer. If not, well, this might be the end of the road.
Déjà vuThis has all happened before.
In February 2025, Fortnite added a fake crypto coin called Dill Bits, and degens quickly launched a real one on Solana that hit a $4.78 million market cap before crashing 96%. It pumped 2,700% again in April after Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney called it a scam, then dropped 82% within days.
“I didn’t launch it. What is wrong with you people,” Sweeney posted, as traders floated theories that he was secretly behind the coin.
I didn’t launch it. What is wrong with you people.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 6, 2025
The Dill Bits community took the whole thing as bullish, given that Fortnite’s storyline was literally about a pickle villain called Big Dill running a crypto rug pull. It didn’t help much, with DB dropping 82.3% in the days that followed.
Epic Games told Decrypt at the time that there was “no real cryptocurrency or memecoin associated with Fortnite or endorsed by Epic.”
Rockstar has yet to say anything about Dacity Coin, and the game studio did not respond to Decrypt's request for comment.
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In brief GTA 6's launch trailer was released on Thursday and briefly mentioned "Dacity Coin," which has caused an on-chain frenzy. A copycat Solana meme coin skyrocketed 2,900%, thanks to the trailer, with dozens of traders profiting more than $10,000 each. The token existed five days before the trailer release, after degens found mention of Dacity Coin in leaked GTA 6 footage. Two seconds of the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer was all it took for a Solana meme coin to fly, making some traders pretty rich.
Dacity Coin was seen plastered along the side of a plane in the GTA 6 launch trailer released on Thursday, with a man setting off a neon pink flare on the wing. This prompted a real meme coin of the same name to skyrocket 2,900% from a $104,000 market capitalization to $3.18 million, in the hour following the trailer's release.
Interestingly, the token had been created five days prior, after notorious Rockstar hacker "Cyberleek" leaked GTA 6 gameplay revealing that Dacity Coin was set to be in the game—but only a comparatively small group of traders noticed.
Upon its October 11 launch on Solana launchpad Pump.fun, Dacity Coin hit a peak market cap of $1.14 million before falling to $144,700 over the coming day and trading sideways until Thursday's sharp rise.
As a result, traders had plenty of time to buy into the meme coin before it skyrocketed. According to DEX Screener, 24 traders profited more than $10,000 on the token, with the top trader turning $1,912 into $44,000.
Dacity now sits at a $1.5 million market cap, dropping around 53% from its $3.18 million peak.
What is Dacity?In the launch trailer, the plane reads "DacityCoin AudaCity," and in previously leaked footage, the game's protagonist Lucia can be seen skydiving wearing an AudaCity parachute. When the parachute opens, per the leaked screenshots, it features the slogan "Quit your job. Sell your house. Move [ineligible]."
According to the GTA wiki, Lucia is asked to parachute as a stunt to advertise the AudaCity brand and attract investment to the Dacity Coin.
If true, the game appears to be satirizing the stunts that meme coin creators have performed to promote their tokens over the years. In 2024, Decrypt reported that a man set himself on fire to promote his meme coin while others smoked drugs on livestream, pretended to be a dog, or recklessly shot a pistol out of their window.
Myriad: Where does Solana go next? Click to make your prediction.This falls on the backdrop of years-long rumours of cryptocurrencies featuring in GTA 6. Several theories were thrown out, including play-to-earn features, NFT-owned properties, and even an entire blockchain for the game. However, all of them were unsubstantiated—Dacity Coin is the first solid sign of cryptocurrency being in the upcoming game.
How prominent will Dacity Coin be in the upcoming GTA 6 game? That's the question currently on the lips of traders. If it's a mainstay of the game, then degens might stand to profit handsomely from holding the token for longer. If not, well, this might be the end of the road.
Déjà vuThis has all happened before.
In February 2025, Fortnite added a fake crypto coin called Dill Bits, and degens quickly launched a real one on Solana that hit a $4.78 million market cap before crashing 96%. It pumped 2,700% again in April after Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney called it a scam, then dropped 82% within days.
“I didn’t launch it. What is wrong with you people,” Sweeney posted, as traders floated theories that he was secretly behind the coin.
I didn’t launch it. What is wrong with you people.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 6, 2025
The Dill Bits community took the whole thing as bullish, given that Fortnite’s storyline was literally about a pickle villain called Big Dill running a crypto rug pull. It didn’t help much, with DB dropping 82.3% in the days that followed.
Epic Games told Decrypt at the time that there was “no real cryptocurrency or memecoin associated with Fortnite or endorsed by Epic.”
Rockstar has yet to say anything about Dacity Coin, and the game studio did not respond to Decrypt's request for comment.
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Circle has reportedly minted approximately 750 million USDC on the Solana blockchain over the past day, according to social media reports. This development suggests increased dollar-pegged liquidity on the Solana network, although it is unclear if this represents net growth or merely supports cross-chain transfers or replaces redemptions. As of October 12, Circle had $72.7 billion of USDC in circulation across 38 blockchains. The significant minting on Solana highlights the network’s role in hosting substantial flows of USDC.
Key Takeaways
Significant USDC minting on Solana appears to suggest increased dollar liquidity on the network.
Markets may interpret this as supportive of Solana’s potential price increases, consistent with increased liquidity and demand.
Solana’s price prediction markets reflect a range of outcomes, with notable activity around short-term price changes.
What to Watch
Observers will be monitoring how this influx of USDC affects Solana’s price and whether it leads to increased decentralized finance (DeFi) activity on the platform. Market participants will likely focus on any indications of regulatory developments or technological upgrades that could influence Solana’s standing. Additionally, watch for Solana’s performance against other cryptocurrencies amid broader market trends that could affect the network’s growth and utility.
Binance Wallet released a DeFi API on October 16, 2026, after marking its documentation as modified on October 15. The API documentation covers position queries, protocol and investment discovery, and transaction construction across 10 EVM chains. Binance said Solana support is planned but did not give a release date.
The service builds unsigned calldata for deposits, redemptions, liquidity changes, and reward claims. It does not hold a user’s private key. A wallet still signs and broadcasts the resulting transaction, leaving execution and key custody outside the API.
What the API exposes The data endpoints let an application query DeFi positions for one or more wallet addresses. They also list supported protocols, return protocol details, list investment products, and return details for a selected product. Binance places those routes under /api/v1/defi/data/* and uses POST requests for each operation.
Position responses organize data by queried address, protocol, pool, position collection, and individual position. The top level includes the total value across all queried addresses. Lower levels separate each address’s value, protocol totals, pool identifiers, collection totals, and token roles such as supply, borrow, reward, and farming reward. That structure lets a wallet show an aggregate view while retaining the components needed for a protocol or pool breakdown.
The transaction endpoints cover deposit, redeem, liquidity addition, liquidity removal, and claims. There is also a calculation route for paired token amounts before adding liquidity. Each build response returns an ordered list. When an ERC-20 approval is required, the approval item comes first and the main protocol action follows.
Applications can set simulate=true on the five transaction-build endpoints. The resulting preview can include projected balance changes, estimated gas, and a change in lending health factor before broadcast. Binance’s documented flow is build, sign, broadcast, and poll. The API handles the build step, while the connected wallet handles signing.
Chains and protocol coverage The supported-chain list names BSC, Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum One, Polygon, Optimism, Avalanche C-Chain, Robinhood, Katana, and ARC. Each chain has a Binance chain identifier, and native assets use the address 0xeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee in API responses.
Transaction and investment support is narrower than position coverage. The transaction list includes lending and yield protocols such as Venus, Aave, Morpho, Spark, Fluid, Ethena, Lido, Maple, and Rocket Pool. It also includes liquidity protocols such as Uniswap, PancakeSwap, and QuickSwap on specified chains. Available actions differ by protocol and chain. Some integrations expose deposit and redeem, while others also expose claims or liquidity actions.
Position queries cover additional protocols that cannot necessarily be used as transaction entry points. Binance labels those results display-only when they fall outside the transaction and investment list. Their investmentIds may be empty, and an application must check an identifier through the investment list or detail endpoint before using it in a transaction-build call. A build can fail even when a position response includes an identifier if the investment endpoint returns no match.
The protocol list endpoint is the authoritative live source for supported protocols and actions. Binance says the published tables describe the release scope, while server-side support can change. Developers therefore need to query the list rather than hard-code the documentation table as a permanent set.
The separation affects interface design. A wallet can show a position because the position endpoint recognizes its protocol, yet still be unable to build a deposit or redeem transaction for it. The application has to check the investment endpoints before presenting an action. It also has to use the target chain identifier because the same protocol identifier can span several chains while exposing different actions on each one. A static allowlist copied from the launch documentation can become wrong as Binance changes server-side coverage.
Limits and integration risks The service has independent rate limits by IP address, API key, user, and endpoint. The documentation gives limits of 1200 requests per 60 seconds for an IP address, 1200 requests per 60 seconds for an API key, 6000 requests per 60 seconds for a user, and a default of 5 requests per second for an endpoint. The gateway returns HTTP 429 with business code 42900 and a Retry-After header when a limit is exceeded.
Data formatting also requires care. APY arrives as integer basis points and as a preformatted display string. TVL, position values, and token amounts arrive as decimal strings. Timestamps use Unix time in seconds. An application that treats these values as ordinary floating-point numbers could change precision or display a value differently from the source.
Rate handling is part of the integration contract rather than a single global ceiling. IP addresses, API keys, users, and individual endpoints each have their own limit. A client can hit one dimension while remaining below the others. Binance tells clients to use the Retry-After value after an HTTP 429 response. Repeating a request immediately would ignore the documented backoff signal and can keep that call path unavailable.
Redeems can introduce a protocol-specific delay. Binance says some supported protocols impose a waiting period before redeemed funds can be claimed. The redeem builder returns redeemDelayDays as a minimum and maximum day pair, with an empty pair indicating an instant redemption. A wallet needs to show that value before the user signs rather than assuming every redeem completes immediately.
For users, the API does not make Binance the signer or custodian for these protocol transactions. The connected wallet remains responsible for reviewing, signing, and broadcasting the calldata. For developers, the practical risk sits in treating discovery data as executable support. Position visibility, investment availability, and transaction actions are separate scopes.
Binance’s launch post says Solana support is coming. The documentation currently lists only the 10 EVM networks and says more chains and protocols will be added in future releases. The open question is when Solana enters the documented release scope and which data and transaction endpoints it will support.
The Solana Accelerate event in Shanghai was postponed after pre-registration exceeded the event cap set by local authorities, according to Lily Liu, president of the Solana Foundation.
Event registration quadrupled overnight following publicity for the event, Liu wrote in a Friday X post, adding that organizers decided to postpone the event to “comply with local requirements.”
Earlier on Friday, X users claimed that the event was “abruptly suspended” as law enforcement officers were stationed at the venue.
In October 2025, a Solana event in Shenzhen was also cut short due to venue capacity and public-safety concerns, Solana’s Chinese-language community account announced then on X.
Shanghai was scheduled to open Solana’s four-city Accelerate China tour, followed by Hangzhou on Sunday, Shenzhen on Tuesday and Beijing on Thursday, according to the event’s website.
The postponement followed Solana executives’ promotion of a new Shanghai office earlier this week.
China prohibits a range of crypto-related services, including token fundraising, trading and mining. In February, the People’s Bank of China and seven other agencies doubled down on those restrictions in a notice that added new bans, including unauthorized issuance of yuan-pegged stablecoins.
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US stock market sees "Black Friday": Nasdaq falls more than 2%, AI-related stocks decline across the board.
According to BIT (bit.com) market data, the U.S. Nasdaq index’s decline widened to 2.36%, the S&P 500 fell 1.19%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.58%. Individual stocks posted losses: SPCX fell 2.24%, ORCL dropped 4.42%, GOOGL declined 2.27%, NVDA fell 0.95%, and TSLA dropped 2.97%. For other AI-related concept stocks: Optical module stocks: COHR fell 6.26%, LITE dropped 3.87%, AAOI declined 7.89%, NOK fell 2.51%, MRVL dropped 4.2%; Storage stocks: SKHY fell 6.13%, MU dropped 4.33%, SNDK declined 5.3%, WDC fell 5.16%, STX dropped 5.97%.
41 minutes ago
The Nasdaq’s decline in US stocks widened to 2.2%, with the S&P 500 falling over 1%.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), the Nasdaq extended its decline to 2.2%, the S&P 500 fell 1.11%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.54%.
According to HTX market data, Bitcoin has dropped below $81,000, with a current price of $80,936. Ethereum has fallen below $2,400, now priced at $2,397.
41 minutes ago
US crypto-related stocks fell broadly, with Strategy (MSTR) dropping nearly 10%.
According to BIT (bit.com) market data, U.S. crypto-related stocks fell broadly, with individual declines as follows: Strategy (MSTR) down 9.9%, Strive (ASST) down 7.97%, SharpLink (SBET) down 6.46%, Bitmine (BMNR) down 6.87%, Bullish (BLSH) down 7.09%, Gemini (GEMI) down 4.90%, Circle (CRCL) down 5.65%, and Coinbase (COIN) down 4.5%.
41 minutes ago
Trump: Oil prices will fall soon, and he hopes the Russia-Ukraine conflict will end.
US President Donald Trump delivered a recent speech on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Middle East issues, stating: "I know some details of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and I will make them public at some point. I hope it ends. The Biden administration has done a lot of bad things on the Ukraine issue." When asked about inflation, Trump again claimed: "Oil prices will drop soon. Israel has provided very significant assistance to Saudi Arabia, and the Abraham Accords are once again a topic in Saudi Arabia." (Jinshi)
41 minutes ago
Strategy (MSTR) shares extend losses to 9%
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), Strategy (MSTR)’s decline has widened to 9.08%, currently trading at $137.5. On the news front, MSCI plans to implement new rules that use operating asset ratios and multiple financial ratio tests to filter out companies whose asset structures and operational characteristics are closer to investment funds than traditional operating enterprises. Strategy, due to its extremely high proportion of Bitcoin assets, has been included in the observation list of potential exclusion candidates. The final affected list is expected to be announced on November 11. Market participants believe that if MSTR is removed from MSCI-related indices, passive funds tracking these indices will be forced to reduce their holdings of its stock, which may generate selling pressure worth billions of dollars and pose a challenge to its model of continuously acquiring Bitcoin through equity financing.
Solana Foundation postponed its Accelerate event in Shanghai after pre-registration numbers far surpassed the limit set by local authorities, according to Solana Foundation President Lily Liu.
Registration Surges Prompt PostponementLily Liu stated that event registrations quadrupled overnight following widespread publicity. In a post on X, she emphasized that the organizers decided to postpone the event to ensure compliance with local regulations. The foundation took immediate action after realizing the registration figures would breach the maximum attendance allowed by city officials.
Reports from X users emerged on Friday, describing scenes of law enforcement officers present at the venue and indicating that the event was “abruptly suspended” as a result. Participants arriving at the scheduled location found entry and activities halted amid the mounting presence of authorities.
A similar situation occurred in October 2025, when a Solana event in Shenzhen had to be cut short due to capacity concerns and public safety requirements, as confirmed by Solana’s Chinese-language community account at the time.
Four-City Accelerate China Tour InterruptedShanghai was initially set to launch Solana’s four-city Accelerate China tour, with subsequent events scheduled for Hangzhou, Shenzhen, and Beijing in the following days. The abrupt postponement disrupted the planned schedule, putting other legs of the tour in question as organizers began reassessing in light of capacity guidelines and local restrictions.
Earlier in the week, Solana executives had promoted the unveiling of a new Shanghai office, signaling the foundation’s expanding commitment to China. This announcement generated substantial interest among the local crypto community, contributing to the spike in registrations for the Shanghai event.
Regulatory Environment Remains RestrictiveChina maintains strict bans on a variety of crypto-related activities. The legal framework prohibits token fundraising, cryptocurrency trading, and mining operations. In February, the People’s Bank of China and seven other regulatory agencies published a notice reaffirming these prohibitions and introducing additional restrictions, including a ban on the unauthorized issuance of yuan-pegged stablecoins.
China prohibits a range of crypto-related services, including token fundraising, trading and mining. In February, the People’s Bank of China and seven other agencies doubled down on those restrictions in a notice that added new bans, including unauthorized issuance of yuan-pegged stablecoins.
As tight local rules continue to pose challenges for crypto projects, industry events must closely monitor registration trends, venue capacities, and investor interest. In the meme token market, an internet trend can transform into millions of dollars of interest within days. According to data shared by Fomo App, a trade involving “Niu Lai”—which turned an initial $99 investment into approximately $370,000, stands out as a striking example of this activity. In this market, tracking not only prices but also the timing and token choices of investors is crucial. Fomo App brings token discovery and trading together on a single platform, featuring social feeds, investor rankings, and trade notifications. Discover Fomo App to follow the world of meme tokens alongside investor activity.
Jupiter Exchange’s new experimental trading product, YOLO, recorded $1 billion in trading volume less than 24 hours after launching in beta yesterday, October 15.
The product lets users speculate on $SOL, $BTC, and $ETH prices, offering leverage of up to 1,000x with a minimum collateral of $5.
“$1B in volume on Jupiter Yolo in less than 24 hours!” Jupiter wrote in an X post earlier today.
However, the milestone represents the notional value of positions opened and closed, meaning $5 in collateral can create a $5,000 position at 1,000x leverage.
How YOLO Works Launched by Jupiter Labs, YOLO uses a simulated trading model instead of executing leveraged positions directly in the market.
“Positions aren’t actually executed in the market, but the profits and losses are real,” Jupiter co-founder Siong Ong explained in a post.
Unlike conventional peer-to-peer trading systems, YOLO places users against a single house pool shared across $SOL, $BTC, and $ETH. Settled trader losses replenish the pool, which funds winning traders’ profits. Users cannot deposit money to provide liquidity to the pool.
The model lets Jupiter offer leverage beyond the 250x maximum on its existing Jupiter Perps markets, which use the Jupiter Liquidity Pool (JLP) as their counterparty.
However, the higher leverage comes with substantial risks. At 1,000x leverage, a 0.1% price move can liquidate a position and consume its collateral. YOLO also offers only market orders without stop-loss or take-profit orders.
Winning Does Not Guarantee Immediate Payment YOLO’s payout structure introduces a risk beyond losing a trade. When a trader closes a position, Jupiter returns their remaining collateral in $JupUSD. However, the platform pays profits immediately only when the house pool can cover the full amount and no earlier claims remain in the queue.
If the pool lacks sufficient funds, YOLO places all profits into a first-in, first-out payout queue. The platform then pays queued profits in full, one at a time, as subsequent trader losses replenish the pool.
New winning trades join the queue while outstanding claims remain, and Jupiter provides no guaranteed payout deadline. Its trading rules warn that profits may never be paid.
Jupiter also disclosed that YOLO remains unaudited, urging users to start small rather than risk their life savings.
Solana’s Answer to PaperTrade? YOLO’s launch comes as PaperTrade, an onchain perpetual futures platform built on Hyperliquid, attracts attention with a similar house-based trading model. PaperTrade offers up to 1,000x leverage on $BTC and $ETH and rewards losing traders with $PAPER tokens. Its house pool receives traders’ losses, while the platform uses Hyperliquid prices as its market reference without executing orders on Hyperliquid’s order book.
Jupiter co-founder Siong Ong confirmed in an X post that the Jupiter team “took inspiration” from what PaperTrade has been building.
PaperTrade launched on October 10 and has reportedly generated more than $1.1 trillion in volume, with $67.8 million in TVL.
Some Solana community members have already framed YOLO as Solana’s answer to PaperTrade.
Meanwhile, Others have questioned the sustainability of products that combine extreme leverage with house-funded payouts.
Read More on SolanaFloor Phoenix Launches 6X Anthropic Pre-IPO Perps as AI Giant Eyes a $100B IPO
Solana Opens Shanghai Office in a First for the Blockchain Industry, Leaving CZ Surprised
Recent developments in the cryptocurrency space include a tampering attack on Ledger hardware wallets, a significant upgrade announcement for Solana, and an increase in U.S. inflation. Ledger confirmed that some hardware wallets sold through the Southeast Asian reseller CryptoBilis were compromised, capturing recovery phrases and leading to estimated losses up to $93.2 million. Meanwhile, Solana is preparing for its Alpenglow upgrade, which aims to replace the TowerBFT consensus mechanism and improve transaction finality to approximately 150 milliseconds. In the U.S., the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to 3.7%, surpassing expectations, indicating rising inflation pressures.
In the prediction markets, the Solana price is under scrutiny as the network gears up for its upcoming upgrade. Market participants appear to be factoring in the potential positive impact of Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade, with some scenarios reflecting increased investor confidence. The anticipated improvements in transaction speed and efficiency may influence Solana’s market position and valuation.
Key Takeaways Ledger’s confirmation of compromised wallets appears to have raised concerns about hardware wallet security, possibly affecting user confidence. Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade is suggested to potentially enhance network performance, which appears supportive of a higher Solana price. The U.S. CPI increase to 3.7% suggests rising inflation, which could influence broader economic conditions and market sentiment. What to Watch Observers should monitor Ledger’s response to the hardware wallet tampering and the impact on user trust and sales. The successful implementation of Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade could be a key indicator of increased network efficiency, potentially supporting a YES outcome in Solana’s price reaching $190 in October. Additionally, any further developments in U.S. inflation figures could have broader implications for financial markets and investor behavior.
Term Structure
Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h November 1 2026 0.7% 0.0¢ $1K View market → November 1 2026 4.7% -1¢ $4K View market → November 1 2026 23% +5.5¢ $4K View market → November 1 2026 7.7% +1.4¢ $3K View market → November 1 2026 0.4% 0.0¢ $110 View market → November 1 2026 1.1% 0.0¢ $47 View market → November 1 2026 1.5% -0.1¢ $52 View market → November 1 2026 2.1% 0.0¢ — View market → November 1 2026 2.2% +0.4¢ $600 View market → November 1 2026 0.1% 0.0¢ $554 View market → November 1 2026 0.1% 0.0¢ $232 View market → November 1 2026 8.5% -2¢ $3K View market → November 1 2026 0.4% 0.0¢ $2K View market → November 1 2026 3.1% 0.0¢ $3K View market → November 1 2026 72% +13.5¢ $2K View market → Updated 7min ago
Solana price has retreated toward $104, putting $100 support back under pressure even as its weekly chart leaves room for the broader recovery to survive.
Summary
SOL’s daily chart showed $104.47 after an intraday decline to $103.91.
The weekly 50-period average near $98.99 sits just beneath the recent $100.62 low.
Daily Aroon and Awesome Oscillator readings favored continued downside pressure.
U.S. Solana ETFs recorded nine consecutive withdrawal sessions ahead of the scheduled Alpenglow upgrade.
Solana is back near the area where its September recovery began to gather strength. After advancing from its summer base toward $124, the token has surrendered much of that breakout, leaving buyers defending a narrower cushion above $100.
Solana’s daily chart shows SOL was trading at $104.47, down 0.92% for the session after reaching $107.44. Its inability to hold that intraday advance brings the previous day’s $100.62 low back into focus.
Yet the daily and weekly charts tell different parts of the story. Short-term momentum continues to weaken, while the weekly price remains above two moving averages that could help determine whether the pullback becomes a deeper reversal.
Solana’s weekly recovery rests on the $99 area
The weekly chart placed the 50-week simple moving average at $98.99, just below the psychological $100 threshold. The 20-week average sat farther down at $89.56.
Solana price weekly chart — Oct. 16 | Source: TradingView
This makes the area around $99–$101 a more consequential test than the round number alone. It brings the recent low and the 50-week average close together, giving buyers a defined region to defend after the retreat from $124.
SOL remained above both shorter weekly averages, but below its 200-week average at $112.43. The September rally had carried price above that longer-term reference before the latest decline pushed it back underneath.
A recovery through roughly $112–$113 would therefore repair part of the weekly damage. Until then, the move back below the 200-week average leaves the rebound facing resistance before it can challenge the recent peak.
Weekly momentum has also cooled. Stochastic RSI showed its faster line at 75.77, below the slower line at 88.60 after turning down from elevated readings. The summer recovery has lost momentum as price returns toward support.
A separate Oct. 16 assessment from the account publishing as Daan Crypto Trades described SOL as holding above major support, with the daily 200-period exponential moving average approaching beneath it. The account treated a loss of that area as an invalidation of its recovery setup.
$SOL Slow and steady. It has been pretty resilient relative to $BTC & $ETH the past few days.
Still sitting right above the major support level with the Daily 200EMA coming in below. So that's a clear invalidation below.
Solana Breakpoint is a month from now which usually sees… pic.twitter.com/Gizckx6ilx
— Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto) October 16, 2026
Daily selling pressure challenges the longer-term bullish case
The daily indicators give buyers little room for another failed bounce. Aroon Down stood at 92.86%, while Aroon Up was at zero. That wide separation favors the recent downward trend, with fresh lows occurring much more recently than fresh highs.
Solana price daily chart — Oct. 16 | Source: TradingView
The Awesome Oscillator was also negative at −6.49, and its latest bars were red. Together, those readings show that the retreat toward support is still accompanied by weakening momentum.
Crypto Xlarge offered a more optimistic monthly interpretation in an Oct. 16 post. The account described price compressing between rising support and horizontal resistance, alongside a possible RSI trendline breakout.
Its outlook depends on confirmation. SOL remains well below the upper boundary drawn on that monthly chart, while the immediate daily setup is testing whether buyers can preserve support.
U.S. fund flows add another obstacle. Farside Investors recorded $9.8 million in Solana ETF withdrawals on Oct. 15, extending the negative streak to nine trading sessions. Calculated from its table, those sessions produced approximately $37.8 million in combined outflows.
The selling also followed a broader withdrawal from crypto funds. crypto.news’ weekly ETF flow review recorded $1.29 billion in withdrawals across five tracked U.S. crypto ETF categories during Oct. 5–9.
Liquidation clusters frame the next recovery attempt
CoinGlass’s one-month liquidation heatmap showed nearby concentrations around $104–$105, with further bands around $108–$110. Larger overhead concentrations remained near $123–$125, close to the region where the recent advance stalled.
Solana liquidation heatmap | Source: CoinGlass
Below price, visible bands around $100–$101 and $96–$97 place leveraged positions near the same area now being tested on the weekly chart.
crypto.news’ previous Solana price analysis documented Thursday’s rebound from $100.62 toward $106.20. The latest daily reading near $104.47 shows that buyers have already surrendered part of that recovery.
Alpenglow provides the next scheduled network catalyst. The Solana Foundation expects activation on Oct. 21, targeting roughly 150-millisecond finality.
For price, the nearer test remains $99–$101. Holding that region would preserve a route back toward $108–$110 and the weekly resistance near $112.43. Losing it would expose the heatmap concentrations around $96–$97, with the 20-week average near $89.56 becoming the next broader reference.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Solana Foundation president Lily Liu announced on Friday, October 16, that the organization cancelled its scheduled Shanghai event due to an unexpected surge in registrations. The event, set to launch Solana’s Accelerate China developer tour, drew far more interest than anticipated, compelling organizers to call off the gathering just hours before it was to begin.
Police presence and registration surgeAccording to Liu, registrations for the Shanghai developer event rapidly exceeded capacity following wide publicity. The Foundation had planned sessions at the Shangri-La hotel, but organizers cited “logistical considerations at the venue” in a message sent to participants. On-site attendees also reported a significant law enforcement presence at the venue early on Friday.
One attendee using the handle Olivia (@knowyourself518) on X (formerly Twitter) shared that eight to nine police officers arrived at the event’s location, reporting the suspension of all activities before the program could commence.
Due to the high demand generated by publicity, registrations quadrupled overnight and went far beyond the event cap, according to Solana Foundation president Lily Liu. She characterized the overwhelming sign-ups as evidence of strong community engagement.
Guests with confirmed registrations reportedly received an email advising them that the morning’s agenda had been postponed. Organizers apologized for the abrupt notification and pledged to provide updates on future scheduling.
Impact on Solana’s China tourThe canceled Shanghai event was slated to be the first of four Chinese stops in the Foundation’s Accelerate China tour. The project’s official event page now lists Hangzhou, scheduled for October 18, as the next opportunity for local engagement. The tour is expected to continue to Shenzhen on October 20 and Beijing on October 22, although no further changes have been confirmed.
Solana, a blockchain platform known for its high-speed, low-fee network, has been actively seeking developer and ecosystem growth in Asia. The Foundation’s effort to connect with Chinese developers is seen as a strategic initiative amid Mainland China’s challenging regulatory environment.
Mini dictionary: Solana Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting the development and adoption of the Solana blockchain.
Past disruptions, regulatory challengesBinance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, questioned the Foundation’s understanding of local laws following the publicized cancelation. Replying on X, CZ referenced a similar incident in October 2025, when police intervention led to the suspension of a Solana Accelerate APAC hackathon in Shenzhen for safety reasons. Organizers had cited overcrowding risks during that event as well.
Just a day earlier, CZ had described securing both an office and legal marketing presence in Mainland China as a significant achievement for Solana, claiming even BNB Chain had not managed to do so. The Foundation had recently displayed its branding on the Shanghai skyline and highlighted its new Pudong office, now considered one of the city’s most prestigious commercial locations.
Despite this visibility, strict regulations remain in place. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has prohibited most cryptocurrency-related business in Mainland China since 2021, complicating efforts to organize crypto events in the region.
Solana’s plans to continue with its remaining Accelerate China events remain unchanged for now. Whether Hangzhou proceeds as scheduled will likely serve as an indicator for the rest of the tour.
SOL price moves after the announcementFollowing news of the cancellation, SOL traded around $105.50, reflecting a nearly 4% daily gain based on data from CoinMarketCap.
US-listed cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) posted divergent results on October 15, with Bitcoin funds recording modest inflows while products tracking Ethereum, XRP, and Solana faced net withdrawals.
Bitcoin regains ground after sharp outflowsBitcoin ETF products collectively brought in $5.1 million on October 15, offsetting some losses from the prior session. On October 14, Bitcoin funds saw $261.4 million in outflows, led by major withdrawals from Fidelity’s FBTC and BlackRock’s IBIT.
By contrast, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) registered inflows of $16.8 million, partially balancing $7.6 million in redemptions from Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust and $4.1 million from Invesco Galaxy’s BTCO.
Despite the daily rebound, data from Farside Investors indicated Bitcoin ETFs had a net loss of $146 million between October 12 and 15, reflecting persistent selling pressures during the week.
On a single trading day, Bitcoin-linked investment products drew more demand than major altcoin ETFs, though net inflows remained modest in the context of broader weekly outflows.
Altcoin ETFs report notable redemptionsEthereum, XRP, and Solana ETFs all posted net outflows during the session, with Ethereum experiencing the largest withdrawals among the four major crypto assets.
According to Farside Investors, US spot Ethereum ETFs shed $60.3 million on October 15, following a $129.5 million outflow the previous day. BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) led the redemptions with $44.4 million, while Grayscale’s ETHE lost $18.3 million. Inflows of $2.4 million into Fidelity’s FETH provided limited offset.
Over two trading days, net outflows from Ethereum ETFs reached approximately $189.8 million. Despite the recent withdrawals, cumulative US Ethereum ETF net inflows remain positive at about $13 billion since launch.
Mini dictionary: Farside Investors, a financial research and data analysis firm, provides daily flows and statistics for US-listed spot and futures-based cryptocurrency ETFs, widely used by analysts in tracking institutional crypto fund activity.
XRP investment products also faced withdrawals. Data from CryptoETF Today showed XRP funds recorded around $1 million in net outflows on October 15. Bitwise’s XRP ETF accounted for $3.7 million in redemptions, partly balanced by $2.7 million in inflows into Franklin Templeton’s XRPZ fund. Estimates of XRP outflows varied between trackers, reflecting differences in how daily flows and fund coverage are calculated.
Despite the short-term weakness, the five XRP funds monitored by CryptoETF Today have seen total net inflows of roughly $1.81 billion since their respective launches.
Mini dictionary: CryptoETF Today is a market data provider that tracks flows and asset movements for US-listed crypto ETFs, focusing on leading digital asset investment products for both institutional and retail investors.
Solana ETFs, meanwhile, experienced $9.8 million in withdrawals. Grayscale’s GSOL saw $6 million in redemptions, while Bitwise’s BSOL lost $3.8 million. The pullback followed last week’s $24.8 million in outflows, which marked the end of a 14-week inflow streak into Solana funds.
AssetOutflow (Oct 15)Key Fund(s)2-Day Cumulative OutflowEthereum$60.3 millionETHA, ETHE, FETH$189.8 millionXRP$1 millionBitwise XRP, Franklin XRPZn/aSolana$9.8 millionGSOL, BSOL$34.6 million*Bitcoin+$5.1 millionIBIT, Mini Trust, BTCO$146 million (Oct 12-15)*Includes $24.8 million outflow during previous week.
Wider context: Institutional demand and adoptionRecent ETF outflows have reflected the broader volatility and risk-off sentiment seen across crypto markets in mid-October. While Bitcoin ETFs recovered briefly, many institutional investors continued to withdraw holdings from major altcoin products.
Analysts have cautioned that the latest short-term outflows are not necessarily indicative of a shift away from digital asset adoption. Cumulative net inflows into both Ethereum and XRP ETFs remain significantly positive since their US market introductions.
Some industry observers noted there is no direct evidence to suggest funds withdrawn from leading altcoin ETFs have been immediately reallocated into Bitcoin products. Daily fund flows can be influenced by a range of factors including portfolio rebalancing, market sentiment shifts, or institutional capital movements.
GIBRALTAR, Oct. 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aurora Intents, the cross-chain execution solution built by Aurora Labs, now powers deposits intoElara Finance directly from Solana. Solana users can now deposit into Elara, a treasury product from the Brila ecosystem, with one signature from their Solana wallet. Staked as sELUSD, Elara's stablecoin elUSD earns yield from stablecoin market making, giving Solana users a way to put idle stablecoins to work without leaving their wallet.
Moving tokens across chains is only half the problem. The harder part is doing something with them once they arrive: minting, staking, depositing. Intents Connect handles that last step, so an app can let users act on another chain from the wallet they already use.
Funds move to Ethereum, where Elara mints elUSD. From there, the user stakes it into sELUSD with a second signature from the same Solana wallet. Both tokens stay on Ethereum in an account controlled by the user’s Solana wallet. Aurora Intents never holds the funds.
"Every extra step between a user and a product costs that product deposits," said Declan Hannon, CEO of Aurora Labs. "Bridging and buying gas are two steps most Solana users would rather skip. Elara can now accept those users as they are, and Aurora Intents handles everything in between."
The return trip works the same way. Users unstake sELUSD, redeem ELUSD for stablecoins, and Aurora Intents returns the funds to their Solana wallet.
“Our job is to make idle stablecoins productive, and a lot of that capital is held on Solana,” said Sebastien Davies, Head of Strategy, Elara. “Aurora Intents gives those holders a direct route into Elara without bridging or managing a second wallet. It brings our yield to them, wherever their funds are.”
Today’s launch connects Solana wallets to Elara, with deposits and withdrawals handled from the same wallet. The Solana route is live now at app.elara.fi.
Aurora Intents powers that connection through NEAR Intents, a solver network that has processed more than $34 billion in transactions.
About Aurora Intents
Aurora Intents is the cross-chain execution layer for on-chain applications. It enables users and systems to move assets, execute actions, and access liquidity across chains - without bridging screens, wallet switching, or per-chain gas management. Aurora Intents is built on top of NEAR Intents, the underlying solver network developed by NEAR Protocol.
About Elara Finance
Elara Finance is a treasury management product from the Brila ecosystem. Users deposit stablecoins to mint elUSD, a dollar-referenced treasury asset, and stake it as sELUSD to earn yield from stablecoin market making.
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TLDR: The Solana RWA market cap rose from roughly $700 million to $4.3 billion in one year, narrowing its value gap with Ethereum during the period. Ethereum still leads in total tokenized asset value, but Solana expanded faster and reached 26% of Ethereum RWA market capitalization. Solana applications produced $193.1 million in 30-day revenue, exceeding Hyperliquid at $86.5 million and Ethereum at $53.8 million. Tokenized stocks on Solana increased from $63 million to $455 million, while supported assets gained lending and collateral uses. Solana RWA market cap climbed from about $700 million to $4.3 billion over the past year. Castle Labs reported the expansion in its ecosystem study. The figure lifted Solana’s RWA scale from 4.5% of Ethereum’s RWA market to 26%. SOL traded at $106.39, up 3.28% during the session. The price move offered market context, while the report focused on tokenized assets and application revenue.
Solana RWA market cap now remains smaller than Ethereum’s in absolute terms. Yet its expansion was far faster over the measured year. Ethereum’s on-chain RWA value rose from $15.5 billion to $16.6 billion. Solana added roughly $3.6 billion over that span, while Ethereum added about $1.1 billion.
Solana has not overtaken Ethereum in total RWA value. Ethereum’s larger base remained dominant across the two networks. That held despite Solana’s much faster percentage expansion over the reported year.
Solana RWA Market Cap Reaches $4.3 Billion in One Year The rise represents a little more than six times Solana’s previous RWA market value. It also altered the relative gap between the two networks. One year earlier, Solana’s tokenized asset value equaled about 4.5% of Ethereum’s. It now equals roughly one quarter.
The Solana RWA market cap covers financial assets represented on-chain. Castle Labs listed U.S. Treasury debt, asset-backed credit, tokenized stocks, curated strategies, and commodities among available categories. The report did not assign a specific share of the increase to each RWA category. Market capitalization measures the value of assets issued or represented. It does not, by itself, show their trading depth or borrower demand.
Tokenized stocks posted a notable increase inside the broader Solana RWA market cap. Their value rose from $63 million to $455 million during the period. Castle Labs linked that expansion to issuers including xStocks and Backpack. Ethereum held approximately $750 million in the same category.
The report also identified a growing link between tokenized assets and DeFi. More than $65 million in tokenized equities were earning yield on Solana. xStocks could be used as collateral through Kamino and Jupiter Lend. That functionality can increase the utility of a tokenized asset beyond passive ownership.
Solana Application Revenue Tops Other Major Blockchain Rivals Solana’s application layer generated $193.1 million in revenue during the latest 30-day period. That placed it first among networks included in Castle Labs’ comparison. Hyperliquid followed with $86.5 million, while Ethereum recorded $53.8 million.
The application revenue figure measures a separate part of the ecosystem from Solana RWA market cap. It reflects revenue attributed to applications, rather than the outstanding value of tokenized financial assets. The two metrics therefore should not be treated as interchangeable.
Castle Labs attributed roughly 80% of Solana application revenue to consumer-facing applications. That category included launchpads, trading terminals, collectible markets, and wallet applications. PumpFun generated approximately $39 million over 30 days, or about one fifth of the reported total.
The remaining revenue came from decentralized exchanges, lending, and other DeFi protocols. That mix matters because the RWA figures do not explain the full revenue lead. Consumer activity remained the report’s largest source of application income.
Still, Castle Labs reported more than $500 million in active RWA value locked within Solana DeFi protocols. It estimated that amount represented around 8% of the network’s net value locked. Yield-bearing assets can be used as collateral and support borrowing activity.
The Solana RWA market cap has grown faster than Ethereum’s over the reported period. Ethereum still has a considerably larger on-chain RWA base. The next test concerns whether Solana can retain asset value. It also concerns the growing use of those tokens across lending, trading, and other financial applications over time.
Solana [SOL] has extended its bearish run following Wednesday’s broader crypto market sell-off, triggered by hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data.
According to the release, September’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.7% YoY, exceeding the 3.6% forecast and increasing concerns about interest rates remaining elevated. As a result, treasury yields climbed while the U.S. dollar strengthened, adding pressure to risk-sensitive assets.
The macroeconomic pressure is coinciding with weakening activity across Solana’s ecosystem. DeFi tokens operating in the ecosystem have also dropped significantly. Jupiter [JUP] and Raydium [RAY] are the top losers, with each token’s price dropping by 9.4% and 10.6%, respectively.
The network’s transaction volume has reportedly fallen to its weekly lowest while daily active addresses have also declined, suggesting investors are becoming more cautious following the inflation report.
Network activity signals caution
Solana’s reported transaction-volume metric has fallen to $20.25 million, while daily active addresses have also retreated to just 3.74 million addresses.
These declines could indicate weakening participation as traders respond to the macroeconomic uncertainty. However, its developments as the price action remains tied with the demand zone should be examined further.
A continued decline in active addresses and transaction activity would strengthen concerns about weakening ecosystem demand.
Source: Santiment
Can SOL bulls reverse the downtrend?
As it stands, the combination of macroeconomic pressure and weakening network indicators presents a challenging backdrop for SOL. The impacts of the weakening on-chains and fundamentals are already evident on the daily chart.
SOL’s price action just invalidated a key ascending trendline support at around $111 a few days ago. The token is now trading below both its 20-day and 50-day EMA at $103, and a drop past the $100 psychological level could amplify the current bearish push.
Source: TradingView
A recovery in broader market sentiment, accompanied by renewed network activity, could help buyers stabilize price action. Conversely, persistent selling pressure and further declines in ecosystem participation could prolong the correction.
SOL’s near-term outlook will depend on whether buyers return as macroeconomic uncertainty weighs on crypto markets.
Final Summary
SOL extended its bearish run after September U.S. inflation rose to 3.7% annually, above the 3.6% forecast.
Solana’s declining transaction volume and daily active addresses signal a weaker participation as investors and traders shy off.
A crypto whale has opened a 15x short position on ETH, with the position value reaching 18.05 million USD.
According to TradingBeats' monitoring, Hyperliquid address 0xd7b8…9f55 currently holds around 7,351 ETH short positions, using 15x full-margin leverage. The position is valued at approximately $18.05 million, with an unrealized loss of roughly $27,000. The average entry price of the position is about $2,452.59, and its liquidation reference price is around $2,695—roughly 9.8% higher than the current mark price. Trading statistics indicate that this address has previously accumulated a profit of approximately $2.51 million from ETH trades.
8 minutes ago
A trader holds a long position worth $11.2 million in HYPE, with an unrealized profit of approximately $58 million.
According to SpotOnChain’s monitoring, Hyperliquid trader watershedpath holds a $11.2 million long HYPE position with 5x leverage, generating an unrealized profit of approximately $58 million. The position’s average entry price is $38.68, while HYPE currently trades at $81.38—nearly doubling since entry—and the trader has held the position without taking profits. This is one of the largest single-sided HYPE positions on Hyperliquid, with the trader’s total profit on the platform exceeding $50 million.
8 minutes ago
Li Lin-backed crypto-friendly securities platform UMX officially launches.
Cryptocurrency-friendly securities platform UMX (The Unified Market Exchange), incubated by Li Lin’s Avenir Group, announced its official launch. Since the start of its public beta on August 10, UMX has received a total of 788 product feedbacks, with 89 demands implemented in the official version. Positioned as a crypto-friendly securities platform for global professional investors, UMX’s core offerings include real Hong Kong and US stocks, ETFs, US stock options and crypto asset trading. It is designed to address issues such as digital and securities assets being segregated in different account systems, complex cross-market allocation processes, and scattered purchasing power. Users can trade real securities and crypto assets under a unified account system, flexibly transfer funds between securities, crypto assets and fiat currencies, and access unified margin for cross-asset operations.
8 minutes ago
Japan's three major banks jointly complete empirical test for the joint issuance and cross-border payments of yen stablecoin.
Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), MUFG Trust Bank, and TISI announced that they have completed a joint multi-bank stablecoin issuance and cross-border payment pilot program from July 17 to 23, 2026. The project is supported by Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA)’s Fintech Pilot Center Payment Innovation Program (PIP). The three banks acted as co-principals, with MUFG Trust Bank serving as trustee. Under the trust agreement, the stablecoin was issued as a specific trust beneficial right per Japan’s Funds Settlement Act, using cross-border settlements between Mitsubishi Corporation’s Japanese and overseas bases as the use case to verify regulatory compliance and operational feasibility. All parties confirmed the system’s security and the viability of the multi-bank issuance model, and completed end-to-end verification of the stablecoin’s issuance, transfer, and redemption processes. The three banks previously stated plans to launch live transactions within the 2026 fiscal year, and established a joint discussion committee. With deposits as reserves and circulation limited to bank-verified users as core design premises, they will continue advancing the implementation of stablecoins and on-chain finance.
8 minutes ago
OpenAI upgrades GPT-Live-1.1: adds 13 new voices and reduces repetitive utterances of "checking in progress"
Beating AI News Flash: OpenAI has launched its new real-time voice model GPT-Live-1.1, along with a lightweight version, GPT-Live-1.1 Quip. The update adds 13 new voices covering languages including French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean and Mexican Spanish, plus an English voice named Bubbie. OpenAI states that the new version improves multilingual accents to make voice conversations more natural. The AI also no longer repeats fixed phrases such as "Checking" when searching for information, and task handoffs to other models are now smoother. GPT-Live-1.1 will be the default voice model for Plus and higher-tier subscribers, while other users will default to Quip. The update is rolling out to ChatGPT, Codex and dots, with API access to be opened later.
8 minutes ago
Analysis: Bitcoin short-term holders’ holdings rise to 4.08 million coins, up 422,000 from July’s low.
Crypto analyst Axel Adler Jr stated that short-term holders currently hold approximately 4.08 million bitcoin, the highest level since mid-June. Since the July 29 low, this holding has risen by around 422,000 units, a 12% increase. Of that total, some 154,000 bitcoin were added in the first two weeks of October, and a further 48,000 in the past week. He added that most new buyers entered the market in the $82,000 to $86,000 range. As of press time, the average cost basis for short-term holders stands at roughly $74,900, with their unrealized profit buffer narrowing from about 16% to around 10%. Adler noted that $74,900 is the breakeven point for this group, and bitcoin prices have remained above this cost level since August 20. A drop below this threshold would push the group into overall unrealized losses, potentially intensifying selling pressure.
Solana, which operates one of the world’s largest cryptocurrencies, has cancelled a high-profile event in Shanghai at the last minute as local police appeared on site, according to social media posts, just a day after the firm touted the opening of a fancy new office in the city.
Solana was slated to host its Solana Accelerate China event in Shanghai on Friday morning, part of a week-long event across major cities in mainland China. Shortly before the event kicked off, however, the company said in an email update to attendees that the programme had to be “postponed” due to “last-minute logistical considerations”, according to screenshots circulating on social media.
Social media posts also indicated that a few local police officers showed up at the event venue. Solana did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The abrupt suspension of the event followed a splashy marketing campaign in the city earlier this week, which raised questions about how the company was able to do so amid Beijing’s strict ban on crypto-related business activities.
Ledger announced Atom, an Android-based touchscreen device with a built-in cellular connection, at its Op3n event in Paris on Thursday, less than a week after the company confirmed that tampered Ledger wallets sold in Southeast Asia had been used to steal users' recovery phrases.
The launch comes as Ledger is still investigating how covert implants ended up inside devices sold by reseller CryptoBilis. The implants read the 24-word recovery phrase from the screen during setup and transmitted it over LTE using an eSIM, in an incident onchain researchers have linked to more than $86 million in suspected thefts. Ledger has since asked resellers in seven Asian markets to pull its devices from shelves, a second tampered unit has surfaced in Singapore, and rival Trezor has moved to cut its own reseller network, as we previously reported. Ledger has not yet said who tampered with the devices or where in the distribution chain it happened.
Atom is a more complex device than anything Ledger currently sells. According to Ledger's product page, it runs a full Android environment with direct internet access over a data-only 4G/5G connection, alongside a separate Secure Element running Ledger OS that handles keys and signing. When a user signs a transaction or approves an AI agent request, an FPGA chip cuts the Android side off from the display and touch panel and Ledger OS takes over the screen. Ledger says a fully compromised Android environment cannot view or alter that exchange. The device will also ship with Solana Mobile's Seeker app and dApp Store preinstalled, according to a joint announcement, and will support Ledger's system for approving transactions proposed by AI agents.
Putting a cellular radio in a signing device is a notable design choice given how the CryptoBilis attack worked. The implants needed to add their own eSIM to get recovery phrases off the device, and Atom now comes with that connectivity built in. Ledger's architecture is designed so the Android side never sees the seed, but an always-connected device also raises a separate network privacy problem. Cellular identifiers such as the SIM and device IDs are visible to carriers and can be tied to a user's identity and location, which could link a known crypto holder to a specific device wherever it connects. Ledger has not said how Atom will prevent that.
Ledger said Atom will detect attempts to open the enclosure or remove the screen, that its tamper sensors run on a separate battery, and that the device will be sold only through Ledger's own website. Reservations for a Founder's Edition are open with a refundable deposit. The Block reported a price of $849, with deliveries expected from summer 2027 pending certification, more than twice the price of Ledger's most expensive current signer.
The announcement asks users to trust Ledger with a more connected and more complicated device at the moment that trust is weakest. The company's immediate problem is its existing product line: buyers want to know that a simple signer bought from a store has not been opened, and that Ledger can account for every point in its supply chain. Until Ledger publishes its findings on where the CryptoBilis devices were altered, Atom's tamper protections will be judged against a failure the company has not yet explained.
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Solana’s RWA market surged to $4.3 billion, growing more than sixfold in one year. Tokenized U.S. Treasuries account for roughly 35% of Solana’s RWA market. Coinbase tokenized stocks on Base reportedly reached $2.8 billion in cumulative DEX volume. Solana led 30-day application revenue at $193.1 million, largely driven by consumer trading. Solana’s real-world asset (RWA) market has reached approximately $4.3 billion, narrowing its gap with Ethereum as tokenized government securities, equities and credit products attract more capital to blockchain-based financial infrastructure.
The increase from roughly $700 million a year earlier represents more than sixfold growth, according to an October 15 Castle Labs research report. Ethereum’s comparable market expanded from $15.5 billion to $16.6 billion, leaving Solana at approximately 26% of Ethereum’s RWA value, compared with 4.5% previously.
Meanwhile, activity in tokenized equities is accelerating beyond Solana. A Coinbase-branded chart shared on October 16 shows approximately $2.8 billion in cumulative decentralized exchange trading volume for Coinbase-issued tokenized stocks on Base.
Together, the developments reveal two distinct parts of the tokenization market: the growing value of assets issued onchain and the infrastructure emerging to trade them.
Treasury Products Account for a Significant Share of Solana’s Growth Solana’s expansion is not driven exclusively by tokenized stocks.
Data attributed to RWA.xyz in the Castle Labs analysis places tokenized U.S. Treasury products at approximately $1.52 billion, representing around 35% of Solana’s reported RWA market.
That composition matters because Treasury-backed products have different economic characteristics from tokenized equities. Their returns are generally linked to underlying short-term government securities, rather than corporate earnings or stock price appreciation.
The remaining RWA market includes other tokenized financial instruments, such as equities and credit products.
RWA Market Comparison TOKENIZED ASSET MARKET
Solana’s RWA Market Expands Rapidly
Approximate RWA value in USD
Solana
$4.3B
+$3.6B in one year
Ethereum
$16.6B
+$1.1B in one year
Solana value relative to Ethereum
26%
Previously 4.5% · Latest 26%
Source: Castle Labs, October 15, 2026. Rounded figures.
Solana added approximately $3.6 billion in RWA value over the period, more than three times Ethereum’s net increase in dollar terms.
However, the figures describe assets represented on each network, not necessarily fresh investment inflows.
Changes in tokenized asset value can also reflect issuance, redemptions, price movements and transfers between blockchain ecosystems.
This distinction is particularly relevant for institutions evaluating where to issue financial products. A growing tokenized asset base demonstrates infrastructure adoption, but secondary-market liquidity determines how easily investors can enter or exit positions.
Coinbase’s $2.8 Billion Trading Figure Raises a Different Question Coinbase’s tokenized equity activity provides a useful contrast.
The company’s tokenized stock products are issued on Base, its Ethereum layer-2 network, and are designed to provide eligible investors with economic exposure to listed equities.
According to Coinbase’s official product documentation, the tokens are backed one-for-one by underlying shares held in custody and can be used within supported decentralized finance applications.
Token Terminal reported in X $2.8 billion in cumulative DEX trading volume indicates substantial transaction activity, but it does not reveal how widely ownership is distributed.
Cumulative DEX volume for Coinbase-issued tokenized stocks reaches ~$2.8B
Tokenized stock trading generates transaction fee revenue for Coinbase today, while securities lending income & DEX trading fees represent potential future revenue sources https://t.co/aiEY7L5VQe
— Token Terminal 📊 (@tokenterminal) October 15, 2026
An October 5 Bitquery investigation provides a more detailed view. Researchers tracked $1.45 billion in trading volume during the 30 days ending October 4 and found that three wallet groups accounted for 67% of transactions.
One group of 108 wallets represented 37% of trading activity and consistently settled transactions with an address Bitquery identified as associated with Wintermute.
The analysis also found that Coinbase’s tokenized equities generally traded within 0.09% of their underlying share prices during U.S. market hours.
This points to an important market structure issue. Professional liquidity providers can generate substantial trading turnover while helping prices remain closely aligned with underlying securities.
For investors, tight pricing may improve execution. For market observers, however, it means headline trading volume should not automatically be interpreted as broad retail adoption.
Coinbase’s chart identifies transaction fees as an existing revenue source, with securities lending and additional DEX fees presented as potential future opportunities.
Tokenized Securities Are Moving Into Lending Markets The growing integration of RWAs into decentralized lending represents another development beyond issuance and trading.
On Solana, platforms such as Kamino and Jupiter Lend allow supported assets to serve as collateral, potentially enabling investors to borrow against tokenized holdings rather than selling them.
For example, an eligible investor holding $10,000 of accepted tokenized securities could potentially borrow stablecoins against that position, subject to the protocol’s collateral requirements.
If the applicable maximum loan-to-value ratio were 60%, the theoretical borrowing limit would be $6,000. That is an illustration, not a verified lending parameter for any specific token.
The position would remain exposed to changes in collateral value, interest rates and liquidation thresholds. Investors would also need to consider whether the tokenized security can be redeemed or transferred during periods of market stress.
These constraints help explain why RWA market capitalization does not automatically translate into equivalent decentralized lending activity.
Castle Labs’ broader RWA research found that access controls, identity verification and redemption restrictions continue to limit the proportion of tokenized assets actively deployed in DeFi.
Application Revenue Shows Where Solana Still Depends on Speculation Solana’s application ecosystem generated $193.1 million in revenue over the preceding 30 days, ahead of Hyperliquid and Ethereum in the networks compared by Castle Labs.
However, roughly 80% came from consumer applications, including token launchpads and trading platforms, rather than RWA-related financial services.
PumpFun contributed approximately $39 million. Castle Labs also found that the three largest consumer applications accounted for 50.2% of category revenue in the third quarter of 2026, down from 64% in the fourth quarter of 2025.
REVENUE COMPARISON
Application Revenue
Trailing 30 days · USD millions
Solana$193.1M
Hyperliquid$86.5M
Ethereum$53.8M
Source: Castle Labs, October 15, 2026. Bars scaled relative to Solana. Revenue classifications follow the report.
The revenue breakdown exposes a challenge for Solana’s institutional finance ambitions. Its RWA market is expanding quickly, but speculative consumer activity remains the dominant source of application income.
For tokenized finance to become a more substantial revenue contributor, the ecosystem will need more than additional asset issuance. It will require recurring trading, lending and settlement activity that can persist through weaker cryptocurrency market conditions.
What Would Confirm a More Mature RWA Market? Castle Labs estimates that more than $500 million in active RWA value is deployed across Solana DeFi protocols, representing approximately 8% of the network’s net total value locked.
The next indicators to watch are the proportion of tokenized securities used as collateral, the distribution of trading activity across participants and the ability of lending markets to maintain liquidity during periods of volatility.
Those measures would provide a clearer picture of whether tokenization is developing into a functioning financial market rather than primarily increasing the value of assets recorded onchain.
Alexander Zdravkov is a crypto journalist and market analyst specializing in digital assets, blockchain technology, and the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency market. He entered the industry more than four years ago, drawn to the speed of innovation in crypto and the potential of blockchain-based financial systems to reshape traditional markets. His work focuses on understanding the forces behind crypto market movements, from Bitcoin and altcoin cycles to institutional adoption, regulation, exchange-traded products, stablecoins, DeFi, and emerging blockchain ecosystems. Rather than simply following price action, Alexander looks at liquidity, investor positioning, market structure, and macroeconomic conditions to identify developing trends and explain what they could mean for digital assets. With a degree in International Relations, he brings a broader perspective to cryptocurrency coverage by connecting developments in the sector with monetary policy, geopolitics, regulation, and global capital flows. This allows him to examine crypto not as an isolated market, but as an increasingly interconnected part of the global financial system. Over the course of more than five years in financial journalism, Alexander has written over 5,000 articles covering cryptocurrencies, blockchain, traditional markets, and the global economy. His reporting spans Bitcoin, Ethereum and altcoins, DeFi protocols, institutional crypto adoption, regulation, market infrastructure, security incidents, and major developments shaping the wider digital asset industry. His approach is centered on giving readers context behind the numbers and headlines, explaining not only what is happening in crypto markets, but why it matters and what could come next.
The Solana Foundation’s Accelerate China 2026 event in Shanghai has been abruptly suspended on October 16, leaving registered attendees outside the venue for more than an hour as reports emerged of law enforcement officers at the location.
Summary
Solana’s Shanghai event was suspended October 16, with registered attendees reportedly unable to enter the venue.
Attendees reported eight or nine law enforcement officers outside the Shanghai venue during Friday’s disruption.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao questioned whether Solana organizers understood China’s regulations following the reported suspension.
Solana’s China tour includes four cities, with Hangzhou, Shenzhen, and Beijing scheduled after Shanghai’s event.
Chinese regulators reaffirmed restrictions on cryptocurrency business activities through an official notice issued February 2026.
Organizers informed participants that the morning program had been postponed because of venue logistics, according to an event notice reported Friday. Some attendees said they waited approximately 90 minutes without gaining entry, while a separate account described eight or nine officers stationed at the Shangri-La Hotel.
The disruption occurred on the opening day of Solana’s planned four-city tour across mainland China. Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, questioned whether the organizers understood the country’s cryptocurrency regulations after learning about the incident.
Although the event was described as canceled in initial reports, the organizers’ notice referred to postponing the morning sessions. No replacement schedule had been confirmed, and Chinese authorities had not publicly explained the reported police presence.
Solana Shanghai event suspended as attendees wait outside
The Shanghai gathering was scheduled to begin Friday morning, bringing together developers, investors, technology companies, and members of the Solana ecosystem.
According to the published event agenda, registration was expected to begin at 9:30 a.m. China Standard Time. Opening remarks were scheduled for 10 a.m., followed by presentations on blockchain infrastructure, financial technology, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies.
However, attendees reported being unable to enter the venue when they arrived. One participant, posting on X under the name Olivia, described officers standing near the entrance and preventing visitors from proceeding inside.
Olivia said approximately eight or nine law enforcement officers were present at the Shangri-La Hotel. She claimed attendees remained outside for over an hour and that some were questioned about their reasons for attending.
In one account, an attendee reportedly identified himself as a blogger when questioned about his purpose for visiting. Olivia described the interruption as disappointing for developers and community members who had traveled to participate in the gathering.
Other registered attendees reported waiting as long as an hour and a half before receiving confirmation that the event would not proceed as originally scheduled.
Around noon, organizers reportedly sent participants an apology notice explaining that the morning activities had been postponed because of logistical arrangements at the venue.
The notice directed registered guests to monitor their emails and Luma event notifications for any revised schedule. It did not identify a regulatory violation, confirm that authorities had ordered the shutdown, or provide a new starting time.
CZ questions Solana’s knowledge of China’s crypto rules
Following the reports from Shanghai, Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao publicly questioned whether the Solana Foundation had properly considered China’s regulatory requirements.
Responding to an attendee’s account, CZ commented, “Sad to see. Looks like they really didn’t know the local policies?”
He pointed to a similar interruption involving a Solana event in mainland China less than a year earlier. His remarks suggested concerns about the organizers’ understanding of local restrictions, although he did not provide evidence identifying the reason for Friday’s suspension.
The comments came one day after Zhao expressed approval of Solana’s recent efforts to establish a physical presence in Shanghai.
On October 15, he responded to posts by Solana Foundation Chief Strategy Officer Rachel Conlan concerning the project’s office and advertising activities in the city.
Zhao described the developments positively, noting that BNB Chain had not secured comparable arrangements in mainland China. He expressed hope that progress by one blockchain project could benefit others operating in the industry.
His subsequent reaction followed reports that Solana’s planned gathering had been interrupted, with the exact regulatory circumstances still unclear.
A previous Solana event in Shenzhen faced disruption in October 2025 when local police reportedly conducted an on-site inquiry.
At the time, organizers attributed the cancellation of the final hackathon presentations to venue capacity and public safety concerns. The available account did not establish that cryptocurrency regulations caused the earlier interruption.
China maintains restrictions on crypto business activities
Mainland China continues to prohibit cryptocurrency trading services and other specified digital asset business activities under regulations enforced by the People’s Bank of China and other government agencies.
In February 2026, the central bank and seven government departments issued revised guidance strengthening the country’s approach to virtual currencies and real-world asset tokenization.
The authorities confirmed that cryptocurrency-related business activities remain classified as illegal financial activities. The notice covers services involving virtual currency trading, token issuance, and certain financial products linked to digital assets.
The updated requirements restrict the provision of commercial services supporting unauthorized cryptocurrency businesses, including some promotional and advertising activities.
Chinese regulators have maintained a distinction between prohibited cryptocurrency financial activities and approved uses of blockchain technology.
Earlier this month, Chinese authorities outlined plans for a national blockchain infrastructure network, reflecting government interest in distributed ledger technology for approved data and commercial applications.
China’s February notice introduced further controls covering real-world asset tokenization and offshore entities offering restricted services to domestic customers.
The regulatory changes were examined in earlier coverage of China’s updated digital asset and stablecoin rules, including restrictions on unauthorized yuan-linked stablecoins and certain tokenized assets.
No public statement from Chinese authorities had confirmed that Friday’s Shanghai event violated those requirements. The organizers’ explanation referred to venue logistics, while attendee accounts separately described law enforcement officers at the location.
Solana’s remaining three China events face uncertainty
The Shanghai gathering was scheduled as the first stop of Solana Accelerate China 2026, a weeklong program running from October 16 through October 22.
The Foundation’s official event schedule listed four locations, with Shanghai followed by Hangzhou on October 18, Shenzhen on October 20, and Beijing on October 22.
The planned sessions cover blockchain development, financial infrastructure, artificial intelligence agents, robotics, consumer technology, and payment systems.
Friday’s Shanghai agenda included an opening presentation by Solana Foundation President Lily Liu on the network and blockchain-based financial markets. Other sessions were expected to feature developers and technology executives discussing AI applications, hardware, and payments.
The event was designed to connect Chinese technology companies with developers and investors working across the international Solana ecosystem. Organizers had required advance registration, with venue details provided to approved participants.
At the time of writing, the Foundation’s public event website continued to display the original four-city schedule. No confirmed changes to the Hangzhou, Shenzhen, or Beijing events had been announced.
Elsewhere in the region, Solana investment products have continued expanding under Hong Kong’s separate financial regulations.
Earlier this week, Pando Finance prepared to list Hong Kong’s second spot Solana ETF, following the introduction of ChinaAMC’s SOL investment product.
Pando’s fund was scheduled to begin trading on October 13, with a 0.6% annual management fee. Its investment structure provides exposure to Solana through a regulated exchange-traded fund and does not involve staking the underlying tokens.
For the Shanghai gathering, organizers said registered attendees would receive revised arrangements directly once the schedule was confirmed. No new date or time had been publicly announced.
A crypto whale has opened a 15x short position on ETH, with the position value reaching 18.05 million USD.
According to TradingBeats' monitoring, Hyperliquid address 0xd7b8…9f55 currently holds around 7,351 ETH short positions, using 15x full-margin leverage. The position is valued at approximately $18.05 million, with an unrealized loss of roughly $27,000. The average entry price of the position is about $2,452.59, and its liquidation reference price is around $2,695—roughly 9.8% higher than the current mark price. Trading statistics indicate that this address has previously accumulated a profit of approximately $2.51 million from ETH trades.
3 minutes ago
A trader holds a long position worth $11.2 million in HYPE, with an unrealized profit of approximately $58 million.
According to SpotOnChain’s monitoring, Hyperliquid trader watershedpath holds a $11.2 million long HYPE position with 5x leverage, generating an unrealized profit of approximately $58 million. The position’s average entry price is $38.68, while HYPE currently trades at $81.38—nearly doubling since entry—and the trader has held the position without taking profits. This is one of the largest single-sided HYPE positions on Hyperliquid, with the trader’s total profit on the platform exceeding $50 million.
3 minutes ago
Li Lin-backed crypto-friendly securities platform UMX officially launches.
Cryptocurrency-friendly securities platform UMX (The Unified Market Exchange), incubated by Li Lin’s Avenir Group, announced its official launch. Since the start of its public beta on August 10, UMX has received a total of 788 product feedbacks, with 89 demands implemented in the official version. Positioned as a crypto-friendly securities platform for global professional investors, UMX’s core offerings include real Hong Kong and US stocks, ETFs, US stock options and crypto asset trading. It is designed to address issues such as digital and securities assets being segregated in different account systems, complex cross-market allocation processes, and scattered purchasing power. Users can trade real securities and crypto assets under a unified account system, flexibly transfer funds between securities, crypto assets and fiat currencies, and access unified margin for cross-asset operations.
3 minutes ago
Japan's three major banks jointly complete empirical test for the joint issuance and cross-border payments of yen stablecoin.
Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), MUFG Trust Bank, and TISI announced that they have completed a joint multi-bank stablecoin issuance and cross-border payment pilot program from July 17 to 23, 2026. The project is supported by Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA)’s Fintech Pilot Center Payment Innovation Program (PIP). The three banks acted as co-principals, with MUFG Trust Bank serving as trustee. Under the trust agreement, the stablecoin was issued as a specific trust beneficial right per Japan’s Funds Settlement Act, using cross-border settlements between Mitsubishi Corporation’s Japanese and overseas bases as the use case to verify regulatory compliance and operational feasibility. All parties confirmed the system’s security and the viability of the multi-bank issuance model, and completed end-to-end verification of the stablecoin’s issuance, transfer, and redemption processes. The three banks previously stated plans to launch live transactions within the 2026 fiscal year, and established a joint discussion committee. With deposits as reserves and circulation limited to bank-verified users as core design premises, they will continue advancing the implementation of stablecoins and on-chain finance.
3 minutes ago
OpenAI upgrades GPT-Live-1.1: adds 13 new voices and reduces repetitive utterances of "checking in progress"
Beating AI News Flash: OpenAI has launched its new real-time voice model GPT-Live-1.1, along with a lightweight version, GPT-Live-1.1 Quip. The update adds 13 new voices covering languages including French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean and Mexican Spanish, plus an English voice named Bubbie. OpenAI states that the new version improves multilingual accents to make voice conversations more natural. The AI also no longer repeats fixed phrases such as "Checking" when searching for information, and task handoffs to other models are now smoother. GPT-Live-1.1 will be the default voice model for Plus and higher-tier subscribers, while other users will default to Quip. The update is rolling out to ChatGPT, Codex and dots, with API access to be opened later.
3 minutes ago
Analysis: Bitcoin short-term holders’ holdings rise to 4.08 million coins, up 422,000 from July’s low.
Crypto analyst Axel Adler Jr stated that short-term holders currently hold approximately 4.08 million bitcoin, the highest level since mid-June. Since the July 29 low, this holding has risen by around 422,000 units, a 12% increase. Of that total, some 154,000 bitcoin were added in the first two weeks of October, and a further 48,000 in the past week. He added that most new buyers entered the market in the $82,000 to $86,000 range. As of press time, the average cost basis for short-term holders stands at roughly $74,900, with their unrealized profit buffer narrowing from about 16% to around 10%. Adler noted that $74,900 is the breakeven point for this group, and bitcoin prices have remained above this cost level since August 20. A drop below this threshold would push the group into overall unrealized losses, potentially intensifying selling pressure.
Farcaster was acquired by Network School, marking its second change of ownership this year.
Decentralized social network Farcaster changes hands for the second time this year. Network School, the firm owned by Balaji Srinivasan, has acquired Farcaster from Neynar; the deal’s financial terms were not disclosed. Neynar co-founder Rish said the company decided to transfer Farcaster’s app, protocol codebase, and related products to Network School after evaluating multiple acquisition offers, as Farcaster requires a different operational model for its next phase. Rish and fellow co-founder Manan will depart Neynar, while the rest of Neynar’s staff will join Network School to continue developing Farcaster. Neynar acquired the platform from Farcaster’s original developer Merkle Manufactory in January this year; the deal also included token launch platform Clanker. Rish did not disclose Clanker’s future plans; Adrienne, Farcaster’s general manager and streamer, and NourishProf noted Rish is considering spinning off Clanker and seeking another buyer for it. An in-app announcement for Farcaster states the platform will be renamed the "Network State Protocol", with the goal of building a network of voluntarily joined digital societies that will eventually be implemented in the real world. Users will need to choose to accept or reject a "social smart contract"; those who accept will receive an on-chain access NFT as a credential.
10 minutes ago
A scammer lost more than 60 BTC, valued at approximately $4.8 million, in the Ledger theft incident.
According to Chainalysis, one of the largest victims in the theft involving crypto hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger is also a scammer himself, losing over 60 BTC worth roughly $4.8 million. The funds originated from a task scam where participants were paid to fake sales and reviews for real goods. After the scam caused "negative balances", participants were told they had to invest their own money to receive their payouts. On September 22, the scam’s mastermind transferred the proceeds to three separate Ledger addresses. On October 9, the attacker emptied all three addresses, moving funds each via a single transfer to the same wallet, which has been linked to stolen funds.
10 minutes ago
Ansem: Firmly bullish on BTC’s strong rally, crypto-native community confidence is at its lowest level in nearly a decade.
Crypto trader Ansem posted a statement expressing high confidence that Bitcoin will see a sharp rally, noting that the crypto-native community’s current confidence in BTC is at its lowest point in roughly the past decade. He added that Bitcoin is one of the few assets unrelated to the complex AI investment theme, and also mentioned that governments will need to fund AI infrastructure development amid sticky inflation.
10 minutes ago
Binance.US is seeking $100 million in financing to expand its U.S. crypto operations.
According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter said Binance.US is seeking to raise up to $100 million via private placement, targeting a valuation of around $1 billion, to expand its U.S. operations amid intensifying competition for digital asset clients. The fundraising is still ongoing, and the final size, valuation and investor composition could be adjusted. World Liberty Financial, a crypto project co-founded by former U.S. President Donald Trump, was aware of the fundraising, but another source familiar with the matter said the project is not participating at present. Spokespeople for Binance.US and World Liberty declined to comment. Binance.US launched in 2019 and operates independently of the global Binance exchange, but Changpeng Zhao is a major shareholder of both companies. In 2022, Binance.US raised over $200 million in a round with a $4.5 billion pre-money valuation. After Binance Holdings reached a settlement with U.S. authorities in 2023, Binance.US lost significant market share and is now seeking to win back clients to compete with larger rivals. The firm has also explored new business lines such as prediction markets. In terms of expansion plans, Binance.US is seeking to restore money transmitter licenses in some U.S. states and is discussing bringing in external trading liquidity, with potential sources including the global Binance exchange, though no specific plans have been finalized. The company appointed Stephen Gregory as its CEO earlier this year. The fundraising plan comes as digital asset firms seek to capitalize on a more favorable U.S. regulatory environment, with existing exchanges expanding product offerings and overseas competitors looking to grow their U.S. operations. World Liberty has ties to Binance: According to Arkham data, Binance holds the majority supply of its USD1 stablecoin. USD1 was also used by an investment firm linked to the UAE leadership to purchase $2 billion in Binance equity.
10 minutes ago
Coinbase will suspend trading for NEON and SYND.
Coinbase Assets announced in a post that, based on recent asset reviews, Coinbase will suspend trading of Neon EVM (NEON) and Syndicate (SYND) at approximately 3 AM Beijing time on November 17, 2026.
DeFi Development Corp. just made its preferred stock a little more generous. The Nasdaq-listed Solana treasury company is raising the annual dividend rate on its CHAD preferred shares from 13.00% to 14.00%.
What changed for CHAD holders DeFi Development Corp. (Nasdaq: DFDV) announced the increase on October 15, 2026. The new rate applies to its Variable Rate Series C Perpetual Preferred Stock, which trades under the ticker CHAD.
The higher payout kicks in starting November 2, 2026. Based on the $10.00 stated amount per share, annual dividend income rises to $1.40 per share from $1.30.
The math looks even better for early buyers. CHAD’s initial offering priced at $8.00 per share on September 3, 2026, raising approximately $11 million in gross proceeds. Anyone who bought at that price and still holds is now collecting $1.40 a year on an $8.00 outlay, or 17.5% on cost.
The dividends are cumulative, which means any skipped payments pile up and remain owed to shareholders. Payments are made daily when declared by the board.
The board has also authorized a repurchase program for CHAD shares, with a focus on achieving a $10 par value.
How CHAD fits the Solana treasury playbook CHAD is a perpetual, non-convertible preferred stock. Perpetual means there is no maturity date. Non-convertible means holders cannot swap their shares into common stock, so the dividend is the whole point. The instrument is backed by DeFi Development’s SOL treasury, which the company aims to put to work through strategies including staking.
As of mid-October 2026, the company’s holdings reached approximately 2.586 million SOL and equivalents.
CEO Joseph Onorati framed the higher rate as a way to make CHAD more attractive as an income-generating investment. The strategy ties directly to the treasury: proceeds from future CHAD sales are expected to fund further SOL accumulation.
DeFi Development plans to execute as much as $300 million in additional CHAD share issuances. For context, that would be roughly 27 times the gross proceeds from the September debut.
The pitch to common shareholders is SOL-per-share growth. If preferred investors fund new SOL purchases, common holders own a slice of a bigger treasury without the company issuing more common stock to pay for it.
From real estate to digital credit DeFi Development did not start life as a crypto treasury. The company pivoted from a prior real estate platform to a strategy built around holding Solana.
The variable rate structure allows the board to raise or change the payout as conditions shift. This latest move is the first visible use of that lever.
What this means for investors and the treasury model Because the dividends are cumulative, the obligation does not vanish in a bad quarter. The treasury backing CHAD is denominated in a crypto asset that can swing sharply. A falling SOL price would shrink the asset base while the dividend obligation stays fixed in dollar terms. Preferred holders sit ahead of common shareholders, but they are still exposed to the health of the treasury.
For common shareholders, the question is whether the cost of the preferred funding is worth the SOL it buys. If staking yields and SOL appreciation outpace a 14% dividend over time, the structure grows SOL per share.
The things to track from here are straightforward. Watch where CHAD trades relative to its $10.00 stated amount, how quickly the company taps its issuance capacity, and whether the SOL treasury keeps growing beyond 2.586 million.
Disclosure: This article was edited by John Chen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
The hardware wallet maker opened reservations for a data-only device that splits Android-based apps from a secure chip, with delivery estimated for 2027.
Ledger's $849 Atom runs everyday apps on an Android-based system, with approvals handled in a separate Secure Mode
Posted October 15, 2026 at 11:23 am ET.
Ledger unveiled Ledger Atom, its first device built to run everyday apps, at its Op3n 2026 event on Oct. 15, opening reservations at $849 for a product the company expects to deliver in 2027.
CEO Pascal Gauthier said customers had long asked the company for a Ledger phone. “Today, we answer. Not with another phone. With something new,” he wrote.
Ledger’s product page describes Atom as data-only: it uses 4G and 5G networks for data but cannot place cellular calls, send SMS or reach emergency services.
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Two Systems, One Screen In a post on the device’s design, CTO Charles Guillemet said Atom runs a standard operating system built on the Android Open Source Project on its main processor, while Ledger OS runs separately on a secure chip. A dedicated circuit called an FPGA, controlled by Ledger OS, moves the display into Secure Mode whenever the user has something to approve.
“The screen is the most important piece of Ledger Atom, because many of the worst attacks work by faking what you see,” Guillemet wrote.
In the same post, Guillemet described an “active shield” around the device’s secure zone, which he wrote is designed to detect tampering before a unit reaches its owner. A hardware Privacy Switch cuts power to the camera and microphone.
The launch came the same day Ledger published its account of a hardware implant attack, in which it said criminals fitted genuine devices with hidden components that captured recovery phrases and sold them through Southeast Asian resellers. “There was no flaw in Ledger’s chip, operating system or servers,” the company wrote, adding that it was working on further protections at the product level. Ledger’s Atom announcements do not mention the incident.
Partners and Pricing Solana Mobile named Ledger its first hardware expansion partner, and the Seeker app will be preinstalled on every Atom, according to Ledger’s press release. Gauthier said Ledger is exploring integrations with Kraken parent Payward, counts UAE firm Cyber50 as a launch partner and has named Persona its first identity partner.
Atom also supports Ledger Agent Intent, which sends AI agent requests to the user for physical approval on a Ledger signer. “Agents propose. You approve. Your Ledger signer enforces,” Ledger posted on X. The company said the feature is available now on compatible signers.
Founders Edition reservations require a fully refundable $100 deposit, and the press release prices orders placed after launch at $899. Gauthier’s post estimates delivery in the second quarter of 2027, while the press release and product page say summer 2027. Delivery depends on product certifications, including from the FCC in the U.S., and Ledger says buyers are reserving a device still in development whose specifications and price may change.
Related Listen: Why a $100M Ledger Reseller Attack Has Crypto Rethinking Self-Custody
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.
<span class="acf-media-credit"><span class="acf-credit"><span class="acf-credit"><a href="theblock.co" target="_blank">The Block</a></span></span><span class="acf-credit"> | <span class="acf-credit"><a href="irischo.com" target="_blank">Illustration by Iris Cho for The Block</a></span></span></span>
Nasdaq-listed DeFi Development Corp. is increasing the annual dividend rate on its CHAD preferred stock from 13% to 14%, effective Nov. 2.
The increase raises annual dividends to $1.40 per share from $1.30, based on CHAD’s $10 stated value, with payments made each business day when declared by the company’s board.
DeFi Development (DFDV) said it plans to use proceeds from future CHAD issuances to expand its Solana (SOL) treasury, which generates returns through staking and validator operations.
CEO Joseph Onorati said increasing the rate to 14% "strengthens that proposition as we broaden investor participation and scale CHAD."
"CHAD's proposition is compelling: double-digit dividend income, paid every business day, through a Nasdaq-listed preferred security issued by a company with a productive SOL treasury," Onorati said in a release. "We see a significant opportunity to build CHAD into a leading digital credit instrument, expanding our capacity to accumulate SOL and drive accretive growth for common shareholders while maintaining disciplined capital management."
DeFi Development Corp. added approximately 22,070 SOL and SOL equivalents last week, bringing its total holdings to about 2.59 million SOL.
DeFi Development said CHAD reached record trading highs during that same week. The company recently authorized a program to repurchase up to all outstanding shares of CHAD.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Farcaster was acquired by Network School, marking its second change of ownership this year.
Decentralized social network Farcaster changes hands for the second time this year. Network School, the firm owned by Balaji Srinivasan, has acquired Farcaster from Neynar; the deal’s financial terms were not disclosed. Neynar co-founder Rish said the company decided to transfer Farcaster’s app, protocol codebase, and related products to Network School after evaluating multiple acquisition offers, as Farcaster requires a different operational model for its next phase. Rish and fellow co-founder Manan will depart Neynar, while the rest of Neynar’s staff will join Network School to continue developing Farcaster. Neynar acquired the platform from Farcaster’s original developer Merkle Manufactory in January this year; the deal also included token launch platform Clanker. Rish did not disclose Clanker’s future plans; Adrienne, Farcaster’s general manager and streamer, and NourishProf noted Rish is considering spinning off Clanker and seeking another buyer for it. An in-app announcement for Farcaster states the platform will be renamed the "Network State Protocol", with the goal of building a network of voluntarily joined digital societies that will eventually be implemented in the real world. Users will need to choose to accept or reject a "social smart contract"; those who accept will receive an on-chain access NFT as a credential.
10 minutes ago
A scammer lost more than 60 BTC, valued at approximately $4.8 million, in the Ledger theft incident.
According to Chainalysis, one of the largest victims in the theft involving crypto hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger is also a scammer himself, losing over 60 BTC worth roughly $4.8 million. The funds originated from a task scam where participants were paid to fake sales and reviews for real goods. After the scam caused "negative balances", participants were told they had to invest their own money to receive their payouts. On September 22, the scam’s mastermind transferred the proceeds to three separate Ledger addresses. On October 9, the attacker emptied all three addresses, moving funds each via a single transfer to the same wallet, which has been linked to stolen funds.
10 minutes ago
Ansem: Firmly bullish on BTC’s strong rally, crypto-native community confidence is at its lowest level in nearly a decade.
Crypto trader Ansem posted a statement expressing high confidence that Bitcoin will see a sharp rally, noting that the crypto-native community’s current confidence in BTC is at its lowest point in roughly the past decade. He added that Bitcoin is one of the few assets unrelated to the complex AI investment theme, and also mentioned that governments will need to fund AI infrastructure development amid sticky inflation.
10 minutes ago
Binance.US is seeking $100 million in financing to expand its U.S. crypto operations.
According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter said Binance.US is seeking to raise up to $100 million via private placement, targeting a valuation of around $1 billion, to expand its U.S. operations amid intensifying competition for digital asset clients. The fundraising is still ongoing, and the final size, valuation and investor composition could be adjusted. World Liberty Financial, a crypto project co-founded by former U.S. President Donald Trump, was aware of the fundraising, but another source familiar with the matter said the project is not participating at present. Spokespeople for Binance.US and World Liberty declined to comment.
Binance.US launched in 2019 and operates independently of the global Binance exchange, but Changpeng Zhao is a major shareholder of both companies. In 2022, Binance.US raised over $200 million in a round with a $4.5 billion pre-money valuation. After Binance Holdings reached a settlement with U.S. authorities in 2023, Binance.US lost significant market share and is now seeking to win back clients to compete with larger rivals. The firm has also explored new business lines such as prediction markets.
In terms of expansion plans, Binance.US is seeking to restore money transmitter licenses in some U.S. states and is discussing bringing in external trading liquidity, with potential sources including the global Binance exchange, though no specific plans have been finalized. The company appointed Stephen Gregory as its CEO earlier this year.
The fundraising plan comes as digital asset firms seek to capitalize on a more favorable U.S. regulatory environment, with existing exchanges expanding product offerings and overseas competitors looking to grow their U.S. operations. World Liberty has ties to Binance: According to Arkham data, Binance holds the majority supply of its USD1 stablecoin. USD1 was also used by an investment firm linked to the UAE leadership to purchase $2 billion in Binance equity.
10 minutes ago
Coinbase will suspend trading for NEON and SYND.
Coinbase Assets announced in a post that, based on recent asset reviews, Coinbase will suspend trading of Neon EVM (NEON) and Syndicate (SYND) at approximately 3 AM Beijing time on November 17, 2026.
Ledger on October 15 unveiled Atom, an $899 security device that combines a hardware wallet’s secure element with an Android app layer, letting users protect crypto, AI agent approvals, and private messages on one device. The Paris-based company announced the device at its Ledger Op3n event, according to the company’s announcement. It is the most capable signer Ledger has made to date.
Atom runs the open-source Android operating system alongside Ledger OS, Ledger’s proprietary operating system on a secure element chip. An FPGA chip switches the device between a Standard Mode for everyday applications and a Secure Mode for signing transactions, with a bar at the top of the screen showing which mode is active. Ledger frames the device as a response to rising mobile threats, noting that mobile zero-day exploits nearly doubled year over year in 2025.
Pricing, Availability, and Partner Support Reservations are open now at $849 for a limited Founder’s Edition, with a $100 refundable deposit; orders placed after launch are priced at $899. Ledger expects Atom to ship in Summer 2027, subject to product certifications such as FCC approval in the United States. Early buyers receive a $50 Bitcoin voucher and three months of Ledger Recover at launch.
Atom can initiate transactions through the Ledger Wallet app, and Kraken is exploring support so clients could review and Clear Sign transactions on the device’s Trusted Display. Solana Mobile also named Ledger its first hardware expansion partner, with the Seeker app planned to be preinstalled to provide access to the Solana dApp Store.
Supply-Chain and AI Security Response The launch follows a difficult stretch for Ledger’s supply chain. The company recently confirmed an unauthorized hardware implant in an affected wallet sold through its reseller CryptoBilis, and Atom’s anti-tampering design — packaging that reveals opening, sensors that detect a removed display or enclosure, and tamper-resistant secure element, MCU, and FPGA — is built to prevent a repeat of that attack. Trezor separately cut its reseller network after the Ledger implant scare.
Atom also addresses AI agent risk through Ledger Agent Intent, which requires every sensitive agent action to be physically approved on the device, with the OpenClaw agent app preloaded. A hardware switch cuts power to the cameras and microphone at the circuit level, and the device is designed to be compatible with NIST post-quantum standards.
What to Watch Next Ledger said Atom is not designed to replace a phone but to secure users where a phone cannot. Delivery depends on certifications, and the Founder’s Edition is a reservation rather than an immediate purchase, so the device’s real-world security and usability remain unproven until units ship in 2027.
AUTHOR
A freelance writer with a passion for crypto, delivering insightful and accurate content on blockchain and fintech. With a knack for translating complex concepts into accessible content, Eric produces well-researched articles, blog posts, and thought leadership pieces that cover the latest trends and developments in the digital finance space. His writing is aimed at educating and engaging both newcomers and industry experts, offering fresh insights into the world of cryptocurrencies, decentralized finance (DeFi), and blockchain innovations. Eric’s dedication to quality and accuracy makes him a trusted voice in the fintech and crypto communities
