TLDR: XRP Ledger now has a record 8.24 million non-empty wallets, extending a climb through price volatility. Network growth hit 4,772 new wallets in a single day, the fifth-largest spike recorded since March. Santiment names $1.40 as the first level to watch, with $1.50 in view if wallet growth stays near 4K. CryptoBusy says XRP needs to hold $1.33 to avoid a drop toward $1.30 and $1.26 as resistance stays in play. XRP holder count has reached a record 8.24 million non-empty wallets on the XRP Ledger, according to Santiment data. The milestone extends a steady climb that continued through months of price volatility.
Network growth also jumped, with 4,772 new wallets created in a single day. That reading ranks as the fifth-largest daily spike since March.
XRP trades near $1.36 as of writing, and market participants are now watching whether price action will confirm the rise in users.
XRP Holder Count Growth Gains Pace Santiment Intelligence shared the data in a post on X. The analytics platform said holder growth is still moving higher. The post presents the XRP holder count as a record for the network.
The post also covered new wallet creation. Network growth tracks how many new wallets appear on the ledger each day.
It reached 4,772 wallets in one day, the fifth-largest spike since March. Santiment said fresh participation is accelerating again.
🚨 XRP Holder Count Hits Record As Network Growth Accelerates
📈 XRP Ledger now has a record 8.24M non-empty wallets, extending a steady climb that has continued through months of price volatility. Holder growth is still moving higher with $XRP trading near $1.36.
🌱 Network… pic.twitter.com/IUpjoF5LQl
— Santiment Intelligence (@SantimentData) October 22, 2026
In addition, Santiment said the trend strengthens the bullish case if price continues confirming the rise in users. The firm linked its outlook to both price action and daily wallet creation. Therefore, the report treats price as the confirmation for the user data.
The climb has continued across months of price swings on the XRP Ledger. Price volatility during that stretch did not reverse the trend in wallet growth.
Meanwhile, XRP traded near $1.36 at the time of the report. The XRP holder count has kept rising throughout that period.
Key Price Levels Shape The Short-Term Outlook Santiment named $1.40 as the first level to watch. The firm tied the next move to a sustained break above that level.
Network growth would also need to stay near or above 4,000 daily wallets. A quick return to $1.50 would then be more than plausible.
On the downside, Santiment pointed to $1.30. If XRP loses that level, and new-wallet creation falls back below roughly 3,000, the adoption signal would look less convincing. That assessment applies to the short term only.
Separately, CryptoBusy posted a 4H chart view of XRP on X. The 4H timeframe tracks price in four-hour candles. The token is testing a major descending resistance trendline after recovering from $1.26 toward $1.40. Price briefly broke above the trendline but met selling pressure. It then pulled back toward $1.34.
$XRP is testing a major descending resistance trendline on the 4H chart after recovering from $1.26 toward $1.40.
Price briefly broke above the trendline but faced selling pressure, pulling back toward $1.34.
A confirmed breakout above $1.38-$1.40 could open the door toward… pic.twitter.com/ApW8aoQB1b
— CryptoBusy (@CryptoBusy) October 22, 2026
According to CryptoBusy, a confirmed breakout above $1.38 to $1.40 could open the door toward $1.45 to $1.50. However, failure to hold $1.33 could push XRP back toward $1.30 and potentially $1.26.
The key is whether XRP can break and hold above resistance. Until then, the broader downtrend remains intact. At the same time, the XRP holder count keeps climbing.
Santiment has reported that the number of non-empty wallets on the XRP Ledger reached a record 8.24 million, marking significant ongoing growth despite recent price volatility. The analytics firm underscored that this milestone continues a steady increase that began months ago, with network growth showing renewed momentum in recent days.
XRP wallet growth reaches new recordAccording to Santiment, the XRP Ledger added 4,772 new wallets in a single day, making it the fifth-largest daily spike in wallet creation since March. This surge points to a fresh wave of participant interest as the network continues to expand its user base.
The platform stressed that not only price performance, but also increasing wallet creation, supports a constructive outlook for the network. Santiment linked the trajectory of user growth to larger trends in XRP adoption.
Holder growth remains on an upward path, with the latest milestone reached as XRP traded around $1.36. Network activity continues to climb even in periods of price swings, emphasizing growing confidence among users.
While XRP price action has seen periods of volatility, wallet growth has persisted, suggesting that new entrants remain interested in the ecosystem. Market watchers are assessing whether price movement will eventually confirm underlying trends in user adoption.
Key resistance and support levels come into focusSantiment identified $1.40 as a key resistance level that could determine the immediate future direction for XRP. According to the platform, a sustained break above $1.40, along with daily new-wallet creation staying near or above 4,000, would open the door to a potential move toward $1.50. However, if XRP falls below $1.30 and wallet growth slows to around 3,000 new wallets daily, momentum could weaken in the short term.
Technical analysts are currently monitoring XRP’s four-hour chart, where the token recently tested a descending resistance trendline after recovering from $1.26 to as high as $1.40. Despite briefly crossing this trendline, the price faced selling pressure and retreated to near $1.34.
A breakout above $1.38 to $1.40 could clear the way for a rally toward $1.45 and $1.50, while holding above $1.33 remains critical to avoid reversal toward $1.30 or even $1.26.
Until there is a clear breakout above resistance, the overall downtrend remains intact for XRP, even as wallet numbers continue to rise.
Meme token activity highlights investor behaviorBeyond price and wallet statistics, closely following shifts in investor activity and timing has become increasingly important in today’s rapidly evolving digital asset landscape. In the meme token space, viral trends have quickly generated large inflows. For instance, analytics from Fomo App revealed that a trade involving the meme token “Niu Lai” turned a $99 investment into about $370,000, exemplifying the scale of dramatic returns possible within days.
Tracking not just prices but also when and where investors are moving capital has become a core priority for participants. Fomo App has integrated token discovery, trading, social feeds, investor rankings, and real-time trade notifications into a single platform, providing an all-in-one resource for monitoring meme token momentum alongside investor behavior.
XRP is trading at $1.31, down 4.4% over the past 24 hours, after more than six billion tokens moved onto exchanges over the trailing month — the heaviest inflow reading in seven months. CryptoQuant counts 6.05 billion XRP in 30-day exchange inflows, with Binance alone taking in 2.46 billion of it. The immediate question is whether that wave is selling pressure hitting order books, or ordinary market plumbing. Read carefully, the data points somewhere in between.
As of 23:37 UTC on October 22, XRP changed hands at $1.31, down 4.40% over 24 hours, with a market capitalization of $82.38 billion, good for fifth place among crypto assets, per CoinGecko. The 24-hour range ran from a low of $1.30 to a high of $1.37 on about $1.57 billion of volume. Over the past month the token has shed roughly 16% from its September 23 level near $1.57, and it sits about 64% below the all-time high of $3.65 it set in July 2025.
A 6.05 Billion Token Wave, Exchange by Exchange The headline number comes from CryptoQuant’s QuickTake platform, where analyst Arab Chain traced XRP movement onto centralized venues. “There has been a notable surge in XRP inflows to cryptocurrency exchanges, with the total volume reaching approximately 6.05 billion XRP over the last 30 days, the highest level in seven months,” the analysis reads.
The breakdown matters because it shows where the supply is landing. Binance absorbed the largest share at roughly 2.46 billion XRP, about 40.7% of the total. Bybit took in about 580.31 million, OKX 557.13 million, Upbit 544.48 million, Bitget 284.52 million, KuCoin 55.24 million and Gate 29.47 million. In dollar terms, 6.05 billion XRP at $1.31 is just under $7.93 billion in tokens that moved toward venues where they can be sold quickly.
The inflow spike arrives against a steadily declining price. The chart below plots XRP’s daily close over the trailing 30 days: the token has printed lower highs since late September, sliding from $1.57 down to the current $1.31 area.
Why Inflows Don’t Automatically Mean Selling CryptoQuant is explicit that the metric is not a sell signal. “It should be noted that an increase in XRP inflows to exchanges does not necessarily mean that investors are preparing to sell,” the analyst writes, adding that “interpreting this indicator becomes more accurate when compared with XRP’s price action, trading volume, and exchange outflows.”
The distinction is more than semantics. A transfer to an exchange can reflect custody moves, active trading, or wallet reshuffling — not a decision to dump. And the scale, while large in absolute terms, is a modest slice of the float: 6.05 billion tokens equals roughly 9.6% of the 63.1 billion XRP in circulating supply. A market that absorbed nearly a tenth of its circulating supply landing on venues in a single month, and only gave up about 16% from its September high, is not showing the hallmarks of a supply cascade.
The exchange-side picture is also softened by what is happening on the fund side. U.S. spot XRP ETFs were the demand story this autumn, though that streak cooled in recent days: the funds ended a 13-week run of consecutive weekly inflows in mid-October, a shift BlockchainReporter covered when spot XRP ETFs ended their 13-week inflow streak. With both daily ETF flows and price softening, the $1.30 level has become the line in the sand.
The Levels That Matter Now On the technical side, XRP’s immediate floor is the October 22 intraday low of $1.30, which also marks the 24-hour low across major venues. A break below it opens the way toward the October 18-19 lows near $1.29, the weakest prints of the month. On the upside, $1.37 — the October 22 high — is the first resistance, and above that sits the $1.40 round number where XRP has repeatedly failed over the past week.
These levels are drawn from the observed 24-hour and weekly ranges, not from a forecast. A daily close back above $1.37 would be the first sign that the inflow wave has been absorbed; a close below $1.29 would suggest supply is still clearing. Neither outcome is guaranteed by the flow data alone, which is the point CryptoQuant makes when it insists the indicator be read next to price and volume rather than in isolation.
The Wider XRP Picture Away from the order books, two threads frame the next several weeks. The XRP Ledger’s fixCleanup3_4_0 amendment lost the validator support it needed to activate on schedule, pushing the network’s cleanup change later into November and underscoring that the ledger’s own upgrade cadence runs independently of the token’s price. Meanwhile, XRP remains the asset at the center of Ripple’s long-running regulatory fight with the SEC, which continues to shape how institutions weigh the token.
For a longer horizon, the XRP price prediction case rests on a different set of drivers — ETF flows, ledger utility, and the resolution of the SEC dispute — rather than the month-to-month movement of tokens onto exchanges. The inflow print is a snapshot, not a verdict.
Frequently Asked Questions What is XRP’s price today? XRP traded at about $1.31 on October 22, 2026, down 4.40% over 24 hours, with a market capitalization of roughly $82.38 billion, according to CoinGecko.
Why is XRP down today? XRP fell as CryptoQuant reported 6.05 billion XRP in 30-day exchange inflows, a seven-month high, while spot XRP ETF inflows cooled after a 13-week streak ended.
Does the exchange inflow data prove whales are selling? No. CryptoQuant notes that inflows can reflect custody moves, trading, or wallet transfers, and says the metric must be read alongside price action, volume, and outflows.
What are XRP’s support and resistance levels? Immediate support sits near $1.30, the October 22 low, with the October low around $1.29 below it. Resistance starts at $1.37, then the $1.40 level where the token has repeatedly failed.
How much of XRP’s supply is 6.05 billion tokens? 6.05 billion XRP equals roughly 9.6% of the 63.1 billion XRP in circulating supply, worth about $7.93 billion at $1.31 per token.
Data: CoinGecko, Binance, CryptoQuant.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
AUTHOR
Samuel is a professional cryptocurrency writer specializing in blockchain technology and market analysis. He delivers in-depth insights into emerging trends and developments, producing well-researched, engaging content that makes complex crypto topics accessible to both newcomers and experienced industry professionals. Through his analytical approach and clear writing style, Samuel provides valuable perspectives on the evolving digital asset landscape, establishing himself as a credible and trusted voice in the cryptocurrency industry.
XAO DAO says several proposals have passed in the last couple of weeks, and a community forum is now live, calling it a huge milestone.
XAO DAO co-founder Santiago Velez announced that proposal 66 had passed, authorizing the decentralized autonomous organization to deploy 80% of its XRP treasury into Firelight, a DeFi protocol focused on decentralized insurance and yield.
The decision would put a large share of the DAO’s XRP holdings to work in a strategy intended to generate returns for members while contributing capital to protection services for decentralized finance.
XAO DAO Vote Approves XRP Deployment to Firelight In his announcement, Velez described the proposal as, to his knowledge, the first time a DAO had deployed treasury funds into a multichain DeFi strategy combining decentralized insurance with yield generation.
He thanked co-manager Fabio Marzella, Flare Networks co-founder Hugo Philion, and the Flare team for developing the Flare Smart Accounts technology, as well as Firelight for the opportunity.
The plan connects XRP with Firelight through Flare Smart Accounts, which provide a route for XRP holders to use DeFi applications. In an October 6 post, Flare described Firelight as a way to put XRP behind a protection layer for DeFi with a single XRPL signature.
Firelight posted the same day that anyone deploying XRP through the feature should connect a supported XRPL wallet and choose to mint and deposit FXRP into the Firelight vault, adding: “So bullish on this.”
Meanwhile, XRP itself was changing hands at $1.34 at the time of writing, having barely shifted in 24 hours but dropping nearly 4% of its value in the last seven days and over 11% across one month. It is also more than 44% lower than where it was a year ago, with the current price a 63% dip from its $3.65 all-time high attained in July 2025.
You may also like: XRP Ledger’s Latest Fix Pushed to November After Voting Setback Ripple Backs SEC’s Proposed Crypto Regulation, Calls for End to Case-by-Case Enforcement XRP Ledger Bug Fixes Set for Friday Activation as DeFi Lending Awaits Approval Governance Changes Aim to Broaden Community Participation The treasury vote follows a wider push to improve how XAO DAO members take part in decisions. In an October 22 update, the organization announced that several proposals had passed in recent weeks and introduced a community forum.
Marzella also outlined updates to the governance app, including proposal management, discussion tools, XRP and RLUSD donation tracking, support for several languages and searchable records.
As CryptoPotato reported in August, XAO DAO was preparing governance changes that included wallet delegation, revised quorum rules and community mini-grants. Delegation would let members assign their voting power to others, while changes to quorum rules were intended to address inactive wallets that could obstruct proposals.
The broader concern was how to turn community participation and funding into lasting activity across the XRP Ledger ecosystem. That question also arose after XRPL infrastructure team Gen3 announced on August 12 that it would wind down its retail products Aigent.run and AxiomProtocol, citing weak demand and rising infrastructure costs.
XRPL stablecoin supply has dropped sharply. According to DefiLlama data, the XRP Ledger’s total stablecoin market cap contracted 13.19% over the past week.
It now sits at roughly $999.9 million, just below the $1 billion mark. XRPL still ranks 12th globally by stablecoin supply. It holds that position ahead of Aptos in 13th place.
RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar-pegged token, remains the dominant force, carrying over 90.75% of all stablecoin value on the ledger.
What Is Driving the XRPL Stablecoin Contraction? The numbers tell a clear story. RLUSD’s market cap on XRPL dropped to around $907 million as of October 22, 2026. That marks a 14.39% decline over seven days.
Earlier in October, total stablecoins on the ledger had climbed past $1.3 billion on strong growth weeks. The pullback from that peak is significant.
This is not random. CoinGape earlier reported on Ripple’s RLUSD mint and burn activity, Ripple Treasury minted $38.6 million on Ethereum while burning $50.6 million on XRPL.
That is a net $12 million reduction in circulating supply. The pattern points to a deliberate cross-chain rebalancing.
Institutional demand appears to be pulling RLUSD liquidity toward Ethereum rails, where DeFi use cases and collateral applications are more mature.
The concentration risk on XRPL is real. With one issuer controlling over 90% of stablecoin supply, any mint or burn decision by Ripple moves the market.
Even so, RLUSD’s total circulating supply across all chains remains in the $2.35–2.4 billion range, which suggests the ecosystem itself is not shrinking, only redistributing. That distinction matters for how investors should read this data.
New Partnerships Hold the Floor as Investors Watch the Recovery Despite the contraction, XRPL’s stablecoin infrastructure is expanding. Cross River Bank recently integrated RLUSD into its core banking platform on the XRP Ledger.
That move opens RLUSD-powered settlement, cross-border transfers, and blockchain payments to a broad network of fintech firms.
Settlement-focused demand of that kind could gradually restore supply to the ledger as partner volume grows.
Ripple has also partnered with Arf to supply RLUSD-backed working capital to licensed cross-border payment firms on XRPL.
Arf plans to deploy that liquidity through XRPL’s native lending protocol once it launches. Similarly, Standard Chartered opened RLUSD institutional custody through its Dubai DIFC branch, a signal that regulated institutions see long-term value in the ledger’s payment rails.
Context also helps here. As CoinGape reported, XRPL overtook Stellar in stablecoin supply earlier this year as RLUSD gained momentum, a position it still holds today even after the weekly pullback.
The XRPL stablecoin supply figure is a live gauge of payment and DeFi activity on the ledger, so it warrants close monitoring in the weeks ahead.
Investors should watch whether supply recovers above the $1–$1.2 billion range, how Ripple’s mint and burn pattern evolves across XRPL versus Ethereum, and whether new settlement integrations translate into measurable on-chain demand.
Ripple partners with the Swiss platform Arf to offer short-term financing in RLUSD to licensed payment companies on the XRP Ledger. Announced on October 22, 2026, this service starts without the native XRPL lending protocol, which is still awaiting a vote by validators.
In brief Ripple and Arf announce, on October 22, short-term financing in RLUSD on the XRP Ledger. Advances are generally repaid in one to five days. Arf declares approximately 10 billion dollars in annual settlements. The native XRPL lending is not activated due to insufficient votes from validators. The amount of RLUSD deployed by Arf has not been disclosed. Arf brings RLUSD to payment companies on XRPL Based in Zug, Arf will first provide liquidity in RLUSD directly on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). RLUSD is Ripple’s dollar-backed stablecoin launched in December 2024. These advances are generally repaid in one to five days, as the payments are settled.
In its press release, Arf states it processes about 10 billion dollars in settlements per year with capital reused four times per month. These figures are provided by the company itself. However, the amount of RLUSD it will place on XRP Ledger is not specified.
Jasmine Cooper, product lead at RippleX within Ripple, believes this use case matches the purpose of XRPL and RLUSD.
A short credit to prefinance cross-border payments A payment company often has to advance funds in the destination country before collecting the payment. In this regard, Arf highlights that bank credit lines can require months to set up and significant collateral.
The mechanism is simple: the company borrows RLUSD, settles the transaction, and repays when its own funds arrive. Arf keeps credit evaluation and financing decisions off-chain. This ties the model to “PayFi,” finance built around payment flows.
Is the native XRP Ledger lending already activated? No. Arf plans to use it once available. It relies on two amendments:
XLS-65 which creates single-asset vaults; XLS-66 which allows fixed-term loans. As of October 19, XLS-66 had 19 votes out of 35 and XLS-65 had 21. Activation requires more than 80% support for two consecutive weeks. Halborn conducted a new code audit and found no critical or high-level flaws.
What the announcement changes for RLUSD and XRP For RLUSD, it adds a credit use. On August 25, Ripple indicated its market capitalization exceeded 2 billion dollars, nearly one billion of which was issued on the XRP Ledger. Other data however show a 117 billion dollar decline over 15 months.
For XRP, no quantified effect is currently demonstrated. Certainly, XRPL fees are paid in XRP. However, the volume of this financing remains unknown. No conclusion on the XRP price can be drawn from this. At the time of writing, this digital asset trades around $1.30.
Nevertheless, three elements to watch closely in the coming days are:
the evolution of votes on XLS-65 and XLS-66; the amount of RLUSD actually deployed by Arf; the onchain data Arf makes available. Ripple (XRP) and Arf thus launch short-term financing in RLUSD on XRPL, but its volume remains unknown. Extension to native lending depends on a vote still far from the required threshold. The coming weeks will tell if usage follows the announcement.
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Ariela R.
My name is Ariela, and I am 31 years old. I have been working in the field of web writing for 7 years now. I only discovered trading and cryptocurrency a few years ago, but it is a universe that greatly interests me. The topics covered on the platform allow me to learn more. A singer in my spare time, I also cultivate a great passion for music and reading (and animals!)
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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.
Ripple and Arf are bringing RLUSD-powered settlement liquidity to licensed cross-border payment firms on the XRP Ledger, with native XRPL lending planned later.
Ripple (@Ripple) has partnered with settlement platform Arf (@arf_one) to provide settlement liquidity for licensed cross-border payment companies on the XRP Ledger (@XRP) $XRP. Under the plan, Arf will use Ripple's dollar-backed stablecoin $RLUSD to fund transactions before payment firms complete settlements, typically within one to five days.
How the RLUSD funding worksCross-border payment companies often need money in place in destination markets before incoming transfers have settled.
Arf's offer is short-duration financing.
According to Arf,
Arf's CEO Ali Erhat Nalbant said the company is meeting this need at scale. That figure is self-reported by the company. Jasmine Cooper, Head of Product for RippleX at Ripple, said
Native XRPL lending still pendingArf plans to expand into native XRPL lending once the protocol launches. That step is not yet live.
The arrangement also gives RLUSD a credit use case.
The partnership shows how stablecoins are being tested as working capital for payment firms rather than only as trading instruments. Its impact will depend on how much RLUSD financing licensed firms take up and on whether validators approve the lending amendments.
Sources:
crypto.news: Ripple teams up with payments firm Arf to expand RLUSD use on XRPLFinopotamus: Arf and Ripple partner to bring settlement liquidity to the XRP LedgerCointribune: Ripple plans new RLUSD financing services
The XRP ecosystem is attracting heightened attention in the digital asset space, reflecting a series of recent developments and growing institutional interest. Industry commentators have spotlighted these advances, and in a recent panel discussion, market participants underscored the positive outlook for XRP in the near term.
XRP support highlighted at Crypto Daily RoundtableDuring Mario Nawfal’s Crypto Daily Roundtable, Shyla, Chief Marketing Officer at Yellow, joined a panel of crypto experts and offered a notably optimistic perspective on XRP’s trajectory. Alongside figures such as host Kelly Kellam and Chris Terry of Bitseeker Consulting, Shyla delivered a clear message on her position regarding XRP.
Describing herself as a “hardcore XRP maxi,” Shyla referenced several factors fueling her confidence, including Evernorth’s recent listing on NASDAQ and a banking institution’s move to integrate RLUSD into its operations. She also pointed to the official launch of the XRP channel on X, which rapidly amassed over 100,000 followers, and the unveiling of an updated branding website for XRP.
While acknowledging that XRP’s market price had not yet fully reflected the recent momentum, Shyla remained enthusiastic about the asset’s potential, stating that those not engaged with XRP at present could miss a significant opportunity.
Shyla declared herself a committed XRP supporter and highlighted the series of catalysts behind her optimism: from major exchange listings and institutional integration to surging community engagement. She voiced, “you’re missing out if you’re not riding the XRP wave right now.”
Institutional adoption and the link to traditional financeAddressing the growing intersection between decentralized and traditional finance, Shyla emphasized that validation between these realms is reciprocal. She argued that institutional engagement with crypto assets is balanced by blockchain projects creating channels into the traditional financial sector. According to Shyla, XRP has maintained its relevance partly due to its deep institutional ties.
She cited Evernorth’s NASDAQ listing as evidence of institutional confidence, noting that the firm’s digital asset treasury holds hundreds of millions in XRP. Additionally, she mentioned BlackRock’s involvement with Bitcoin and other leading cryptocurrencies, as well as the progress of projects like Canton that have advanced through strong partnerships with established financial entities.
When the conversation turned to the sustainability of the current enthusiasm, Shyla offered a balanced view, noting the substantial capital flowing into the space but cautioned that time would ultimately determine whether recent advances would translate into lasting growth.
Shyla maintained that the influx of funds demonstrates growing interest but qualified her remarks by adding, “I don’t know. Time will tell. But I think that there’s a lot of money going in, being spent in that direction.”
Major upcoming events and the value of market monitoringThe panel identified the upcoming Ripple Swell conference as a focal point likely to generate significant announcements for the XRP community. Shyla noted that discussion about XRP has already become dominant on social media platforms and encouraged broader engagement among crypto enthusiasts.
Panelist Chris Terry briefly added that XRP remains well-positioned in the eyes of institutions, attributing this to Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s public profile and connections with key policymakers. Terry further commented that the trajectory of the token depends on real-world use cases and sound tokenomics going forward.
In volatile segments such as meme tokens, market trends can develop rapidly, driven by viral internet trends that transform modest investments into substantial gains within days. An example cited by Fomo App involved a “Niu Lai” trade that grew a $99 investment to roughly $370,000. In such sectors, timely market analysis, understanding investor timing, and tracking token selections can be decisive. Platforms like Fomo App allow users to monitor meme tokens, benefit from real-time trade alerts, and follow investor rankings, providing a consolidated environment for token discovery and community-driven trading.
Overall, Shyla concluded by reaffirming her expectation that institutional developments would continue to fuel XRP’s progress, citing the current landscape as favorable for long-term growth.
Vet, a prominent XRP Ledger (XRPL) validator, has refuted the popular misconception that the broader adoption of the XRP Ledger network does not necessarily impact its token, XRP.
The expert recently took to X to respond to the complaints that XRP seems not to be involved as much in tokenization or that it does not show significant price increases despite the network's growing ecosystem.
"I see sometimes comments saying XRP is not used here, why tokenized assets, price is not moving, etc.," he said.
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Vet explained that such claims are due to a basic misunderstanding of how the XRP Ledger works.
"The XRP Ledger is a multi-asset ledger since 2012. XRP has a special role in auto-bridging: bridging liquidity on the DEX for the long tail of assets, aside from reserves/accounts/fees. More importantly, it's the only native asset on the network without a counterparty, neutral, can't be frozen, and anyone can accept it."
Why XRP is importantAuto-bridging is one of XRP's most important capabilities. This means that when two different assets are being traded on the decentralized exchange (DEX) within the XRP Ledger, XRP can act as a bridge between them.
However, Vet emphasized that the importance of XRP isn't only in its use cases for liquidity, transaction fees, account reserves, etc.
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"More importantly, it's the only native asset on the network without a counterparty - neutral, can't be frozen, and anyone can accept it," he said.
Unlike issued tokens that can have a counterparty and can be frozen, etc., XRP is not a claim on anyone.
What about the XRP price?Vet also responded to the popular question of why the price of XRP doesn't necessarily correlate with the increased utility of the XRP Ledger.
The expert explained that it is not necessary for the price of XRP to rise instantly whenever there is new tokenization or institutional integration.
Instead, the expert believes that the focus should be on increasing the adoption of the network first.
Then, as a secondary effect, one can expect that the price may potentially increase.
"A valuable network is a good place to house money," he said.
"It's order of operations. Let the price of the native asset be a knock-on effect of large-scale usage and acceptance of the XRP Ledger."
The largest U.S. public pension fund has significantly reduced its holdings in the "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks, shifting to increase allocations to private equity.
According to a Financial Times report, CalPERS, the largest U.S. public pension fund (California Public Employees' Retirement System), is adjusting its asset allocation: cutting direct holdings of the "Magnificent Seven" tech giants while increasing exposure to private equity to reduce concentration risk in public equity investments. Calculations from regulatory filings show CalPERS will slash its direct holdings of stocks in Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, and Tesla by 26% in the first half of 2026. The fund is instead diversifying its portfolio across hundreds of companies, cutting concentrated bets on a small number of top firms. Anton Orlich, CalPERS' deputy chief investment officer, confirmed this allocation shift in an interview. He noted that public equity market valuations are already elevated, and concentration in a handful of leading companies is pressuring relative returns. In contrast, private companies offer more attractive pricing, helping CalPERS buffer against potential downturns in public markets. This rebalancing took place ahead of the recent tech stock sell-off. This week, multiple tech giants released earnings reports, stoking market concerns over whether AI spending can translate into tangible returns. Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet are set to report results next week, leaving the tech sector facing further tests. As of June 30, CalPERS' assets under management reached $637.1 billion. Data released by the fund in July showed its preliminary net investment return for the past 12 months was 14.8%, with both public and private equity portfolios performing strongly.
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Hong Kong's Secretary for the Treasury: Hong Kong's tokenization initiative is advancing towards the implementation phase.
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hui Ching Yu, stated that Hong Kong’s tokenization development is transitioning from the "experimental phase" to the "implementation phase". Currently, Hong Kong hosts over 1,400 fintech enterprises, including 8 virtual banks, 4 virtual insurance companies, and 12 licensed virtual asset trading platforms, which have achieved notable results in advancing tokenization. Hui added that the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) is committed to launching a tokenized warehouse receipt financing pilot program next year. The project will partner with designated banks, utilizing distributed ledger technology, to facilitate the use of commodity warehouse receipts as collateral. Furthermore, HKEX is also developing a multi-asset tokenization platform that will include commodity warehouse receipts from approved warehouses.
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South Korea's KOSPI index closed 0.3% higher, with SK Hynix gaining 4.41%.
According to Bitget's market data, South Korea's KOSPI index closed up 16.53 points on Friday, October 23, with a 0.3% gain, ending at 5550.3 points. SK Hynix closed 4.41% higher, while Samsung Electronics rose 0.46%.
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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.
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.
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Imran, general partner at Alliance, took to X this morning to share his views on a16z crypto’s shift toward frontier technology sectors. He noted that a16z led Coinbase’s 2013 funding round via Chris Dixon, providing early validation for the crypto industry; Marc Andreessen’s 2014 New York Times op-ed, “Why Bitcoin Matters,” was a key factor in his decision to enter the Bitcoin space. At the time, few institutions and funds were willing to publicly back crypto, with a16z and USV standing out as two that took brand risk. Imran argued that the current development of AI infrastructure owes much to Bitcoin mining infrastructure and talent that has moved from crypto to AI. The shift to frontier technologies including robotics, biotech, AI, energy, and computing power means the talent and capabilities the crypto industry has built over the past decade can be applied to the broader frontier tech space. Citing data centers as an example, he noted that public and government pushback against data centers is growing, much like earlier resistance to crypto—yet today nearly all traditional financial institutions have embraced crypto to some extent. Yesterday’s news: a16z’s flagship blockchain fund will drop the “Crypto” moniker and rebrand as “a16z Frontier.”
According to data from Farside, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs posted a net outflow of $635 million yesterday. Among them, BlackRock’s IBIT saw a net outflow of $254 million, Fidelity’s FBTC recorded a net outflow of $217 million, and ARK’s ARKB had a net outflow of $109 million. Additionally, U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs reported a net outflow of $110 million yesterday, with BlackRock’s ETHA seeing a net outflow of $75.5 million and BlackRock’s ETHB recording a net outflow of $17.2 million.
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.
Ethereum developers have postponed the Glamsterdam upgrade on the Hoodi testnet over smart contract compatibility concerns, canceling its October 26 activation and a planned increase to a 200 million gas limit.
Summary
Ethereum developers postponed Glamsterdam’s October 26 Hoodi testnet activation to investigate EIP-8037 smart contract compatibility concerns. The postponement cancels the scheduled 200 million gas limit increase without reversing Hoodi’s existing blockchain history. ChainSecurity warned that proposed gas changes could affect smart contracts handling failed transactions and retry mechanisms. Hoodi node operators must update their execution and consensus clients to remove the canceled October 26 activation. Ethereum has not announced replacement Hoodi or mainnet activation dates, leaving proposed December targets unconfirmed. According to the Ethereum Foundation’s October 22 announcement, the decision followed discussions during the All Core Developers Execution meeting, where developers agreed to investigate how EIP-8037 interacts with existing mainnet contracts. The Foundation has not announced a replacement testnet activation date.
Ethereum postpones Glamsterdam on Hoodi testnet The upgrade was originally scheduled to activate on October 26 at 17:42:48 UTC, corresponding to Hoodi epoch 132,352. Developers have removed the Amsterdam execution-layer activation and the Gloas consensus-layer activation from the revised configuration.
The postponement removes the scheduled increase in Hoodi’s gas limit to 200 million, which developers intended to examine alongside other protocol changes. However, the Foundation clarified that this adjustment affects a future network upgrade and does not reverse Hoodi’s existing transaction history.
The decision changes the previously announced Hoodi schedule, as crypto.news reported on October 19. The testnet activation was intended to examine how execution and consensus clients handled Glamsterdam’s changes before developers selected a mainnet date.
Ethereum researcher Christine D. Kim warned Hoodi node operators that the October 26 activation had been canceled. She advised operators to revert to suitable older software versions or install updated execution clients that remove the scheduled upgrade.
PSA: Hey #ethereum node operators who are on the #hoodi testnet, PLEASE NOTE THE HOODI UPGRADE NEXT MONDAY HAS BEEN CANCELLED. Revert to an older release without the Hoodi upgrade scheduled, or wait for your EL client team to release a new version that cancels the upgrade. TY!
— Christine D. Kim (@christine_dkim) October 22, 2026 ChainSecurity identifies risks in Ethereum gas changes The postponement follows concerns involving EIP-8037, which introduces separate accounting for gas consumed when creating blockchain state. Another proposal, EIP-8038, changes the costs associated with accessing existing state.
In an October 13 technical assessment, blockchain security firm ChainSecurity warned that the proposed changes could affect how deployed smart contracts handle unsuccessful external calls. Some applications use remaining gas balances to determine whether an operation failed permanently or should remain eligible for another attempt.
Under the proposed rules, a failed operation could leave enough gas for the calling contract to continue processing when the same transaction would previously have reverted. ChainSecurity warned that such behavior could cause certain applications to record an unsuccessful operation without allowing users to retry it.
The security firm subsequently discussed its findings on X, with reports describing 13 real-world examples of potentially affected contracts. Researchers have not publicly identified the affected applications, while responsible disclosure efforts remain underway.
⚠️ It has just been decided to delay the Glamsterdam hard fork on the Hoodi testnet because of security impacts we identified in this blog post: https://t.co/UCpy6Jp5Pa
We already found 13 real-world examples and are in responsible disclosure with the affected projects.
Please…
— ChainSecurity (@chain_security) October 22, 2026 Meanwhile, these concerns cover contract mechanisms used in batched transactions, withdrawals and other operations that depend on failure-handling rules. The technical assessment describes how insufficient-gas failures could interfere with existing safeguards without requiring changes to deployed contract code.
Hoodi node operators receive revised client instructions Following the postponement, the Ethereum Foundation instructed operators to review their execution-layer and consensus-layer software before October 26. Clients retaining the original activation configuration must be updated to prevent them from attempting the previously scheduled fork.
The Foundation’s revised release table lists Lodestar v1.50.1 for the consensus layer, while execution-layer releases include Besu 26.10.1 and Nethermind 2.2.1. Ethrex v30.0.1-rc.2 appears as a prerelease, with instructions for other clients awaiting confirmation.
Validator operators must check both their beacon nodes and validator clients, including any external block-building infrastructure. The Foundation warned that releases listed in the previous Hoodi announcement should not be treated as confirmation that they support the postponement.
Ethereum’s Glamsterdam activation on Sepolia proceeded on October 6, allowing developers to examine the upgrade’s performance with a higher gas limit. The Hoodi postponement concerns a separate testnet and does not reverse the earlier Sepolia activation.
Ethereum mainnet upgrade date remains undecided Before the postponement, developers had discussed December 1, December 8 and December 9 as possible Glamsterdam mainnet activation dates. The October 22 meeting agenda proposed selecting a date the following week if Hoodi testing proceeded successfully.
None of those dates received final confirmation, and the Foundation’s latest announcement does not establish a replacement schedule. Developers must continue examining the compatibility concerns before announcing another Hoodi activation.
Glamsterdam includes enshrined proposer-builder separation and block-level access lists, changes intended to improve Ethereum’s transaction processing capabilities.
Previously, Curve Finance highlighted potential DeFi benefits, while warning that revised gas charges could affect some applications.
The Ethereum Foundation confirmed that mainnet users and ETH holders do not need to take action because of the postponement. Application developers have been instructed not to plan further Hoodi testing around the canceled October 26 activation.
Ethereum developers have postponed the Glamsterdam hard fork on the Hoodi testnet after researchers identified gas-related security risks that could affect how existing smart contracts handle failed transactions.
The Ethereum Foundation (EF) said that the upgrade, originally scheduled for Oct. 26, would be delayed to allow developers to investigate how some proposals interact with smart contracts deployed on Ethereum.
On Oct. 13, Blockchain security firm ChainSecurity warned that two proposals included in Glamsterdam, EIP-8037 and EIP-8038, could weaken safeguards against a type of attack called insufficient gas griefing.
The postponement raises uncertainty over Glamsterdam’s mainnet timeline. Ethereum developers had been considering early December, with plans to finalize a schedule following successful Hoodi testing.
Gas changes could undermine existing smart contract safeguardsIn its analysis, ChainSecurity said that under the new rules, gas could be returned to a contract after an operation fails, allowing it to continue running when it previously would have stopped. The researchers said the changes could interfere with existing security checks that rely on how much gas remains available during a transaction.
In attacks known as insufficient gas griefing, a malicious caller deliberately provides too little gas for a legitimate smart contract operation to succeed. ChainSecurity warned that Glamsterdam’s proposed changes could undermine safeguards against such attacks, potentially allowing contracts to permanently record failed operations.
For example, an affected contract could remove a user’s claim or disable the option to retry it, leaving the user unable to complete an otherwise valid operation.
ChainSecurity said Glamsterdam would not make all gas-related security checks unreliable. Some safeguards could still work, but developers would need to review them to ensure they account for the upgrade’s new gas rules.
The findings prompted concern among Ethereum contributors. In an Oct. 21 comment on GitHub, pseudonymous security researcher pcaversaccio described the risks as “serious” and called for a reassessment of the hard fork.
On Friday, ChainSecurity said it had identified “13 real-world examples” and was coordinating responsible disclosure with affected projects. The security firm did not disclose details of the 13 real-world examples or identify the affected projects. However, the company said developers should check their contracts as soon as possible.
The findings follow an earlier Ethereum Foundation warning that Glamsterdam’s gas model could break wallets, indexers, and gas estimators that rely on fixed assumptions. The upgrade was previously activated on Sepolia on Oct. 6, ahead of its now-postponed Hoodi deployment.
Magazine: 5 alternatives to Ledger to store your Bitcoin
Ethereum developers have postponed the Glamsterdam hard fork on the Hoodi testnet after researchers identified gas-related security risks that could affect how existing smart contracts handle failed transactions.
The Ethereum Foundation (EF) said that the upgrade, originally scheduled for Oct. 26, would be delayed to allow developers to investigate how some proposals interact with smart contracts deployed on Ethereum.
On Oct. 13, Blockchain security firm ChainSecurity warned that two proposals included in Glamsterdam, EIP-8037 and EIP-8038, could weaken safeguards against a type of attack called insufficient gas griefing.
The postponement raises uncertainty over Glamsterdam’s mainnet timeline. Ethereum developers had been considering early December, with plans to finalize a schedule following successful Hoodi testing.
Gas changes could undermine existing smart contract safeguardsIn its analysis, ChainSecurity said that under the new rules, gas could be returned to a contract after an operation fails, allowing it to continue running when it previously would have stopped. The researchers said the changes could interfere with existing security checks that rely on how much gas remains available during a transaction.
In attacks known as insufficient gas griefing, a malicious caller deliberately provides too little gas for a legitimate smart contract operation to succeed. ChainSecurity warned that Glamsterdam’s proposed changes could undermine safeguards against such attacks, potentially allowing contracts to permanently record failed operations.
For example, an affected contract could remove a user’s claim or disable the option to retry it, leaving the user unable to complete an otherwise valid operation.
ChainSecurity said Glamsterdam would not make all gas-related security checks unreliable. Some safeguards could still work, but developers would need to review them to ensure they account for the upgrade’s new gas rules.
The findings prompted concern among Ethereum contributors. In an Oct. 21 comment on GitHub, pseudonymous security researcher pcaversaccio described the risks as “serious” and called for a reassessment of the hard fork.
On Friday, ChainSecurity said it had identified “13 real-world examples” and was coordinating responsible disclosure with affected projects. The security firm did not disclose details of the 13 real-world examples or identify the affected projects. However, the company said developers should check their contracts as soon as possible.
The findings follow an earlier Ethereum Foundation warning that Glamsterdam’s gas model could break wallets, indexers, and gas estimators that rely on fixed assumptions. The upgrade was previously activated on Sepolia on Oct. 6, ahead of its now-postponed Hoodi deployment.
Magazine: 5 alternatives to Ledger to store your Bitcoin
Ethereum’s development team has postponed the Glamsterdam upgrade on the Hoodi test network due to security concerns raised by developers. The delay was prompted by potential risks linked to gas rule changes, specifically how these changes might affect existing smart contracts. The Glamsterdam update, which involves modifications to Ethereum’s gas-accounting system, had initially been set to increase the gas limit on the testnet to 200 million. However, these plans have been put on hold as developers seek to ensure compatibility and security before proceeding.
The postponement has influenced Ethereum market perceptions, with market participants interpreting the delay as a factor that could impact the network’s stability and future upgrades. This, in turn, has affected Ethereum’s price predictions, with a noteworthy decrease in confidence that Ethereum will reach certain price targets in October. The security concerns and the delay of the Glamsterdam upgrade are seen as contributing to a broader uncertainty around Ethereum’s near-term roadmap and technological robustness.
Key Takeaways
The delay of Ethereum’s Glamsterdam upgrade suggests potential concerns about the network’s stability and future updates.
Market pricing indicates a decrease in confidence about Ethereum reaching higher price targets in October, reflecting concerns about the network’s upgrade trajectory.
Participants appear to view the security concerns as a significant factor affecting Ethereum’s short-term price prospects.
What to Watch
Observers will be monitoring statements from the Ethereum Foundation and key developers for updates on the resolution of the security concerns. Announcements regarding a new timeline for the Glamsterdam upgrade or confirmation of resolved issues could influence market confidence. Additionally, developments in related Ethereum price prediction markets will offer insights into how participants are adjusting their expectations in response to these delays.
Ethereum core developers have postponed the Glamsterdam upgrade on the Hoodi testnet, originally scheduled for October 26, 2026.
The decision was made during All Core Devs Execution (ACDE) call #248. The aim is to allow deeper investigation into how EIP-8037’s gas accounting changes interact with existing mainnet smart contracts.
What the Delay Covers, and What It Does Not The postponement removes three things from the October 26 epoch.
It cancels the Amsterdam execution-layer activation, the Gloas consensus-layer activation, and the planned raise of Hoodi’s gas limit to 200 million.
No replacement date has been set. A new schedule will be announced separately.
The delay rolls back the Glamsterdam upgrade configuration for a future date.
It does not revert Hoodi’s chain history, and mainnet users and ETH holders need take no action.
Security firm ChainSecurity flagged that EIP-8037’s gas repricing could allow failure handlers to succeed in scenarios that previously reverted.
That could break assumptions in certain contracts. Node and validator operators must update clients, including Lodestar, Besu, and Nethermind, to releases that explicitly confirm removal of the October 26 activation.
The Glamsterdam upgrade had already activated on the Sepolia testnet on October 6, as the Ethereum Foundation confirmed the Glamsterdam Sepolia date alongside Hoodi plans. Sepolia is unaffected by this delay.
What Glamsterdam Is, and What Comes Next Glamsterdam is Ethereum’s major L1 scaling upgrade for 2026. It combines enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS via EIP-7732), block-level access lists (BALs via EIP-7928), and gas repricing under EIP-8037 and EIP-8038.
Together, these changes aim to raise throughput and keep state growth sustainable.
Vitalik Buterin’s push for EIP-8288 maximalism to streamline Ethereum’s execution layer shows how carefully core devs weigh every gas change.
The Hoodi pause reflects that caution. Resolving EIP-8037 will unlock the Q4 2026 mainnet window, December remains a candidate, with a revised Hoodi epoch expected after Devcon (November 3–6).
The Foundation’s broader roadmap stays intact. The Hegota upgrade targets 2027 stablecoin gas payments, and Ethereum is still on course for a fully quantum-resistant L1 by end-2029. The Hoodi pause only shifts the starting line.
Institutional demand for ETH has not cooled. SharpLink deployed $400M of its ETH treasury on-chain via EtherFi and Lido, and BitMine added 12,535 ETH to its treasury.
ETH price reaction to the delay was muted, the issue is testnet-only.
Ethereum developers have decided to postpone the Glamsterdam upgrade, scheduled for October 26 on the Hoodi testnet, due to security concerns. The decision was reportedly made to allow for a more thorough examination of potential technical risks that could affect how smart contracts operate.
The delay is based on concerns that changes to how gas costs are calculated on the Ethereum network could lead to unexpected results in existing smart contracts.
It is considered that the error handling mechanisms of smart contracts may operate differently than the current system, especially in the event that gas fees run out.
In an assessment published on October 13, blockchain security company ChainSecurity pointed out that the combined implementation of EIP-8037 and EIP-8038 proposals could pose some technical risks.
According to the company, the simultaneous implementation of the two Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) could alter error handling outcomes in the event of gas resource depletion during calls between smart contracts.
This situation may cause existing smart contracts to react differently than previously anticipated under certain conditions.
Ethereum developers have chosen to revise the upgrade schedule to allow for a more detailed assessment of potential issues during the testnet phase.
No new date has yet been announced for the rollout of the Glamsterdam upgrade on the Hoodi test network.
The decision to postpone doesn’t mean the upgrade has been cancelled entirely. Current statements indicate that developers aim to dedicate more time to security reviews before rollout.
In the Ethereum ecosystem, network upgrades are important not only for implementing new technical features but also for maintaining compatibility with existing smart contracts.
An updated schedule for Glasgow is expected to be announced following security assessments. However, no definitive information has yet been shared regarding the new testing dates or when the reviews will be completed.
*This is not investment advice.
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23 October 2026 | 09:20 Ethereum core developers have postponed Glamsterdam’s October 26 Hoodi testnet activation to investigate how EIP-8037’s gas accounting interacts with smart contracts already running on mainnet.
Key Takeaways New storage slot state cost: 20,000 to 97,920
Hoodi’s planned 200M gas limit also removed
No Glamsterdam mainnet activation date has been set
EIP-8037 Last Call review ends November 1
Developers made the decision on All Core Devs Execution call #248, the Ethereum Foundation said in its October 22 announcement.
The last testnet step before mainnet is on hold Glamsterdam was due to activate on Hoodi on October 26 at 17:42:48 UTC. The postponement removes both the Amsterdam execution-layer and Gloas consensus-layer activations, along with the schedule that would have raised Hoodi’s gas limit to 200 million at the same time. It changes the testnet’s future configuration without reverting its history, and no replacement date has been set.
In Fusaka, the previous upgrade, Hoodi was the third and final testnet to fork before mainnet, and the Foundation said mainnet would follow at least 30 days later, according to The Block. Glamsterdam has already passed a 200-million-gas rehearsal on Sepolia, where the fix was a Prysm update to validator defaults, a client configuration issue. This time the question is how contracts that are already deployed behave. The Foundation has not set a Glamsterdam mainnet date and says mainnet users and ETH holders do not need to act.
A storage price rise that cuts execution gas on some writes EIP-8037 exists to slow the growth of Ethereum’s state, the data every node must store. Its authors put that state at about 390 GiB in January 2026. They estimate that under today’s pricing, a 200-million gas limit could push it past 650 GiB, the level at which nodes start to slow down, in under a year. Their answer is to charge 1,530 gas per byte of new state, raising the state cost of a new storage slot from 20,000 gas to 97,920 and of a new account from 25,000 to 183,600.
To keep large contract deployments possible, the proposal splits gas into two pools. Execution gas covers computation, and state gas covers new storage. Any gas a transaction supplies above 16,777,216 goes into a separate state-gas reservoir, which state charges draw on first. That reservoir is passed in full to every sub-call, and contracts cannot see it through the standard gasleft() reading.
Cold write to a new storage slot, execution gas required
Today: 22,100
Glamsterdam, reservoir pays the 97,920 state charge: 12,100
Glamsterdam, reservoir empty: 110,020
Source: ChainSecurity, using EIP-8037 and EIP-8038 figures.
Gas can also flow back during execution. Clearing a slot created earlier in the same transaction immediately refills up to 97,920 gas, and a sub-call that reverts can hand back the state charges it paid. A contract’s visible gas balance can therefore rise mid-execution. The EIP itself warns that contracts measuring work as the difference between two gas readings can get a negative result, and that contracts already deployed with that design cannot be fixed.
How an attacker could use the new rules Security firm ChainSecurity set out the risk in an October 13 analysis. Contracts often catch a failed call and record the result, which lets a malicious caller deliberately supply too little gas so that a valid operation fails while the contract still has enough gas to save that failure. The technique is known as insufficient gas griefing, and it can permanently block a retry or remove a user’s claim.
For contracts that rely on the failure handler itself running out of gas:
STEP 1
Attacker sends a call with too little gas.
STEP 2
The target operation runs out of gas.
TODAY
The handler runs out too, everything reverts and the user can retry.
GLAMSTERDAM
Reservoir or refilled gas lets the handler finish and save the failure permanently.
Contracts that check remaining gas after a failed call can be fooled when refills or a reverting intermediary push the balance back above their threshold. Fixed gas budgets can also fall short, because EIP-8038 raises the cost of touching existing state: the first change to an existing warm slot rises from 2,900 gas to 10,100.
Not every defence breaks. ChainSecurity says a check made before the call still guarantees delivery of the requested gas, as long as the budget covers every execution path under the new prices without counting on the reservoir. It advises against relying on post-call gas checks at all. The Foundation’s notice names only EIP-8037 and does not cite the firm’s work, which also covers EIP-8038.
What operators and developers need to do Hoodi operators must update execution and consensus clients before October 26, using releases whose notes explicitly confirm that the old activation has been removed. Version tables from the original announcement do not count as confirmation. As of October 23, the Foundation had listed updated releases for two clients, and said others would be added as they are confirmed.
Layer Client Release Execution Besu 26.10.1 Consensus Lodestar v1.50.1 Validators must update both the beacon node and the validator client, and anyone running external block-building infrastructure should follow their provider’s instructions. Application teams should stop planning Hoodi tests around that date.
For contract developers, ChainSecurity’s checklist starts with every call that lets execution continue after failure. It covers tracing the full path, including proxies; finding slots set and cleared in the same transaction, and intermediaries that revert; re-checking fixed budgets; and forcing sub-calls to fail and comparing the outcome under both rule sets. Where possible, a failed call should revert the whole operation. Wallets and node software must also update gas estimation for the two-pool model, according to the EIP.
The next decisions sit with the core developers. EIP-8037’s Last Call review closes on November 1, the investigation may lead to specification changes, and a revised Hoodi date will be set on a future call.
This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Ethereum upgrade schedules and technical specifications may change during testing.
Author
Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.
Cardano holders are being asked to bet $5 million on copper hitting a new record. (Shutterstock)Summary
Toto Finance is seeking 22 million ADA, or about $5 million, from Cardano’s treasury to buy and tokenize copper, with voting set to close Nov. 15.Copper would need to rise about 49.4% for the treasury to recover its investment if the full budget is spent and ADA’s dollar price remains unchanged.The proposal would use more than half of Cardano’s remaining withdrawal allowance, while Toto could receive up to 3.36 million ADA and retain commercial rights to its separately funded tokenized-copper business.Cardano’s community treasury is being asked to spend about $5 million on a copper reserve, with costs that would require the metal to rise nearly 50% to recover the original investment under the proposal’s assumptions.
Toto Finance, a company that turns physical commodities into blockchain tokens, wants 22 million ADA for what it calls the Cardano Strategic Copper Reserve. Voting closes Nov. 15.
Copper, also known as “Dr. Copper” for its role as a barometer of global growth, is widely tracked as a signal of industrial expansion, with rising prices often pointing to an economic boom.
About two-thirds of the money would buy exchange-grade copper stored in a COMEX-approved warehouse near New Orleans. A token called CuTT would represent each verified pound. The metal would be held for 18 to 24 months, then sold over the following year, with net proceeds and unused funds returned to the treasury by month 36.
There is no guarantee the treasury gets its original ADA back.
The other third covers storage, insurance, audits, oversight and Toto’s work. If the full budget is spent and ADA’s dollar price stays unchanged, copper would need to rise about 49.4% to recover the withdrawal.
The proposal assumes copper is bought at $6.73 a pound and sold at about $10.06. Lower spending would reduce that hurdle, while a stronger ADA would raise it.
“Copper has significant upside potential, with bullish scenarios projecting approximately 30% annual appreciation. At that rate, copper would appreciate 69% over 24 months, potentially more than covering the 49.4% break-even threshold. Of course, commodity prices can also decline,” Monty Metzger, Toto’s founder and chairman, told CoinDesk in an email.
“Toto takes no profit from this proposal,” Metzger added, attributing much of the additional spending to Cardano’s constitutional requirements for oversight and auditing.
The budget allocates 2.64 million ADA to Toto for technology and project management, plus a 441,732 ADA execution fee. Toto could also receive up to 278,291 ADA through a margin on third-party storage and insurance invoices, included within the operating budget. Together, those payments could reach about 3.36 million ADA, roughly 15% of the request.
What Toto getsToto would retain the platform’s commercial rights and income from its separately funded CuTT business. The treasury’s financial return would come from its copper sales and unused funds.
Metzger said the company wants to scale the product to “$5 billion in tokenized copper assets” and that “Cardano could become our flagship showcase.”
The tokens would first be minted on Ethereum and locked in a bridge, software that allows matching tokens to be issued on Cardano. The contracts and their security reviews remain future work. Metzger said trackers of tokenized real-world assets have “historically focused heavily on Ethereum-based assets.”
Toto would hold legal title to the copper. Metzger said “an independent collateral agent and first-priority security arrangements” would protect the treasury if Toto failed, but did not name the agent.
The request lands with Cardano’s spending room nearly used up.
A 500 million ADA withdrawal cap runs through about July 2027, and 457.4 million had been used as of Oct. 16 — meaning the copper proposal would consume just over half the remaining allowance. Under the existing rules, returning the proceeds would not replenish it.
In late May, the Cardano Foundation’s 7.8 million ADA request for its 2026 summit won 65.21% support, short of the two-thirds required, and the event was canceled. Toto is asking for nearly three times as much.
Read More: Cardano Summit 2026 canceled after community votes against Foundation funding proposal
Cardano’s community treasury has a new kind of spending request on its desk. Toto Finance wants 22 million ADA, about $5 million, to buy a pile of copper.
The proposal is called the Cardano Strategic Copper Reserve. Under its own assumptions, copper would need to climb roughly 49.4% before the treasury simply gets its money back.
What Toto Finance is asking for Toto Finance Inc. is a Delaware-based company that turns physical commodities into blockchain tokens. Its pitch to Cardano governance is fairly direct: use treasury ADA to buy real metal, then tokenize it on-chain.
The copper in question would be verified COMEX Grade 1 cathodes. These are the standardized flat sheets of refined copper that industrial buyers trade. Each token would represent one pound of the metal and trade under the ticker CuTT.
The physical copper would sit in a warehouse near New Orleans. The plan calls for selling the tokens after 18 to 24 months.
Of the 22 million ADA requested, 66.93%, or ₳14.72 million, would go toward buying the copper itself. The rest would cover technology development, custody, insurance and independent oversight.
That split matters. Only about two-thirds of the treasury’s money actually becomes copper. The other third goes to the plumbing around it.
Toto Finance has pledged to return 100% of net sale proceeds, plus any unused funds, to the treasury within 36 months. The company would also keep commercial rights to its tokenized-copper business, which is funded separately.
The break-even problem The treasury isn’t buying copper at cost. It’s buying copper plus overhead, and the overhead has to be earned back before anyone sees a profit.
The proposal’s own break-even analysis sets that bar at an approximately 49.4% rise in copper prices. Anything short of that, and the treasury recovers less than it put in, even if every token sells and every dollar comes back as promised.
Founder Monty Metzger has pointed to copper’s supply and demand picture as the reason for optimism. He has highlighted global electrification and data center growth as forces that could push prices higher.
Timing and the treasury’s shrinking allowance Voting on the governance action runs from epoch 661 to epoch 668. That window is expected to close around November 15, 2026.
The size of the request stands out against what’s left to spend. The proposal would consume more than half of Cardano’s remaining ₳42.6 million withdrawal allowance.
That turns the vote into a resource allocation question as much as a copper question. Every ADA that goes into cathodes in a Louisiana warehouse is ADA that can’t fund other ecosystem projects under the current allowance.
Who is Toto Finance The company isn’t new to tokenized metals. Toto Finance launched a marketplace for tokenized precious metals in 2023.
It has also received backing from the Cardano Foundation Accelerator. That gives it existing ties to the ecosystem whose treasury it is now asking to fund this reserve.
What this means for Cardano holders For ADA holders, this vote is a test of how the community wants to use its treasury. Is it a grant fund for builders, or something closer to an investment vehicle that takes market positions?
The structure blends both. Part of the money funds technology and oversight, which looks like a grant. The bulk buys a commodity and waits for it to appreciate, which looks like a trade.
Meanwhile, Toto Finance keeps the commercial rights to its tokenized-copper business in either scenario. Voters will likely weigh that asymmetry closely.
With more than half of the remaining ₳42.6 million allowance on the line, competing proposals have a clear reason to make their case before the window closes.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Kaye Quema. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines, who is CEO of Tether's U.S. arm, is under scrutiny from a Senate Democrat for payments made to his consulting firm. (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)Summary
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal keeps digging into Tether on behalf of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, this time looking at recent reports that a firm owned by former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines took millions while he was still helping shape stablecoin policy. Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, sent letters to Tether and the firm, Nxum, that was co-founded by Hines, who took a job as Tether’s top U.S. executive after leaving the White House. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal has added another Tether probe to the many irons he has in crypto fires, this time demanding answers about reported payments the company made to a firm owned by Bo Hines — the former White House crypto adviser who is now in charge of the U.S. arm of Tether.
Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent letters Thursday to Tether and to the consulting company Hines started with his father and another partner, Nxum Group.
"The highly unusual terms and nature of Tether’s business relationship with both Nxum and Bo Hines raise alarming ethical and legal concerns, indicating that Tether was likely well aware of the illegality and impropriety of issuing payments to a current White House official with such a direct role in shaping cryptocurrency legislation that was instrumental to its business," Blumenthal wrote to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Nxum had received large payments for consulting work for Tether when Hines was still advising President Donald Trump and his administration on crypto policy (including on stablecoin issuers significant to Tether). Blumenthal requested details of those business arrangements.
“Tether is aware of the allegations reported in The Wall Street Journal that form the basis of Senator Blumenthal’s letter,” the company said in a statement. “External counsel previously conducted an in-depth internal investigation into the matter, which found no evidence of wrongdoing.”
CoinDesk had been first to report earlier that Hines' company — which had little track record or experience in politics — was making millions of dollars as the main campaign-advertising provider for a political action committee associated with Tether.
Hines' family firm, Nxum, has recently hired another official that worked as a White House crypto adviser, Harry Jung. The office that advised Trump on crypto issues has since gone vacant, with the departure of Patrick Witt, who had replaced Hines as its executive director.
Blumenthal has been focusing significant attention on crypto, including on Trump's memecoin, crypto backers of the president's projects, Trump family crypto firm World Liberty Financial, activities at Binance and especially on Tether. He issued a report on its financial connections to Iran, and he more recently demanded answers about Tether's connection to its U.S. financial partner, Cantor Fitzgerald.
Tether's Ardoino criticized the senator's work this week, saying Blumenthal ignored important information and shared his report with the press before giving the company a look or a chance to respond.
Though Blumenthal's party has been in the Senate minority during Trump's time in office, the still-narrow odds of Democrats taking back that chamber have improved in recent weeks. If Blumenthal returns to chair the investigations subcommittee, it would grant him significantly greater powers to subpoena and control the agenda, and he's made it clear that crypto would be high on his list of topic areas. Prediction market Kalshi gives Democrats a 69% chance at the moment.
Read More: Top Democrat among Senate investigators probes ties between Cantor Fitzgerald, Tether
UPDATE (October 22, 2026, 23:36 UTC): Adds comment from Tether.
The largest U.S. public pension fund has significantly reduced its holdings in the "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks, shifting to increase allocations to private equity.
According to a Financial Times report, CalPERS, the largest U.S. public pension fund (California Public Employees' Retirement System), is adjusting its asset allocation: cutting direct holdings of the "Magnificent Seven" tech giants while increasing exposure to private equity to reduce concentration risk in public equity investments. Calculations from regulatory filings show CalPERS will slash its direct holdings of stocks in Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, and Tesla by 26% in the first half of 2026. The fund is instead diversifying its portfolio across hundreds of companies, cutting concentrated bets on a small number of top firms. Anton Orlich, CalPERS' deputy chief investment officer, confirmed this allocation shift in an interview. He noted that public equity market valuations are already elevated, and concentration in a handful of leading companies is pressuring relative returns. In contrast, private companies offer more attractive pricing, helping CalPERS buffer against potential downturns in public markets. This rebalancing took place ahead of the recent tech stock sell-off. This week, multiple tech giants released earnings reports, stoking market concerns over whether AI spending can translate into tangible returns. Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet are set to report results next week, leaving the tech sector facing further tests. As of June 30, CalPERS' assets under management reached $637.1 billion. Data released by the fund in July showed its preliminary net investment return for the past 12 months was 14.8%, with both public and private equity portfolios performing strongly.
3 minutes ago
Hong Kong's Secretary for the Treasury: Hong Kong's tokenization initiative is advancing towards the implementation phase.
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hui Ching Yu, stated that Hong Kong’s tokenization development is transitioning from the "experimental phase" to the "implementation phase". Currently, Hong Kong hosts over 1,400 fintech enterprises, including 8 virtual banks, 4 virtual insurance companies, and 12 licensed virtual asset trading platforms, which have achieved notable results in advancing tokenization. Hui added that the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) is committed to launching a tokenized warehouse receipt financing pilot program next year. The project will partner with designated banks, utilizing distributed ledger technology, to facilitate the use of commodity warehouse receipts as collateral. Furthermore, HKEX is also developing a multi-asset tokenization platform that will include commodity warehouse receipts from approved warehouses.
3 minutes ago
South Korea's KOSPI index closed 0.3% higher, with SK Hynix gaining 4.41%.
According to Bitget's market data, South Korea's KOSPI index closed up 16.53 points on Friday, October 23, with a 0.3% gain, ending at 5550.3 points. SK Hynix closed 4.41% higher, while Samsung Electronics rose 0.46%.
3 minutes ago
He Yi reposted Binance's Agent wallet risk alert, warning of transaction risks associated with the Agent developer mode.
Jackson.ll (@0xOar), developer of Binance Wallet’s web version, posted today, stating: “Agent ID is being used in various ways, but users should also carefully check risk warnings. Enabling developer mode for the Agent means you can sign unverified contract transactions... Potential risks need attention. You can close the mode immediately after minting, or wait for products from verified developers.” He Yi subsequently retweeted the post. Earlier reports indicated that multiple minting projects exclusive to Binance Agent Wallet have recently emerged in the market, with some requiring developer mode activation.
3 minutes ago
YuShu Technology, listed on China's A-share market, surges to its 20% daily limit, with its shares rising over 46% cumulatively this week.
Alliance Partner on a16z’s Shift: To Drive Crypto Talent to Build Cutting-Edge Technology
Imran, general partner at Alliance, took to X this morning to share his views on a16z crypto’s shift toward frontier technology sectors. He noted that a16z led Coinbase’s 2013 funding round via Chris Dixon, providing early validation for the crypto industry; Marc Andreessen’s 2014 New York Times op-ed, “Why Bitcoin Matters,” was a key factor in his decision to enter the Bitcoin space. At the time, few institutions and funds were willing to publicly back crypto, with a16z and USV standing out as two that took brand risk. Imran argued that the current development of AI infrastructure owes much to Bitcoin mining infrastructure and talent that has moved from crypto to AI. The shift to frontier technologies including robotics, biotech, AI, energy, and computing power means the talent and capabilities the crypto industry has built over the past decade can be applied to the broader frontier tech space. Citing data centers as an example, he noted that public and government pushback against data centers is growing, much like earlier resistance to crypto—yet today nearly all traditional financial institutions have embraced crypto to some extent. Yesterday’s news: a16z’s flagship blockchain fund will drop the “Crypto” moniker and rebrand as “a16z Frontier.”
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.
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.
BNB Chain has scheduled its next protocol upgrade. The Jenner hardfork goes live on the BNB Smart Chain testnet on October 28, 2026, and node operators have homework to do first.
The upgrade bundles three BNB Evolution Proposals (BEPs). One reserves block space for payments, one creates a standard for regulated assets, and one makes the chain’s clock far more precise.
What Jenner actually changes The headline feature is BEP-703, which BNB Chain calls the Payment Lane. By default, it sets aside 5% of each block’s gas for qualifying payments. Eligible traffic, such as plain BNB transfers sent to non-contract accounts, gets a guaranteed slice of the block. The rest of the network can still jam up, but simple payments are meant to keep moving.
The second piece is BEP-702, which introduces a standard called CAS20, short for Compliant Assets. It is designed to support issuing stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) with compliance controls built directly into the token. Those controls include governance features such as allowlists and blocklists, giving issuers the ability to decide who is permitted to hold or move a token at the protocol level rather than through custom code.
There is a caveat. The full rollout of CAS20 features depends on future governance decisions, so the standard arriving on testnet does not mean every capability is switched on.
The third change is BEP-706, a precompile at address 0x70 that adds millisecond precision to block timestamps. Today, contracts typically see time in whole seconds. Jenner lets them see it in thousandths of a second. For DeFi oracles, which feed price data into lending protocols and exchanges, that extra precision could make timing-sensitive operations more accurate.
The fine print for node operators Every testnet node must run a compatible client before activation. That means restarting with reth-bsc v0.1.3 or applying the relevant BSC Geth updates. Nodes that skip the upgrade risk falling out of sync with the rest of the network once the fork triggers.
One detail worth flagging: the dates do not perfectly line up. The v1.8.1 client release points to activation on the Chapel testnet on October 29 at 02:30 UTC, while the official announcement says October 28. Operators would be wise to have upgrades done before the earlier date rather than cutting it close.
Background: the road to mainnet Testnet is the dress rehearsal. If Jenner behaves as intended there, BNB Chain plans to bring it to mainnet in late November 2026, though the exact timing has not yet been announced. Jenner follows earlier upgrades such as Mendel, which expanded the network’s scalability and functionality. The network has also recently conducted a BNB auto-burn event, the mechanism that periodically removes tokens from circulation.
What this means The Payment Lane addresses a familiar complaint about network congestion by guaranteeing a reserved 5% share of block gas for basic transfers. CAS20 lowers the effort for stablecoin and RWA issuers who would otherwise write bespoke contracts, and gives BNB Chain a pitch to compliance-minded firms, though allowlists and blocklists are features that give issuers power over who can transact. The full rollout of those controls remains contingent on future governance decisions.
The near-term items to watch are whether node operators upgrade cleanly before the October 28 activation given the minor date discrepancy with the v1.8.1 release, whether testnet surfaces any issues with the Payment Lane or timestamp changes, and when BNB Chain locks in the late November mainnet date.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
NFT project Ptah launched its public mint last night, with a total supply of 100,000 units, and sold out completely this morning. As of press time, the NFT’s floor price stands at $23, with cumulative trading volume reaching $928,000. According to public information, the project’s unique feature is that users must mint using a Binance Agent ID / Agentic Wallet (.ai Agent ID). Regular wallets cannot mint directly, but operations such as trading, combining, and claiming are open to all wallets. Each Agent ID can mint a maximum of 4 Relics (calculated cumulatively across USDT and BNB payment methods). The total supply of Relics is 100,000: 95,000 available for public mint, and 5,000 reserved by the team (for tutorials, demos, rewards, giveaways, etc.). Additionally, users can burn 10 Relics to craft a Loom (a mining machine). BlockBeats reminds users that related projects are still in their early stages, with high uncertainty and significant price volatility, so users should exercise caution when investing.
Relevant content
South Korea's KOSPI index closed 0.3% higher, with SK Hynix gaining 4.41%.
According to Bitget's market data, South Korea's KOSPI index closed up 16.53 points on Friday, October 23, with a 0.3% gain, ending at 5550.3 points. SK Hynix closed 4.41% higher, while Samsung Electronics rose 0.46%.
14 minutes ago
He Yi reposted Binance's Agent wallet risk alert, warning of transaction risks associated with the Agent developer mode.
Jackson.ll (@0xOar), developer of Binance Wallet’s web version, posted today, stating: “Agent ID is being used in various ways, but users should also carefully check risk warnings. Enabling developer mode for the Agent means you can sign unverified contract transactions... Potential risks need attention. You can close the mode immediately after minting, or wait for products from verified developers.” He Yi subsequently retweeted the post. Earlier reports indicated that multiple minting projects exclusive to Binance Agent Wallet have recently emerged in the market, with some requiring developer mode activation.
14 minutes ago
YuShu Technology, listed on China's A-share market, surges to its 20% daily limit, with its shares rising over 46% cumulatively this week.
Alliance Partner on a16z’s Shift: To Drive Crypto Talent to Build Cutting-Edge Technology
Imran, general partner at Alliance, took to X this morning to share his views on a16z crypto’s shift toward frontier technology sectors. He noted that a16z led Coinbase’s 2013 funding round via Chris Dixon, providing early validation for the crypto industry; Marc Andreessen’s 2014 New York Times op-ed, “Why Bitcoin Matters,” was a key factor in his decision to enter the Bitcoin space. At the time, few institutions and funds were willing to publicly back crypto, with a16z and USV standing out as two that took brand risk. Imran argued that the current development of AI infrastructure owes much to Bitcoin mining infrastructure and talent that has moved from crypto to AI. The shift to frontier technologies including robotics, biotech, AI, energy, and computing power means the talent and capabilities the crypto industry has built over the past decade can be applied to the broader frontier tech space. Citing data centers as an example, he noted that public and government pushback against data centers is growing, much like earlier resistance to crypto—yet today nearly all traditional financial institutions have embraced crypto to some extent. Yesterday’s news: a16z’s flagship blockchain fund will drop the “Crypto” moniker and rebrand as “a16z Frontier.”
14 minutes ago
ZhenFund has launched Ask AI, but it only comes with a single Markdown file.
Beating AI News Brief: ZhenFund has launched "Ask AI" on its official website, enabling entrepreneurs to directly inquire about the firms ZhenFund has invested in, its recent focus sectors, and relevant events tailored to them. The setup is straightforward: ZhenFund has compiled public information including its investment team, portfolio companies, focus areas, startup events, and contact details into a bilingual (Chinese-English) `zhenfund.md` file. Clicking any AI entry point redirects users to one of four platforms—Kimi, ChatGPT, Claude, or DeepSeek—with a pre-filled prompt that instructs the model to first read the `zhenfund.md` file before answering the entrepreneur’s questions.
14 minutes ago
SK Hynix leads AI stock rebound, with South Korean stocks rising over 4% and its US-listed shares gaining 5.5% in after-hours trading.
Midday today, leading chip stock SK Hynix opened lower but rebounded, now up 4%. Driven by the move, South Korea’s KOSPI index turned positive, recovering from an opening 4% decline to a 0.08% gain. Additionally, SK Hynix’s after-hours trading in the US market has risen 5.5%, currently quoted at $138.95.
BNB Chain has emerged as the leading blockchain for tokenized-equity trading in the third quarter of 2026, recording approximately $25.6 billion in transactions and $1.13 billion in tokenized stock supply.
Summary
BNB Chain recorded $25.6 billion in tokenized-equity trading during Q3 2026, roughly eleven times the previous quarter. Blockworks ranked BNB Chain first among tracked networks for tokenized-equity trading, supply and holder count. Tokenized-equity supply reached $1.13 billion, while the network recorded approximately 1.8 million holders at quarter-end. Network revenue rose 54% to $54.2 million, although average daily active addresses declined 14%. Lending deposits grew 42% to $3.57 billion, with tokenized equities accounting for less than 2%. Meanwhile, the network ranked first among tracked chains for tokenized-equity trading volume, outstanding supply and holder count, according to the Blockworks Q3 token-holder report. The report recorded growth in lending deposits and network revenue, although some user activity indicators declined.
BNB Chain had a huge Q3, ranking #1 among all chains in tokenized equity trading volume, supply and holders.
The latest quarterly report by @Blockworks shows how that momentum extended into stronger network earnings, growing lending markets, core infrastructure upgrades, BNB… https://t.co/15ZF2KWf83
— BNB Chain (@BNBCHAIN) October 22, 2026 BNB Chain leads tokenized equity trading across tracked networks Tokenized-equity trading reached $25.6 billion during Q3, compared with $2.4 billion in the preceding quarter. Decentralized exchange venues accounted for $24.4 billion, while Ondo Global Markets contributed another $1.2 billion.
Blockworks compared $45.8 billion in tokenized-asset DEX trading across its tracked networks, excluding pairs involving memecoins. Within that dataset, BNB Chain held more than half the volume, ahead of Robinhood Chain’s $10.2 billion and Solana’s $6.4 billion.
BNB Chain tokenized equities trading volume by venue, source: Blockworks The trading surge followed bStocks’ June 11 launch, making Q3 its first complete reporting quarter. Activity peaked on July 26, when tokenized-asset DEX trading reached $1.2 billion in a single day.
Much of that activity centered on QQQB, the tokenized Invesco QQQ ETF product, which generated approximately 80% of bStocks’ DEX volume. Other traded products included SPCXB, SPYB and NVDAB, while the Native trading venue handled approximately 36% of bStocks volume.
Although trading accelerated, volumes moderated after the July peak. From mid-August, weekly activity generally ranged between $600 million and $1.1 billion, with one week in September reaching $2.1 billion.
Tokenized stock supply doubles to $1.13 billion By September 30, BNB Chain held approximately $1.13 billion in tokenized public equities, compared with $560 million at the end of Q2. That represented 39% of the $2.89 billion supply tracked across blockchains.
The report placed the network’s tokenized-equity holder count at approximately 1.8 million, equivalent to 38% of its tracked cross-chain total. bStocks accounted for $810 million of the network’s tokenized-equity supply.
BNB Chain’s position comes during growing competition among blockchain networks supporting tokenized financial products. A recent tokenized-equities market report found that DEX activity had spread across multiple networks as issuers expanded their product offerings.
Robinhood Chain’s DeFi total value locked stood near $1.14 billion on October 22, according to DefiLlama. However, that figure measures deposits across decentralized finance applications and cannot be directly compared with BNB Chain’s tokenized-equity supply or quarterly trading volume.
BNB Chain revenue climbs 54% despite lower active addresses Network real economic value, or REV, reached $54.2 million during Q3, rising 54% from $35.2 million in Q2. The total consisted of $49.1 million in transaction fees and $5.1 million in payments associated with maximal extractable value.
Blockworks calculated token-holder net income at $45.1 million, up 57% from the preceding quarter. Under its methodology, the measure combines delegator rewards and BNB burned through the BEP-95 mechanism.
BNB Chain transactions, source: Blockworks BNB Smart Chain processed 1.51 billion transactions, an increase of 7.5%, while average transaction fees climbed to $0.032. Daily active addresses, however, declined 14% to 2.10 million, indicating that transaction growth did not coincide with growth in active addresses.
The Pasteur hard fork activated on August 25, changing the network’s block-building process. Its BidBlock V2 system subsequently produced approximately 98% of blocks and averaged 28% more gas per block than the previous approach.
Lending deposits rise as BNB supply continues falling Lending deposits reached $3.57 billion at quarter-end, growing 42% from $2.51 billion, while outstanding borrowing climbed 33% to $940 million. Tokenized equities used in lending markets grew from $6 million to $62 million, although they represented less than 2% of total deposits.
Meanwhile, stablecoin supply declined 4.6% to $13.22 billion, largely because of lower USD1 balances. Non-stablecoin real-world asset supply increased 24% to $4.96 billion, including $3.77 billion in tokenized Treasuries.
BNB Chain RWA supply by asset class, source: Blockworks BNB’s quarterly supply reductions continued after the reporting period. The network’s 37th quarterly token burn removed approximately 1.646 million BNB on October 19, worth around $1.2 billion at the time.
In an October 21 update, BNB Chain said the remaining supply stood near 131.51 million BNB. The network continues using quarterly auto-burns and BEP-95 transaction-fee burns toward its long-term target of 100 million BNB.
LG CNS, the technology arm of LG Group, has entered a strategic partnership with Chainlink ($LINK) to build digital asset infrastructure and support Korean stablecoins.
@chainlink and LG CNS, the technology arm of LG Group, have announced a strategic partnership aimed at the infrastructure behind Korea's digital asset market. According to a joint press release, the deal was announced on Oct. 22, 2026, and covers a market the companies value at $68 billion.
What the partnership covers
Chainlink Labs Chief Business Officer Johann Eid said in the release that the combination of LG CNS's institutional expertise and Chainlink's technology standards
The announcement ties Chainlink to the LG CNS digital asset platform. Genfinity noted that the release names no launch dates, partner banks or target blockchains yet, and that it links Chainlink to the platform rather than to Project Hangang itself.
The tie-up follows an earlier agreement. The Korea Times reported that when LG CNS launched its KITL blockchain infrastructure platform on Oct. 6, it also signed memorandums of understanding with Circle Internet Group, Securitize, Canton Foundation, Chainalysis and Chainlink.
LG CNS's role in Project HangangLG CNS is the lead contractor for the Bank of Korea's Project Hangang, a digital currency pilot.
Participants in that phase used deposit tokens. Genfinity reported that these represent commercial bank deposits rather than a direct central bank liability.
LG Group is one of Korea's largest business groups, with approximately ₩186 trillion (about $140 billion) in assets across 63 affiliates. For Chainlink, the deal gives its data and cross-chain tools a route into a contractor already embedded in Korea's central bank digital currency work. Final Korean stablecoin rules are still pending, according to Genfinity, and are likely to shape which tokens institutions can move.
SourcesPR Newswire: Chainlink Partners With LG CNS To Power Korea's Digital Asset Market
The Korea Times: LG CNS unveils blockchain tech to help banks issue stablecoins, tokens
Genfinity: Chainlink LG CNS Partnership and Project Hangang
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.
Chainlink Chainlink LINK-1.31% announced that it has partnered with LG CNS, the AI transformation and IT service arm of South Korean conglomerate LG Group, to advance the infrastructure supporting South Korea's $68 billion crypto market.
With the strategic partnership, the two companies said they will focus on expanding the utility and distribution of Korean stablecoins, which is an emerging market segment with more than 11 million eligible users.
South Korea currently does not have a clear legal basis for the commercial issuance and trading of stablecoins linked to its local currency. However, its government and lawmakers are working on the Digital Asset Basic Act, which would establish rules for won stablecoins, among other standards for the digital asset space.
Outside of stablecoins, LG CNS is set to integrate Chainlink's cross-chain, data, and orchestration infrastructure into its digital asset platform solutions for Korean institutions. The two will also combine their expertise to help advance the country's digital asset framework, the announcement said.
"Korea's financial infrastructure is entering the tokenization era. LG CNS is committed to leading this transition, and together with Chainlink, we aim to accelerate the growth of Korea's tokenized securities market by enabling secure interoperability and real-world data, while creating a foundation for global expansion," Hongkeun Kim, executive vice president and head of digital business division at LG CNS, said in the announcement.
Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network that connects smart contracts on blockchains with real-world data and external systems. Its core focus is providing reliable, secure data feeds, cross-chain interoperability, and orchestration tools mainly for DeFi, RWA tokenization, and institutional platforms.
LG Group is one of South Korea's largest business groups, with around 186 trillion won ($140.5 billion) in assets across 63 affiliates, and over $100 billion in combined market capitalization across all subsidiaries. LG CNS is also the lead contractor for the Bank of Korea's flagship digital currency initiative, Project Hangang.
Circle has launched a new way for big players to move between dollars and USDC. Once an hour, buyers and sellers meet in an auction instead of each dealing with Circle separately.
The service, called Circle Match, went live on October 22, 2026. It runs hourly batch auctions that pair USDC mint orders with redemption orders. Minters whose orders get matched receive a rebate, and redeemers clear at or below Circle’s Express rate.
How the hourly auction works Start with the basics. Minting means handing over US dollars and getting freshly created USDC. Redeeming is the reverse: you return USDC and receive dollars.
The auctions run hourly. Orders are batched, then cleared at a single, uniform clearing fee expressed in basis points. A basis point is one hundredth of a percent, the unit traditional finance uses when pennies matter.
The fee split is where it gets interesting. Matched mint orders receive a full rebate of that clearing fee. Redemption participants pay it, but their cost is capped by Circle’s Express rate.
So minters can get paid for showing up, while redeemers get to name their price, with a guaranteed ceiling. Those selling USDC back to Circle will never pay more than they would through the Express route, and they may pay less.
Throughout the process, USDC stays pegged 1:1 to the US dollar. The auction determines the fee, not the exchange rate.
Prefunding, segregated accounts and the $100 floor Circle Match runs on a prefunded model. Every participant must put assets in place before the auction clears.
On the redemption side, participants reserve USDC from their existing Circle Mint wallets. On the mint side, participants wire US dollars into a segregated Match fiat account.
When the auction settles, those wired deposits become restricted, Match-only USDC. The tokens are earmarked for the matching system rather than floating freely.
Prefunding means no one is promising money they have not yet delivered. That sharply reduces counterparty risk, the danger that the other side of a trade fails to pay up.
It also allows atomic settlement. Both legs of a matched trade complete together, or neither does.
The minimum order size for redemption is $100 USDC. Access is not open to the general public. Only eligible Circle Mint customers can use the service.
Why Circle is building this Circle Mint is the channel institutional customers already use to create and redeem USDC directly with the issuer. Circle Match sits on top of that relationship, reusing existing Mint wallets for redeemers.
That design choice matters. Institutions do not need to open an entirely new pipeline to participate. They plug into infrastructure they already rely on, then choose whether to route orders through the hourly auction.
Participants have the flexibility of setting their fee parameters, which can lead to cost reductions for matched volumes when compared to traditional methods of minting or redeeming USDC.
What this means for USDC and its users For institutional desks, the most immediate effect is cost. Minters that get matched can earn a rebate rather than paying to enter. Redeemers gain price control while keeping the Express rate as a backstop.
The tradeoff is time. An hourly auction is not instant. Firms that need dollars immediately may still prefer the Express route, which the auction treats as its ceiling.
The prefunding requirement means locking up capital before the auction clears. Institutions will weigh the potential rebate or fee savings against keeping that money parked in advance.
Matching works best when mint and redemption demand roughly balance. In a stretch where nearly everyone wants out, there may be few minters to pair with, and redeemers would fall back toward the Express rate.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Kaye Quema. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
A shareholder of Circle Internet Financial, the company that issues the USDC stablecoin, has filed a lawsuit targeting US President Donald Trump, his family’s crypto venture World Liberty Financial, several affiliates, and US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff over a $2 billion transaction involving a foreign entity and cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
Allegations of harm to Circle and the role of World LibertyThe lawsuit, filed Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia by Circle shareholder J. Benjamin Greenberg, accuses Trump, Witkoff, and World Liberty Financial of damaging Circle’s business interests by creating what Greenberg described as a mechanism for foreign governments to move funds using USD1, the stablecoin operated by the Trump family-owned company.
Greenberg stated that this “brazen corruption” left Circle unable to compete effectively in the stablecoin sector against USD1, given the alleged involvement of state-linked capital channeled through World Liberty.
The central focus of the case is an Abu Dhabi entity known as MGX, which maintains close ties to United Arab Emirates royalty. The complaint alleges MGX invested $2 billion into Binance using USD1 in 2025, an action the shareholder claims distorted the competitive landscape for US stablecoin issuers.
Separately, The Wall Street Journal reported in February that an investment fund backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan agreed to buy a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million, signaling further international entanglements for the Trump-affiliated venture.
World Liberty Financial is a digital asset company co-founded by Trump and his three sons, as well as Zach Witkoff, the son of Steve Witkoff, who is also named in the lawsuit.
Mini dictionary: MGX, an investment vehicle reportedly based in Abu Dhabi, is closely associated with ruling family interests in the United Arab Emirates. The company has made sizable investments in the global cryptocurrency sector, including significant funding into crypto exchanges.
Greenberg claimed, “By accepting hundreds of millions of dollars from a foreign government, the President and his companies have diverted business from Circle.”
Greenberg, who holds 10,000 ordinary shares of Circle, has requested the court declare that Trump violated the US Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause by participating in these crypto transactions. He is also seeking an injunction barring both Trump and Witkoff from engaging in similar activities without Congressional approval.
A Circle spokesperson stated that the company “did not initiate, direct, authorize, or participate in the filing,” and declined to discuss ongoing litigation. Representatives for World Liberty and the White House did not provide comment.
Political implications ahead of the 2026 midterm electionsTrump and his family are connected to multiple cryptocurrency initiatives that, according to the nonprofit group Public Citizen, produced $1.4 billion for them in 2025, while investors faced estimated losses of $4.7 billion. These crypto deals are among several controversial financial undertakings associated with Trump, including reported gifts such as a jet from Qatar’s government.
With the 2026 midterm elections approaching and early voting already underway in numerous states, Democratic candidates are emphasizing Trump’s crypto business activities in their campaigns. Senator Mark Warner released an ad last week focusing on the president’s reported earnings, including “more than $600 million alone from the crypto memecoin.”
A Circle shareholder has filed a federal lawsuit in Washington targeting two major UAE-linked crypto transactions, alleging that these deals violated the US Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause and unfairly benefited President Donald Trump through business ties to World Liberty Financial.
Complaint focuses on UAE-backed crypto dealsJ. Benjamin Greenberg, a former Circle employee and current shareholder, initiated the legal action as a derivative complaint on behalf of Circle, the company that operates USDC, a leading dollar-backed stablecoin. The lawsuit names Donald Trump, World Liberty Financial, US Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff, and four related limited liability entities as defendants. Greenberg claims that these foreign-backed deals gave World Liberty’s dollar-based stablecoin, USD1, an unfair competitive edge over USDC, to the detriment of Circle and its investors.
Derivative lawsuits allow shareholders to pursue claims that aim to protect the interests of the company rather than seeking personal compensation. In this case, Greenberg alleges that the competitive pressure from USD1, promoted through the challenged deals, caused financial harm to Circle.
Greenberg’s lawsuit highlights two key transactions. The first involves the sale of a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million. This acquisition was reportedly backed by a vehicle linked to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser, just days before Trump’s January 2025 inauguration. The complaint claims these funds represent foreign state money flowing to a business tied to Trump, resulting in potential profits after he took office.
The second transaction centers on a $2 billion investment in Binance, funded by Abu Dhabi’s MGX fund, chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon. According to the complaint, this investment was settled in USD1 stablecoin rather than traditional currency, further bolstering the position of World Liberty’s stablecoin.
Greenberg maintains that both transactions elevated the profile and value of USD1, thereby supporting Trump’s personal and business interests in the crypto sector via World Liberty Financial.
Mini dictionary: World Liberty Financial is a privately held fintech firm known for developing the USD1 stablecoin, a digital asset pegged to the US dollar and intended for global settlement and payments, positioning itself as a competitor to USDC.
TransactionParty InvolvedAmountAsset UsedWorld Liberty Stake SaleSheikh Tahnoon (UAE)$500 million49% equityBinance InvestmentMGX Fund (UAE)$2 billionUSD1 stablecoinAllegations of emoluments breaches and calls for accountabilityThe Foreign Emoluments Clause prohibits federal officials from receiving financial benefits from foreign governments without congressional approval. Greenberg is asking the court to declare that Trump’s profits from the transactions breached this constitutional restriction. The suit requests that Trump be ordered to return any illicit gains and demands full disclosure of any additional foreign crypto payments associated with the companies in question. Greenberg does not specify the total damages sought, as the amount would depend on the court’s evaluation of the case.
Circle clarified that it had no involvement in the lawsuit and did not approve or participate in the action. The company emphasized that Greenberg was acting independently as a shareholder. World Liberty Financial spokesperson David Wachsman disputed the allegations, describing them as unfounded and stating the company planned to respond through the legal process. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly dismissed the case, arguing it was frivolous and denied that any conflicts of interest occurred. Steve Witkoff, named as US Middle East special envoy and a defendant, did not comment when contacted by reporters.
Greenberg contends that World Liberty’s UAE-backed transactions with USD1 stablecoin not only harmed Circle’s competitive position but also allegedly provided illegal profits and advantages to Trump and his business associates.
Ongoing case and additional investigationsThe legal complaint notes that Trump co-founded World Liberty Financial with his sons before entering office, and later ceased active participation in the company in 2025. Alongside the core allegations, Greenberg’s filing highlights concerns over US policies permitting advanced AI chip exports to the UAE and Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, although the direct relation to the crypto deals remains alleged and unproven.
The case is pending under the name Greenberg v. Trump, 26-cv-03686, at the US District Court for the District of Columbia. No judgment or resolution has yet been reached regarding the claims.
On October 22, 2026, Circle launched Circle Match, an hourly auction that pairs institutional $USDC minting and redemption orders inside Circle Mint. Eligible customers can set a minimum rebate for minting or a maximum fee for redeeming. Matched redemptions fund the rebate paid to matched minters.
Circle describes the previous economics as one-sided: minting earned no direct rebate, while fast redemption to dollars carried a fee. Institutions could redeem through Mint or route activity through an OTC desk or exchange, where spreads and trading fees affected the result. Match pairs that offsetting demand within the issuer’s existing service. Participants need no bilateral onboarding or credit lines with each other.
Only approved Mint customers can participate, and access varies by jurisdiction. Circle’s Mint product page lists exchanges, institutional traders, wallet providers, banks and consumer-app companies as typical users. Individuals cannot open Mint accounts. Applicants undergo background checks, KYC checks and sanctions screening. Holding $USDC alone does not give a customer access to the auctions.
Price priority inside an hourly auction Both sides fund their orders before entering an auction. A customer seeking redemption deposits $USDC. A mint-side participant wires dollars into a separate Match balance, where the funds convert to $USDC on settlement. The interface and API show an indicative fee, available size and time remaining. Participants can use those readings to set their limits against the current auction book.
The order book has a one-minute lock before clearing. Participants can still submit new orders and improve prices during that window, but they cannot cancel orders or make other modifications. Better-priced orders fill before less competitive ones, regardless of submission time. Orders at the clearing fee receive pro-rata allocations. The lock prevents participants from pulling committed liquidity immediately before the auction clears.
Everyone matched in an auction pays or receives the same clearing fee. A redeeming customer pays no more than its specified maximum, and the fee cannot exceed the Express redemption rate. Circle says matched redemptions pay out as fast as Express. The announcement gives the ceiling by reference to Express; it does not publish a numerical rate for Match.
Today, Circle passes the full matched redemption fee to the minting side, subject to product terms, auction rules and disclosed fees or exceptions. The rebate arrives as spendable $USDC in the customer’s normal Mint wallet. Circle says it retains no separate spread on matched volume. The orders present in each auction determine the rebate, and Circle promises no particular outcome.
Unmatched amounts follow the participant’s chosen post-fill action: Fallback, Roll or Cancel. Institutions choose whether to participate in each auction and can fund only the amount they want to match. Self-match prevention blocks an entity from taking both sides. Circle describes settlement of matched $USDC as atomic. Prefunding removes the need for a subsequent transfer between the two participants.
Restricted balances and banking-hour settlement The Circle Mint User Agreement sets out restrictions on capital placed in Match. Mint-side dollar wires become segregated, restricted $USDC reserved for Match. Circle holds that balance separately, and participants cannot withdraw it to external blockchain addresses. It is distinct from the spendable rebate that a customer receives in the ordinary Mint wallet after a match.
A participant exiting Match can request withdrawal of that restricted balance. Circle then redeems it without a fee and wires the corresponding dollars to the bank account on file. The announcement also allows participants to leave the balance available for future auctions. Capital awaiting a match stays in that separate balance, subject to its withdrawal route, and cannot be freely transferred onchain.
Existing Mint weekly deposit and withdrawal limits apply to Match activity. Circle checks the withdrawal limit when a customer submits a redemption request and reduces it to reflect the anticipated dollar payout from a matched fill. A desk needs available withdrawal capacity when it submits an order. The check happens before the auction has completed, not just after a match.
The agreement also qualifies the settlement timetable. Fiat settlement for matched redemptions depends on US banking hours. A delay caused solely by those constraints is not a settlement failure or an Error under the agreement. Treasury teams needing dollars in a bank account by a particular time remain subject to that restriction, even with hourly auctions and atomic $USDC settlement.
Eligibility and redemption rights The agreement defines Match as a netting service that sets the clearing fee and rebate. The underlying redemption right stays intact: one US dollar per $USDC, less applicable fees under the $USDC terms. Participants bid on the cost of connecting mint and redemption flows. The auction sets that cost without establishing a new market price for the stablecoin.
Match requires its own completed onboarding and Circle approval, which the company grants at its discretion. Circle reserves the right to add, modify or remove eligibility criteria. The announcement names Circle Internet Financial, LLC as the provider and subjects the service to Mint terms and conditions. Institutions with existing Mint access still need approval for this particular service.
The linked Mint agreement applies to users outside the European Economic Area. Circle directs EEA users to separate terms of use. To retain access to the services under the agreement, participants must maintain a Mint account and access to the platform.
The announcement also repeats the account’s insurance warning. Circle Mint is not a bank account, and funds lack Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Securities Investor Protection Corporation coverage. Prefunding governs the obligations between matching participants. Their funds remain within the Mint service, subject to its stated account protections.
The Match interface discloses the applicable clearing fee and related economics. Actual results depend on the orders submitted, and Circle has not promised a fixed rebate or a successful match in any auction.
ValueChain‘s SoDEX trading and wealth application has integrated Morpho, the on-chain credit network that reported more than $16 billion in deposits as of October 2026. The integration allows SoDEX users to deposit USDC into a Morpho Vault curated by Unified Labs, earning yield generated by borrowing activity across the markets to which the vault allocates. The product is live now at sodex.com/wealth.
The vault’s allocation policy, collateral parameters and risk limits are set by Unified Labs, which describes itself as Asia’s first institutional-grade risk curator focused on the intersection of real-world assets and decentralised finance. Deposits and redemptions are handled within the SoDEX interface, removing the need for a separate wallet connection or a standalone DeFi workflow.
How the product works
The earn product sits inside SoDEX Wealth and is enabled by the ValueChain-Base bridge, which routes stablecoin deposits from ValueChain’s layer-one blockchain onto the Base network where the Morpho Vault operates. Yield accrues from borrowing demand rather than from token emissions, a structural distinction that matters to institutions and advisers assessing sustainability of returns. The release did not disclose an indicative annual percentage yield or detail the specific collateral types the vault currently accepts.
May Wang, co-founder of ValueChain, framed the integration as a diversification of the ecosystem’s opportunity set further along the risk spectrum, consistent with ValueChain’s stated aim of giving self-custodial investors access to a range of on-chain financial products alongside spot and perpetuals trading and AI-powered research.
For Morpho, the deal is primarily a distribution move into Asia-Pacific. Shanshan Shui, APAC go-to-market lead at Morpho, said the integration allows the protocol to reach SoDEX and SoSoValue users inside their existing interface, rather than requiring those users to navigate to Morpho directly.
Market context
The integration illustrates a structural pattern that has accelerated across the DeFi and crypto-adjacent fintech space: protocols such as Morpho, Aave and Compound are increasingly positioned as shared yield infrastructure that product teams embed rather than replicate. Morpho’s publicly listed partners include Coinbase, Robinhood and Société Générale, which signals an appetite among regulated and semi-regulated distribution platforms to access on-chain credit yield without building the underlying credit infrastructure themselves.
From a regulatory standpoint, the product occupies a zone that regulators in multiple jurisdictions are actively examining. In the European Union, the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation came into full application in 2024 and covers certain stablecoin and crypto-asset service activities, though pure DeFi protocols sit in a grey area pending further Commission guidance. In Singapore, where ValueChain is based, the Monetary Authority of Singapore has indicated that yield-bearing digital-asset products may attract licensing requirements depending on their structure. Neither ValueChain nor Morpho addressed the regulatory framing of the earn product in the release.
Unified Labs’ role as vault curator is the risk-management layer that makes the product viable for a broader audience. Louis Wan, co-founder and chief executive of Unified Labs, said Morpho is becoming the yield layer that fintech platforms integrate rather than rebuild, which captures the infrastructure logic of the arrangement. Whether the vault’s curated parameters are sufficient to satisfy institutional or regulated-platform risk standards will depend on how Unified Labs documents and publishes its collateral and allocation methodology over time.
AI level 1 of 5: written by Darlyn Ho; AI helped with tone, structure or wording; edited and signed off by Mark Walker, Editorial Director. What the levels mean
Circle has expanded its Circle Alliance Program (CAP) with eight new or improved membership benefits and a private Alliance Hub, offering partners closer access to its products, support teams and business network.
Summary
Circle has expanded its Alliance Program with eight new or improved benefits and a private community platform.
The Alliance Hub replaces Discord, giving members access to discussions, resources and dedicated industry groups.
Partners can seek early product access, improved technical support and closer engagement with Circle Ventures.
Circle plans to introduce a partner-focused podcast in early 2027, with guest applications already open.
Circle did not disclose CAP membership figures, participation fees or financial incentives associated with the expansion.
According to Circle’s October 22 announcement, the changes followed feedback from existing members seeking better industry connections, product engagement and opportunities to showcase their businesses. The company introduced the updated program without disclosing its membership size or participation costs.
The Circle Alliance Program is expanding.
CAP now gives members more ways to connect, build, and grow with Circle, including new benefits, expanded product engagement, and the Alliance Hub, a private home for the community.
More ways to build together: https://t.co/7GdySnbNMD
— Circle (@circle) October 22, 2026
One of the main changes is the introduction of Alliance Hub, a members-only platform bringing together community discussions, educational resources and partner activities. Existing members will move from Discord to the new platform, which Circle developed specifically for the program.
The hub provides access to regional and industry-specific groups, allowing companies operating in similar markets to exchange information and identify potential collaborators. Circle said members would have more opportunities to connect with Circle Ventures and its investment network through the revised program.
The announcement did not identify the number of companies already enrolled in CAP or provide a target for future membership. Circle’s public application process remains available to businesses interested in joining its ecosystem.
Moreover, the program originally launched in November 2023 to connect organizations using Circle’s stablecoin and blockchain services. Its existing benefits included networking events, educational sessions, marketing opportunities and access to Circle personnel.
Partners gain early product access and dedicated support
Beyond community networking, Circle is introducing opportunities for members to explore new products and beta releases before they become publicly available. Participating companies can use that access to assess potential integrations and provide feedback during product development.
Members will receive enhanced support, including direct escalation channels and more timely responses when technical questions arise. Circle did not specify guaranteed response times, access requirements or whether every member would receive identical support arrangements.
Another change involves structured product-feedback sessions, giving partners an opportunity to discuss their experiences with Circle’s technology. Strategic updates from company leadership will provide participating businesses with information about products and ecosystem developments.
The revised benefits build on existing product sessions and partner engagement activities. Circle presented the changes as a response to member requests, without announcing new financial incentives or revenue-sharing arrangements.
Circle prepares partner podcast for early 2027
The expanded program introduces additional opportunities for businesses to promote their work through Circle’s communication channels. An upcoming podcast, scheduled for early 2027, will feature stories from companies building with its products.
Applications for podcast appearances have opened, while existing opportunities for member spotlights, joint case studies and speaking engagements remain available. Circle did not announce a launch date, episode schedule or confirmed guest lineup.
Circle Alliance Program representative Adam Dean Wozney welcomed the updated benefits in an October 22 X post. He encouraged interested companies to apply and described the new platform as a way for members to connect with one another and Circle.
I'm excited to reintroduce the Circle Alliance Program!
We've added new member benefits and a thoughtfully designed platform to make it even easier for Alliance members to connect with each other and with Circle.
Applications are open👇https://t.co/1zibRua6YK https://t.co/Cti5labfKf
— α∂αɱ ωσƶɳεყ (@AdamDeanWozney) October 22, 2026
Separately, Kairo announced its CAP membership on October 21, describing the program as a community of companies working on blockchain-based financial services. The announcement did not disclose any commercial agreement or financial commitment between Kairo and Circle.
USDC distribution remains central to Circle’s partner network
Circle’s partner program operates alongside its efforts to distribute USDC through exchanges, wallets, payment companies and financial institutions. In August, crypto.news reported on Circle’s renewed relationship with Coinbase, including arrangements supporting USDC distribution.
Circle separately disclosed more than 150 partners receiving economic incentives to integrate, distribute or support USDC. That figure describes a commercial partner category and should not be treated as the number of CAP members.
The company’s payments operations have developed through separate institutional arrangements. Circle recently reported 175 participating institutions in its Payments Network, a different program serving businesses involved in stablecoin-based payments.
Circle has discussed plans to enter approximately 40 markets, particularly across emerging economies. Those plans concern its international payments business and do not establish the geographic distribution of CAP members.
The company has not said whether competition from rival stablecoins or bank-issued digital tokens influenced the latest CAP changes. Its announcement attributes the revisions to partner feedback and contains no new membership figures, program fees or financial performance targets.
