Market Signal Briefing

In brief
Tether reported $10 billion in profit for the first three quarters of 2025—surpassing Bank of America, and nearing Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley’s earnings.
The company’s profits stem largely from returns on $135 billion in U.S. Treasuries backing its USDT reserves.
Headquartered in El Salvador, Tether plans to launch a U.S.-compliant stablecoin, USAT, by year’s end.
Tether reported a massive profit of $10 billion for the first three quarters of 2025 Friday, putting the world’s top stablecoin issuer in the same league as Wall Street titans. 

Tether’s performance so far this year rivals that of the most profitable banks in the world—and has even eclipsed that of some of America’s top financial institutions. 

The USDT issuer’s reported net income is greater than that of Bank of America, for example, which notched an $8.9 billion profit in 2025’s first three fiscal quarters. It is also nearly double that of U.S. Bank, which reported $5.5 billion in profits for 2025 so far.

Tether just released its quarterly attestation for Q3 2025.

USDT has become the biggest financial inclusion success story in the history of humanity, with more than 500 million users across the emerging markets and developing countries.

Highlights as of 30 September 2025:
*… https://t.co/XVYeVq1u64 pic.twitter.com/nZ2V1EKZ3x

— Paolo Ardoino 🤖 (@paoloardoino) October 31, 2025

Tether’s performance is also in striking distance of Wall Street mainstays Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, which have so far this year reeled in net annual incomes of $12.4 billion and $12.56 billion, respectively.

Last year, Tether came within 10% of besting Goldman’s annual earnings with an annual profit of $13 billion, and the crypto company is currently on track to exceed that performance this year. 

Of course, despite Tether’s massive and consistently growing income, it's not the king of finance quite yet. JP Morgan, for instance, has brought home some $44 billion in net income this year so far, more than quadrupling the stablecoin issuer’s performance. 

Still, it's quite the return for Tether, which remains privately owned and headquartered in El Salvador. In Q3 alone, the company issued more than $17 billion worth of its flagship dollar-pegged token USDT, bringing the globally dominant stablecoin’s circulating supply to over $184 billion at writing.

"USDT has become the biggest financial inclusion success story in the history of humanity, with more than 500 million users across the emerging markets and developing countries," Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino posted on X.

Tether’s profits mainly derive from returns on U.S. Treasuries the company keeps in reserve to back its circulating supply of USDT. The company says it now holds some $135 billion worth of such bills, putting it ahead of nations like Germany, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and now, South Korea, in terms of top global holders of U.S. Treasuries. 

The world’s top holder of U.S. Treasuries, Japan, possesses $1.2 trillion worth as of July.

Though Tether has primarily focused on dominating emerging markets, the company has made a concerted effort to enter the U.S. following President Donald Trump’s re-election and the passage of a legal framework for issuing and trading stablecoins in the country. 

The company plans to launch a U.S.-focused stablecoin, USAT, which will be tailored to American regulations, by the end of the year. 

The company had previously steered clear of direct involvement in American markets or any attempts to go public; it has also yet to submit itself to an internal audit by a Big Four accounting firm. 

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Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) has bounced to $109,000 on the 17th anniversary of the Bitcoin White Paper, with many traders treating the dip as a buying opportunity. What Happened: Launched 17 years ago by Satoshi Nakamoto as "a peer-to-peer electronic cash system," Bitcoin has grown from a market cap of just $207,000 in 2010 to nearly $2 trillion today.

TLDR:

Conexus plans a blockchain-based interbank system allowing Bitcoin and USDT deposits and transfers.
Over 40% of Venezuelan payments already flow through Conexus, making it key to crypto integration.
The project aims to give banks custody options for Bitcoin and stablecoins amid rising crypto use.
No launch date yet, but Conexus says the blockchain network is already under active development.

Venezuela’s banking sector may soon operate on blockchain rails. 

Conexus, one of the country’s largest financial networks, is developing an interbank blockchain system to handle Bitcoin and stablecoin transactions. The network will enable users to make deposits, transfers, and custodial operations with crypto assets through their banks. 

The plan aims to merge traditional finance with digital currencies in a country where stablecoins already circulate widely. The details emerged in an interview with Banca y Negocios featuring Conexus president Rodolfo Gasparri.

Conexus Eyes Blockchain Integration for Crypto Custody
Gasparri said Conexus is working on a blockchain framework that allows Venezuelan banks to hold and process stablecoins such as USDT alongside Bitcoin. The system would function as an interbank network, securing transactions under regulated structures. According to him, the initiative responds to the growing use of crypto assets as a hedge against the country’s volatile currency.

He explained that citizens increasingly rely on stablecoins to protect savings from devaluation, prompting banks to seek secure, transparent integration channels. 

Gasparri added that blockchain offers traceability and regulatory oversight while improving transaction efficiency. He believes this model could mark a turning point for Venezuela’s financial system, much like the introduction of mobile payments years ago.

The company has not provided a specific launch date, but Gasparri confirmed that work on the blockchain infrastructure is advancing quickly. He compared the approach to BBVA in Spain, which already offers crypto custody within its app, suggesting that Venezuelan banks could follow a similar path.

Conexus manages one of two main interbank networks in the country, handling nearly 40% of Venezuela’s payment traffic. Its existing reach positions it well to lead blockchain adoption across the banking sector once the platform goes live.

Mobile Payments Paved the Way for Crypto Integration
Conexus also pioneered Venezuela’s mobile payment network, which now processes around 100 million transactions each month.

Gasparri noted that this model has become essential for small businesses, especially as cash use declined during periods of hyperinflation. By connecting all major banks through existing switches, the mobile payment network became one of the country’s most resilient financial solutions.

He recalled that the system was inspired by early U.S. digital payment tools such as QuickPay, which evolved into Zelle. 

Venezuela’s mobile payment success, he said, proved that widespread digital adoption was possible even under economic pressure. That experience is shaping Conexus’s blockchain ambitions today.

Gasparri added that the network’s strength lies in its agility, in-house technology, and trained workforce, allowing rapid implementation of new projects. Conexus plans to apply this same infrastructure to the blockchain system, ensuring both scalability and regulatory compliance.

The executive expects the move toward blockchain to promote financial inclusion and integrate crypto within a regulated environment. He said the shift aligns with global payment trends, where platforms like SWIFT are also exploring tokenized transaction models.

Chainlink's LINK Bounces 3.6% From Lows; Stellar Integration Expands RWA ReachStellar is integrating Chainlink’s CCIP, Data Feeds, and Streams to enable tokenized asset flow across chains. Oct 31, 2025, 6:39 p.m.

The native token of oracle network Chainlink LINK$17.21 bounced 3.6% on Friday, reversing some of Thursday's losses as traders stepped in around key support level.

LINK briefly cleared the $17 level with a surge in trading volume — some 3 million tokens changed hands during a morning breakout up —, pointing to renewed accumulation, CoinDesk Research's market insight tool suggested. However, weakness during the U.S. trading hours drove LINK back below $17. Recently, the token traded at $16.96.

On the news front, payments-focused Stellar (XLM) announced to integrate Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), Data Feeds, and Data Streams. The move enables developers and institutions building on Stellar to access real-time data and trusted cross-chain infrastructure for tokenized assets.

With over $5.4 billion in quarterly RWA volume and a fast-growing DeFi footprint, Stellar’s adoption of Chainlink tooling signals expanding demand for secure, interoperable financial infrastructure.

Key technical levels to watch:LINK now holds near-term support at $16.37 with upside targets at $17.46 and $18.00. Whether the token can build on Friday’s rebound may depend on broader market flows and follow-through from dip-buying.

Support/Resistance: Solid support holds at $16.37 after multiple successful tests, while $17.46 resistance shows repeated rejection patterns.Volume Analysis: 78% volume surge during breakout attempt confirms institutional interest, explosive selling volume indicates position rebalancing.Chart Patterns: Late-session flush-out pattern creates classic oversold setup for accumulation strategies.Targets & Risk/Reward: Holding above $16.89 targets $17.46 retest with upside to $18.00, downside risk limited to $16.37 support.Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.

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'Do Not Fear Ghosts of Fiat,' Says Bitcoin Policy Institute, as Bears Lurk at Resistance

A fast rebound met heavier trading, but rallies stalled near resistance as advocates shared Halloween-themed comments on X.

What to know:

Dip buying lifted bitcoin off support, but rallies stalled at nearby resistance.Volume increased on the rebound and then cooled as trading narrowed into a tighter range.Focus remains on a clear break from the current band to signal the next directional move.Read full story

The Ethereum Foundation has taken another strategic step toward mainstream adoption by unveiling a new website dedicated to onboarding institutional players into the Ethereum ecosystem. The initiative underscores Ethereum's growing ambition to serve as the foundational infrastructure for the next generation of global finance.

Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital has started offloading cryptocurrencies once again, according to data provided by analytics firm CryptoQuant.

The firm recently moved out a total of 1,531 BTC. 

Crypto analyst JA Maartun claims that this represents “a clear sign” of rising short-term selling pressure. 

The price of Bitcoin is currently sitting slightly below the pivotal $110,000 level that the bulls are struggling to reclaim. 

Why Galaxy is selling coins It is worth noting that Galaxy is a crypto merchant bank and a trading firm, meaning that the coins that it sells are usually managed on behalf of various clients (such as hedge funds and institutions). Client orders typically get executed via over-the-counter transactions. 

In the second quarter, Galaxy made waves by disclosing a 80,000 BTC sale on behalf of the client. 

Since then, on-chain sleuths have recorded a slew of outflows. On Oct. 24, for instance, Galaxy Digital recorded an outflow of 411 BTC. 

“Rushing in”As reported by U.Today, crypto sentiment, which is measured with the help of the “Fear and Greed” indicator, recently plunged back into the fear territory.

However, Bitwise CEO Honter Horsley insists that institutions are “rushing in.”

“At the same time as Bitcoin is at $110,000, regulatory risk has receded, and institutions are rushing in,” he said. 

Horsley claims that the sentiment off X (formerly Twitter) is the best it has ever been. 

However, persistent ETF outflows clearly tell a drastically different story. 

Theta Network adds Deutsche Telekom to participate in its core consensus mechanism. As a validator, the telecom giant will play a direct role in verifying transactions on the decentralized L1 network.

Summary

Deutsche Telekom joined Theta Network as an enterprise validator, helping secure and verify transactions on its decentralized Layer 1 blockchain.
The telecom giant will stake THETA and earn TFUEL rewards, aligning its infrastructure strategy with decentralized computing.
The move expands Deutsche Telekom’s Web3 footprint, following its prior validator roles for Ethereum, Polkadot, and Chainlink.

In a press release dated Oct. 31, Theta Network announced that German telecom heavyweight Deutsche Telekom will now operate an enterprise validator node on its blockchain.

The move places the telecommunications giant alongside other corporate validators like Google and Samsung, tasking it with the core blockchain function of verifying transactions and securing the Layer 1 network. The company’s specific validator address is now publicly active on the Theta blockchain.

Theta Network moves toward decentralized infrastructure for telecoms
To secure its role on Theta Network, Deutsche Telekom will stake the protocol’s native THETA token. In return, the company will earn staking rewards paid in TFUEL, the network’s operational token used for gas fees and payments on the Theta EdgeCloud platform.

Deutsche Telekom framed the move as a natural extension of its existing infrastructure business into decentralized computing. The company cited Theta’s emphasis on performance and reliability in AI-heavy environments as key to its decision.

“Theta’s decentralized architecture aligns with our focus on dependable, secure infrastructure. As a digital leader, we’re happy to support this innovative technology and contribute to its growth, unlocking new possibilities and opportunities in the process,” Dirk Roeder, Head of Telekom MMS Web3 Infrastructure and Solutions, said.

This foray into Theta Network is not Deutsche Telekom’s first blockchain rodeo. The telecom giant has built a considerable Web3 portfolio through its subsidiary, Deutsche Telekom MMS, having previously provided enterprise-grade infrastructure and validation services for major protocols including Ethereum, Polkadot, and Chainlink.

Theta Network, for its part, underscored the broader context of the partnership by pointing to Theta EdgeCloud, its hybrid cloud–edge computing platform. The platform is designed to leverage a global network of community-run edge nodes and cloud partners, creating a distributed marketplace for GPU computing power.

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U.S. President Donald Trump revealed that he had reached a deal with China’s President Xi Jinping in relation to trade relations. Despite his revelation, Bitcoin and Ethereum prices declined sharply, sparking concerns of an imminent bear market. 

In a Truth Social post, Donald Trump announced that he and China’s president agreed on “many things,” while others of high importance were close to being resolved. As part of the agreement, the U.S. president stated that the proposed 100% tariffs would no longer go into effect and reduced the tariffs on China from 57% to 47%. However, despite these deals between the two countries, Bitcoin and Ethereum prices crashed following his announcement. 

The Bitcoin price dropped to as low $107,000 following the U.S.-China agreement, which included a 1-year truce. Meanwhile, Ethereum dropped to as low as $3,7000 on the day amid a broader crypto market crash. A trade deal between the U.S. and China was expected to spark a significant market rally, given that trade tensions had initially contributed to the $19 billion liquidation event on October 10. 

However, the trade agreement between U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s president appeared to have been priced in, which is why Bitcoin and Ethereum, along with the broader crypto market, crashed. Notably, the market had rallied on Sunday after the U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed that they had reached a trade framework for both presidents to work with. 

It is worth noting that Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech contributed to the decline in Bitcoin and Ethereum prices. Powell had mentioned at the FOMC press conference that a December Fed rate cut was far from certain. This sparked bearish sentiment in the market as traders are currently pricing in another 25 basis points (bps) cuts at the December FOMC meeting. 

Slowdown In Demand For BTC and ETH
A CryptoQuant analysis revealed a noticeable slowdown in U.S. investor demand for Bitcoin and Ethereum across both spot and derivatives markets. The analysis indicated this was one of the reasons for the lower BTC and ETH prices. ETF inflows, spot exchange premiums, and futures basis metrics all suggest that this current phase reflects “profit-taking and cautious positioning” rather than renewed accumulation. 

Source: Chart from CryptoQuant 
CryptoQuant further noted that U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have turned net sellers, with a seven-day average outflow of 281 BTC, which is one of the weakest readings since April. Similarly, the Ethereum ETF inflows have almost stalled since mid-August, which underscores “subdued investor confidence.”

Related Reading: Ethereum Is Now Outperforming Bitcoin In This Major Metric

The analysis also revealed that spot demand on U.S. crypto exchanges has slowed. The Coinbase premium for both Bitcoin and Ethereum has reached zero, which underscores the slowdown in demand. CryptoQuant noted that price rallies historically coincide with positive premiums. As such, the flattening indicates reduced domestic buying pressure.

BTC trading at $109,397 on the 1D chart | Source: BTCUSDT on Tradingview.com
Featured image from iStock, chart from Tradingview.com

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Scott Matherson is a leading crypto writer at Bitcoinist, who possesses a sharp analytical mind and a deep understanding of the digital currency landscape. Scott has earned a reputation for delivering thought-provoking and well-researched articles that resonate with both newcomers and seasoned crypto enthusiasts.
Outside of his writing, Scott is passionate about promoting crypto literacy and often works to educate the public on the potential of blockchain.

Conexus, a prominent payment-processing company in Venezuela, is pioneering a system to incorporate stablecoins and Bitcoin into the national banking infrastructure. The initiative is being spearheaded by Conexus' president, Rodolfo Gasparri, who cites the growing adoption of stablecoins as a defense against the country's rampant currency devaluation as a key motivator.

TL;DR:

ai16z rebrands to ElizaOS, boosting its price by 6% and market visibility.
Analysts see strong potential in its AI-integrated blockchain model.
Investors remain cautiously optimistic, watching for sustained growth.

ai16z has captured fresh investor attention after rebranding to ElizaOS, igniting a 6% price jump and renewed optimism in the project’s long-term trajectory. The move marks a strategic step to align the project’s identity more closely with its expanding focus on AI-driven decentralized applications, leaving analysts and holders wondering if this shift could mark the start of a broader rally.

https://t.co/FhQtuUv1ki

— ElizaOS Ecosystem Fund (@ElizaEcoFund) October 31, 2025

Market Responds Positively to ElizaOS Transition
The rebrand signals ai16z’s deeper commitment to AI infrastructure, sparking increased interest from both retail and institutional players. The new identity, ElizaOS, highlights the project’s ambition to bridge blockchain functionality with artificial intelligence tools designed for on-chain automation and decentralized agents. Following the announcement, trading activity spiked notably, pushing the token’s value upward as community sentiment shifted toward a more bullish outlook.

Analysts suggest that ai16z’s transformation into ElizaOS could position it as a leading player in the AI-crypto intersection. By integrating advanced AI capabilities into smart contracts, ElizaOS aims to create self-sustaining ecosystems capable of learning, adapting, and evolving through user interaction. Experts argue that this adaptability gives the project a strong edge in an increasingly competitive market where innovation often determines survival.

Despite the current momentum, some investors remain cautiously optimistic, awaiting concrete performance metrics before declaring victory. While the 6% surge has boosted market enthusiasm, many point to the need for sustained growth through partnerships, network adoption, and scalability improvements to maintain long-term gains. The rebrand alone, while symbolically powerful, will require consistent execution to meet market expectations.

The transition to ElizaOS has nonetheless re-energized ai16z’s community and reinforced confidence in its leadership’s vision. With development roadmaps aligning around AI-enabled smart contracts and decentralized intelligence frameworks, ElizaOS could become a pivotal hub for next-generation blockchain solutions. If the team delivers on its promises, analysts believe ai16z may see further appreciation as the AI narrative continues to dominate the digital asset space.

Key NotesZEC achieved its highest market capitalization ever at $6.24 billion despite reaching higher unit prices in previous cycles with lower supply.The privacy coin surpassed Monero's market cap on October 31 after gaining momentum from major industry support since September.Litecoin sits as the next target at rank 20 with $7.17 billion market cap, featuring its own privacy technology through MimbleWimble.
Zcash

ZEC
$378.7

24h volatility:
23.1%

Market cap:
$6.21 B

Vol. 24h:
$1.36 B

is now trading at a price ten times higher than what it closed on August 19 and also one year ago, changing hands at $383 per coin. During this rally, ZEC climbed all the way up from a market cap rank at around 84 up to the current rank of 21, recently surpassing Shiba Inu

SHIB
$0.000010

24h volatility:
4.6%

Market cap:
$5.85 B

Vol. 24h:
$166.99 M

and the former leading privacy coin, Monero

XMR
$327.1

24h volatility:
1.2%

Market cap:
$6.04 B

Vol. 24h:
$146.05 M

.

Year-over-year, Zcash has accumulated 933% gains, up from $38.43 on October 31, 2024. On August 19, ZEC closed at $34.59 per coin, giving a chance for privacy advocates to increase their purchasing power with Zcash by ten times, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Zcash (ZEC) one-year chart, as of October 31, 2025 | Source: CoinMarketCap

Interestingly, at a $6.24 billion capitalization, Zcash is also trading at an all-time high market cap, surpassing values it achieved in the past at a higher unitary price per coin—due to a much lower coin supply by then.

On January 12, 2018, ZEC achieved a $2.14 billion market cap, trading at $703.75 per coin, according to CoinMarketCap. In 2021, Zcash peaked at $3.74 billion in market value on May 7, while trading around the same price it is today, at the $300 per coin level.

ZEC Surpasses XMR and SHIB, Is LTC Next?
Zcash surpassed Monero in market capitalization close to 3:30 a.m. UTC on October 31, according to a snapshot taken during the casually called “flippening.” At that time, ZEC had a $6.03 billion market cap against XMR’s $5.95 billion. Shiba Inu had already been flipped some hours before that, and SHIB was valued at $5.79 billion by the snapshot time.

Zcash just flipped Monero in market cap$ZEC @ $6.03B ($372.44/zec)$XMR @ 5.95B ($322.56/xmr) pic.twitter.com/PG3HUriFCy

— Vini Barbosa |「 thecoding 」 (@vinibarbosabr) October 31, 2025

When Coinspeaker started to cover Zcash’s rally on September 25, it was trading at $56.29, ranked at the 84th position on CoinMarketCap, gaining significant support from major players in the industry. Something similar appears to be happening with NEAR, thanks to NEAR Intents and the ZEC use case, as mentioned by prominent figures like Eric Wall, also reported by Coinspeaker.

The next in line is Litecoin

LTC
$94.78

24h volatility:
3.8%

Market cap:
$7.24 B

Vol. 24h:
$589.40 M

, sitting at the 20th position with a market cap of around $7.17 billion, raising questions if Zcash will manage to conquer this position too. LTC has some significant privacy-related developments thanks to the MimbleWimble (MWEB) technology that enables confidential transactions without altering the main blockchain’s consensus mechanism.

Disclaimer: Coinspeaker is committed to providing unbiased and transparent reporting. This article aims to deliver accurate and timely information but should not be taken as financial or investment advice. Since market conditions can change rapidly, we encourage you to verify information on your own and consult with a professional before making any decisions based on this content.

Cryptocurrency News, News

Vini Barbosa has covered the crypto industry professionally since 2020, summing up to over 10,000 hours of research, writing, and editing related content for media outlets and key industry players. Vini is an active commentator and a heavy user of the technology, truly believing in its revolutionary potential. Topics of interest include blockchain, open-source software, decentralized finance, and real-world utility.

Vini Barbosa on X

TL;DR

BlackRock and Securitize restructured BUIDL, reducing its Ethereum exposure by nearly 60% and redistributing assets to Avalanche, Aptos, and Polygon.
The fund’s total value remains at $2.8 billion, indicating that the operation was a liquidity redistribution rather than capital withdrawals.
BUIDL is backed by U.S. Treasury bonds, cash, and repurchase agreements.

BlackRock and Securitize restructured the composition of BUIDL, the largest tokenized fund globally, reduced its Ethereum exposure, and redistributed assets to other blockchains.

What’s Happening with BUIDL?
According to RWAxyz data, BUIDL’s value on Ethereum fell from $2.4 billion to around $990 million between October 19 and 30, a drop of nearly 60%. During the same period, positions on Avalanche, Aptos, and Polygon increased sharply, going from $54.3 million, $43.4 million, and $30.7 million to $554.7 million, $544.1 million, and $530.9 million, respectively. The total fund value remains around $2.8 billion, indicating that this operation did not involve withdrawals but rather a structural liquidity redistribution.

BUIDL was launched in March 2024 exclusively on Ethereum but began its expansion to other networks at the beginning of this year. Until now, the majority of assets remained on the main network, making the fund a direct reference for institutional tokenization on Ethereum. Now, the vehicle’s exposure is evenly distributed across multiple blockchains. Neither BlackRock nor Securitize commented on the decision, but the data indicates a strategic shift toward a multi-chain operational model.

BlackRock Plays a Key Role in Tokenization Expansion
BlackRock’s fund is the largest RWA product on the market, with over $2.85 billion in assets backed by U.S. Treasury bonds, cash, and repurchase agreements. It allows qualified investors to hold tokens on the blockchain and receive dividends directly.

The total value of tokenized RWAs exceeds $35.6 billion, an 8.8% increase over the past 30 days. Ethereum still concentrates around 53% of the total value, with nearly $12 billion, but the growth of Avalanche, Aptos, and Polygon shows a trend toward infrastructure diversification.

BlackRock manages over $13.4 trillion in assets and works to promote institutional adoption of tokenization. Its technical partner, Securitize, announced plans to go public via a merger with Cantor Equity Partners II, a SPAC backed by Cantor Fitzgerald. The deal is valued at $1.25 billion

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Cardano’s founder Charles Hoskinson says the project has crossed a historic line — full decentralization — and argues that the market still hasn’t understood what that actually means for crypto going into the next cycle. “The best days are ahead of us,” he said on October 30, 2025. “Cardano’s here. We’re fully decentralized. We have a great government. We got many more things coming.”

Hoskinson framed the current moment not as a price story but as a legitimacy story. He said crypto keeps getting reduced to charts, even though price has never captured the point. He walked through Bitcoin’s entire boom-and-bust path — from $1 to $30 to $4, then to $250, down to $80, then $1,200, then $20,000 in 2017, down to $4,000, back to $68,000 in 2021, through the Luna/FTX collapse, and then above $100,000 — to make the point that volatility is noise. “All you care about is the price. It’s the price. Price goes up, price goes down,” he said. “But why are we here? Where has the durability come from over the last 15 years?”

Why The Best Is Ahead For Cardano (And Crypto)
His answer: people do not trust legacy systems anymore, and crypto is actively replacing them. He asked viewers directly: “Do you think the money in your pocket is actually going to be worth something in 10 years, 15 years, 20 years? Do you feel listened to? Do you feel valued?” If the answer is no, he said, then “the way we govern things, the way the markets work, the way the economy works, it’s not working for you. Why crypto exists is it starts a conversation about how we do things differently.”

Hoskinson said that conversation has already moved past ideology and into implementation, and he used Cardano’s governance shift as evidence. According to him, Cardano went in about a year “from a federated governance system to a completely open and decentralized governance system,” despite predictions that handing decision-making to a global community would end in chaos.

“Everybody said, ‘Oh, no. You can’t do that… Won’t that result in anarchy and chaos?’” Hoskinson said. His answer was that Cardano did it, the network still runs, and that matters. “We keep showing up. We keep fighting hard,” he said. “That can serve as an example to so many others.”

That point — Cardano as precedent — ran through the entire address. He argued that crypto now has nation-state level relevance, not just speculative relevance. He claimed there is “a better than 50% chance that by 2030, half of all the value in the economy of Argentina will be in cryptocurrencies,” and “a better than 50% chance that the majority of their government will run on a blockchain… their voting systems to their identity systems to their supply chain systems to their money.”

He also said crypto already serves “a half billion people,” and is on trajectory toward a billion users “within the next 3 to 5 years.” In his view, this is not hype. It’s the new baseline: “Every single day we have a trillion plus dollar economy that’s self-evolving, self-growing.”

He also drew a hard line between decentralized crypto and what he called captured, centralized finance using crypto rails. “Asset-backed stablecoins are not cryptocurrencies,” Hoskinson said. They “take advantage of cryptocurrency infrastructure,” but ultimately rely on “the promises and commitments of centralized companies.” He warned that some chains are being built by “centralized actors with an attempt to co-opt and take over the industry.” By contrast, he said, “Real crypto will never die and real crypto cannot be bought.”

The long-term threat surface, in his view, is not just monetary inflation but algorithmic control. Hoskinson said the next 25 years will merge physical and digital life into a single augmented layer in which AI mediates reality. “Every single thing in the physical world will have a digital twin,” he said. “When you’re walking around outside and you look at the pizzeria, your glasses will show you the ratings, the hours, the friends that have gone there.”

He asked: “How do you know that the things that you see in this augmented world are real, and are not adulterated?” His answer was blunt: “The only option is the technology of this industry… And if anybody tells you otherwise, they’re either ignorant or bot or both.” He positioned Cardano’s privacy work — “We’re tackling the privacy side now… We got Midnight coming out” — as part of that fight.

The speech also carried a warning about macro risk. Hoskinson said there is a “non-zero probability” that the United States enters a new depression, a “non-zero probability” of open conflict with China “before the close of this decade,” and even a “non-zero probability that we may no longer have a democracy in the next 10 years or 20 years.”

His claim is that when those systems fracture, crypto will be the toolkit used to rebuild money, voting, identity, and rule enforcement. “At some point, we’re going to have to pick up the pieces and we’re going to have to clean up the mess,” he said. “Do we just want to build it the exact same way… or do we want to build it differently?”

Hoskinson also addressed his own role, calling himself one of the few founders from crypto’s early days who is still active and not retired, not “picked off,” not checked out. He said he recently stepped back, spent time in Switzerland after Milan, and considered walking away to “just retire, go be a rancher.” He said he chose not to: “I’m happiest when I’m here with all of you… being in the revolution.”

He closed by insisting that Cardano is not finished, but is now structurally where it needs to be. “We’re fully decentralized,” he said. “We have a great government.” He praised other ecosystems by name — “Kudos to the Solana ecosystem… Kudos to the Avalanche ecosystem… Kudos to Bitcoin… Kudos to Vitalik and Ethereum” — and said that the industry is “so powerful, especially when it’s united. No one can stop us.”

Then he went back to Cardano. The message to holders was simple: ignore the drawdown. “These little slides in the market, they’re entirely forgettable,” Hoskinson said. “In three weeks, we won’t even think about it. The macro can get bad. Who cares? We’ll win in the end.”

At press time, ADA traded at $0.614.

ADA retests the EMA200, 1-week chart | Source: ADAUSDT on TradingView.com
Featured image from YouTube, chart from TradingView.com

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ETH held in staking has a higher unrealized value, as stakers seldom engage in short-term capitulation and active trading.

Tether netted a record-breaking $10 billion plus profit in the first nine months of 2025, according to the latest attestation detailing the stablecoin issuer's financial performance. USDT issuer shared details of its financial results for the first three quarters of the year on October 31.

TL;DR

Bitcoin stabilizes near $110,000 after a strong recovery.
Santiment data reveals maximum retail panic when BTC hit $107,000.
The rebound challenges widespread bearish sentiment on social media.

The pioneer cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is demonstrating notable resilience by holding steady near the psychological level of $110,000. This consolidation comes after a sharp rebound, challenging a market sentiment that had turned extremely pessimistic.

Recent price action was marked by intense volatility. Numerous voices in the market had predicted a significant drop, anticipating that Bitcoin would break the key support level of $100,000. However, the cryptocurrency found temporary support at $107,000 before starting its recovery.

Key data shed light on market psychology during that dip. According to this data, fear among retail investors reached its highest point precisely when Bitcoin hit $107,000. This level of panic had not been seen since the market’s last severe correction.

This extreme fear triggered a wave of bearish sentiment that flooded social media and discussion forums. The narrative of an impending crypto winter gained traction, fueling selling pressure.

Extreme Fear as a Contrarian Signal
Despite the widespread panic, Bitcoin’s rapid recovery back to the $110,000 zone suggests that these premature bear market calls might have been an overreaction.

In market analysis, extremely negative retail sentiment is often considered a contrarian signal. Historically, peaks of extreme fear tend to coincide with local market bottoms, as they indicate a capitulation by weak sellers, leaving the path clear for buyers with greater conviction to take control. The rebound from $107,000 casts doubt on the validity of an imminent collapse below $100,000.

Although volatility remains a constant, BTC’s ability to absorb selling pressure at key levels and recover swiftly suggests that underlying demand remains strong. Investors are now watching to see if this support can be consolidated.

Peter Schiff, a known gold bug, argued that because of the behavior that bitcoin and gold registered yesterday in response to the rate cut announced by the Federal Reserve, the former cannot be taken as a digital form of the latter.

In brief
Brazilian Bitcoin treasury OranjeBTC started trading publicly on October 7.
The company owns 3,708 BTC, worth $408.3 million.
But it has already halted buying Bitcoin, and is instead buying back its own shares.
Brazil's biggest Bitcoin treasury OranjeBTC has halted purchasing BTC and instead has bought back its own shares, the publicly traded company announced Thursday, just three weeks after going public. 

OranjeBTC said that it would weigh its options going forward. Companies may buy back their shares as a way to increase the value of their stock by taking it off the market and reducing its supply.

The move comes as the price of Bitcoin remains 13% below its all-time high of $126,080, set earlier this month, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. The leading cryptocurrency was recently trading for $109,834 after a rocky two weeks. 

"The Company will continue to evaluate capital allocation opportunities in a disciplined manner, always prioritizing the maximization of Bitcoin per share (BTC/Share) for its shareholders, either through the direct purchase of Bitcoin or the repurchase of treasury shares when they are trading at a discount to mNAV," the company said on its website. 

OranjeBTC's move came as its shares were trading below net asset value, which would indicate a discount to equity value. It also comes as some treasury observers have raised concerns about the approach as a way to boost a struggling firm's stock price if the asset's value tumbles, as it has recently. 

OranjeBTC, which has traded on the Brazilian stock exchange B3 since October 7, holds 3,708 BTC, worth $408.3 million, according to its website.

It is a direct competitor with fintech company Méliuz, which earlier this year dubbed itself the South American's first Bitcoin treasury company.

Bitcoin treasuries offer exposure to the asset for investors concerned about the security and other challenges of holding it themselves.  

American software firm Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, pioneered the strategy in 2020 and now holds 640,808 Bitcoins worth about $70.5 billion based on the current price, according to bitcointreasuries.net data. Its stock price has shot up more than 1,400% over the past five years. 

A number of other Nasdaq-listed companies in the U.S. are following suit to try, changing their business models to focus on crypto accumulation, buying not only Bitcoin but other digital coins like Ethereum or Solana. They include Japanese hotel operator, Metaplanet, which has built the fourth largest BTC stockpile, and mining company BitMine Immersion and online marketing firm SharpLink Gaming, which have both created massive ETH treasuries. 

Brazil, Latin America's biggest economy, is the region's biggest digital asset market, and has the most amount of crypto ETFs. 

In a Myriad prediction market, 54% of respondents agree with crypto trader Mando that Bitcoin will hit $120,000 instead of siding with entrepreneur KBM who believes BTC will fall to $100,000. Myriad is a unit of Dastan, the parent company of Decrypt.

Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

Steak ’n Shake is making history as the first major restaurant to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. 

All payments received in Bitcoin will now be added to their Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR), marking a fun and major step into bitcoin adoption for the fast-food chain.

As part of the initiative, the company will donate 210 sats from every Bitcoin Meal sold to the Open Sats Initiative, Inc. over the next 12 months. 

Customers who purchase and register their Bitcoin Steakburger through the Fold App will also receive $5 in free Bitcoin, with instructions provided on their receipts.

The move comes on the heels of a strong quarter, with same-store sales up 15% — outpacing all competitors — highlighting the growing impact of cryptocurrency engagement on the restaurant’s bottom line.

Steak ‘n Shake partners with Fold
Earlier today, the company and Fold Holdings launched a limited-time promotion at more than 1,200 Steak ’n Shake locations, letting customers earn $5 in bitcoin with their Bitcoin Meal or Bitcoin Steakburger.

Diners simply upload their receipt to bitcoinmealdeal.com, redeem a code through the Fold app, and instantly receive their reward. 

The promotion marks the first U.S. restaurant menu item tied to bitcoin rewards, with the Bitcoin logo even stamped on the burger bun as a nod to mainstream adoption. 

The campaign coincides with the 17th anniversary of the Bitcoin white paper and builds on Steak ’n Shake’s earlier adoption of Lightning Network payments. 

Fold, which holds roughly 1,500 BTC, continues expanding its bitcoin rewards ecosystem.

Bitcoin improving payment speed
At the Bitcoin 2025 Conference, Steak ‘n Shake executive Dan Edwards highlighted the company’s global adoption of Bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network. 

He noted that Bitcoin transactions immediately exceeded expectations, with one in every 500 global Bitcoin transactions occurring at Steak ‘n Shake on launch day

Edwards said that accepting Bitcoin reduced processing fees by 50%, benefiting both the company and customers. 

He stressed that the initiative was a genuine payment upgrade, not a marketing stunt, and reported that customer behavior had shifted positively since implementation. 

Steak ‘n Shake reported that customer behavior has already shifted. “We’ve seen a sustained spike since adding Bitcoin,” Edwards noted. 

Edwards also teased the company’s future plans, calling for more technical talent. “We’re not done. We’re investing in cyber chefs, autonomous drives, AI tech — and we need engineers to help us build it.” 

Micah Zimmerman

Micah first discovered Bitcoin in 2018 but remained a skeptic on the sidelines for too long. Since 2021, he has covered crypto and business and now works as a junior news reporter for Bitcoin Magazine, based in North Carolina.

Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin white paper did not describe the end of Bitcoin’s development but the beginning, argues Voltage’s Bobby Shell. Oct 31, 2025, 6:00 p.m.

Seventeen years after its publication, the Bitcoin white paper is still widely viewed as a novel technical achievement or the starting point for a new digital asset class. This narrow interpretation misses its deeper message.

The white paper identified structural weaknesses in global payments and settlement that continue to affect consumers, businesses, and financial institutions today. It outlined a model of digital value transfer built on verification, transparency, and predictable rules. At a time when the foundations of digital commerce are under strain, the white paper provides a blueprint worth revisiting.

The central argument is straightforward: a financial system that depends entirely on intermediaries cannot scale securely or equitably in a digital world.

The system was breaking long before Bitcoin arrived

The opening lines of the white paper point to a problem that was already well known in 2008 and has become more clear today. Digital commerce still depends on layers of financial intermediaries that introduce friction, cost, and risk. These intermediaries manage disputes, reverse transactions, and determine when payments are final. This structure worked reasonably well in a slower, less global economy. It is increasingly misaligned with how people transact today.

Consumers have grown accustomed to delays in moving their own money. Merchants absorb fraud and chargebacks they cannot prevent. Small businesses live with unpredictable settlement times that affect payroll and cash flow. International transfers remain slow and expensive. Even in developed markets, bank outages and payment failures are no longer rare exceptions. When intermediaries struggle, the consequences ripple across daily life. A frozen transfer can cause a missed bill. A delayed settlement can impact a business’s ability to operate. For millions of people outside stable banking systems, these failures effectively limit access to global commerce.

These problems have not faded with technological progress. In many cases, they have intensified. As more economic activity moves online, the limitations of existing rails become harder to ignore. The white paper did not create dissatisfaction with legacy payments. It documented concerns that were already growing and supplied a protocol-level alternative.

Bitcoin introduced capabilities that did not exist before

The white paper proposed a simple idea with far-reaching consequences: anyone should be able to send value to anyone else on a digital network without relying on a central authority to validate the transaction. Before Bitcoin, this was not possible. Preventing double spending required a trusted ledger. Preventing fraud required intermediaries. Ensuring users followed the rules required centralized enforcement.

Bitcoin’s design changed this by allowing participants to reach consensus on a shared ledger through open network rules and cryptographic proof. This provided a mechanism for digital settlement that was independent of institutions. It also separated the concept of a settlement layer from the higher layers where user experiences and applications could evolve.

Many attempts to improve the payment system before Bitcoin focused on enhancing the existing structure rather than rethinking it. These efforts relied on more verification, more compliance checks, more identity requirements, or more data collection. Yet they could not remove the fundamental dependency on centralized decision makers. Bitcoin addressed the problem by redesigning the base layer.

Since the white paper’s release, innovation has accelerated around this foundation. Developers have built layers that support higher throughput, lower cost, and instant exchanges of value. The Lightning Network is an example of how Bitcoin’s settlement guarantees can support new payment experiences. Lightning provides instant, low cost, irreversible settlement while still anchoring to Bitcoin’s base layer for security. This approach respects the principle laid out in the white paper. The base layer provides finality and neutrality, and higher layers support global scale.

This layered architecture is essential for Bitcoin’s role in payments. The base chain is intentionally conservative. It prioritizes verification, security, and decentralization. For Bitcoin to serve global commerce, additional layers must handle higher transaction volumes and user friendly payment flows, while still settling back to the chain that enforces the rules. In this respect, the white paper did not describe the end of Bitcoin’s development but the beginning. Its design encourages additional layers that inherit its guarantees while extending its capabilities.

Addressing misconceptions

Common critiques of Bitcoin tend to overlook what the white paper was designed to solve. Some argue that Bitcoin is too slow for daily payments. The base layer was never intended for high frequency transactions. It is a settlement system, and its role becomes even more clear as layers like Lightning handle the high speed use cases.

Others point to Bitcoin’s volatility. Market volatility reflects adoption stages rather than flaws in the protocol. Technologies that introduce new forms of value transfer often experience cycles before stabilizing. In practice, users who need price stability can transact through stablecoins or payment channels built on top of Bitcoin. These options allow people to benefit from Bitcoin’s settlement assurances while avoiding exposure to price movement.

Another misconception is that intermediaries must disappear entirely. The alternative is more practical. Intermediaries can continue to exist, but their role should be optional rather than mandatory. Bitcoin offers people and businesses a reliable foundation they can rely on when traditional intermediaries fail or when they need settlement that is independent of institutional risk.

These clarifications do not diminish the challenges ahead. Scaling global payments on a decentralized network is complex. It requires improvements in user experience, liquidity routing, regulatory clarity, and integration with existing financial systems. Even so, these challenges are solvable. The past decade has shown that layered architecture can address most of the limitations while preserving the core principles in the white paper.

Bitcoin must continue to evolve

The Bitcoin white paper remains relevant entering 2026, because the problems it described are still present in today’s financial system. Its design outlined how to create digital settlement that is transparent, neutral, and secure. For Bitcoin to meet the needs of global commerce, it must continue to evolve through new layers that maintain the integrity of the base chain while delivering instant, low cost transactions at scale.

The foundational ideas in the white paper continue to guide that evolution. As more developers and institutions build on top of Bitcoin, the path toward a more reliable and accessible financial system becomes clearer. The next stage of progress will come from those who understand both the constraints and the potential of the system Satoshi introduced, and who are willing to build the layers that complete the vision.

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.

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Solana (SOL) processes approximately 70 million transactions per day and recorded over $143 billion in monthly DEX volume as of Oct. 30, according to DefiLlama.

The network operates with 1,295 consensus validators across 40 countries, and a Nakamoto Coefficient of 20, according to the Foundation’s June 2025 Network Health Report. Production throughput runs at approximately 1,100 transactions per second.

The throughput enhancements followed a five-hour outage in February 2024. The event prompted the Solana ecosystem to introduce measures such as stake-weighted Quality of Service (QoS), tests with the Firedancer client in hybrid form, and adjusted validator economics through priority fee routing.

Transaction volume and execution modelDeFiLlama data shows Solana’s spot monthly DEX volume at roughly $143 billion as of Oct. 30. Ethereum’s volume in the same period reached nearly $138 billion.

However, Ethereum’s base layer processes fewer than 1.2 million transactions per day, while Solana processes over 70 million.

Ethereum routes most DeFi activity to layer-2 rollups that batch transactions before settling on the base layer. Solana executes all transactions on a single layer.

Jake Kennis, senior research analyst at Nansen, attributes Solana’s activity to infrastructure and market catalysts.

In a note, he stated:

“Solana’s runtime did the hard work first: Sealevel’s parallel execution, sub-second blocks, stake-weighted QoS over QUIC kept latency low and fees stable under load. That design avoided rollup-style fragmentation and delivered ‘one venue, one wallet, one mempool’ trading.”

Market catalysts included Jito airdrops in 2023, Jupiter airdrops in 2024, memecoin activity via Pump.fun, and wallet integrations from Phantom, Jupiter, and Uniswap.

Fee structure and congestion responseSolana charges a fixed base fee of 0.000005 SOL per signature plus optional priority fees. During the early 2024 memecoin surge, transactions failed despite users paying priority fees.

Version 1.18 implemented stake-weighted Quality of Service, allocating block space proportional to validator stake. Messari’s report for the second quarter of last year documented congestion reduction following SQoS deployment.

The fee mechanism remains local rather than global. Helius and Eclipse Labs documentation explain that Solana’s parallel transaction scheduler doesn’t uniformly price inclusion across all validators based on priority fees paid.

Users can overpay or underpay relative to the actual network load. SIMD-96 routes all priority fees to validators, changing revenue distribution but not the local pricing structure.

Additionally, Jito’s July 2025 TipRouter upgrade allows validators to distribute priority fees to stakers alongside protocol-defined staking rewards.

The Foundation’s June 2025 report indicates that validator total revenue (REV) is increasing, while breakeven stake requirements are declining. Most stake previously ran on Jito’s MEV-auction infrastructure, concentrating on extraction.

SIMD-96 and client diversity are redistributing this surplus. Kennis noted:

“Fewer single-stack dependencies mean fairer execution. Diversification may redistribute surplus: users gain via tighter spreads, LPs see faster arbitrage, and validator margins compress as tip revenue competes down.”

Jupiter Ultra V3 and similar aggregators reduce harmful MEV while preserving arbitrage opportunities.

Client implementation and outage historyThe Feb. 6, 2024, outage lasted five hours and originated from a bug in the Just-in-Time compiler used by the Agave client.

All validators ran either Agave or Jito’s fork, requiring a coordinated network restart. The Foundation’s post-mortem documented the failure.

Firedancer, developed by Jump Crypto in C++, entered testing in hybrid “Frankendancer” mode, where Firedancer handles consensus and networking while Agave manages execution.

The Foundation’s June 2025 report notes dozens of validators running Frankendancer. Lab tests demonstrated 1 million TPS.

Two additional clients are under development, Mithril in Go and Sig in Zig.

Kennis explained:

“Client diversity hardens the network and opens performance headroom. Firedancer and Frankendancer have shown ~1M TPS in tests; real-world gains depend on rollout. Even with broader validator geography, QUIC and SW-QoS sustain consistent throughput.”

Electric Capital’s 2024 Developer Report ranked Solana first in terms of new developer additions, with approximately 7,625 new developers that year.

Ethereum retains the most extensive absolute developer base. Solana Mobile Stack integrates wallet, security, and browser functionality into Android hardware. Helium migrated its decentralized wireless network to Solana for on-chain settlement.

Ethereum comparisonEthereum’s base layer processed fewer than 1.2 million transactions per day in recent periods while achieving comparable DEX volume to Solana.

The difference is transaction compression through rollups. Arbitrum, Base, and Optimism batch hundreds of transactions into a single base-layer submission.

Token Terminal data shows that Ethereum’s EIP-1559 base fee declined in 2025 as Layer 2 activity reduced demand on the base layer.

Solana’s fixed base fee, combined with priority fees, generates lower per-transaction revenue but higher transaction counts. Total fee revenue depends on sustained transaction volume.

Solana’s monolithic model avoids cross-rollup bridging and maintains unified liquidity. The trade-off is higher validator hardware requirements and tighter coordination needs.

Ethereum’s rollup model distributes operational complexity to Layer 2 operators, but it fragments liquidity and introduces trust assumptions related to sequencers.

Monitoring pointsFiredancer adoption rate will determine whether Solana achieves client diversity before the next network stress event. Full Firedancer deployment could enable higher throughput if validators migrate from Agave.

Fee-market improvements through SIMDs should tighten the correlation between priority fees paid and the speed of transaction inclusion.

SIMD-96’s fee routing to validators combined with client diversity will test whether validator margins compress as Kennis predicts, or whether throughput gains offset margin pressure.

MEV economics post-diversification will show whether aggregators successfully reduce harmful extraction while maintaining arbitrage efficiency.

If validator tip revenue becomes more competitive across multiple client implementations, staker APRs may stabilize at lower levels.

The data will show whether Solana’s parallel execution, sub-second finality, and unified liquidity model can scale without the multi-layer fragmentation Ethereum adopted, or whether base-layer coordination constraints eventually force similar architectural changes.

Mentioned in this article

Sniffing up a comfy spot in a $1.7T asset manager's basket ETF, Shiba Inu is entering uncharted territory.

TL;DR:

XRP analysts predict a potential surge toward $10, signaling the end of a long correction.
XForce sees strong accumulation and dismisses further downside as unlikely.
CasiTrades anticipates a final drop to $1.65 before a fast bullish breakout.

XRP continues to draw attention as analysts highlight a potential massive rally toward $10, supported by signs of accumulation and improving market structure. After months of volatility, experts suggest that the cryptocurrency may have already formed its price floor, signaling a new bullish cycle ahead.

$XRP

Get ready for $10+ as a conservative wave 3 target.

There are minor market inefficiencies on the local timeframes, but the macro chart shows clear accumulation and a solid price floor after almost a year of distribution. pic.twitter.com/hGq0kL4vz1

— XForceGlobal (@XForceGlobal) October 29, 2025

Analysts Identify XRP’s Bottom as Accumulation Builds
XForce argues that XRP’s long-term structure points to a strong foundation, with recent charts showing a clear accumulation phase following a year of distribution. The analyst suggests the token could begin a powerful Wave 3 move, pushing prices toward $10 or higher. Despite minor inefficiencies in short-term charts, XForce believes the market has already reached its macro low, dismissing further downside predictions as “noise”.

Another prominent voice, CasiTrades, maintains a cautious yet bullish view. She expects one final corrective drop before XRP begins its next major impulse upward. According to her analysis, the price could temporarily fall to $1.65, the .618 Fibonacci retracement, to complete the final wave of correction. Once this move ends, she foresees a sharp and obvious rally that could quickly break resistance levels on the path to new highs.

Current trading data reinforces this consolidation phase. XRP has fluctuated between $2.4 and $2.6 after recovering from its October 10 crash, when it briefly fell to $0.77 on Binance. Analysts interpret this range-bound movement as the market preparing for its next significant leg upward. Both experts agree that once the correction completes, the ensuing rally could be swift and aggressive, fueled by growing investor confidence and renewed momentum.

If these projections hold, XRP’s resurgence could mark one of the most dramatic recoveries in the altcoin market, potentially restoring its position among the top-performing digital assets.

Key Takeaways
What are Tether’s treasury holdings?
Tether now holds around $135 billion in U.S. Treasuries (direct and indirect exposure), making it the 17th largest holder globally.

Why does this matter?
A private crypto company now holds more U.S. debt than entire nations, signaling stablecoins’ growing influence in global finance.

Tether has cemented its position as one of the world’s largest holders of U.S. government debt, surpassing South Korea to rank 17th globally with approximately $135 billion in Treasury exposure, according to the company’s Q3 2025 attestation report released today.

Record treasury holdings signal growing influence
The stablecoin issuer’s total exposure to U.S. Treasuries reached an all-time high of over $100 billion as of 30 September 2025, making Tether one of the world’s largest holders of U.S. government debt.

Source: Tether

This positions the company ahead of several nations in the global ranking of Treasury holders. Tether ranks 18th globally among holders of U.S. Treasuries, ahead of Germany, South Korea, and Australia.

The milestone underscores how stablecoins have evolved from niche crypto assets into major players in traditional finance. 

Tether’s Treasury holdings generate significant revenue through interest payments, contributing to the company’s extraordinary profitability.

Massive profits and growth
Tether’s year-to-date net profit surpassed $10 billion through Q3 2025, cementing its status as one of the world’s most profitable private companies. The company projects nearly $15 billion in net profits for 2025, achieving an exceptional profit margin of 99%.

Q3 2025 marked a milestone quarter for Tether, with over $17 billion in new USDT issued, representing one of the company’s strongest performances to date and bringing the total circulating supply to over $174 billion.

The company maintains substantial reserves to back its tokens. Excess reserves stood at $6.8 billion as of 30 September 2025, providing a strong buffer. Additionally, the company’s gold and bitcoin reserves stood at $12.9 billion and $9.9 billion, respectively.

USDT dominance despite regulatory pressure
Tether’s USDT fell from 70% market dominance in November 2024 to 59.9% by October 2025, as competitors gained ground and European regulations restricted its use. However, this percentage decline masks continued absolute growth.

USDT added nearly $50 billion in supply between November 2024 and October 2025, even as its percentage share contracted.

The stablecoin market itself has expanded dramatically. 

The stablecoin market has grown to around $316 billion in 2025, with Tether maintaining its position as the clear market leader despite rising competition from Circle’s USDC and newer entrants.

Strategic U.S. market entry with USAT
Tether announced plans to launch USAT, a U.S.-regulated stablecoin designed specifically for American markets. 

USAT will be designed to comply with the recently enacted U.S. stablecoin law, the GENIUS Act, and will provide businesses and institutions with a digital alternative to cash and traditional payment rails.

USAT will be issued by federally regulated crypto bank Anchorage Digital, and will have as its designated reserve custodian and preferred primary dealer Cantor Fitzgerald. 

The new stablecoin addresses regulatory requirements while allowing USDT to continue serving global markets.

Beyond stablecoins
In October, Tether completed the settlement of the Celsius litigation using proprietary investment capital, without affecting the reserves backing the token in circulation. 

The company faces one remaining civil litigation case related to Bitcoin price movements in 2017-2018.

Tether Holdings has applied for an Investment Fund License in El Salvador under the newly adopted Private Alternative Investment Fund law, further expanding its regulated operations.

The company also launched a share buyback initiative with potential institutional participation, while maintaining its multi-billion-dollar excess reserve buffer.

“Investors and users alike continue to turn to USDT as the most reliable and liquid digital dollar,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “With its all-time high exposure to U.S. Treasuries, Tether stands as a pillar of stability in the financial and tech ecosystem.”

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is holding near $110,000, rebounding sharply after widespread calls for a drop below $100,000.

What Happened: Data from Santiment shows retail fear spiked to its highest since the last crash as Bitcoin dipped to $107,000, triggering a wave of bearish sentiment across social media.

Yet, as fear and doubt peaked, Bitcoin staged a relief rally, mirroring earlier patterns.

On Oct. 17, similar bearish calls preceded a 12% rebound over the next 10 days.

Now, after another round of sub-$100,000 predictions on Oct. 30, BTC climbed right back to $110,000 by Oct. 31.

Sentiment advises to be a contrarian and buy when the crowd is fearful, sell when the crowd is greedy.

Also Read: Trader Shorts $1 Million In Ethereum: ‘The Rally May Never Materialize, It’s a Bear Market’

Why It Matters: Historically, Bitcoin thrives when the crowd turns fearful.

Glassnode data shows BTC is retesting the 0.85 cost-basis band (~$109,000), a level that has marked major reversals in past cycles.

Losing it risks a move toward $98,000 but holding it could spark the next leg higher.

Analyst Chris Beamish noted that every dip of the Fear & Greed Index below 30 this cycle has aligned with a local bottom, an indicator now flashing again.

With sentiment washed out and traders capitulating, the setup may favour contrarians once more.

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