Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Swell’s liquid staking tokens are reportedly worth more on paper than they should be. Someone may have nudged the numbers on purpose.

Security researcher Spreek reported on October 22, 2026 that an unidentified actor had reportedly taken control of Swell DAO’s operational hot keys, including the oracle bot that sets exchange rates for swETH and rswETH. The reported 2,513 ETH sitting in Swell contracts is exposed, but it is not a confirmed loss.

What researchers say happened
According to Spreek’s report, the actor had control of the keys as of 14:25 UTC on October 21. From there, the actor allegedly began raising the exchange rates of both tokens.

The increases ran at the maximum the system allows: 1% per hour. Crucially, no new ETH came in to back those higher rates.

By October 22, swETH’s rate had reportedly climbed about 3.0% above 1.133254 ETH. The rswETH rate sat roughly 2.0% above 1.082464 ETH.

Spreek’s report also says four malicious upgrade contracts were deployed. If those upgrades were executed through Swell’s timelock, they could sweep approximately 2,513 ETH from various contracts. The upgrades are loaded, but they have not fired.

Swell’s response and the open questions
The Swell team confirmed it is investigating the suspicious activity. It said no ETH had been withdrawn from or deposited into the affected contracts, and that the protocol remains fully operational.

There is a reported but unconfirmed potential link to the Railway cloud platform, which researchers flagged following a disclosure from that platform. AI tools also partially assisted in documenting the breach, according to the research findings, meaning certain details in the public account have not been independently confirmed.

Why an oracle bot matters
An oracle bot is the piece of automation that reports the token exchange rate on-chain. Whoever controls it effectively controls what the protocol says one token is worth. Hot keys are the private keys kept online so bots can sign routine transactions.

The 1% hourly cap limited how fast the damage could compound, but did not stop the rate from rising.

Markets are not buying the new rates
Decentralized exchange prices have reflected only a fraction of the reported inflation, suggesting possible market dislocations between the on-chain rate and where the tokens actually trade.

Swell’s total value locked stood at approximately $29.41 million on the day of the report. The market cap for rswETH ranged between $27 million and $58 million, depending on the data source. Third-party venues remain unaffected, and no draining of outside platforms has occurred.

What this means for holders and DeFi
For swETH and rswETH holders, the immediate question is the timelock. If Swell’s governance can block or cancel the four queued upgrades before they execute, the approximately 2,513 ETH may never be touched.

Any venue that values these tokens using the on-chain exchange rate, rather than market prices, could theoretically be exposed to collateral that looks healthier than it is. The research notes that outside platforms have not been drained.

If the Railway connection is confirmed, it would point to infrastructure outside the smart contracts themselves as the weak link — a reminder that a protocol’s security extends to every service its bots run on.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Papertrade opened for business on October 10, 2026, offering up to 1,000x leverage on Bitcoin and Ethereum. Within hours, traders found the lever that moved its prices, and it wasn’t on Papertrade at all.

Roughly $20 million in market orders placed on Hyperliquid shifted Papertrade’s ETH quotes by about 10–20 basis points shortly after launch. For a venue whose whole pitch is borrowing someone else’s price, that is an awkward first-day stress test.

How Papertrade prices its trades
Papertrade is a synthetic perpetuals exchange built on HyperEVM, the smart contract layer of Hyperliquid. Instead of discovering prices itself, it reads Hyperliquid’s best bid and offer, known as the BBO, through a precompile. It then fills trades at the midpoint between the two.

Profits and losses settle against a shared USDC liquidity pool rather than against other traders. The platform advertises zero slippage and charges no fees on losing trades.

The first 48 hours
Demand showed up early. Papertrade launched with an initial pre-deposit of $85–137 million, according to the research findings.

The shared USDC liquidity pool that actually backs trader profits was much smaller at launch, at around $5 million. That gap may create risks for traders, since winning positions get paid from that pool.

Then came the market orders. Around $20 million worth hit Hyperliquid within hours of launch, nudging ETH quotes by about 10–20 basis points.

At 1,000x leverage, a move that size can be the difference between a big win and a wiped-out position.

One wallet illustrates the dynamic. It booked profits of approximately $1.28 million on a staggering $3.18 billion of trading volume on Papertrade. Over the same stretch, that wallet executed around $231 million notional of ETH on Hyperliquid. The winning streak did not last: the wallet reportedly suffered substantial losses on subsequent trades.

On October 11, Papertrade publicly addressed what it described as BBO manipulation attempts. The team attributed the problem to open-interest caps that had been set too loosely to meet heavy launch demand. Papertrade began tightening those limits as a precaution.

A risk the team saw coming
None of this was a surprise to the people who built it. The developers flagged manipulation risk in their documentation before launch.

Papertrade also built an accountability layer into its token design. Losses incurred by the liquidity pool are linked to PAPER, the platform’s fair-launched LP fee-claim token. That means holders of PAPER are directly exposed to how well the pool holds up.

What this means for traders and LPs
For liquidity providers, the key number is the gap between the pre-deposit and the roughly $5 million pool at launch. A pool that size facing 1,000x leverage has limited room to absorb a string of well-timed trades.

Tighter open-interest caps are the obvious first fix, and Papertrade has started there. Lower caps shrink the maximum payout from any price nudge, which makes moving Hyperliquid’s book a worse deal.

The sharper question is whether the $3.18 billion volume figure reflects organic interest or a handful of wallets probing the pricing mechanism. One account doing that much volume suggests the second explanation deserves attention.

For Hyperliquid, the episode is a reminder that its order book now carries weight beyond its own venue. When other protocols price off its BBO, a market order there can ripple into positions it never touches directly.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Bitcoin

22 October 2026 | 20:05 Perpetual contracts on gold, oil and stocks traded $55.3 billion in a week, up 26.2%, and Talos says traders used 24/7 markets to trade an AI selloff and earnings.

Key Takeaways 1Traditional-asset perps: 60.3% of Bitcoin perp volume

2SK Hynix perp volume up 75% on Hyperliquid

3SpaceX perp rose 8.5% before U.S. open

4Bitcoin futures open interest up 6% to $47.9B

Talos published the figures in its State of the Market report on October 22, covering trading from October 15 to 21.

An AI selloff sent traders to 24/7 contracts AI and memory stocks sold off across Asian and U.S. markets on Friday, after September inflation of 3.7% and a 10-year Treasury yield above 5% put the cost of debt-funded AI spending in focus. CoreWeave fell about 25% as its bond yields neared 16%. Tech later recovered part of the losses, leaving the Nasdaq 100 down 0.4% for the week Talos covers.

Contracts that trade around the clock drew the activity. Volume in traditional-asset perpetuals rose 26.2% to $55.3 billion, which Talos attributes to perps becoming a way to trade the AI volatility and earnings. Hyperliquid was the fastest-growing futures venue, with volume up 17.4%, while total futures volume tracked by Talos rose 4.8% to $1.03 trillion.

The $55.3 billion equalled 60.3% of Bitcoin perpetual volume over the same week. That compares turnover in the markets Talos tracks; it is not a share of all crypto derivatives trading.

Gold

$11.5B

SpaceX on Binance

$8.9B +35.8%

Crude

$6.6B +25.9%

Those three exposures accounted for about $27 billion, close to half the weekly total. Memory stocks drew the sharpest increases: SK Hynix perp volume on Hyperliquid rose 75% and Micron perp volume on Binance 22% as the sector fell.

SpaceX’s earnings were priced before the opening bell SpaceX reported third-quarter results after the U.S. market closed on Tuesday while the revenue grew 161%.

The perpetuals traded through the night. Binance’s SPCX contract rose 8.5% by Wednesday’s U.S. open, and SpaceX perps on Binance and Hyperliquid traded about $5.6 billion, more than eight times the previous day’s volume. That event figure is separate from Binance’s $8.9 billion weekly total.

Two details show how traders used the contract. Volume peaked in the hour spanning the U.S. open, when the stock itself began trading, so the regular session still drew the heaviest activity. Open interest, the value of positions still outstanding, fell about 8% from the earnings release. Heavy trading alongside fewer open positions suggests traders took positions around the news and then closed them, instead of building long-term exposure.

Holding through that overnight window has its own costs. Funding payments accrue for every period a position stays open, and margin and liquidation rules apply while the stock market is shut, as Talos’s guide to perpetuals infrastructure describes.

Bitcoin stayed calm Gauge Equities Bitcoin Volatility VIX up 21% at Friday’s close Implied volatility index comparatively calm Weekly move Nasdaq 100 down 0.4% Up 3.3%, above $84,000 on Wednesday The equity fear gauge faded quickly, with the VIX gapping back to about 18.4 by Monday. Crypto-linked shares took more of the hit than Bitcoin did: Strategy, Coinbase and Circle fell alongside miners.

Bitcoin positioning grew alongside the traditional-asset activity. Futures open interest rose 6% to $47.9 billion, with funding at 5.4% annualized, a mild bias toward longs. The figures show no sign of traders abandoning Bitcoin to trade stocks and commodities.

What comes next Talos points to two events ahead.

Oct
28

Fed decision. With Bitcoin’s 30-day correlation to the Nasdaq at 0.6, Talos says its resilience faces a test here.

Next
Weeks

Big-tech earnings. Each report is another overnight event for stock perps, and investors will watch whether AI spending is turning into revenue and profit.

Together they will show whether traditional-asset perp volume holds near $55 billion after earnings season or fades with the volatility that accompanied it.

This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Perpetual derivatives involve funding, margin and liquidation risks. Figures cover Talos’s stated period and tracked markets.

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.

Bitcoin and altcoins are once again facing a sell-off. This selling pressure has pushed BTC back below $82,000, while Ethereum has fallen to around $2,400. This has also affected altcoins, and the resulting volatility has reshaped investors’ risk appetite. Transfers made by whale wallets have also attracted attention.

According to Lookonchain, a cryptocurrency analytics platform, an anonymous whale, believed to be an institutional investor, sold Bitcoin and bought ETH. Specifically, the mysterious whale sold 246.25 BTC (20.64M) and then purchased 8.286 ETH (20.64M).

This whale sold a total of 1,917.7 BTC (159M) and bought 64,545 ETH (155M) in the last 11 days.

According to Lookonchain, another whale bought approximately $7.22 million worth of ETH and eight altcoins in the last 24 hours.

According to the data, the altcoins he acquired were listed as follows: “378,129 LIT (approximately $1.4 million), 6.61 million ENA (approximately $1.34 million), 3 million ONDO (approximately $1.34 million), 1.154 million AERO (approximately $948,000), 241.8 million ETH (approximately $591,000), 2.944 million QNT (approximately $589,000), 61.252 million UNI (approximately $443,000), 1.387 million TAO (approximately $368,000), and 43.3 billion PEPE (approximately $195,000).”

According to Lookonchain, whales are accumulating ETH. Whale address “0x4A85” withdrew 10,954 ETH ($26.97 million) from Kraken and staked it after 4 months of inactivity. Whale address “0xdeA6” withdrew 9,000 ETH ($22.42 million) from Binance and deposited it into Aave. Whale address “0xD338” withdrew 4,500 ETH ($11.29 million) from Binance.

Meanwhile, whales continue to accumulate BTC. According to Lookonchain, four more newly created wallets have received 1,127 BTC ($93.45 million) from Wintermute.

Whale wallets are also trading in MAGMA, an altcoin that surged over 70% today. Accordingly, two wallets opened 2x long positions on 1.5M MAGMA (775K) via Aster and currently have $340,000 in unrealized profits.

*This is not investment advice.

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A shareholder for Circle Internet Financial, the company behind the USDC (USDC) stablecoin, filed a lawsuit against US President Donald Trump, his family’s crypto company World Liberty Financial, affiliate entities, and US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff over a $2 billion deal between a foreign government entity and Binance.

In a Thursday filing in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, Circle shareholder J. Benjamin Greenberg alleged that Trump, Witkoff and World Liberty caused harm to Circle by creating a pathway for foreign governments to funnel money using the Trump family crypto company’s USD1 stablecoin. This “brazen corruption,” according to Greenberg, leaves Circle “unable to compete” in the stablecoin market with its USDC.

Central to the Circle shareholder’s allegations is an Abu Dhabi entity, MGX, tied to the United Arab Emirates royalty, which invested $2 billion into cryptocurrency exchange Binance using the USD1 stablecoin in 2025. The Wall Street Journal reported in February that another investment vehicle backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan agreed to purchase a 49% stake in World Liberty for $500 million.

“By accepting hundreds of millions of dollars from a foreign government, the President and his companies have diverted business from [Circle],” alleged Greenberg, adding:

“Plaintiff asks this Court to declare the President’s corrupt acts a violation of the Constitution, to enjoin the brazen corruption alleged below, to order an accounting of the billions in payments from foreign states to the President and his businesses, to require the companies holding them to disgorge the emoluments the President accepted through them, and for compensatory and punitive damages.”Greenberg reported holding 10,000 ordinary shares of Circle as part of his reasons for the lawsuit. He petitioned the court to declare that Trump violated the US Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause through the crypto deals and to issue injunctions preventing the president and Witkoff from pursuing similar financial interests without Congress’ consent.

Zach Witkoff, the son of the Witkoff named in the lawsuit, is a World Liberty co-founder. Trump and his three sons are also co-founders of the crypto venture.

A Circle spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the company “did not initiate, direct, authorize, or participate in the filing,” declining to comment on pending litigation. Spokespeople for World Liberty and the White House did not respond to requests for comments on the lawsuit.

Democrats use ’corruption’ messaging as midterm elections approachThe US president and his family are tied to several crypto ventures that Trump reported netted him $1.4 billion in 2025, while also costing investors about $4.7 billion, according to reporting by the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen. The crypto ventures are just a few of many controversial deals Trump faces scrutiny over, including accepting a jet from the government of Qatar.

With less than two weeks until the 2026 midterms and early voting having already started in some US states, Democrats running for reelection are using Trump’s crypto deals as a wedge issue for voters to support candidates in their party. Last week, Senator Mark Warner released a campaign ad highlighting that the president made ”more than $600 million alone from the crypto memecoin.”

Magazine: Richard Heart caught ‘off-guard,’ QDay gets even closer: Hodler’s Digest

Pump.fun has launched Pump Bridge, making the new product the default route for crosschain trades in its app and replacing Relay, the provider it previously shared with rival social trading platform FOMO.

The company claims its new bridge delivers buys 2x faster, reduces transaction errors by 92%, and gives traders more tokens for their money. Pump.fun also says Pump Bridge currently charges no additional bridging fees.

The move follows months of user complaints about slow transactions, failed buys, and poor execution through Relay, according to Pump.fun co-founder Alon.

The platform launched cross-chain swaps in May 2026, entering the market later than competitors. It has now developed its own infrastructure to address the problems it identified.

Pump.fun Reports Faster Buys and Fewer Errors
Pump.fun compared both providers in a randomized test conducted through its app between September 28 and October 7. The test covered crosschain trades involving Robinhood, BNB Chain, Base, Arc, and Ink, with users assigned to different providers several times.

The company claims that Pump Bridge outperformed Relay across speed, reliability, and execution quality. According to the report, the fastest 10% of Pump Bridge buys landed in 1.23 seconds, compared with 2.75 seconds for Relay, while a typical Pump Bridge buy took 1.95 seconds versus almost 4 seconds for Relay. 

Pump.fun says 90% of its trades landed before a typical Relay trade. Relay recorded an 11.2% error rate, compared with 0.9% for Pump Bridge, representing a roughly 92% reduction in errors, or about 12 times fewer errors. Pump.fun also says the gap between the spot price and the tokens traders actually received was approximately 17% smaller with Pump Bridge.

The company estimates that someone buying $500 worth of tokens 10 times daily would lose approximately $11,000 more over a year using Relay than Pump Bridge, based on the observed execution differences.

Pump.fun claims to have measured speed across 383,326 timed trades, errors across 416,669 trade outcomes, and execution quality across 35,333 completed $USDC buys under $500.

These figures come from Pump.fun's own testing. Independent verification would help establish whether the results hold across broader trading conditions.

Why Pump.fun Wants Its Own Infrastructure
Pump Bridge represents another step in Pump.fun's effort to control more of its trading stack. The platform launched on Solana in January 2024 with a focus on creating and trading memecoins. In May 2026, it expanded into crosschain swaps, allowing users to trade assets across ecosystems without manually bridging funds.

Earlier today, Pump.fun went further by introducing EVM limit orders, calling it the first time a social trading app has supported limit orders on EVM-based chains. In a post, Pump.fun co-founder Alon reiterated that the launchpad is “dedicated to giving you the best possible onchain trading experience, no matter what it takes.”

Building its own bridge gives Pump.fun greater control over transaction routing, execution quality, and future product improvements. It also reduces the platform's reliance on an external provider for a core part of the trading experience.

It is not the first time the memecoin launchpad has built out its own infrastructure. Pump.fun launched PumpSwap, its own automated market maker, in March 2025. Its launch brought token migrations and liquidity deployment in-house, reducing the platform's dependence on Raydium for that part of its ecosystem.

What This Means for Traders
For traders, fewer failed transactions and better execution could reduce the friction involved in buying assets across chains. However, the reported improvements still require independent validation, and the absence of additional bridging fees does not eliminate other trading costs or price slippage.

The competitive implications are more immediate. Pump.fun now directly controls a service that FOMO still obtains through Relay, giving it more freedom to optimize execution and introduce upgrades.

Pump.fun says it will continue working to reduce transaction times toward the fastest theoretical limit of approximately 1.1 seconds.

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The New Internet for Finance with Austin Federa

Crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen assessed the current outlook for Bitcoin (BTC) price and warned investors about a key support zone. Cowen suggested that if Bitcoin continues to stay below the $83,000 level, the price could fall to the mid-$70,000s.

In his latest analysis published on his YouTube channel, Cowen drew attention to Bitcoin’s bull market support band, noting that a significant portion of other major financial assets have tested this region, but Bitcoin has not yet experienced a similar correction.

According to the analyst, the Nasdaq index retreated to a bull market support band, while the S&P 500 approached this area. The TOTAL2 and TOTAL3 indices, representing the cryptocurrency market excluding Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin, tested their 21-week exponential moving averages (EMA).

Cowen stated that Bitcoin’s relative resilience so far demonstrates its strength in the market, arguing that this also explains the rise in Bitcoin dominance. The analyst believes that expectations of tightening monetary policy could shift investors from altcoins to relatively lower-risk crypto assets like Bitcoin.

Critical Level for Bitcoin: $83,000 Cowen said that the technical outlook needs to be evaluated more carefully after Bitcoin fell back below $83,000.

According to the analyst, a daily close below Bitcoin’s 50-day moving average would be the first significant signal of a pullback towards the 21-week EMA.

Cowen stated that the support zone in question is between the beginning and the middle of $70,000, and offered the following assessment:

“If we lose the $83,000 level, the next significant stop will be the bull market support band. This corresponds to the early to mid-$70,000 range. Below that, a retest of the lows of the previous sideways movement range would come into play.”

The renowned analyst also stated that defending the bullish scenario would become difficult if Bitcoin were to close below $83,000 for a second week. He added that for buyers to regain strength following such a development, the bull market support band would need to be maintained.

Cowen Warns of False Price Rise Cowen also touched upon some past bear markets in the Bitcoin market, noting that peaks formed without strong enthusiasm can lead to different outcomes.

According to the analyst, such peaks are sometimes followed by shorter bear markets similar to the one in 2019, while other times longer periods of decline occur with upward movements that mislead investors.

Cowen, pointing to the fraudulent breakouts seen particularly in 2015 and 2022, argued that a similar risk should not be ignored in the current market.

On the other hand, the analyst stated that Bitcoin’s technical outlook is not entirely negative, but macroeconomic conditions are making the rise more difficult.

Cowen stated that a potential correction in the US stock market could also drag Bitcoin down, adding that price movements before and after the US midterm elections on November 3rd should be closely monitored.

*This is not investment advice.

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Chinese prosecutors have applied to seize roughly 61,896 Bitcoin and associated digital assets currently held by British authorities, linking them to a large-scale fundraising fraud.

The Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court accepted the application in late September and issued a public notice in mid-October, opening a six-month window for victims and other interested parties to join the proceedings. After that period, the court is expected to hear the case.

The matter centers on Qian Zhimin (also known as Zhimin Qian or Yadi Zhang), who allegedly controlled Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology.

Between 2014 and 2017, the company marketed unlicensed wealth-management products across China, promising principal protection and high returns.

Prosecutors say the scheme collected more than 40.38 billion yuan from over 102,000 investors, yet most of the funds were not deployed in legitimate business activity.

Instead, money went toward earlier investor payouts, fictitious projects, Bitcoin purchases, real estate, vehicles, and jewelry. Investor losses are estimated at nearly 20 billion yuan.

Qian fled China in July 2017 carrying computers that held cryptocurrency wallets and eventually reached the United Kingdom.

British police later seized the assets, including the Bitcoin haul, substantial quantities of Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin SV, millions of XRP tokens, tens of millions of Dogecoin (some of which UK authorities have already converted and placed in an interest-bearing account), plus cash in multiple currencies, jewelry, and investment holdings.

In the UK, Qian pleaded guilty to acquiring and possessing criminal property and received an 11-year, 8-month prison sentence in November 2025.

A recent High Court ruling in London determined that Chinese law, rather than English law, governs victims’ substantive property claims to the seized Bitcoin.

The decision does not yet settle ultimate ownership or distribution; further hearings will examine the content of Chinese law.

Victims’ representatives have indicated they will seek to appeal.

Chinese prosecutors, for their part, argue the assets constitute illegal gains that should be recovered, with priority given to compensating victims before any residual amounts are confiscated.

This cross-border dispute unfolds against a wider shift in how governments treat Bitcoin.

In March 2025, the United States established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve by executive order.

The reserve is capitalized exclusively with Bitcoin that has been finally forfeited in criminal or civil proceedings and is directed to be held rather than sold, treating the asset as a long-term national reserve akin to digital gold. On-chain tracking places U.S. government-controlled holdings near 328,000 BTC, the largest known sovereign position.

China already ranks second with an estimated 190,000 BTC derived primarily from earlier seizures, while the United Kingdom’s holdings of roughly 61,000 BTC place it third.Most large sovereign stacks still originate from law-enforcement actions rather than open-market purchases.

El Salvador remains a notable exception, having pursued deliberate accumulation and once making Bitcoin legal tender, though international lending conditions have complicated its strategy.

As Bitcoin’s fixed supply and global portability become clearer, additional countries may move from incidental holdings to formalized reserve policies in the coming years—whether by retaining seized coins, exploring budget-neutral acquisition methods, or studying the U.S. model. The outcome of the UK-China case could influence how states reconcile victim restitution with the strategic value of the assets themselves.

21h05 ▪
9
min read ▪ by
Ghiles A.

Summarize this article with:

Bitcoin approaches a decisive threshold as markets await new American inflation indicators. After several positive sessions, capital inflows into spot ETFs have sharply slowed, reducing support for prices. On Friday, PMI indices and household inflation forecasts could change investor expectations before the next Federal Reserve meeting. Maintaining the 80,000 dollar level will therefore also depend on these economic signals.

In Brief

Bitcoin defends the 80,000 dollars ahead of new American inflation data.
Net inflows into Bitcoin ETFs drop 95.6% between October 19 and 20.
Glassnode estimates the average cost basis of spot ETFs around 81,500 dollars.
The 85,000 to 87,500 dollar zone concentrates significant potential selling pressure.
Inflation figures and the Fed decision could determine the next market direction.

Bitcoin Defends 80,000 Dollars Against Institutional Acquisition Costs
The price of bitcoin moves around 80,000 dollars, a level that draws institutional investors’ attention. According to the Glassnode report published on October 21, this threshold approaches the average acquisition costs of several holder categories. American spot ETFs display an estimated cost basis of 81,500 dollars. Meanwhile, treasuries of companies followed by Glassnode hold their digital assets at an average cost close to 80,200 dollars.

The massive sell-off on October 15 brought the market near this reference zone. The price closed around 80,100 dollars after briefly falling below the ETFs’ estimated cost basis. This movement tested buyers’ ability to defend their positions. However, the market recovered to a level close to institutional acquisition costs, without confirming a lasting recovery.

Binance’s order book data provide another perspective on this battle. The main cluster of spot buy orders was concentrated around 80,000 dollars before the sharp drop. Selling pressure absorbed much of it, but new orders appeared on October 20. Their volume remains lower than before the drop, which limits the scope of this support.

It is also necessary to distinguish acquisition costs from orders displayed on platforms. An ETF’s cost basis corresponds to the average cost of its assets, while a company’s reflects its past purchases. However, orders in an order book can disappear at any moment. Maintaining the price above 80,000 dollars does not guarantee that buyers will sustainably defend this zone.

Bitcoin ETF Flows Slow Before Inflation Data
Capital inflows into American spot ETFs have sharply lost momentum. According to Farside Investors data, these products recorded 526.7 million dollars in net inflows on October 19. On the following day, inflows remained positive but dropped to only 23.2 million dollars. This decrease represents a 95.6% decline in one session and highlights the recent demand slowdown.

Over these two days, ETFs still attracted 549.9 million dollars in total. Thus, it is not an entirely negative trend, as both sessions recorded net inflows. However, this development shows new inflows are no longer growing at the same pace. For bitcoin, the question is now whether institutional buyers will continue to support prices despite this loss of momentum.

Glassnode also notes a decrease in activity over a longer period. The average trading volume on spot ETFs, calculated over 30 days, now represents less than a quarter of its level observed a year earlier. Corporate purchases of government bonds since June have remained below 10% of the peak reached in November 2024. These figures reflect a broader slowdown in some institutional investment activities.

This development occurs as several American economic indicators are due for release. On Thursday, an auction of inflation-linked Treasury securities, amounting to 26 billion dollars and maturing in five years, will assess demand for these bonds. On Friday, preliminary PMI indices and final inflation forecasts from the University of Michigan will complement available data. These events could shift rate expectations and influence flows into risky assets.

American Inflation Could Change Market Expectations
Recent inflation data show that price pressures remain significant. The consumer price index rose 3.7% year-on-year in September. Moreover, the preliminary University of Michigan survey places one-year inflation expectations at 4.7%. Longer-term forecasts reach 3.5%, maintaining investors’ concerns regarding price trends.

Upcoming releases will verify whether these expectations evolve. Friday’s preliminary PMI indices, expected at 9:45 a.m., will provide indications on prices charged by companies. The final Michigan survey, scheduled at 10 a.m., will clarify household expectations. If these data exceed previous estimates, markets could anticipate more persistent inflationary pressures and reassess their monetary outlook.

The Federal Reserve’s policy is another key element in this sequence. In September, the American central bank set its target rate range between 3.75% and 4%. According to a Reuters survey, 94 out of 100 economists surveyed expect rates to hold at the October 28 meeting. Even without immediate changes, the new data could modify expectations about future decisions.

Bond yields and the dollar could then react to the releases. According to Glassnode, the two-year U.S. bond yield approached 4.8% on October 20, after rising by more than one percentage point since early 2026. High inflation numbers could intensify this pressure. Conversely, more moderate indicators could ease yields and provide a more favorable environment for risky assets.

Resistance and Support Levels Clarify Possible Scenarios
Above 80,000 dollars, several levels could slow price advances. Glassnode identifies an excess supply zone between 85,000 and 87,500 dollars. Investors who acquired their assets six to twelve months ago have an average price close to 86,700 dollars. Moreover, potential liquidations on futures markets concentrate between 85,000 and 87,000 dollars, reinforcing the importance of this zone.

With improved economic data, the market could attempt to reach this upper range. If Michigan inflation expectations remain stable or decrease and PMI price components retreat, yields could lose momentum. A drop in the two-year yield, accompanied by a stable or weakening dollar, would strengthen this scenario. Bitcoin could then test the 85,000 to 87,500 dollar zone, provided demand follows.

Crossing 87,500 dollars with higher volumes and repeated ETF inflows would be an additional signal. It would indicate buyers absorb some of the supply above institutional cost bases. However, a price increase alone would not confirm this move. Persistent inflows and bond market reactions would remain decisive factors.

Conversely, higher inflation expectations could strengthen selling pressure. If PMI prices rise, yields and the dollar increase, and bitcoin ETFs register net outflows, buyers could struggle more to defend the 80,000 dollar level. A close below this threshold would bring the liquidation zone near 79,600 dollars to the forefront. The market’s real average, estimated at 77,600 dollars, would then constitute another reference level.

The Fed Meeting Approaches Amid a Still Fragile Market
Market reactions will also depend on how economic data interrelate. A less well-received five-year TIPS auction could push real yields higher, even if inflation expectations remain stable. This is why the evolution of the five-year real yield and the equilibrium inflation rate deserve special attention. Their combination will help better understand investor reactions before Friday’s releases.

The scenario remains conditional, as some recent indicators have sent different signals. On October 15, a favorable producer price report coincided with a decline in the ten-year yield to 5.087%. The dollar also retreated after reaching an 18-month high. This episode reminds that positive economic data can quickly change expectations and influence financial conditions.

In the coming days, the market’s ability to maintain current levels will depend on several factors. More regular inflows into bitcoin ETFs, combined with lower yields, could facilitate a return to higher resistance levels. Conversely, persistent inflation and tightening financial conditions could weaken demand. The Fed meeting on October 28 will then shed new light on monetary perspectives.

Ultimately, Bitcoin remains close to the acquisition costs of several institutional investors, but this support is not enough to confirm a recovery. Friday’s inflation data will verify if demand can absorb supply between 85,000 and 87,500 dollars. If 80,000 dollars breaks, levels of 79,600 and then 77,600 dollars could regain prominence. The reaction of yields, the dollar, and ETFs will determine the next movement before the Fed decision.

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Ghiles A.

Journaliste et rédacteur web passionné par l’univers des cryptomonnaies et des technologies Web3. J’y traite les dernières tendances et actualités afin de proposer un contenu de haute qualité à un large public du secteur.

The Blockchain Association sent a letter to Senate and House leadership on Thursday asking Congress to pass bipartisan digital asset tax legislation, the group’s first broad push on taxes since the Clarity Act failed in the Senate last month.

The letter, signed by Chief Policy Officer Lindsay Fraser and addressed to Majority Leader John Thune, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, argues that the rules governing the 67 million Americans who hold digital assets “were written for a different era.” 

The group paired it with a new site, TaxClarityforAmerica.com, built for constituents to contact their representatives.

The asks will sound familiar to anyone who has followed the tax fight: a de minimis exemption for small transactions, cash treatment for stablecoins, tax on mining and staking rewards at sale instead of receipt, broker reporting limited to firms that hold customer assets, and wash sale rules that close loss harvesting without catching everyday transactions. 

The letter adds a safe harbor for foreign traders on U.S. exchanges, a mark-to-market election, and R&D credit eligibility for blockchain development. What the letter leaves out is an endorsement. Two bills are somewhat in play, and the association named neither.

Where the tax bills stand The House moved first. One day after the Clarity Act failed in the Senate, the Ways and Means Committee approved the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, H.R. 10357, a 114-page package from Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO). It exempts network fees under $10 from capital gains reporting, with a carve-out for taxpayers who made more than 5,000 transfers in the prior year, and extends wash sale and constructive sale rules to digital assets. Qualified dollar stablecoins are exempt from the wash sale rule.

The package left out the provision the industry wanted most. Rep. Mike Carey’s Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act, H.R. 9175, which would have let miners and stakers defer tax until they sell, was in an early discussion draft and gone from the text the committee released on September 14. Instead the bill classifies validation rewards as ordinary income, taxable on receipt. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV), who had proposed capping the deferral at five years, voted for the package and said it leaves the question open for further work.

The Blockchain Association, Crypto Council for Innovation and Digital Chamber had asked the committee in June to pass that bill without changes. The committee did the opposite.

The Senate has its own version. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) introduced the ADAPT Act on September 30 with Sens. Cynthia Lummis, Bernie Moreno and Tim Scott as cosponsors. It exempts purchases made with GENIUS Act stablecoins from gain or loss, sets the same $10 fee threshold, and applies wash sale rules with grandfathering for existing holdings and exemptions for mining and staking rewards. It sits in committee. 

Lummis’s earlier bill, S. 2207, with a $300 per-transaction de minimis exemption capped at $5,000 a year, has been in the Finance Committee since June 2025.

Neither chamber’s bill contains the exemption for small bitcoin purchases that the industry made a centerpiece at Bitcoin 2026. The House bill’s $10 threshold covers fees, not purchases. The Senate bill’s spending exemption covers stablecoins, not bitcoin. 

The Bitcoin Policy Institute and others have argued that any de minimis rule should cover bitcoin, and Thursday’s letter asks for a “meaningful” exemption without naming a figure.

Awkward timing Congress is in recess until after the November 3 midterms. When members return, they will have a lame-duck session measured in weeks, and crypto taxes compete with government funding and whatever else leadership decides to clear before the 119th Congress ends. 

Lummis, the Senate’s loudest voice on digital asset taxes, retires in January 2027.

The Clarity Act’s collapse shapes all of this. The market structure bill passed the House 294-134 in July 2025, then stalled in the Senate for more than a year while the banking lobby fought the crypto industry over stablecoin yield and Democrats pressed for ethics language aimed at the Trump family’s crypto ventures. 

The cloture vote on September 15 failed 49-50. No Democrat crossed over, and Republicans Susan Collins, Josh Hawley and Jerry Moran voted no. Sen. Thom Tillis switched his vote so he could file a motion to reconsider, which keeps the bill alive on paper and little more.

With market structure off the table, the industry has shifted its lobbying to what might move. Tax is the obvious candidate: the House package cleared committee with bipartisan votes, and the wash sale provisions raise revenue, which gives tax writers a reason to attach them to a larger vehicle. Punchbowl News reported Thursday that the association’s refusal to back either bill signals the industry wants more than what Congress has produced.

Regulators keep filling the gap in the meantime. The OCC issued its final GENIUS Act rule on Wednesday, and the SEC and CFTC have been setting market structure policy through rulemaking and enforcement in the absence of a statute.

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 news reporter for Bitcoin Magazine, based in North Carolina.

SEC FILLINGS: 8-K - Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (0001869699) (Filer)

Bitcoin Plunges Below $81,000 As 'Everything' Sell-Off Fuels Losses

By Kirk Maltais

After going as high as nearly $85,000 in morning trade, bitcoin and most major cryptocurrencies joined the stock market in sinking as traders sought safe havens.

The flagship cryptocurrency was down 4.1% to $81,165, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group, though it managed to bounce slightly off of a support level of $81,000 in the early afternoon. Bitcoin joined technology and AI stocks in selling off, with the Nasdaq settling the day down 2.6% in its largest sell-off since June.

Investors largely avoided assets regarded as riskier plays, as the 10-year Treasury yield fell back below 5% for the first time since late September. Concerns over France's gaping budget deficit and the risk that rising oil prices could weigh on consumption and economic growth hit global bond markets. French bonds sold off but other bonds perceived safer, like the German Bunds and the U.S. Treasurys, rose.

While the rush for safety pressured bitcoin, analysts looking longer-term still see reasons to remain optimistic on bitcoin. "Hashrate is recovering as the market turns from bear to bull," said analysts with CryptoQuant in a note Thursday.

Data from Coinglass shows that bitcoin ETFs have recorded net-inflows for 3 straight days, with over $500 million in inflows seen on Wednesday alone. Over the 3-day period, net inflows have totaled $1.07 billion.

Other major cryptocurrencies are deep underwater in trading following the close of the stock market Thursday. Ethereum falls 4.4% to $2,381, XRP is down 6.2% to $1.30, and solana falls 4.6% to $103.07.

Write to Kirk Maltais at [email protected]

A shareholder from one of the world’s biggest digital asset companies has sued U.S. President Donald Trump for alleged crypto corruption. 

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday by shareholder and former Circle employee J. Benjamin Greenberg, alleges that a member of the United Arab Emirates ruling family agreed to pay half a billion dollars into the Trump-backed World Liberty Financial business — in direct violation of the Constitution. 

Circle is the fintech company behind the stablecoin, USDC. Regulators in the U.S. are fast pushing ahead with pro-crypto rules despite lawmakers last month blocking landmark digital asset legislation, which President Trump backed. 

A number of lawmakers didn’t back the draft legislation — the Clarity Act — because they said that the Trump family had illicitly cashed in on crypto ventures. 

“The corruption at issue is not subtle, and it is not hidden,” the lawsuit alleges. “Since returning to office,  President Donald J. Trump and his family have built a cryptocurrency business and invited foreign states to route money to him by paying into it. Foreign money has answered.”

The lawsuit goes on to allege that an investment fund created by the government of Abu Dhabi also gave the president $2 billion via World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin product. 

World Liberty Financial is a decentralized finance project co-founded by the president and his sons.

President Trump stopped being involved in the project after taking office in 2025. 

Thursday’s lawsuit adds that the president allegedly gave the Emirati leadership access to advanced artificial intelligence chips and pardoned a convicted felon in turn for the crypto investment. It references a February Wall Street Journal article that reported the deal. 

“Although the President has dressed his corrupt arrangements in the language of new technology — tokens and stablecoins, holding companies and reserve yields — that vocabulary must not obscure what this is: the oldest form of public corruption, a public official taking money from a foreign power,” the lawsuit further says. 

It alleges that the president has “corruptly” profited from $2 billion via the deals. 

President Trump, World Liberty, and U.S. Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are named as the defendants in the lawsuit. 

The president campaigned on a ticket to help the crypto industry and received major financial backing from the space but some Washington lawmakers have criticized the way the Trump family has profited from digital asset ventures.

Trump and the White House have always denied any conflicts of interest. The president in August, ahead of the crypto Clarity Act vote, said that Democrats criticizing his family crypto ventures had made money from stock trading. 

Mathew Di Salvo

Mathew is a reporter who's covered the space since 2019, reporting on everything from Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele's Bitcoin bet to crypto exchange FTX's bankruptcy.

XRP’s 365-day Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) has dropped to 0.92, marking its lowest level in over a year and placing most recent buyers firmly in negative territory. According to data from Santiment Intelligence, Dogecoin (DOGE) is the only other major altcoin with a similar pattern, showing a near-term MVRV score of 0.74. These subdued readings indicate minimal profit-taking incentive, as the majority of holders are currently experiencing unrealized losses.

XRP approaches critical demand zoneThe latest market behavior suggests a low-risk demand area has formed around XRP’s present support levels. Such depressed MVRV ratios typically highlight zones where selling pressure is tapering off and may identify price areas favorable for accumulation. Technical analysts often view ultra-low MVRV scores as signs of capitulation, signaling that sellers are exhausted and buyers could soon step in.

When MVRV is elevated, however, new buyers take on additional risk, as recent entrants are more likely to hold unrealized gains, fueling possible sell-offs. In comparison, BTC, ETH, and LINK reveal neutral MVRV readings ranging from 0.97 to 1.04, which places their holders near break-even and reflects scant evidence of extreme greed or panic in those markets.

It is important to note that a low MVRV score does not guarantee a price rebound. The situation remains contingent on increased activity from both institutional ‘whale’ investors and retail participants buying at local bottoms. Without robust inflows, the technical setup alone may not trigger sustained upward momentum.

Technical chart and derivatives market insightsXRP’s short-term outlook is shaped by technical signals on its price chart. The currency’s mid-tier Bollinger Band currently sits at $1.3822, providing a reference for potential bullish confirmation if prices push higher. Reaching this zone could set up a rally toward the upper Bollinger Band near $1.5255. On the downside, the lower band at $1.2418 highlights a key leveraged support level.

The derivatives market adds further context, with recent data revealing a 26% surge in trading volume. However, most liquidations have targeted long positions, and short-sellers outnumber bulls with a long-to-short ratio of 0.8345. Despite this, the funding rate on open interest (OI) has turned positive, indicating that traders holding short positions are paying a premium to maintain those bets as the price has shown upward movement.

Following a round of long position liquidations, open interest slipped slightly but remains strong, with total value approaching $3 billion. This matches aggregate spot and futures trading volumes, underscoring ongoing demand for XRP despite recent volatility and uneven sentiment in the broader cryptocurrency space.

XRP’s latest MVRV readings reveal that most recent buyers are still underwater, suggesting a diminished incentive for profit-taking at current levels and positioning XRP among the major altcoins with the lowest realized returns.

Market context and investor strategiesAcross multiple time frames, larger digital asset investors continue to show a selling bias, which may weigh on short-term price action. Nonetheless, yearly MVRV scores can be useful to monitor, as they often reveal market dynamics and sentiment shifts that traders might overlook or misinterpret as simple weakness.

In a market where a single Fed decision or a sudden altcoin listing can change everything in seconds, monitoring indicators such as MVRV, Bollinger Bands, and open interest has grown in importance. Smart traders are now utilizing privacy-first tools like CryptoAppsy to consolidate everything. Without even the hassle of creating an account, you get real-time charts, smart price alerts, coin-specific news, and critical macro data all on one screen. By bringing these resources together, investors hope to navigate shifting market conditions more efficiently and avoid unnecessary losses stemming from fragmented information.

XRP is displaying a familiar market structure on its weekly chart, according to cryptocurrency analyst EGRAG CRYPTO. The analyst reports that a potentially significant pattern involving the 50-week and 200-week exponential moving averages (EMA) has emerged, reminiscent of two previous cycles that led to substantial price recoveries for the token.

Historical EMA patterns and price cyclesEGRAG CRYPTO has identified a repeating sequence in XRP’s historical price movement, focusing on two previous instances when the 50-week EMA crossed below the 200-week EMA—an event traders call a “death cross.” These occurred between 2019-2020 and 2022-2023. In both cases, price entered defined ranges which the analyst marks as yellow accumulation zones, ultimately leading to strong rallies afterward.

In the current market, a third death cross appears to be forming. EGRAG CRYPTO highlights the importance of the yellow accumulation zones observed in previous cycles, posing a question about whether XRP will maintain its position in the upper part of this range or slip into the lower region before any potential reversal.

EGRAG CRYPTO points to two prior cycles marked by bearish EMA crosses and accumulation ranges, emphasizing, “2019–2020: EMA cross → accumulation → recovery. 2022–2023: EMA cross → accumulation → recovery. Will the third cross follow this pattern?”

The role of the ascending channelThe weekly chart also features a long-term ascending channel, established by two diagonal white lines encompassing the bulk of XRP’s historical price action. According to the analyst, XRP’s broad market direction remains bullish as long as the price remains within this channel. As of October 21, the token continues to hold above the upper accumulation range and within the channel boundaries.

EGRAG CRYPTO stresses that while EMA crosses can be informative, they are lagging indicators. Instead, the analyst assigns greater significance to the macro channel structure, stating that this pattern carries more weight than short-term moving average signals.

Mini dictionary: Exponential Moving Average (EMA), a type of moving average that places a greater weight and significance on the most recent data points, making it more responsive to recent price changes than a simple moving average (SMA).

Volatility and technical reference pointsEGRAG CRYPTO does not interpret the current setup as a definitive bearish sign for XRP. Instead, the analyst expects heightened volatility in both directions, warning of potential price wicks and shakeouts above and below the accumulation range before a clearer trend emerges.

The analysis also considers the 33-week and 111-week EMAs in addition to the primary 50 and 200-week averages. Notably, the 200 EMA, commonly depicted in red on technical charts, now sits considerably higher than its 2017-2019 lows and serves as an important support indicator for the current cycle.

EMA LevelRoleRecent Cycle Status50-week EMAShort/mid-term trend referenceCrossing below 200 EMA200-week EMALong-term trend, supportSignificantly above previous cycle lows33-week EMASecondary trend referenceTracked in current analysis111-week EMASecondary trend referenceTracked in current analysisXRP’s current position and analyst’s outlookAt present, XRP trades at $1.34, positioned above the upper section of the yellow accumulation zone and within the established ascending channel. The macro channel structure remains intact, with no breakdown below its lower boundary.

EGRAG CRYPTO, known for technical market insights, concludes that the overall macro structure is more critical than short-term indicator signals. Whether XRP temporarily dips lower within the accumulation zone or holds the high ground, the channel remains the determining factor for the long-term outlook unless it is decisively breached.

The analysis underscores, “The EMA cross is lagging. The macro structure is the key. Volatility will come, but unless the ascending channel breaks, the long-term trajectory remains unchanged.”

Ripple, a leading blockchain solutions provider, has unveiled a new partnership with Arf, a global platform specializing in liquidity and settlement services. This collaboration is set to enhance the utility and adoption of Ripple’s US dollar-pegged stablecoin, RLUSD, across the international payments landscape.

New settlement solution for cross-border transactionsThe partnership aims to deliver settlement liquidity powered by RLUSD directly on the XRP Ledger, enabling licensed payment companies to access short-term working capital for overseas transactions.

With RLUSD integrated into the process, payment firms awaiting the finalization of international transfers can now secure liquidity efficiently, improving transaction speed and reducing the need to immobilize large pools of capital in multiple markets.

Ripple stated that the development specifically targets one of the most significant challenges in global payments, where businesses routinely allocate substantial funds to facilitate the movement of money between jurisdictions.

Licensed payment providers will be able to fund transactions without having to lock in significant reserves, as RLUSD settlement liquidity will now be provided immediately on the XRP Ledger through Arf.

Arf, a firm that supplies liquidity and settlement infrastructure to payment service providers worldwide, will take on the role of delivering direct RLUSD settlement liquidity to the network. This move supports both companies’ efforts to improve efficiency and accessibility for cross-border payments.

The partnership establishes a model where payment companies no longer need to tie up excess capital as they await settlements. By utilizing RLUSD’s stablecoin liquidity, firms can instead recycle the same capital swiftly with each completed transaction.

Short repayment periods to drive efficiencyRipple clarified that the settlement liquidity provided through this collaboration will be made available with a short repayment period, ranging from one to five days. This allows the same funds to be redeployed rapidly as payments settle, streamlining the flow of cross-border transactions for clients.

The ability to provide liquidity with repayment windows as brief as one to five days is designed to enhance operational flexibility for payment firms using RLUSD stablecoins in their international business.

Both Ripple and Arf expect this development to enable payment companies to execute stablecoin-powered, real-time foreign payments without the operational burden and financial inefficiency of holding capital in various currencies and markets.

This announcement follows a series of advancements by Ripple as it continues to pursue growth and wider adoption of its stablecoin ecosystem. RLUSD’s presence on the XRP Ledger is central to this strategy, offering consistent liquidity solutions for payments firms engaging in cross-border activity.

The partnership signals a continued focus by both organizations on solving practical, day-to-day frictions in global payments using digital asset technology.

Arf is known for providing real-time lending and settlement infrastructure to financial institutions, supporting a wide range of payment and remittance companies around the world.

Ripple’s expansion of RLUSD-supported payments aims to further streamline international money movement for regulated financial entities and support the overall growth of stablecoin usage.

With further updates anticipated, the collaboration is expected to drive greater adoption of digital assets in global settlements.

Mini dictionary: Arf is a financial technology firm that offers real-time liquidity and settlement solutions for licensed payment and remittance service providers, helping them execute instant cross-border transactions without locking up substantial capital in correspondent accounts.

XRP Falls 3% as Whale Deposits Hit a 7-Month High: What's Going On?

Crypto analyst Ali Martinez, recognized for his chart-driven market insights, outlined updated price targets for Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and XRP following a recent upswing in the broader crypto market.

XRP approaches key resistance levelMartinez identified $1.25 as a crucial support for XRP on its three-day chart, referencing a potential inverse head-and-shoulders pattern. According to technical analysis, this pattern can signal a shift from a downtrend to an uptrend when confirmed. The left shoulder appeared earlier in the year, the head formed near $1 in August, and the right shoulder began developing close to $1.25.

The analyst stated that maintaining support at $1.25 may trigger a move toward $2, but a sustained close above $1.56 would offer further momentum. Conversely, a drop below $1.25 could set the stage for a decline toward $1.

Martinez emphasized that immediate upside resistance for XRP stands at $1.55, while holding $1.25 remains critical for continued gains. A reversal at this level could limit the current rally.

Bitcoin and Ethereum target higher levelsFor Bitcoin, Martinez pointed to $81,000 as the key support within its daily rising channel. He suggested that defending this level could prompt BTC to revisit $84,000 and possibly reach the mid-channel target of $86,500. If BTC were to fall below $81,000, further downside could extend to $76,000.

On Ethereum, $2,350 emerged as the immediate support based on a right-angled ascending broadening pattern. A bounce from that level would see ETH aim for $2,700 or potentially $3,000, whereas a daily close below $2,350 could shift focus to $2,000.

Mini dictionary: Right-angled ascending broadening pattern, a chart formation where price action expands upward between two diverging trendlines, often indicating increased volatility and potential for a strong breakout.

Martinez outlined immediate price targets of $86,500 for Bitcoin, $2,700 for Ethereum, and $1.55 for XRP, noting that surpassing these resistance levels could drive further gains.

AssetSupport LevelCurrent PriceImmediate TargetNext TargetBitcoin (BTC)$81,000$84,535$86,500$90,000Ethereum (ETH)$2,350$2,512$2,700$3,000/$3,100XRP$1.25$1.39$1.55$2.00Current chart outlookOn the daily chart, Bitcoin currently trades at $84,535, approaching resistance at $86,500. Ethereum stands at $2,512, targeting $2,700 and potentially $3,100 if the move sustains. Meanwhile, XRP is valued at $1.39, with the next technical resistance at $1.55 and a longer-term target of $2.

Ali Martinez is widely followed for technical analysis on the digital asset markets, particularly through his social media presence, where he shares chart-based outlooks for major cryptocurrencies.

Flare outlined its XRP DeFi strategy on Korean TV at Korea Blockchain Week, detailing how FXRP works, how collateral protects users, and its Korean partnerships.

Flare used an appearance on South Korean television to pitch its approach to bringing XRP into decentralised finance (DeFi). Speaking on Korea Economic TV's Crypto Labs at Korea Blockchain Week, @FlareNetworks APAC lead Kyle Kim (@Banktheworld) described Flare as a blockchain for data.

How FXRP worksKim said Flare checks outside information, such as prices or transactions on other chains, and makes it available to smart contracts. Holders of $XRP can convert their tokens into FXRP on Flare to lend, borrow against, or earn yield, and can swap back whenever they choose.

FXRP is issued through Flare's FAssets system. FXRP was the first live deployment of the system, which turns tokens that lack smart contract support, such as XRP, into overcollateralised assets that can interact with DeFi protocols. At launch, Flare's chief product officer Filip Koprivec told The Block that FXRP is designed to be non-custodial and over-collateralised, with onchain, protocol-level verification rather than reliance on a single custodian.

Kim said approved operators hold the XRP behind FXRP. Each must lock up collateral worth more than the XRP it holds, which is meant to protect users if something goes wrong. DefiLlama's research describes these operators as agents, independent operators who post collateral worth more than the XRP they back, partly in stablecoins and partly in FLR. If the collateral's value falls below the required level, the agent's position can be liquidated.

Growing usage and Korean partnershipsDemand for the token has built since launch. A DefiLlama report published on October 21 counts about 129 million of the 145 million FXRP in circulation deployed across protocols, close to 90% of supply. The same report notes the base is still small: 145 million FXRP equals roughly 0.23% of circulating XRP. Lending is the biggest use. Most of the lending demand comes from holders who use FXRP as collateral and borrow against it while keeping their XRP.

In Korea, Flare is working with hardware wallet maker D'CENT. In May, D'CENT's maker IoTrust announced a three-week campaign with the Flare network , and said D'CENT is an official partner of Flare Smart Accounts , which removes the need for users to buy extra gas tokens.

Flare is also running a pilot finance product with weather data firm K-Weather (Kweather). The two companies signed a letter of intent to pilot the integration of meteorological data onchain. The data will be delivered through Flare's Time Series Oracle and could support products such as parametric climate insurance. CoinDesk's Omkar Godbole cautioned that the initiative is still very early, and a letter of intent is not a working product.

The appearance shows Flare targeting the Korean market with a dual message: XRP holders can put idle tokens to work, and data-driven products can extend beyond price feeds.

Sources:

DefiLlama Research: How Flare uses data to expand what capital can doCrypto Briefing: Kweather taps Flare to develop weather finance productsGlobeNewswire via Manila Times: D'CENT launches Flare campaign

XRPL's bug fix was nearly ready to go live, but a brief voting dip reset the 14-day countdown.

The XRP Ledger’s latest bug fix has been delayed until November after validator support briefly fell below the required threshold, just two days before its planned launch.

The amendment, called fixCleanup3_4_0, needed at least 29 votes from the 35 validators trusted by default to activate.

Upgrade Delayed Support reached that level on Monday, which kept the upgrade on track for an expected October 23 launch at 09:34 UTC. But that changed on Wednesday. At 12:54 UTC, only 26 validators were voting in favor, according to the XRPL Dashboard. That was enough to reset the entire approval process.

The vote count recovered to 29 by 14:46 UTC, starting a new 14-day countdown. XRPLWin now lists November 4 at 14:46 UTC as the expected activation time. Support has since increased to 31 validators, thereby giving the amendment a little more breathing room than it had during its first attempt.

It is important to note that the XRP Ledger requires support to remain above the threshold at every checkpoint, which takes place roughly every 15 minutes. That support must hold for 14 consecutive days. Even a brief dip can send the process back to the beginning. Neither XRPL Dashboard nor XRPLWin has identified which validators stopped counting toward approval. A validator does not have to actively vote against an amendment to affect the tally. If its server goes offline or restarts at the wrong time, its vote may not count at a checkpoint.

Meanwhile, the amendment in question bundles fixes across several parts of the network, including Single Asset Vaults, the Lending Protocol, automated market makers, the permissioned decentralized exchange, trust lines, NFTs, MPTs, escrow, transaction signing, and permission delegation.

Zooming Out The XRPL 3.4.0 server release introduces significant code changes, including the LendingProtocolV1_1 amendment. This proposed upgrade adds closed-ended vaults and cash-basis accounting to the upcoming native lending system.

You may also like: XRP Ledger Bug Fixes Set for Friday Activation as DeFi Lending Awaits Approval Ripple Pushes RLUSD Deeper Into Banking With New Cross River Partnership Major Ripple (XRP) Reveal From Seoul: XRPL Gets Privacy, AI Agent Upgrades, and More These vaults move through subscription, investment, and redemption phases, while interest is recorded as income only when loan payments arrive. It is currently open for voting, and validator support currently stands at 54.29%.

Tags:

As volatility continues in the cryptocurrency market, data from the XRP Ledger network has caught the attention of investors. On-chain analytics platform Santiment reported that the number of wallets on the XRP network has reached an all-time high, with a significant increase in new user participation.

According to data shared by Santiment, the number of wallets with a balance greater than zero on the XRP Ledger network has reached a new all-time high of 8.24 million. It was noted that this steady increase in wallet numbers continues despite the fluctuations in the XRP price in recent months.

The acceleration of network growth during the period when XRP was trading at approximately $1.36 was also noteworthy. According to Santiment data, 4,772 new wallets were created in a single day. This figure marks the fifth largest daily increase recorded since March.

Analysts believe the acceleration in new wallet creation activity could signal a renewed surge in interest in the XRP ecosystem. However, Santiment stated that for growth on the network to support bullish expectations, price movements must also confirm this trend.

XRP Price at $1.40 Critical: Two Different Scenarios Santiment stated that the first important level to watch for the XRP price in the short term is $1.40.

According to the platform, a rapid return to the $1.50 level could become possible if XRP maintains a sustained move above $1.40 and the number of new daily wallets remains around or above 4,000.

However, in a negative scenario, if XRP loses the $1.30 support level and daily new wallet creation falls below approximately 3,000, it could indicate that the positive signals from increased adoption on the network are weakening in the short term.

*This is not investment advice.

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The cryptocurrency market has grown into a global industry, with billions of dollars in digital assets changing hands on exchanges every day. From Bitcoin and Ethereum to smaller altcoins, traders can access thousands of cryptocurrencies on platforms that operate around the clock. As the market has expanded, exchanges have become central to how people buy, sell, and manage their digital assets.

However, not all exchanges are created equal. The user experience can vary significantly depending on trading fees, the range of crypto assets supported, liquidity, the security in place, and the tools available. Some exchanges are perfect for the novice trader looking for a simple way in; others are geared more toward the experienced trader. With so many exchanges in the market, here’s a look at the top 8 crypto exchanges to trade on in October 2026.

1. Binance 

Binance provides users with a huge amount of scope whether they’re looking to buy Bitcoin, look at altcoins or trade futures. It’s now the world’s largest crypto exchange by both trading volume and number of users, with hundreds of cryptos available via spot markets, leveraged futures and token swaps. Users can stake eligible assets and access lending products, as well as simply buy and sell crypto if they don’t want to get into any of the more sophisticated features.

The exchange lists over 500 cryptos on over 1,300 trading pairs. Reported daily trading volume is $11.14bn in spot markets and $41.7bn in futures. The base fees are 0.1% for both makers and takers, with discounts available to BNB holders. BNB holders can access the Launchpools, and there’s a crypto debit card available that also offers cashback in certain regions. Binance is not available to US customers, although Binance.US is available as a separate service with a much smaller range of coins and features.

2. Coinbase 

For a first-time crypto buyer, the whole process of funding an account and making a trade can be a bit confusing. Coinbase have made it very easy to do since they launched in 2012. Users can buy crypto via bank transfer or card, and the platform supports trading pairs against traditional currencies. Coinbase is also publicly traded in the US, which adds another layer of transparency to the business and its operations. Its security record and its educational rewards, where users can earn a small amount of crypto by learning about different assets,  may also be of interest to new users.

Coinbase has over 390 cryptos listed across 500+ trading pairs and reportedly sees $1.88bn in daily trading volume. The base fees are 0.40% for makers and 0.60% for takers with higher volume traders being eligible for reduced rates. There’s also the option to stake a number of the available cryptos. The fees are higher than some of the other exchanges out there but the simplicity of the buy process and the fact that it’s a very good place to learn how crypto trading works makes it a very useful entry point.

3. Kraken 

Kraken has been around since 2013 and has built its reputation on security. They’ve had no incidents of their wallets being breached and offer a range of security features, including two-factor authentication to help users protect their own accounts. They also have a fairly bespoke trading interface which can be tailored to individual preferences and offer customer support. It’s an exchange that would be suitable for both the novice and the more experienced trader.

Kraken supports over 620 cryptocurrencies and 1,350 trading pairs with a daily volume of circa $1.60 bn. Users can trade Bitcoin and other digital assets directly against fiat, which makes it very easy to move between the two. The base trading fees are 0.16% for makers and 0.26% for takers, with lower rates available to high-volume traders. The range of assets is a bit smaller than some of the others, but it’s a very broad range of established cryptos.

4. MEXC

MEXC is the exchange for the trader who wants to be in the market and wants access to tokens that aren’t necessarily on the big, established exchanges. It has over 1,700 cryptocurrencies listed and is renowned for its speed of listing new projects, including the memecoins that are currently highly popular. It’s a very relevant exchange for those who are following the newer projects in the market. It also has Launchpad and Kickstarter in place so users can get involved with projects that are launching via the exchange.

Cost is another big part of the appeal. Spot trading is completely free; futures have a 0% maker fee and a 0.010% taker fee. There are over 2,130 trading pairs and approximately $2.04bn in daily volume. Users can fund their purchases via bank transfer or credit card, trade both spot and futures, and also utilise savings products to earn rewards on eligible assets. Users can also hold MX, the platform’s native token, to benefit from reduced fees and access to further rewards. As with any token, particularly new listings and smaller tokens which may have limited liquidity and higher risk, it’s still important to look at the individual project rather than simply the fact that it’s available.

5. Bybit

Bybit was founded in 2018 and focused solely on crypto derivatives, specifically futures, and has since grown into a much wider trading platform. Futures are still a major part of the business, but users can now trade crypto on the spot and margin markets as well as use trading bots. Copy trading is also available, which allows users to copy the trades of other traders, as well as a Launchpad for new projects and an NFT marketplace. They also have products that allow users to earn yield by lending.

The exchange lists over 390 cryptos across more than 520 trading pairs with a reported daily trading volume of circa $2.04bn. Standard fees are 0.10% for both makers and takers, with users in the VIP programme being eligible for reduced rates. There’s a good range of products on offer in terms of derivatives, automated trading and copy trading, so users can approach the market in a variety of ways depending on their own experience and strategy.  Bybit is not available to customers in the United States, and leveraged products carry added risk because losses can build quickly when markets move against a position.

6. KuCoin 

It’s notoriously difficult to find smaller cryptos on the major exchanges. That’s where KuCoin comes in. Since launching in 2017, it’s had a broad selection of altcoins to offer, including a number of lower-cap projects that aren’t seen much anywhere else. It’s also a platform that caters to a range of different types of crypto users with futures and margin trading, crypto lending, an NFT marketplace and a launchpad. There’s a Beginner Zone to get new users up and running with onboarding and crypto rewards.

KuCoin’s base trading fees are 0.1% for both makers and takers. If a user holds KCS, they can qualify for reduced rates, VIP programme benefits, and access to exclusive events. The exchange has a daily volume of circa $1.31bn and lists over 840 cryptocurrencies across 990+ trading pairs. It’s an exchange that offers a wide variety of assets and services for those who want to look at projects beyond the most well-known coins. Access is regional, though, and KuCoin is not licensed to operate in the US.

7. PrimeXBT 

PrimeXBT takes a very different approach to the business of trading crypto than the typical exchange, which is all about buying and selling crypto. It was founded in 2018 and is fundamentally a derivatives trading platform. It offers crypto futures and CFDs, as well as the ability to trade a range of traditional markets. Traders can also trade gold, oil, forex pairs such as EUR/USD, along with stock indices like S&P 500 and Nasdaq. It’s a platform for traders who want to trade across a number of markets from one place.

PrimeXBT supports over 150 cryptocurrencies and trading pairs and has a reported daily trading volume of c.$2.38bn. Crypto futures fees start at 0.01% for makers and 0.015% for takers, with other market fees varying by asset class and market conditions. The platform also provides advanced charting tools, a range of technical indicators and up to 1,000x leverage on crypto. That 1000x leverage is going to massively amplify both potential gains and potential losses, so it is vital that users understand how leveraged positions work before they trade.

8. Crypto.com

Crypto.com is for users who want more than just a place to buy and sell crypto. In addition to spot and derivatives trading there’s an NFT marketplace and Crypto.com Earn, which enables users to earn rewards on their eligible crypto holdings. There’s also the Visa card which allows users to spend their crypto at Visa-accepting merchants and earn tiered cashback in CRO, which is the platform’s own token.

The exchange supports over 400 cryptos across more than 560 pairs and has a reported daily volume of $803m. Fees start at 0.075% for both makers and takers and can be reduced via higher volume or by locking up CRO. Some of the platform’s other benefits are also contingent on holding the token, so users will need to consider the benefits against the risks of the token’s price volatility. For users looking for a platform that offers both crypto trading and a range of ways to spend their crypto, Crypto.com brings a number of services together in one place.

Final thoughts Crypto exchanges have evolved from platforms for buying and selling digital assets into broader ecosystems offering trading tools, investment products, and access to a growing range of cryptocurrencies. As the market continues to develop, choosing the right exchange means understanding how its features, fees, security measures, and supported assets align with individual needs. Before committing funds, users should research each platform, understand how it works, and assess the risks involved.

Disclaimer. Readers are encouraged to do their own research. Ambcrypto is not liable for any outcomes related to the use of information, products, or services mentioned. This content may include affiliate or partner links.

Ethereum cancels Oct. 26 Glamsterdam upgrade on Hoodi testnet

18h05 ▪
4
min read ▪ by
Fenelon L.

Summarize this article with:

Ethereum researchers want to reduce the finality time of transactions from 16 to 4 minutes. Behind this technical improvement is a concrete economic issue: to allow transfer services to mobilize less capital while waiting for the definitive confirmation of operations. For now, the project remains under study and does not plan any deployment date.

In brief

Ben Edgington and four co-authors propose to separate validator votes to speed up Ethereum finality.
For a service advancing one million dollars per hour, the locked capital would drop from about 267,000 to 67,000 dollars.
The project has no schedule or final parameters yet, while Solana targets about 150 milliseconds finality with Alpenglow.

Faster finality: less locked capital
While Ethereum updates advance despite the 11% drop in its price, settlement speed remains an important challenge. A transaction can appear in a block without being definitively validated. Validators still need to confirm their commitment not to revert this decision.

This is precisely the problem targeted by the “Decoupled Consensus” EIP project. When a service transfers funds to another network, it often must wait for this finality before recovering its money.

Let’s take an example: a customer wants to send 10,000 dollars. To spare him the wait, the provider can immediately pay the amount from its own reserves. However, it must wait before recovering the corresponding funds on Ethereum.

At large scale, these delays are costly. An operator advancing one million dollars per hour thus locks nearly 267,000 dollars for 16 minutes, versus about 67,000 dollars if the delay drops to four minutes.

Circle’s model also illustrates the benefit of speed. For its stablecoin USDC, the company charges 0.01% on its fast route from Ethereum, i.e., one dollar per 10,000 dollars transferred, excluding network fees. Its standard route, however, does not incur any Circle transfer fees.

Two distinct votes to accelerate Ethereum
Today, validators use the same vote for two functions: participating in the choice of the next block and definitively confirming previous blocks. Since finality depends on two rounds of voting, this mechanism limits settlement speed.

With “Decoupled Consensus,” researchers propose to separate these functions. Validators could thus confirm blocks according to a distinct rhythm, faster and adjustable over time.

This architecture could also facilitate the adoption of quantum-resistant signatures if current cryptographic methods became vulnerable.

A project still far from deployment
For now, no date is announced. Researchers still need to specify voting rhythms, penalties, and several security aspects. Ben Edgington emphasizes that many elements remain to be defined. The submission aims first to formally register the proposal in Ethereum’s development process.

The project adds to other network initiatives. Glamsterdam crossed an important first milestone on Sepolia on October 6, before the next deployment phases.

However, competition reminds us of the scale of the challenge. Solana has activated Alpenglow on its main network, targeting finality of about 150 milliseconds. The two networks rely on different architectures, but the speed gap remains considerable.

It remains to be seen if the Ethereum network can reduce its delays without compromising its security. For operators, the challenge is clear: to recover locked capital faster and facilitate transfers between networks.

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Fenelon L.

Passionné par le Bitcoin, j'aime explorer les méandres de la blockchain et des cryptos et je partage mes découvertes avec la communauté. Mon rêve est de vivre dans un monde où la vie privée et la liberté financière sont garanties pour tous, et je crois fermement que Bitcoin est l'outil qui peut rendre cela possible.

DISCLAIMER

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.