Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

아이오에스티(IOST) 보유 회원 대상 아이오에스티(IOST) 에어드랍 지급 안내 (19회차)

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In BriefTron (TRX): trades at $0.3314 in a tight $0.32 to $0.35 range, with support at $0.3285 and resistance at $0.334.Solana (SOL): trades at $104.43 after a pullback from $125, with buyers defending the $98 to $100 support area.XRP: trades at $1.29 beneath a stack of resistance, and the $1.25 support will decide the next move.Shiba Inu (SHIB): trades at $0.00000499, right at $0.000005, with the $0.00000480 support in focus.What to expect from XRP in October?XRP is trading at $1.2995 after a steady slide through October. The token climbed sharply in August from about $1.00 and reached a high near $1.70 before pulling back. A second push in September failed near $1.65, and the price has been falling since.

XRPUSDT Chart by TradingViewThe drop has pushed XRP beneath the black 200-day moving average near $1.375 and the orange average near $1.335. Both lines now act as resistance. The blue and cyan averages near $1.38 to $1.41 are also above the price. This stack of resistance makes any quick recovery difficult.

The nearest support is the recent low near $1.25, where buyers stepped in last week. If that level breaks, the next targets are $1.15 and then $1.07, a zone that held during the summer.

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Volume has dropped during the decline, which means that sellers are not very aggressive, but buyers are also staying away. The RSI is near 40, a weak reading that is close to oversold. This indicates that momentum is negative, but a quick bounce could come at any time.

For bulls, the primary goal is to reclaim $1.335 and then $1.375. A close above the 200-day average would be a strong signal that the drop is over. For bears, a daily close beneath $1.25 could open the way to $1.15. XRP remains in a weak spot, and the $1.25 support will decide the next move.

Shiba Inu pushes through issuesShiba Inu (SHIB) is trading at $0.00000499, right at the round $0.000005 level. The token failed to hold the high near $0.00000625 in September and has been falling since. The black 200-day average near $0.00000560 has stopped every rally attempt.

Since early October, SHIB has dropped beneath the green, cyan, blue, and orange averages. These lines now sit between $0.00000526 and $0.00000545, and all slope downward. This makes the area above $0.00000520 a strong resistance zone.

SHIB/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe key support is the recent low near $0.00000480. SHIB bounced from it twice last week. A break beneath it would open the way to $0.00000440 and then the July low near $0.00000405.

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Volume is falling, so the selling pressure is easing, but there is no real buying interest yet. The RSI is near 40, which is weak but not oversold. Momentum still favors sellers.

For bulls, the plan is to maintain $0.000005 and then reclaim $0.00000526. A move above $0.00000545 would show that the trend is turning. For bears, a daily close beneath $0.00000480 would be a clear warning signal. SHIB remains in a weak short-term trend, and the $0.00000480 support is the level to watch.

Tron (TRX) keeps slidingTron (TRX) is trading at $0.3314 after a slow slide over the last few weeks. The token peaked near $0.375 in late May, then dropped sharply and has since moved in a narrow range between $0.32 and $0.35. This sideways movement has lasted for months, which suggests a balance between buyers and sellers.

The price now sits just below the orange and blue moving averages, both near $0.333 to $0.334. These lines act as resistance and have stopped every bounce in recent days. The short green and cyan averages are also above the price, so the near-term picture leans to the downside.

TRON/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe key support is the black 200-day moving average near $0.3285. TRX touched this line in mid-October and bounced, and it did the same in early September. Each time, buyers stepped in. This makes the $0.325 to $0.329 area very important. If it breaks, the next targets are $0.320 and then the June low near $0.315.

The RSI is near 45, which is neutral. It has not reached oversold levels, so the price could still dip before a strong bounce. Volume has been falling for several days, which suggests that sellers are not pushing very hard, but buyers are also quiet.

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For bulls, the first step is to climb back above $0.334 and clear the cluster of averages. A move above that could open the way to $0.345 and then $0.350. For bears, a daily close below $0.3285 would be a clear warning signal and could start a deeper drop.

TRX is stuck in a tight range, and a break in either direction will likely set the next trend. Until then, the $0.3285 support and the $0.334 resistance are the levels to watch.

Solana (SOL) key level must be protectedSolana (SOL) is trading at $104.43 after a sharp pullback from its September high near $125. The token rose strongly in August, climbing from about $75 to above $110, and later made a new high before sellers took over in October.

The recent drop pushed the price beneath the green and blue moving averages, which now sit near $109 and $106. These lines have turned into resistance. SOL has tried to bounce several times in the past week, but every attempt has failed below $108. This suggests that sellers still control the short-term trend.

SOL/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe most important support is the $100 level, where the orange moving average sits. The black 200-day average is just beneath, near $98. Together, these lines form a strong support area between $98 and $100. SOL touched $100 last week and bounced, which suggests that buyers are defending this area. A break beneath it could open the way to $92 and then $88.

The RSI is near 40, a weak reading that is close to oversold. Volume has dropped during the pullback, which often means the selling is losing strength. Still, there is no clear signal of a reversal yet.

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For bulls, the plan is to hold $100 and then reclaim $108. A close above that level could open the way to $116 and a new test of the $125 high. For bears, a daily close beneath $98 could break the 200-day average and shift focus to $92. The bigger trend is still positive because the long-term averages point up, but the short-term move is down. The $98 to $100 zone will decide the next direction.

Almost 2.7 million tokens have been scorched in the last 24 hours.

The popular meme coin has had a tough year so far, with its price collapsing by nearly 30% since January 1. At the same time, investor interest in the token has cooled significantly, which could weigh on any potential rebound.

The resurgence of Shiba Inu’s burning mechanism is one of the few rays of hope, but it may not be as bullish as it appears at first glance.

The Burns and More According to the X account Shibburn, the team and community have scorched almost 2.7 million SHIB in the past 24 hours, a 492% increase from the previous day. The burning program is a vital part of Shiba Inu’s ecosystem, designed to gradually reduce the token’s vast supply and potentially increase its value through scarcity.

Nearly 2.7 million coins may sound impressive, yet the USD valuation of the stash is negligible at around $13. That said, far more aggressive burns will likely be needed to meaningfully affect SHIB’s supply dynamics.

The team introduced the mechanism in 2022, and over 410.8 trillion tokens have already been sent to a null address, with Vitalik Buterin contributing a significant portion of that figure.

Another factor that could help SHIB recover some of its losses is a potential uptick in Shibarium’s activity. Daily transactions processed on the layer-2 scaling solution have exploded by roughly 370% in the past 24 hours, reaching 7,300. Still, this is nowhere near the levels seen months ago and is unlikely to be a major bullish catalyst.

Shibarium Daily Transactions, Source: shibariumscan.io Price Prediction There has been little commentary on SHIB lately, with Crypto With Gopal emerging as one of the few analysts to offer a forecast. The X user suggested the meme coin has printed a falling Wedge formation as the price consolidates near $0.00000502, while buyers look to defend support.

The analyst said a breakout above the descending resistance could spark a bullish momentum shift, setting $0.0000060 as an upside target and identifying $0.0000047-$0.0000048 as a support zone.

“SHIB bulls are watching for a breakout – meme coin momentum could return,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, the amount of Shiba Inu stored on crypto exchanges remains relatively low at just north of 87 trillion coins, which supports the bullish perspective since it reduces immediate selling pressure.

SHIB Exchange Netflow, Source: CryptoQuant Tags:

GALA: Mirandus Eternal Night Update – The Hollow Night

Zhipu AI's new model has been leaked to feature up to 3.5 trillion parameters, and is expected to reach the performance level of Anthropic's Claude Fable.

Beating AI Express (Dongcha) reports that an expert interview transcript circulating in investment communities claims Zhipu AI’s next-generation base model does not carry the previously rumored 1.6 trillion parameters, but ranges from 2.5 trillion to 3.5 trillion parameters. Zhipu’s GLM-5.3, released in August this year, still uses the previous-generation base model, with around 744 billion parameters. If the news is accurate, the new base model’s scale will expand to roughly 3.4 to 4.7 times that of the current version. However, the training process has not been smooth. The transcript states Zhipu adopted a more aggressive model architecture this time, leading to a period during pre-training where the loss did not decrease – meaning continuous computing power investment failed to improve training metrics. The interviewee believes the issue has likely been resolved recently, with training expected to wrap up soon, and predicts the new model will reach the flagship level of Anthropic’s Claude Fable. The new model also aims to solve the common problem of large language models being "launchable but not supply-ready" after release. The transcript notes Zhipu has set inference speed and cost as hard constraints from the architectural design phase, targeting large-scale service availability on launch day. Multiple cloud vendors are already in discussions over revenue sharing.

15 minutes ago

Robinhood’s on-chain DEX protocol Fables has opened point claiming and token swapping. The token’s market cap has fallen approximately 59.51% from its peak since launch.

Robinhood Chain’s DEX protocol Fables announced this morning the launch of its FABLES token, with the FABLES/USDG trading pool now live, alongside point redemption and PROLOGUE conversion access. Per GMGN market data, FABLES’s market cap hit a post-launch peak of $18.67 million, standing at $7.56 million as of now, a roughly 59.51% decline from its high. PROLOGUE’s current market cap is just $1.38 million, down 57.23% in the past 24 hours. Fables previously stated that at least 1 FABLES could be exchanged for every 40 PROLOGUE.

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Binance Alpha to list Axis Robotics; users holding 235 points are eligible to claim the airdrop.

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Peter Brandt hints in a post that Monero may be gearing up for a major rally.

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15 minutes ago

Malaysia's central bank launches SSDS+ platform to support the issuance of tokenized bonds and Islamic bonds.

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South Korean stocks closed up more than 3%, with SK Hynix rising 5.8%.

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15 minutes ago

Seoul, South Korea, October 20th, 2026, FinanceWire

Today, Injective is proud to announce that it has partnered with BDACS, the issuer of KRW1, Korea’s first stablecoin fully backed by the Korean won. Under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by both companies, the two teams will work together to establish KRW1 as the first won-denominated settlement asset for real-world assets (RWAs) and tokenization use cases within the Injective ecosystem.

The cooperation brings together a fully reserved won stablecoin and a blockchain purpose-built for finance, with a focus on institution-ready use cases for won-denominated onchain markets.

A Won-Denominated Settlement Layer for Onchain Finance

Stablecoins have become the settlement layer of onchain finance. Total supply across onchain markets reached a record $322 billion in May 2026, and Citi projects $1.9 trillion by 2030 in its base case.

Nearly all of that supply is denominated in dollars. In Korea, that gap shows up as capital leaving the country. Korea’s five major exchanges have posted 18 straight months of net stablecoin outflows to offshore platforms since January 2025. The total is about 14.9 trillion won, or roughly $10.4 billion. Korean investors want onchain markets, and many would prefer to access them in won.

Korea is one of the most active digital asset markets in the world, yet tokenized assets in Korea have largely lacked one key piece. They have had no way to settle onchain in Korean won. Without a KRW settlement asset, tokenized products are typically priced and settled in USD stablecoins, which adds FX exposure for Korean institutions and investors.

KRW1 was designed to fill that gap. Issued by BDACS, KRW1 is fully backed 1:1 by the Korean won. Minting and redemption will be available to approved institutional partners, subject to regulatory approval.  

The timing matches Korea’s policy direction. The government aims to finalize the Digital Asset Basic Act, the legal framework for won stablecoin issuance, by the end of 2026. The Bank of Korea has pushed for banks to anchor that market.

Collaboration Overview

Bringing KRW1 to Injective opens the door to won-denominated finance onchain.

A native Korean won onchain. KRW1 joins the Injective ecosystem, giving builders and institutions a fully reserved won stablecoin alongside Injective’s native dollar-denominated USDC stablecoin issued alongside Circle.
KRW markets for tokenized assets. Tokenized RWAs on Injective will be able to trade and settle directly in Korean won, without routing through USD.
A path onchain for Korean institutions. BDACS and Injective will work with Korean financial institutions to bring their assets onchain, settled in KRW1.
Compliance built into every asset. Assets issued through Injective Mint carry holder, jurisdictional, and transfer controls at the protocol level, so won-settled markets can be configured around each issuer’s requirements.
Growing Korea’s onchain economy. Joint initiatives will expand KRW1 adoption across the Injective ecosystem and the Korean community.

“Bringing a Korean won settlement layer onchain is an important step for tokenized finance in Korea,” said Eric Chen, Co-founder of Injective. “Together with BDACS, we are building the foundation for Korean won markets onchain, from tokenized RWAs to institutional settlement.”

Injective’s Infrastructure for Tokenized Finance

Injective is purpose-built for finance, with native infrastructure for trading, tokenization, and stablecoins. More than $7.5 billion in RWA volume has been processed on Injective, and more than $1 billion in tokenized assets have been issued on the network.

Korea’s largest companies are already building on it. In July 2026, POSCO International, South Korea’s largest trading company, and LG CNS, the technology arm of LG Group, selected Injective to issue, transfer, administer, and settle live trade receivables generated by international commerce. Four Pillars, the Korean research and infrastructure firm, operates an institutional validator on the network.

Recent milestones include Injective Institutional Services becoming an SEC-registered transfer agent and Pineapple Financial tokenizing more than $1 billion in mortgage records onchain. Injective’s native USDC stablecoin issued by Circle is now set to be the canonical stablecoin standard for more than 20 blockchains including Cosmos and dYdX, cementing Injective’s position at the center of onchain stablecoins.

“Without onchain won infrastructure, demand in tokenized markets will remain anchored to dollar stablecoins,” said Harry Ryoo, CEO of BDACS. “Through our partnership with Injective, we will explore how KRW1 can serve as a won settlement asset for tokenized markets, and we will expand our collaboration step by step as Korea’s regulatory framework develops.”

This makes Injective a natural environment to test how a won stablecoin can support compliant tokenized asset markets, from issuance through secondary trading.

Next Steps for KRW1 Integration

This initiative marks the first step towards bringing native Korean won markets on Injective, with more to come as Korean institutions bring their assets onchain. This will directly be implemented across Injective’s wide array of onchain markets with further updates expected as specific use cases go live.

About BDACS

BDACS is a leading digital asset infrastructure company providing a Prime Custody Solution for corporate and institutional clients. In the first half of 2026, BDACS surpassed 80 billion KRW in assets under custody, making it Korea’s largest digital asset custodian. A registered virtual asset service provider (VASP) with the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit, BDACS holds SOC 1, ISO 27001 and ISMS certifications. BDACS issued the world’s first Korean won stablecoin, KRW1. BDACS also maintains strategic partnerships with leading financial and Web3 companies.

About Injective

Injective is the first blockchain purpose-built for finance, enabling users, institutions, and AI agents to trade, tokenize, and transact at scale. Proudly made in America, Injective provides foundational blockchain infrastructure for global markets, with embedded financial primitives spanning stablecoins, real-world assets, payments, and programmable perpetuals through a unified onchain engine. Injective is used by Fortune 500 companies, banks, fintechs, and governments to power an open economy where any asset can be accessed anytime, from anywhere. Builders can deploy across multiple virtual machines like WASM and EVM, connect to native financial modules, and launch markets with deep liquidity from day one. INJ is the native token powering the rapidly growing Injective ecosystem and the new internet economy.

Website | Telegram | Discord | Blog | Twitter | Youtube | Facebook | LinkedIn | Reddit | Instagram | Orbit Newsletter

Malaysia's central bank launches SSDS+ platform to support the issuance of tokenized bonds and Islamic bonds.

Bank Negara Malaysia, Malaysia’s central bank, has announced the launch of SSDS+, a next-generation paperless securities depository system based on distributed ledger technology. The platform supports the issuance, depository, and custody of tokenized debt securities, including sukuk (Islamic bonds). It can track the ownership and transfer of tokenized securities, and connects to the real-time electronic funds and securities transfer system RENTAS+ to settle bond payments using central bank currency. Bank Negara Malaysia stated that SSDS+ is primarily designed for wholesale issuance, but it also already has the capability to support tokenized government bonds and corporate retail bonds.

2 minutes ago

South Korean stocks closed up more than 3%, with SK Hynix rising 5.8%.

According to Bitget market data, South Korea’s KOSPI index closed 182.93 points higher on Wednesday, October 21, marking a 3.29% gain to end at 5,735.67 points. Samsung Electronics rose 5.67%, and SK Hynix gained 5.8%.

2 minutes ago

Arthur Hayes: Flop Labs' testnet and airdrop are expected to launch in the coming weeks.

BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes announced in a post that Flop Labs' testnet and airdrop are set to launch in the coming weeks. He specifically warned that no FLOP token currently exists, and anyone claiming the token is already available is a scammer.

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Former Alibaba P10 Algorithm Director Prepares to Launch RSI Startup, First-Round Valuation Approximately $80 Million

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MEXC halts services for Russian users, triggering a 15% slump in its platform token MX.

According to HTX market data, MEXC's platform token MX has plunged 15% to $1.695, likely impacted by MEXC's official announcement that it will cease services for users in Russia and Belarus. Earlier, crypto exchange MEXC released an official notice stating the move is a measure to strengthen its global compliance operations.

2 minutes ago

NASDAQ-listed company BNB Standard will begin trading on October 26.

Nasdaq-listed company BNB Standard (stock code: BNC) announced it will ring the Nasdaq opening bell on October 26 to celebrate its corporate rebranding and the appointment of a new management team. The company’s chief executive officer will attend the bell-ringing ceremony alongside board members, its management team, investors, and ecosystem partners.

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Table of contents

Aptos Is the Coin to Watch Today — $0.82, Up 8.46% in 24 Hours
Aptos (APT) trades at $0.8222, up 8.46% in 24 hours, the largest single-day gain among large-cap layer-1s on Oct. 20. The token has climbed 50.3% from its Sept. 15 close of $0.5496, per CoinGecko data through 19:35 UTC. Bitcoin sits at $82,431, just below $83,000, while APT leads the altcoin tape.

Two supply-and-throughput shifts are behind the move, and neither is a one-day story. On Oct. 12 the network finished its four-year insider and investor unlock, which cut monthly token emissions by roughly 60%. On Oct. 15, Aptos Labs flipped Block-STM v2 on by default. The first event changes how much new APT enters the market; the second changes how much the chain can process.

The move: APT is up 8.46% in 24 hours to $0.8222 and up 50.3% from its Sept. 15 close.
The supply catalyst: the four-year unlock ended Oct. 12, cutting monthly emissions roughly 60%.
The tech catalyst: Block-STM v2 now runs by default, lifting peak throughput to 1,308 TPS.
The risk: stablecoin liquidity on Aptos fell 17.5% to about $910 million — the rally is supply-led, not demand-led.

Market Snapshot: Cross-Coin Comparison, Oct. 20, 19:35 UTC

Asset
Price
24h Change
Market Cap

Bitcoin (BTC)
$82,431
+0.66%
$1.66T

Ethereum (ETH)
$2,430.51
+1.42%
$296.9B

Solana (SOL)
$105.59
+1.58%
$62.3B

Monero (XMR)
$618.57
+4.62%
$11.6B

Zcash (ZEC)
$1,197.42
+6.35%
$20.4B

Aptos (APT)
$0.8222
+8.46%
$726.2M

Prices from CoinGecko, timestamped 19:35 UTC Oct. 20, 2026. APT’s 24-hour range is $0.7507 to $0.8338, so the token is closing the session near its daily high, not fading it.

The Supply Flip: Unlock Ends, Emissions Drop 60%
APT’s price history is a dilution story. The token peaked at $19.92 in January 2023 and now trades 95.87% below that, not because the network failed but because a four-year vesting schedule steadily expanded supply. Circulating supply now stands at 883.2 million APT, with total supply at 1.21 billion and a hard cap of 2.1 billion, per CoinGecko.

That schedule ended on Oct. 12. Monthly emissions dropped from roughly 11.3 million tokens to 4.5 million — a 60% cut — as we covered in Aptos Insider Vesting Ends, Issuance Drops 60%. The math matters. At $0.8222, the removed supply equals 6.8 million tokens a month, or about $5.59 million in monthly sell pressure that no longer needs to be absorbed. Annualized, that is roughly $67 million less new supply at current prices.

The market priced the end of the unlock for weeks, which is the classic pattern: traders front-run a known supply cut. The data shows it. APT closed at $0.5496 on Sept. 15 and at $0.9042 on Oct. 11 before the unlock date, a 64.5% run into the event, then pulled back to $0.7702 by Oct. 18. The 8.46% gain on Oct. 20 is the market re-pricing after the supply event actually cleared.

Block-STM v2 Runs by Default

Block-STM, developed by @AptosLabs researchers, has run parallel execution on Aptos since mainnet. Other chains build on it, and Block-STM v2 now runs by default on Aptos. The idea: run transactions in parallel, redo only what conflicts.

— Aptos (@Aptos) October 15, 2026

The second leg of the catalyst is technical. Block-STM is Aptos’s parallel execution engine — it runs transactions concurrently and re-executes only the ones that conflict, rather than processing the whole block in sequence. Block-STM v2 now runs by default on mainnet, which Aptos Labs frames as a throughput and scalability upgrade. It builds on earlier speed work: Aptos reached sub-50ms block times in late 2025, and Block-STM v2 is the execution-layer follow-through on that promise.

Aptos Labs co-founder Avery Ching put it in supply-side terms. “Dynamic parallelism is based on two things: Block-STM and pipelined infrastructure, both of which we pioneered,” Ching said in the Aptos Foundation’s technical roadmap. “Today, with the arrival of Block-STM v2, we’re reinforcing our commitment to advancing parallelism and scaling Web3.”

On-chain numbers back the upgrade’s immediate effect. Peak transactions per second hit 1,308 after the rollout, with real-time throughput around 174 TPS, according to on-chain data cited in coverage of the launch. The distinction between the theoretical peak and the sustained number is the difference between what the engine can do and what demand actually asks of it — a gap the market has not yet closed. NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin, who discussed the upgrade with Aptos Labs’ head of research, summed the technical deep-dive up in three words: “It was a good deep dive.”

Price Levels and Where the Basis Sits

The 30-day chart above, built from CoinGecko data, shows the structure. APT’s late-August low of $0.511 is the floor the whole rally started from — the token is up 60.8% from that level. The Oct. 11 swing high of $0.9042 is the first resistance a sustained move has to clear, and the 24-hour high of $0.8338 is the near-term level to watch.

Support sits at the 24-hour low of $0.7507, which lines up with the Oct. 17-18 consolidation around $0.77 to $0.79. A daily close below $0.75 would invalidate the immediate rebound and reopen the $0.51 range. Above, a confirmed daily close over $0.83 opens the way to retest $0.90.

Put the market-cap math on top of those levels. At $0.8222 and a $726.2 million market cap, a 2x to $1.64 implies a $1.45 billion valuation — a move that is supply-constrained, not demand-constrained, because total supply already sits at 1.21 billion against a 2.1 billion cap. To return to the $19.92 all-time high from January 2023, APT needs a 24x move from here, not the simple price gap the headline suggests. A $1,000 position at $0.8222 buys about 1,216 APT; a return to $2 turns that into about $2,432, and a return to the 2023 peak turns it into about $24,227. Those are the numbers, not a price target.

The Countercase: Liquidity Is Moving the Other Way
Here is where the data disagrees with the price. While APT has rallied, stablecoin liquidity on Aptos has fallen about 17.5% over the same stretch to roughly $910 million, per DefiLlama. DeFi total value locked remains low. That is the tension the data analyst has to name: the price is being carried by a supply reduction, not by an expansion in on-chain usage.

This is the difference between a supply-driven trade and a vote of confidence in the ecosystem. A supply cut raises the price mechanically if demand holds flat — fewer tokens chasing the same dollars. A usage-led rally shows up in stablecoin balances and TVL rising alongside price. Right now the first is true and the second is not yet visible. The 51% four-week figure that has circulated in coverage overstates the case from some trackers; the honest number from CoinGecko’s own close-to-close data is a 50.3% gain from Sept. 15 to Oct. 20, and it has come with liquidity leaving, not arriving.

What to Watch Next
The next observable signals are specific. First, watch the stablecoin balance on DefiLlama: if it stabilizes or turns up while APT holds $0.80, the rally gets a second, demand-driven leg. Second, watch sustained transactions per second after Block-STM v2 has settled — the upgrade only matters if real throughput, not peak throughput, moves higher. Third, watch the next monthly emission print to confirm the 4.5 million-token run rate holds. If APT loses $0.75 on a daily close, the supply story is not enough to hold the price, and the trade unwinds toward the $0.51 base.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Aptos (APT) up today?
APT is up 8.46% in 24 hours on the combination of a completed four-year token unlock (which cut monthly emissions roughly 60% from 11.3 million to 4.5 million tokens) and the default rollout of the Block-STM v2 parallel execution engine on Oct. 15.

Is Aptos a good crypto to buy right now?
That depends on the thesis. The supply cut is a real, verifiable tailwind — about $67 million a year less new supply at current prices. The risk is that stablecoin liquidity on Aptos has fallen 17.5% to roughly $910 million, so the price move is supply-driven rather than usage-driven so far.

What is Block-STM v2?
Block-STM is Aptos’s parallel execution engine, which runs transactions concurrently and re-executes only conflicting ones. Block-STM v2 now runs by default on mainnet, aiming to increase throughput while handling dependencies more efficiently.

How much has Aptos gained in a month?
APT has gained about 50.3% from its Sept. 15 close of $0.5496 to $0.8222 on Oct. 20, per CoinGecko data. It remains about 95.9% below its January 2023 all-time high of $19.92.

What price level matters for APT next?
$0.75 is the near-term support (the 24-hour low and the Oct. 17-18 consolidation), and $0.83 is the first resistance from the Oct. 11 swing high of $0.90. A daily close below $0.75 would invalidate the rebound; a daily close above $0.83 opens a retest of $0.90.

Prices and market data are from CoinGecko and DefiLlama as of 19:35 UTC on Oct. 20, 2026. The author holds no position in APT.

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.

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Sui [SUI] climbed back above $1 on October 20, trading near $1.0227 after bouncing from recent lows around the $0.94–$0.95 price area. The token was up 2.44% at the time of this writing.

The rebound gives buyers another chance to challenge $1.05, a level that an analyst identified as important for a turnaround. However, SUI remains below that level, leaving its recovery incomplete.

Van de Poppe sees a possible end to the pullback
In a post on October 20 on X, van de Poppe suggested SUI might have completed its correction. He pointed to a decline from around $1.25 to $0.95, which is about 24%.

While he acknowledged the continued selling pressure that SUI was seeing on shorter timeframes, he identified that a break above the $1.05 price area is key to a potential reversal.

The latest charts show progress toward that test. Buyers have recovered the $1 level, but with its recent  moves, it still sits within the wider decline from early October.

Source: Michaël van de Poppe on X
This is important because a bounce from the lows will bring an early improvement, while a lasting recovery requires buyers to overcome areas where previous advances did not succeed.

The next test sits just above the current price
The immediate hurdle it needs to cross lies around the $1.04–$1.05 price area. SUI reached around $1.0413 during the current daily session before easing back, showing that buyers had already approached this area.

If it is able to remain above the $1.05 price level, it would strengthen the recovery case. It could bring the next price levels near the $1.09 and $1.125 price areas into focus, although reaching them would depend on if buying continues.

Source: TradingView
If it sees a pullback, the $0.98–$1.00 price level is the nearest area to watch, but if it holds, it would help preserve the rebound. But losing it could take it back toward the $0.94–$0.95 price area.

Samsung rollout remains a separate development
Samsung recently announced that Sui was among the networks supporting its planned Samsung Wallet stablecoin service.

This is scheduled for the last week of October and will first support USDC for eligible U.S. users. Samsung’s cited reach of 82 million compatible Galaxy devices

Final Summary

SUI regained $1 and traded near $1.0227, but remained below the $1.05 recovery hurdle.
Holding $0.98–$1.00 would support stabilization, but renewed weakness might make take it back to its lows.

Table of contents

On-chain investigator ZachXBT published a report on October 20 identifying FreedomXMR (FXMR), a swap service operating on Hyperliquid Core, as a centralized money-laundering operation whose inflows are overwhelmingly tied to crime. In the report, posted to his Telegram channel, ZachXBT writes that “more than 87% of its inflow volume is tied directly to illicit activity.” A manual review of every historical FXMR inflow above $10,000, he adds, traced more than $20 million to ransomware, exploits, malware and social-engineering attacks.

The allegation is directed at the operators of FreedomXMR, not at Hyperliquid, and ZachXBT says he has passed his source data to the Hyperliquid team. What the report does is surface the compliance tension at the core of permissionless exchanges: a chain built with no gatekeeper lets a service win a ticker and begin swapping deposited funds for Monero within hours, while the anti-money-laundering obligations that bind licensed venues have no obvious place to attach.

What FreedomXMR Is, and How It Moved Money FreedomXMR “appeared on Hyperliquid Core in August 2026,” according to the report, and its name is descriptive: the service swaps deposited assets for Monero, the privacy-focused cryptocurrency that complicates downstream tracing. ZachXBT describes the mechanics as a swap model “similar to Wagyu’s,” in which a customer sends one asset and the operator returns another, the Monero leg obscuring where the funds came from on the way out.

The Monero did not materialize from nowhere. “The admin sources XMR liquidity from KuCoin,” the report states, “with 3K+ deposits to KuCoin.” That detail matters because it places a licensed, compliance-bound exchange somewhere in the supply chain of a service the investigator calls a launderer. The report does not allege that KuCoin knowingly facilitated the activity, and the exchange is not accused of wrongdoing. The deposits are offered as the mechanism by which the operator obtained the privacy coin it paid out, not as evidence of intent on the exchange’s part.

Five Exploits, One Destination The $20 million figure is assembled from individual incidents rather than a single breach. ZachXBT writes that a “manual review of all historical FXMR inflows above $10K traced $20M+ directly to ransomware, exploit, malware, and social engineering incidents.” The incidents he lists stretch across two months: the DCENT Wallet exploit in September 2026, the Fetch.ai exploit in September 2026, the Axelar exploit in September 2026, an unnamed ransomware payment in September 2026, and the Gamdom exploit in October 2026.

That is the pattern a compliance analyst would recognize immediately: a single destination receiving the proceeds of multiple, unrelated attacks is the signature of a laundering rail, not a legitimate trading desk. The report also identifies the FXMR hot wallet at 0x51687f549b9a4607e8e6f7714a0b986c0dbcdef2 and lists three additional administrator-controlled addresses, giving exchanges and the Hyperliquid team a concrete set of labels to act on.

The $28,000 Ticker and the Economics of Entry The most striking detail is how cheaply the operation set itself up. “The FXMR ticker was bought in an HL auction on July 27, 2026 for 518.28 HYPE ($28K),” the report states. The arithmetic is plain: paying 518.28 HYPE for $28,000 implies a HYPE price of about $54 at the time of the auction. With HYPE trading near $81.67 on October 21, per Binance market data, that same stake would now be worth roughly $42,300, an appreciation of more than 50 percent even before any proceeds from the laundering business itself.

Set the $28,000 entry cost against the more than $20 million in traced illicit inflows and the gap is a multiplier of roughly 700-to-one: a four-figure ticker purchase became the gateway to an eight-figure flow of tainted funds. That ratio is the report’s quietest argument, because it shows how the permissionless listing mechanism that makes Hyperliquid fast and cheap to build on also makes it cheap for a bad actor to obtain a branded on-chain destination.

The pattern is not new to Hyperliquid. “HL Core has seen several centralized laundering services, such as b1exch, abuse the chain’s permissionless design and adoption,” ZachXBT writes. The earlier congressional interest in the exchange, including an expanding insider-trading probe that already names Hyperliquid, means the platform is now being watched on two fronts at once: market integrity and anti-money-laundering.

What the Report Establishes, and What It Does Not The report is an on-chain tracing exercise, not a court finding. ZachXBT’s $20 million figure covers only inflows above the $10,000 threshold he reviewed, which means the full lifetime volume through FreedomXMR is larger than the number he documents. His “more than 87%” claim is a share of inflow volume, not a share of all activity, and neither figure constitutes a legal determination that any specific person committed a crime.

The same caution applies in the other direction. The report does not allege wrongdoing by Hyperliquid, whose listing mechanism is permissionless by design, or by KuCoin, which appears in the report only as a source of XMR liquidity. A neutral reading is that the investigation names the service and its operators, supplies on-chain evidence, and hands that evidence to the platform most able to freeze or delist the offending contracts.

What the report cannot yet answer is whether the named wallets have been frozen, whether Hyperliquid will delist FXMR, and whether any exchange will act on the addresses. Those are the next observable steps, and they will determine whether the investigation produces an enforcement outcome or remains a published warning.

What Happens If the Chain Does Not Act The pressure now flows in two directions. First, Hyperliquid must decide whether to freeze or delist FXMR and any associated accounts, a decision with precedent-setting weight for how the chain treats similar services in the future. Second, the exchanges and entities that touch the identified addresses, including the Monero leg through KuCoin, face the standard obligation to risk-score the exposure and, where required, file suspicious activity reports.

For the broader decentralized-exchange sector, the report is a case study in a recurring problem: permissionless listing lowers the barrier for legitimate teams and for launderers alike. The regulatory answer that has worked for centralized venues, mandatory KYC and transaction monitoring, does not transfer cleanly to a chain that settles trades without custody. Until that gap is closed, investigators like ZachXBT are functioning as an unofficial compliance layer, and the platforms they inform remain the only party in a position to act quickly.

Monero’s role is the final, uncomfortable thread. The service chose Monero precisely because its transaction graph resists the tracing ZachXBT performed on the Hyperliquid side. That is a reminder that the AML exposure described here is not an abstract DeFi problem; it is the specific intersection of a permissionless market and a privacy asset designed to defeat the very transparency that made this report possible. HYPE, the token at the center of that market, was itself only recently drawn into the public eye when Binance listed it, and the investigation lands against that same backdrop of mainstream exchange adoption.

The cleanest read of the report is narrower than the headlines suggest. A service with an 87 percent illicit inflow share operated on Hyperliquid Core for roughly two months, moved more than $20 million in traced tainted funds, and did so on a ticker that cost its operator $28,000. The investigation names wallets, documents five source incidents, and hands the evidence to the platform. What it does not yet produce is a freeze, a delisting, or a filing. Those are the events to watch next.

Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.

Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.

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Cryptocurrency analytics company Santiment has noted significant price movements in the altcoin market, particularly in privacy-focused cryptocurrencies and memecoins. However, the company cautioned that these increases do not yet indicate a market-wide recovery.

According to data shared by Santiment, privacy-focused cryptocurrencies Monero (XMR) gained 17% in value over the past seven days, while Zcash (ZEC) rose 5% in the last 24 hours. On the Memecoin front, Pepe (PEPE) increased by 9% and M (M) by 14%.

According to analysts, a strong market narrative is behind the rise in privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. Updates to Monero’s privacy features and planned improvements to the Zcash network have renewed investor interest in these projects.

It is stated that the rises in meme coins are based on a different dynamic. Santiment noted that following recent selling pressure, speculative buying in this category has accelerated again, leading to sharp price recoveries.

However, the analysis firm noted that the gains were concentrated in certain altcoin groups. In the current environment, where many cryptocurrencies with large market capitalization are relatively calm, investors are believed to be turning to projects with strong storylines and assets offering high volatility.

According to Santiment, this activity shows that risk appetite hasn’t completely disappeared in the cryptocurrency market. However, the concentration of capital in specific sectors and a limited number of altcoins raises questions about the sustainability of the rallies.

*This is not investment advice.

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ZENDEX Private EVM ZK-Privacy DEX Testnet Goes Live

The Starknet Foundation has launched Bramble, a self-custodial wallet built for swapping, storing, and shielding crypto on Starknet. The release went live on October 20, 2026.

What Bramble actually does
Bramble is a self-custody wallet. That means users hold their own keys, rather than trusting an exchange or third party to hold them.

The headline feature is support for STRK20, Starknet’s privacy framework. STRK20 lets users maintain private balances on the network.

Bramble also plugs directly into Starknet’s on-chain privacy tools. Users can shield public tokens and send private transfers from inside the wallet.

Beyond privacy, the wallet supports Ledger hardware wallets. Hardware wallets keep private keys on a physical device, so signing a transaction requires the device itself.

Bramble also supports multisig accounts. A multisig account requires approval from more than one key before funds can move.

The self-custody controls go further. Bramble offers encrypted local vaults and spending allowances.

The road to launch
Hints about the wallet circulated as early as mid-September 2026. A beta version was available from October 12, 2026. The wallet was then publicly teased on October 19, a day before the official launch.

Bramble ships as a Chrome extension. The current listed version is 0.10.5, following a minor update on October 8, 2026.

Where STRK fits in
Starknet’s STRK token serves as the network’s fee, staking, and governance asset. Every transaction a Bramble user sends on Starknet runs on that infrastructure.

So far, there has been no immediate commentary from independent experts and no observed market reaction.

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

The Chrome-only wallet combines private balances, Ledger signing and multisig accounts, with a recovery phrase for backup.

The Chrome-only wallet combines private balances, Ledger signing and multisig accounts, with a recovery phrase for backup.

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The MIT-born startup says 16 node operators now run its mump2p software on Ethereum mainnet for more than 1.4 million ETH in stake, and that blocks arrive faster than over Ethereum's default gossip layer.

Ether.fi makes Optimum's mump2p mandatory for its node operators

Posted October 20, 2026 at 11:30 am ET.

Optimum, a networking startup run by MIT professor Muriel Médard, said Tuesday that its block-propagation software, mump2p, is in production on Ethereum mainnet, and that liquid restaking provider ether.fi now requires every one of its 12 node operators to use it.

The company counted 16 node operators on the protocol, running roughly 22,000 validator keys with more than 1.4 million ETH at stake. Optimum put that at over 3% of all ETH staked. Operators it named include Blockdaemon, Everstake, P2P.org, Stakefish and Bitcoin Suisse.

Ether.fi, which announced a blockspace deal with ETHGas in April, had previously left the software optional for its operators, according to Optimum. “We don’t mandate new infrastructure across our entire validator set unless we’re confident it raises the bar for our stakers and for the network,” said Rok Kopp, ether.fi’s co-founder and chief growth officer, in the announcement.

Optimum also gave a dollar figure of about $3.7 billion in what it calls “Total Value Boosted,” a metric of its own that the announcement does not define.

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Speed Figures Come From Optimum Ethereum validators lose attestation and MEV rewards when they see a block late, and Optimum argues that validators far from major hosting hubs pay the most. Its pitch is a faster path for blocks between nodes: mump2p runs as an added channel next to Ethereum’s standard gossip rather than replacing it, the company wrote in August, and encodes data using random linear network coding, a technique the company says was co-invented at MIT.

By Optimum’s own early mainnet measurements, blocks arrived 2.42 times faster than with GossipSub, the peer-to-peer messaging protocol Ethereum’s consensus layer uses by default, and arrival-time variance was about 7.88 times lower. The company said mump2p users got the block first in nine of 10 measurements. The numbers are self-reported, and the announcement did not say how they were gathered. The same two multiples appeared in an Optimum-sponsored Four Pillars report in August, which described a test across 30 gateways while the company was still preparing its mainnet integration.

Médard framed the case in trading terms in the announcement: “In traditional finance, firms spend billions shaving milliseconds off execution because speed is money.”

From Testnet to Production Optimum ran a private testnet with seven operators in June 2025, two months after raising an $11 million seed round led by 1kx. It says connecting is free and permissionless, needs no changes to consensus or execution software, and takes one engineer less than an hour. In August, however, Optimum described the network as permissioned for now, with operators connecting through an API key it issued. The company said it plans to bring the protocol to other high-throughput blockchains after Ethereum.

Related Listen: Bits + Bips: Should Ethereum Really Burn Its Staking Yield to Zero?

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

SharpLink has moved part of its existing ETH treasury into Lido and Ether.fi.
Some of the company’s income now comes from incentives paid by protocols seeking liquidity.
The exact split between the two protocols has not been confirmed onchain.
Staking tokens carry write-downs that are not reversed when ETH recovers.

SharpLink ETH reserves worth roughly $400 million are now deployed across the liquid staking protocol Lido and the restaking platform Ether.fi, the Nasdaq-listed Ethereum treasury company chaired by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin said on October 19. The coins come from the treasury SharpLink already holds, so the move changes how its ETH earns without increasing the number of coins it owns, and it pushes a larger share of the company’s reserves into DeFi infrastructure where returns depend on protocol incentives as well as Ethereum’s own staking rewards.

$200M each, at least on paper
The Lido half dates to August 13, when SharpLink said it would stake $200 million of ETH through Lido and receive wstETH, a wrapped token that represents staked ETH and rises in value as staking rewards build up, with Anchorage Digital holding it in custody. The Ether.fi half grew out of a plan announced in October 2025 with EigenCloud and Consensys’s Linea network. SharpLink’s October statement did not itemize the total, and no wallet addresses have been published that would let outsiders confirm the balance held in each protocol.

Where SharpLink’s $400M sits

Lido $200M

Ether.fi $200M

Lido

Token: wstETH

Custody: Anchorage Digital

Earns: Ethereum staking rewards

Ether.fi

Token: weETH

Network: Linea

Earns: staking, restaking and partner incentives

Reported split, not verified onchain.

Restaking adds a second reward
Ordinary ETH staking pays validators for securing the network, and that reward forms the base layer of both positions. Lido adds liquidity on top, giving SharpLink a token it can move, lend or post as collateral while the underlying ETH keeps earning. At the time of the August announcement, about $16.5 billion of ETH was staked through Lido, and roughly $10 billion of its tokens were being used as collateral across more than 100 integrated applications.

Ether.fi works differently. Its weETH token represents restaked ETH, meaning the same stake is pledged a second time to secure additional services, in this case those run by EigenCloud, in exchange for extra rewards. SharpLink bridges that weETH to Linea, the Ethereum layer-2 network developed by Consensys, and collects incentives from Ether.fi, Linea and EigenCloud for keeping the liquidity there. Joseph Chalom, SharpLink’s CEO, said in August that the Lido position would make the company’s ETH “even more productive” through wstETH’s DeFi integrations.

Exchanges now hold 13.6% of ETH
The coins SharpLink has locked into staking add to a steady drain of ETH from trading venues. Glassnode data puts the share of supply held on centralized exchanges at about 13.6%, down from close to 18.7% in mid-2025, and the slide continued even after ETH rallied from around $1,500 in the summer to roughly $2,400.

Share of ETH supply on exchanges vs. price. Source: Glassnode
Coins that move into staking contracts, restaking protocols or corporate custody are harder to sell at short notice, which thins the supply readily available to traders, although the same tokens can flow back to exchanges quickly once holders decide to exit. Staking has absorbed a large part of that outflow, with more than a third of all ETH now staked, according to Lido.

Twelve months of onchain deployment

Oct 2025

$200M Ether.fi and Linea plan announced

Jan 2026

About $170M staked on Linea

Aug 7, 2026

$125M Galaxy yield fund launches

Aug 13, 2026

$200M Lido allocation announced

Oct 19, 2026

$400M reported as deployed 

Linea pays SharpLink to stay
SharpLink’s quarterly filing explains the economics more plainly than its press releases. A partnership agreement signed on December 18, 2025 commits the company to bridge and maintain at least $200 million of ETH and weETH on Linea over a two-year term, and in return it receives monthly incentives from Ether.fi, Linea and EigenCloud. SharpLink books those payments as compensation for providing and maintaining total value locked on Linea, which places part of its yield closer to a commercial contract than to network rewards, and such payments last only as long as the agreement does.

A $76M write-down on staking tokens
In its second-quarter results, SharpLink reported 888,938 ETH as of August 3, with liquid staking and restaking tokens already making up close to 29% of the total. The quarter closed with a net loss of $394.3 million, against $103.4 million a year earlier, driven by a $321 million unrealized loss on ETH and a $76.1 million impairment on LsETH and weETH. The two charges behave differently, because native ETH is marked to market each quarter and recovers on paper when the price rises, while LsETH and weETH are booked as intangible assets, so an impairment cuts their carrying value and later price gains are not recognized while the tokens remain staked.

Position
ETH
Share

Native staked ETH
634,255

71.3%

LsETH Liquid Collective
181,748

20.4%

weETH Ether.fi
72,935

8.2%

Total
888,938
100%

Holdings as of August 3, 2026, before the Lido allocation.

What Anchorage custody leaves uncovered
A smart contract flaw at Lido or Ether.fi could cause losses that custody at Anchorage would not reverse, since a custodian protects keys and does not insure protocol failures. Restaked ETH can also be slashed, meaning partially confiscated, if operators fail the services it secures, while the bridge to Linea adds a dependency on a separate network. Liquid staking tokens have traded below the value of their underlying ETH during past bouts of market stress, which matters for any holder that needs to exit quickly, because redeeming directly through the protocol runs through a withdrawal queue that can take days. Splitting the money between two providers limits reliance on either one, though both remain tied to the same Ethereum market.

ETH per share is the scorecard
SharpLink publishes its ETH holdings and staking rewards on its ETH dashboard, but the figure that settles whether the strategy works is ETH concentration, the number of ETH held per 1,000 diluted shares, which shows whether yield is outpacing dilution from new share sales. If the Lido and Ether.fi positions perform as intended, concentration should edge higher even in quarters without fresh ETH purchases. Investors are also waiting for an exact split between the two protocols and for any disclosure on whether the wstETH feeds further strategies, including the Galaxy SharpLink Onchain Yield Fund, which launched on August 7 with $125 million in commitments, $100 million of it backed by SharpLink’s staked ETH. Galaxy, the digital asset firm led by CEO Mike Novogratz, manages that fund, and its $100 million should not be added to the $400 million because the two figures may overlap.

The accounting side may matter as much as the yield. At August prices near $1,890, the Lido tranche equals roughly 106,000 ETH, and if wstETH is booked the same way as LsETH and weETH, the share of SharpLink’s treasury exposed to non-reversible impairments would rise from about 29% to around 40%. The third-quarter report, the first to cover a full period with the Lido position live, will show how the company classifies the new tokens and whether staking income was large enough to offset that exposure.

Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.

Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.

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Hyperliquid Policy Center has asked the CFTC to allow U.S. futures and perpetual contracts tied to GPU rental prices and the cost of running AI models in an Oct. 20 letter.

Summary

Hyperliquid Policy Center wants U.S. futures and perpetuals tied to GPU rentals and AI inference costs.
The group says perpetuals could help data centers and AI developers hedge ongoing price risks.
Proposed safeguards include leverage limits, funding-rate caps and transparent pricing benchmarks.
The letter supports dated futures for scheduled expenses, such as planned AI training runs.

Hyperliquid Policy Center said data-center operators, lenders and AI developers need ways to manage computing-price risk, urging the agency to review contracts under its existing rules. CEO Jake Chervinsky and senior counsel Brad Bourque signed the response to the regulator’s request for comments on compute derivatives.

Today, HPC filed a comment letter asking the @CFTC to bring compute perpetual contracts to U.S. markets.

Data centers, their lenders, and the AI developers that rent compute all carry price risk, and the exposure runs around the clock with no fixed end date. Our comment explains… https://t.co/SpHZvLo5KR

— Hyperliquid Policy Center (@HyperliquidPC) October 20, 2026

The policy center describes itself as an independent research and advocacy organization seeking regulated American access to onchain markets, including Hyperliquid. Its letter argues that rented computing capacity qualifies as a commodity under the Commodity Exchange Act, while supporting contracts linked to the cost of running AI models.

The submission asks regulators to allow competing price benchmarks, support both dated futures and perpetuals, and address market risks through trading safeguards and oversight. It is a policy recommendation, not an announcement of a Hyperliquid compute-contract launch or a regulatory approval.

AI compute perpetuals would target ongoing costs
In the letter’s account, computing capacity creates price exposure that continues around the clock. Data centers earn rental revenue by the hour, while inference platforms pay for computing power each time customers use an AI model.

“A GPU-hour exists only in the hour it is used,” the policy center wrote.

The organization argues that perpetual contracts could match those ongoing costs and revenues because they have no expiration date. Its explanation describes recurring funding payments between buyers and sellers that help keep a perpetual’s price aligned with its reference benchmark.

According to the submission, a data-center operator could use such a contract to protect against falling rental revenue, while an AI platform could hedge rising computing bills. Lenders financing hardware face related exposure because lower rental income can weaken borrowers’ cash flows and the value of their collateral.

The letter favors dated futures for costs with a known endpoint, including a training run planned for a specific quarter or a scheduled capacity purchase. It says successive monthly contracts can produce a forward price curve that lenders and investors need when valuing financing agreements.

GPU rentals and inference need different benchmarks
The policy center proposes contracts tied to GPU rental prices and the cost of running AI models.

GPU-hour contracts would track the rental price of specified hardware. Inference contracts would reference access to a stated volume of AI-model tokens, the units used to measure text that a model processes and produces.

According to the letter, the second category would serve application developers and inference platforms whose bills depend on token prices. A hardware-rental contract would provide an imperfect hedge because inference costs depend on both computing prices and model efficiency.

Citing Silicon Data’s historical price series, the submission puts Nvidia H100 marketplace rental rates at approximately $2.50–$3.19 per GPU-hour in the second half of 2024, compared with $1.92–$2.00 in the second half of 2025.

The letter cites Epoch AI research estimating that private investment in AI data centers, computing hardware and networking equipment reached roughly 0.8% of U.S. GDP in the first quarter of 2026.

Despite that spending, the policy center describes a market where most economic value changes hands through privately negotiated agreements. Its account distinguishes publicly visible hourly rentals from reserved capacity and multiyear purchase commitments whose prices generally remain private.

Benchmark selection would therefore determine which exposures a contract can cover, the organization argues. Its proposed specifications include chip type, location, rental period, cluster size, service terms and whether a provider can interrupt access.

Pricing safeguards would address thin markets
The letter identifies concentrated supply, limited transaction visibility and hardware turnover as unresolved issues for compute derivatives.

According to the policy center, a benchmark built from relatively few transactions could be vulnerable to manipulation. It proposes independent price contributors, methods that filter out unusual observations, position limits, and information-sharing arrangements.

For perpetual contracts, the submission recommends funding-rate caps or calculations spread over longer periods to limit sudden funding costs around model releases and hardware shortages.

New chip generations create a separate benchmark problem. The organization proposes advance notice and gradual transitions when an index replaces older hardware, citing the disclosed schedules used by Hyperliquid oil perpetual markets when their reference futures move between contract months.

Its customer-protection proposals include leverage limits, open-interest caps and disclosures showing funding costs in dollar terms over different holding periods. The letter calls for venues to explain liquidation thresholds and any discretion retained by exchange operators or index administrators.

CFTC review follows earlier perpetual-market proposals
On Aug. 19, the CFTC announced its compute-derivatives consultation, seeking feedback on cash-market liquidity, manipulation, customer protection and perpetual compute futures.

Chairman Michael Selig described derivatives markets as part of America’s AI ambitions:

“America cannot win the AI race without a robust derivatives market for compute.”

The policy center’s letter says NYMEX and ICE Futures U.S. have proposed cash-settled compute futures, although neither exchange’s contracts had begun trading when the submission was written. It describes existing compute-price event contracts and perpetual offerings through a Bermuda-licensed venue.

Earlier, crypto.news covered the group’s Aug. 26 request for regulated energy perpetuals alongside trade[XYZ]. Their filing sought a U.S. path for contracts tied to West Texas Intermediate crude, Brent crude and Henry Hub natural gas.

In an Aug. 24 submission, the group asked the SEC and CFTC to regulate stock-linked perpetual contracts as security futures under their joint oversight. The group argued that regulators should examine a contract’s structure before assigning jurisdiction based on its underlying asset.

On Oct. 19, the organization submitted five SEC rule recommendations concerning Regulation Crypto Assets, covering airdrops, secondary trading, developer protections, automated token buybacks, and state securities requirements.

Bitwise Asset Management and the Hyperliquid Policy Center are pressing the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to revise its proposed crypto rules, seeking clearer guidance on token classifications, airdrops and secondary-market trading in comment letters submitted Monday.

The requests come as the SEC closes public comments Tuesday on its proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, which would create exemptions for qualifying crypto fundraising and a conditional safe harbor for tokens associated with investment contracts.

In an Oct. 19 comment letter, Bitwise Asset Management urged the SEC to clarify how investment managers should determine whether a crypto asset is subject to securities laws, arguing that managers need a standard they can apply using “publicly available information.”

The firm also sought clearer rules on when managers can rely on an issuer’s proposed Form TR filing, which would certify that an investment contract has ceased to exist, and how they should assess tokens when no such filing exists.

Source: US Securities and Exchange Commission

In a separate submission, the Hyperliquid Policy Center urged the SEC to broaden its proposed safe harbor, arguing that it could come too late in a project’s development. The group called for clearer protections for airdrops that reward network participation, as well as guidance on token buybacks.

Hyperliquid also warned that the proposal “fails to provide clarity” on whether unregistered intermediaries can facilitate token trading or whether tokens can trade freely through onchain protocols. It urged the SEC to address secondary-market transactions directly rather than leaving exchanges and decentralized trading venues facing regulatory uncertainty.

SEC proposal faces legal and investor protection objectionsWhile industry participants sought changes to the proposed rules, former SEC enforcement official John Reed Stark and Duke University finance scholar Lee Reiners took a different position altogether. In an Oct. 16 comment letter, they urged the commission to withdraw the proposal entirely, arguing that it exceeds the agency’s statutory authority and would weaken investor protections.

Stark and Reiners said that existing securities laws and the Supreme Court’s Howey test already provide a framework for regulating crypto offerings. They argued that the fundraising exemptions would weaken investor protections, while the proposed safe harbor would allow issuers to effectively remove their tokens from securities oversight through self-certification.

The two also warned that adopting the rules in substantially their current form would invite an immediate legal challenge, potentially resulting in the framework being struck down.

With the public comment period closing Tuesday, the SEC will review the submissions before deciding whether to revise, adopt or withdraw the proposed rules. The commission has not announced a timetable for a final decision, and any final rule would require a commission vote before taking effect.

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

South Korea's KOSPI index rises 1.83% at opening.

According to Bitget market data, South Korea’s KOSPI index opened 101.87 points higher on Wednesday, October 21, rising 1.83% to 5654.61 points. SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics each gained around 3%.

3 minutes ago

Citadel Strategist: Funds Will Flow Back Into AI Stock Trading After US Midterm Elections

Citadel Securities’ Head of Equity and Derivatives Strategy Scott Rubner said that after the U.S. midterm elections, investors are expected to re-enter positions in AI-related stocks, driving this recently sell-off-hit investment theme to outperform the broader market next month. Currently, institutional clients tend to wait for political uncertainty to subside, while retail investors continue to actively buy the dip. During an interview with Bloomberg TV on Tuesday at Citadel Securities’ Global Markets Future Forum in New York, Rubner noted that investors generally view midterm elections as a critical event to clarify risks, and the post-election period could be when AI stocks regain their lead. He added that the message from clients is: “Willing to buy at higher prices, but don’t want to enter the market now ahead of major political events.” This reflects that some funds would rather wait for market clarity than rush to deploy capital amid the recent pullback.

3 minutes ago

NVIDIA in talks to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in AI cloud services provider Firmus

According to people familiar with the matter, Nvidia (NVDA.O) is in talks to invest in Australian AI cloud service provider Firmus, with the potential deal valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. Firmus abruptly pulled its IPO plan earlier this month. The negotiations signal that Nvidia may continue to back a cohort of cloud computing firms that have not yet been fully market-proven, the so-called Neocloud (new AI cloud service providers). These companies previously took on heavy debt to purchase Nvidia GPUs and deploy them in data centers, and are now facing mounting financial pressure. Analysts note that Nvidia has committed more than $170 billion in funding to these firms and other large clients, including extending credit guarantees to help customers secure debt financing. (The Information)

3 minutes ago

OKX-ICE Co-Chair: Enterprises’ opposition to tokenized stock plans is a "normal reaction" and in line with expectations.

OKX-ICE Joint Venture Co-Chair Andrew Cuomo stated that issuers’ opposition to tokenized stock trading is a “normal reaction,” noting that it is expected for companies to adopt a wait-and-see approach. The growing number of firms refusing to allow their stocks to participate in tokenized transactions is a foreseeable scenario in the process of testing new market structures. Cuomo, who also serves on OKX’s board of directors and is a former New York State Governor, made the remarks during a Tuesday media conference call, after Microsoft, Alphabet, and Goldman Sachs joined the opposition. “This is a very normal reaction. The model is designed to give companies the right to decide for themselves whether to participate, and they can choose to join or opt out,” he said. He added: “We have always anticipated that, as this is a transformative, impactful change, many companies will choose to wait and see how things develop rather than be among the first participants.” A public notice released Monday shows that a total of 16 companies oppose the trading of tokenized versions of their stocks on the OKXICE platform, a planned joint launch by crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. The seven newly disclosed opposing firms include Microsoft, Alphabet, Goldman Sachs, Qualcomm, Caterpillar, McDonald’s, and Western Digital. Earlier, companies such as Broadcom, Verizon, and UnitedHealth Group had also raised objections.

3 minutes ago

US side says Russia-Ukraine peace talks have made progress, Bitcoin remains volatile, and US major stock indexes are mixed.

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. Prior to this, U.S. and Ukrainian delegations held talks in Oslo, Norway, which the U.S. described as "highly constructive." Ukraine put forward a new peace plan concept, and all parties made progress on approaches to engage with Russia. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump again urged Kyiv to end the war by reaching an agreement, noting that Moscow wants to resolve the conflict as soon as possible. After meeting with Zelensky, U.S. envoy Witkoff will submit the peace plan to Russian President Putin. According to BIT (bit.com) market data, U.S. stocks closed on Tuesday: the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.06%, the S&P 500 fell 0.29%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.02%. SK Hynix (SKHY.O) dropped 2%, General Motors (GM.N) fell 6.8%, Western Digital (WDC.O) gained 3%, and Apple (AAPL.O) declined 1%. According to HTX market data, Bitcoin remains range-bound, currently trading at $82,992, with a 24-hour gain of 1.03%.

3 minutes ago

U.S. special presidential envoy will submit a peace plan to Vladimir Putin after holding talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

According to Axios, after meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff will present a peace plan to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

3 minutes ago

PENGU Dumps 20% in 2 Weeks, But Analyst Predicts a Massive Rebound

Nearly eight in 10 Pump.fun tokens have stopped trading after their first day, according to a study, while traders have complained about too many new coins and too few reasons to hold them.

Summary

Bitquery found 79% of Pump.fun tokens traded only on launch day.
Just 17.2% of September launches recorded a trade at least 24 hours later, Jumpbit reported.
MemeFees counted at least 21,765 launches across eight platforms on Oct. 19.
Traders complained about instant selling and fewer reasons to hold new tokens.

Bitquery, the blockchain data provider behind the finding, tracked new Solana tokens from Nov. 1, 2025, through Oct. 7, 2026. Its survival table recorded 8,984,141 Pump.fun tokens, with just 1.5% registering any trade during their fifth week and 0.2% recording at least 10 trades in that window.

Traders describing the market often complain about short holding periods, rapid selling, and a loss of the community appeal that once drew them to new coins.

Memecoin survival has remained low across launchpads
Beyond Pump.fun, Bitquery recorded launch-day-only trading for 51% of Meteora Dynamic Bonding Curve tokens and 84% of Raydium LaunchLab tokens. Only 1.9% of Meteora tokens and 1.3% of Raydium tokens were still trading in their fifth week. The study counts successful swaps, including automated trades, and discloses missing blocks and gaps involving newer trade formats.

A separate September report from Jumpbit examined 1,083,771 Pump.fun launches using dydt’s Solana trade index, following activity through Oct. 12. The research counted roughly 36,100 launches per day, with 95.1% recording at least one trade.

Jumpbit found that 17.2% had a last recorded trade at least 24 hours after launch, while 7.5% had one at least seven days later. Only 0.5% of the September launches traded during the final 24 hours of its observation period.

Under Jumpbit’s definition, a token qualifies as still trading if its last recorded transaction has occurred beyond the specified age. A creator’s first purchase counts, and continued activity can occur even when a token’s price is close to zero, per its methodology.

Daily launch counts have gaps in coverage
MemeFees recorded at least 21,765 launches across eight tracked platforms on Oct. 19. Flap.sh accounted for 10,570, followed by at least 9,284 on Pump.fun and 1,707 on Pons.

Its seven-day daily averages stood at 17,726 for Pump.fun, 11,325 for Flap.sh and 1,578 for Pons. Its Pump.fun observations also carry a plus sign because incomplete collection windows make those figures lower bounds.

Using factory-contract events, MemeFees labels its Flap.sh and Pons counts as exact for the contracts covered.

A Sep. 5 account of Pons’s launchpad activity described more than 10,000 daily deployments and $4 billion in cumulative platform volume. The historical report put the creator share at near 70% of its 1% trading fee, with creators receiving over $25 million cumulatively at that point.

DEXTools published a smaller June 29 report covering 215 fresh Pump.fun pools. Its researchers classified 24% as showing a bot-like burst, defined as at least 20 trades within 15 minutes.

The sample measured the proportion of tokens crossing an activity threshold, without calculating what share of dollar trading volume came from bots. DEXTools recorded a median of three trades per token, while 30% had no recorded trades.

Trader complaints have centered on holding incentives
One trader, identified as Mystral on X, described an environment where developers expect immediate volume and buyers expect immediate returns.

“we don’t have a shortage of coins, we have a shortage of reasons to hold them,” the trader wrote.

In a separate X post, Mystral said memecoins were losing “the feeling that a random community could turn something completely stupid into a billion dollar phenomenon.”

Bishaqs, another trader, described launchpad trading as a market for attention in which early buyers sell to later arrivals.

memecoins are a casino where the chips are your early twenties. that's the whole product and it works exactly as designed there's nothing underneath them, so stop waiting for billions. on pumpfun roughly 1 in 70 coins even makes it off the bonding curve, attention lasts about as…

— Bishaqs (@Bishaqs) October 20, 2026

As previously reported by crypto.news on Oct. 18, CoinGecko placed the memecoin category near $29.9 billion, including approximately $12.4 billion for Dogecoin and $1.6 billion for Pepe.

Early trading activity has varied between tokens
An Oct. 6 account of new memecoin launches recorded different opening trajectories for Meme Agency and PunchCard, both on Solana.

Meme Agency launched through Pump.fun on Oct. 4 and graduated that day. DexBrief figures cited in the account showed 5,390 holders, 8,070 active traders, and nearly 14,000 transactions within roughly a day, with trading volume near $965,400.

PunchCard began trading on Oct. 1. Solflare data cited in the same account put its price as high as $0.00019527 early on Oct. 2, before it traded near $0.000045 on Oct. 6, when its market capitalization stood around $43,900.

Jumpbit’s September study classified 116,714 launches, or 10.8%, as graduated because they had a PumpSwap pool.

Fidelity Digital Assets says perpetual preferred stock has financed purchases of 135,979 Bitcoin, making the funding model used by treasury companies another source of demand for the cryptocurrency.

Summary

Preferred-stock issuance financed 135,979 BTC in purchases through Oct. 5, Fidelity said. The funding model depends on Bitcoin’s gains exceeding the cost of dividend payments. Preferred shareholders face issuer, liquidity and interest-rate risks alongside Bitcoin exposure. An Oct. 20 report by research analyst Zack Wainwright said the purchases represented more than 0.5% of Bitcoin’s maximum supply as of Oct. 5. The report names Strategy and draws on filings from Strive.

Companies issue dividend-paying preferred shares and use the proceeds to buy Bitcoin. Fidelity links the approach to an investment thesis that Bitcoin’s limited supply could help preserve purchasing power as fiat currencies lose value.

The report also makes the model’s central assumption explicit.

“For issuers, the strategy only works if the appreciation of the underlying asset outpaces the cost of yield.”

Preferred issuance financed more than 95,000 BTC in purchases between March and May, raising over $7 billion. Fidelity compared that demand with the 888,185 BTC accumulated by spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products in their first year.

Preferred shareholders face a different set of risks from investors holding Bitcoin directly. Fidelity’s separate investor guidance explains that preferred securities combine characteristics of stocks and debt, with terms that vary by offering.

Perpetual securities have no scheduled maturity, while some preferred offerings allow issuers to suspend or defer payments. Holders generally rank ahead of common shareholders but below bondholders if the company fails.

Fidelity’s guidance also identifies inflation risk for preferred shareholders because rising prices can reduce the purchasing power of future dividend payments. Higher market interest rates typically push existing preferred-security prices lower, and limited trading liquidity can force investors to sell below face value.

The Bitcoin report consequently ties the preferred-stock model’s success to both the cryptocurrency’s long-term performance and the financial condition of the companies issuing the shares.