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Ripple Labs has formally endorsed the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, calling for its swift adoption as a binding rule. The company submitted its comment letter on October 20, 2026, coinciding with the final day for public input on the agency’s releases 33-11434 and 34-106150 (File No. S7-2026-27).

Ripple’s position on crypto regulationChief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty, General Counsel Sameer Dhond, and Deputy General Counsel Deborah McCrimmon signed Ripple’s letter. The document states that Ripple “fully supports the Commission’s efforts to provide a regulatory framework for crypto assets, and urges the Commission to adopt the Proposal in a final rule.”

Ripple emphasized that a regulatory framework rooted in existing US securities law could offer much-needed clarity to the crypto industry, reducing the need for piecemeal enforcement actions and fostering domestic innovation.

Ripple, a blockchain technology company known for its digital payment protocol and the digital asset XRP, pointed out that the SEC’s proposal builds on a joint interpretation of existing securities laws by both the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This interpretation relies on the Howey investment-contract test as a legal basis for crypto asset oversight.

The firm argued that the presence of an investment contract does not automatically render the underlying token a security. Instead, Ripple contended, the legal status should hinge on the issuer’s promises and representations throughout the contract’s life—rather than applying a permanent securities designation to the token or using a decentralization test as the sole criterion.

Ripple also incorporated its previous correspondence with the SEC’s Crypto Task Force in 2025 and 2026, providing additional context for its views.

Industry impact and legal contextStuart Alderoty has previously commented that the company spent over $150 million on legal efforts to resolve its longstanding dispute with the SEC over XRP’s regulatory status.

According to Ripple, the proposed regulation could replace the uncertainty of case-by-case enforcement with clearer, predictable rules. The company maintains that this approach would encourage capital formation in the US and reduce the likelihood of crypto innovators seeking opportunities overseas.

While expressing general support, Ripple advocated for targeted improvements. One specific request involved clarifying that Form TR filings should not be treated as an admission of previous securities status or legal violations.

The official comment window for the SEC’s proposal closed on October 20. However, the Commission confirmed that it will continue to accept public feedback as it considers whether to finalize the framework. Ripple’s endorsement arrives as a significant statement from a leading US blockchain firm as policymakers deliberate over the future of crypto regulation.

Mini dictionary: Howey test – A legal test established by the US Supreme Court to determine whether certain transactions qualify as investment contracts and therefore fall under the definition of a security, based on whether there is an investment of money in a common enterprise with an expectation of profits from the efforts of others.

AspectCase-by-case enforcementProposed SEC FrameworkClarityUnpredictableClearer regulatory pathImpact on innovationEncourages offshore movesSupports domestic capital formationLegal foundationAd hoc litigationGrounded in existing lawWith the SEC’s comment period concluded, industry attention now shifts to how the agency will address feedback from market participants. Ripple’s recommendations and support may influence the final form of US crypto regulations as authorities evaluate the balance between investor protection and industry growth.

The company’s public stance underscores the high stakes for both market participants and regulators as new federal rules for digital assets move closer to completion.

David Schwartz, Ripple’s CTO emeritus and a founding architect of the XRP Ledger (XRPL), stated that wider adoption of the network could directly increase demand for its native digital asset, XRP.

Potential for XRP as XRPL adoption growsSchwartz, who has long been a central figure in both Ripple and XRPL’s development, discussed the potential relationship between the ledger’s success in financial applications and the value of XRP during a recent exchange on X.

He expressed doubt about the possibility of the XRP Ledger becoming widely adopted as a major financial infrastructure platform without XRP seeing a corresponding rise in demand or value.

I think a world where XRPL is highly successful in financial applications but XRP does not have high demand and value is very unlikely.

Schwartz outlined several distinctive features that set XRP apart within the network. He highlighted the fact that XRP is both native and counterparty-free on the XRP Ledger, unlike many other assets that depend on outside issuers.

He further noted that XRP is essential for paying transaction fees and maintaining account reserves on XRPL, factors he said naturally drive its demand.

All of those things can help drive value and demand.

These comments were aimed at addressing an ongoing debate within the XRP community about whether increased network adoption is enough to guarantee more demand for XRP itself.

XRP’s role in a multi-asset digital futureSchwartz added that even if Bitcoin were to emerge as the dominant digital settlement asset, the success of the XRPL would likely contribute to XRP’s utility.

He argued that in such a scenario, the need to move assets efficiently across the XRPL would probably result in various forms of wrapped or bridged Bitcoin on the ledger. XRP would then take on a key role in facilitating the movement and exchange of these assets on the network.

Wrapped or bridged cryptocurrencies allow users to transfer assets between different blockchain networks, thereby increasing liquidity and utility for the tokens involved.

Mini dictionary: Wrapped/bridged cryptocurrencies — Digital tokens that represent assets from another blockchain network, enabling their use and movement on different blockchains. For example, wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) is a tokenized version of Bitcoin designed for use on the Ethereum or other networks, helping to connect liquidity and utility across ecosystems.

Schwartz maintained that it is difficult to envision a future where XRPL achieves significant financial adoption without generating substantial demand for XRP itself. He suggested that the unique design choices embedded in the network reinforce XRP’s central role, regardless of the digital asset landscape.

Analyst Spreek estimated $2.6 million had been cashed out; Ethereum records show stablecoin swaps and a later 1,135.5 ETH transfer.

Analyst Spreek estimated $2.6 million had been cashed out; Ethereum records show stablecoin swaps and a later 1,135.5 ETH transfer.

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Agora says it has no contracts on Initia; the targeted Ethereum account had already swapped 1.4 million AUSD for ETH.

Agora says it has no contracts on Initia; the targeted Ethereum account had already swapped 1.4 million AUSD for ETH.

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David Hoffman, once one of Ethereum's biggest advocates, drew attention to the rise in two altcoins.

Bankless co-founder David Hoffman, in a post today, highlighted the surge in PRL and QTC. Hoffman cited these projects as examples of what he called “2017 Bitcoin clones,” reflecting a new wave of interest.

In his post, he stated that PRL had risen by 30% weekly and its fully diluted valuation had reached $4.2 billion. For QTC, he highlighted a 300% monthly increase and a valuation of approximately $1.8 billion based on a supply of 21 million.

Hoffman’s emphasis was on tokens using the 21 million limited supply narrative reaching billions of dollars in valuations again. The statement did not include a technical assessment of whether these projects possess the same security or use cases as Bitcoin.

When reading the figures, the distinction between valuations is also important. Specifically, fully diluted valuation shows the equivalent of the entire supply calculated at the current price; it doesn’t necessarily have to be the same as the market value of the tokens in circulation.

Hoffman did not provide a new price target in his post. He also used weekly performance for PRL and monthly performance for QTC; meaning that not all of the reported increases are from today.

*This is not investment advice.

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Spot ether ETFs have lost $1.2 billion in October and Bitmine is weeks from its 5% cap, leaving ETF flows to decide who absorbs ether’s new supply into year-end.

Ether's spot ETF buyers and its largest corporate holder are both pulling back in October.

Posted October 23, 2026 at 3:00 pm ET.

Ether’s (ETH) demand this year has largely come from two places: spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), the company building an ether treasury. In October, both are pulling back at once.

No month this year has seen spot ether ETFs lose as much as October, with $1.2 billion in net outflows so far. Investors pulled money on all but two trading days through Oct. 22.

Bitmine, meanwhile, is about 66,000 ETH short of its goal of owning 5% of all ether, by our count from its latest holdings update. At the company’s current pace, it hits its target late next month.

Ether bulls often parse their outlooks through adoption headlines, like JPMorgan bringing its deposit token to Ethereum this week. Adoption builds the network, but it only lifts the price when someone buys the coin. Presently, the question is who absorbs the roughly 20,000 new ETH the network issues every week once Bitmine stops.

This issue of Bits + Bips measures how much of that supply Bitmine has been taking, why no other ether treasury can take over, and what ETF flows would need to look like for ether to hold up into year-end.

Spot ether ETFs swung from $2.7 billion of net inflows in August and September to $1.2 billion of net outflows in October through Oct. 22. Source: SoSoValue; Farside. Bitmine’s Buying Has Already Slowed Bitmine is finishing its accumulation at a fraction of the pace it started with. The company has bought ether every week since June 30, 2025. In April and May it bought more than 100,000 ETH in a single week four times. In each of the last two weeks it bought about 12,500.

It now holds 6.04 million ETH, or 4.9% of Ethereum‘s circulating token supply, and its cash has fallen by about $30 million a week with no new capital raise in its last three updates.

“We’re done stacking,” Bitmine Chair Tom Lee said earlier this month in a message to investors.

Bitmine’s 5% ether target is “a hard cap,” Lee said at the Token2049 conference, adding, “We’re not gonna be accumulating past 5%.”

One caveat on timing: 5% of ether’s supply is a moving target. Supply grows by about 87,000 ETH a month, so the finish line moves out by roughly 4,300 ETH a month, by our count.

Additionally, Ethereum’s issuance is subject to change, and not fixed at roughly 20,000 new ETH per week. The network uses a fee-burning mechanism that dynamically adjusts to user demand. At times of high use, like in 2023, this mechanism burns more tokens than are created to pay the validators that secure the network, actually turning Ethereum’s token economy deflationary. That said, ether token inflation has stayed relatively stable this year, in part due to a migration of user activity onto Layer-2 networks, which has left mainnet gas fees too low to burn off the newly issued coins.

ETF Money Moves in Billions The ETFs have been the larger and less predictable buyer this year. Net inflows reached $1.85 billion in August and another $832 million in September, then reversed in October.

The funds now hold roughly 6.2 million ETH, about the same as Bitmine, from their combined net assets of $14.6 billion. However, the two buyers move at very different speeds. October’s outflows have averaged about $357 million a week. Bitmine’s recent purchases come to about $30 million a week at its own reported prices. The ETF swing is about 12 times larger.

In the rest of the issue, subscribers get:

How much of ether’s new supply Bitmine has been absorbing, and why part of the hand-off has already happened Why no other ether treasury can step in, judged by what their shares trade at against their coins What is driving October’s ETF outflows The weekly ETF number that would cover ether’s new supply after Bitmine stops, plus bull, base and bear ranges for ETH into year-end Already a subscriber? Keep reading.

Why serious investors subscribe:

Clear thinking during macro regime changes

Fewer trades, better decisions

Avoiding one bad allocation often matters more than finding one great trade

JPMorgan’s JPM Coin has recorded zero supply and zero transfers on Ethereum in a contract review by Sentora, days after the bank announced the deposit token’s arrival on the network.

Summary

Sentora reported zero JPM Coin supply and transfers on Ethereum, with one allowlisted address.
JPM Coin’s Base supply remained near $1 million across two addresses, according to Sentora.
JLTXX recorded $400 million in Ethereum redemptions as its Solana deployment reached $450 million.
Sentora found no live on-chain integration connecting JPM Coin with JPMorgan’s funds or DeFi protocols.

Sentora said its review found exactly one allowlisted address in the verified Ethereum contract, while the token’s Base deployment held roughly $1 million across two addresses, unchanged since November 2025.

The research firm’s findings cover the deposit token and separate movements in J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s tokenized liquidity fund. Its briefing reported $400 million in JLTXX redemptions on Ethereum across Oct. 21–22, alongside a rise in the fund’s Solana deployment from near zero to $450 million.

Sentora attributed those figures to its contract-level analysis. The timing does not establish that the same investors redeemed on Ethereum and subscribed on Solana, and the briefing did not identify transactions connecting the two movements.

JPM Coin’s Ethereum contract shows no supply in Sentora’s review
JPMorgan brought JPM Coin, which carries the ticker JPMD, to Ethereum for approved institutional clients on Oct. 19. As crypto.news previously reported, the bank’s Ethereum deposit token launch followed its November 2025 rollout on Base.

The deposit token represents U.S. dollar deposits held at JPMorgan. The launch coverage described institutional payments, securities settlement, and collateral payments as intended uses, with access restricted to approved customers despite the use of a public blockchain.

Sentora’s subsequent review reported no issued supply or transfers in the Ethereum contract it examined. Its Base findings described an unchanged supply balance, with holdings concentrated in two addresses.

An unchanged supply figure does not, by itself, establish whether transfers occurred during that period. Sentora’s briefing expressly reported zero transfers for Ethereum but did not provide an equivalent historical transfer count for Base.

The firm further said it had found no live on-chain integration between JPM Coin and the bank’s money market funds or decentralized finance protocols. Its statement concerned the integrations visible in its review, without documenting every potential institutional arrangement.

JLTXX records $400 million in Ethereum redemptions
Sentora reported that JLTXX’s Ethereum deployment recorded $400 million in redemptions across Oct. 21–22. Over the same period, its briefing placed the Solana deployment at $450 million after starting near zero.

The figures describe different measures across two networks. One is a redemption total, while the other is the reported size of a deployment after its growth. They do not establish an exact dollar-for-dollar migration.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management announced on Oct. 22 that JLTXX and its My OnChain Net Yield Fund, known as MONY, were available to qualified U.S. investors on Solana. Investors can access the two tokenized funds through Morgan Money, which handles subscriptions and redemptions and delivers token balances to blockchain addresses.

“Our clients operate across more than one network, and their liquidity should too,” said Paul Przybylski, the asset manager’s global head of product, digital and tokenized assets.

The company’s announcement identifies JLTXX as a U.S. registered government money market fund designed to support stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act. MONY is a separate private placement fund launched in December 2025. The release does not disclose assets held on Solana for either product.

JPMorgan’s fund documents retain investor and ownership controls
JPMorgan’s MONY FAQ lists a $1 million initial investment minimum and fees of 16 basis points. The document describes a British Virgin Islands private placement vehicle, with access subject to anti-money laundering and know-your-customer checks.

The FAQ says MONY invests in U.S. Treasury securities and Treasury-backed repurchase agreements, seeking a stable net asset value of $1 per share. Although its guidelines follow those applicable to government money market funds, the private vehicle is not subject to Rule 2a-7.

JPMorgan identifies SS&C as MONY’s transfer agent and says the official shareholder records remain off-chain. Investors need their own blockchain addresses to hold tokens, while peer-to-peer transfers are restricted to clients.

The Oct. 22 launch announcement warns that investments in the funds are not bank accounts and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. JPMorgan says the funds seek to preserve a $1 share value but cannot guarantee it.

BNY completes tokenized Treasury financing with Citadel Securities
A separate institutional transaction involved BNY’s tokenized Treasury repo deal with Citadel Securities, announced on Oct. 13.

BNY said Citadel Securities purchased a two-year U.S. Treasury note through the bank on Tradeweb. A tokenized representation of the security settled within minutes on BNY’s private digital ledger before Citadel Securities pledged it as collateral in an overnight triparty repurchase agreement.

BNY supplied cash against the security and described the transaction as the first use of tokenized assets on a major triparty repo platform. Its announcement documented trade execution, settlement and financing within the same workflow.

The bank said it plans to introduce further digital cash and tokenized deposit services. BNY expects to expand operating hours for its traditional settlement platforms covering Fed-eligible securities and U.S. triparty transactions into European and Asian trading hours next year.

Bitcoin is holding above $81,000 despite heavy institutional ETF outflows and waning momentum in the tech sector.

Notable Statistics:

Coinglass data shows 98,065 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours for $253.93 million.        SoSoValue data shows net outflows of $635.5 million from spot Bitcoin ETFs on Thursday. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw net outflows of $110.5 million. In the past 24 hours, top gainers include Akedo, Pepe, and Dash. Notable Developments:

Bitcoin’s Rally Hits 3 Roadblocks: Can Bulls Shake Off ‘Black October’?Bitcoin Could Send to $100,000 if it Breaks $86,000, Top Analyst PredictsEvernorth CEO Shares Why He Chose XRP Over Bitcoin: ‘With BTC You Can’t Do Much On-Chain’Ripple Partners With Arf to Bring RLUSD Liquidity to XRP LedgerBitcoin Could Crash $10,000 if Equities Drop 20%, Bloomberg’s McGlone WarnsPresident Trump, World Liberty Financial Sued Over $2.5 Billion UAE Crypto Deals: ReportBitcoin to $1 Million? Don’t Expect 100X Returns Anymore, Dan Tapiero SaysTrader Notes:

Trader KillaXBT predicts Bitcoin could rally at least 5% as a major cycle pivot approaches in the coming days.

The trader noted that Bitcoin has moved against prevailing market sentiment in all 11 previous pivots over 600+ days, suggesting the current bearish outlook could trigger an upside reversal.

Cryptoinsightuk warned that Bitcoin could face another long squeeze as leverage builds despite prices remaining flat near recent lows.

“I think this weekend could be interesting,” he added pointing to geopolitical catalysts like Israeli elections.

Following Bitcoin’s decline from $84,000, open interest initially fell before rebounding 5.15% in BTC terms and 4.68% in dollar terms, signaling renewed leverage.

The trader expects a potential downside liquidity sweep, possibly triggered by broader market catalysts, and plans to buy altcoins such as Ethereum if prices fall further.

Image: Shutterstock

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Cardano Price hovered above $0.21 on Friday, rising 0.99% over the past 24 hours to trade at around $0.216. The move coincided with progress on the Dijkstra testnet and Node 11.2 for Cardano’s protocol upgrade. 

The broader cryptocurrency market reached a valuation of $2.73 trillion as major digital assets moved higher. Bitcoin led the advance, approaching immediate resistance at $82,000, while Ethereum traded at $2,410. 

Meanwhile, XRP price held near recently confirmed support at $1.30 as broader market prices continued climbing.

Cardano Opens Dijkstra Testnet Ahead of Node 11.2 Upgrade Cardano has opened its public Dijkstra testnet, inviting stake pool operators to prepare for the next protocol upgrade. The network currently uses node 11.1.3 under Conway’s protocol version 11, with each epoch lasting one day. Configuration files and a faucet are available through Cardano’s documentation.

Cardano Upgrade News 🛠️ 🗞️

A public Dijkstra testnet is now available! SPOs can begin onboarding using Node 11.1.3 on pv11. Epochs are 1-day in length.

Timeline:
– Protocol version 11 (Conway) on node 11.1.3
– Node 11.2 Pre-Release
– Hard Fork Initiation action
– Hard fork for protocol version 12 (Dijkstra) using node 11.2
– Integration and testing against the Dijkstra feature set (minus Leios)

Resources available in the next post. Happy testing!

— Intersect (@IntersectMBO) October 23, 2026

Node 11.2 will provide the software needed for the planned transition to protocol version 12, known as Dijkstra. Its prerelease will precede a hard fork initiation action, followed by the testnet upgrade. Operators can then test Dijkstra features and check integrations, although this release excludes Leios.

Meanwhile, MusashiNet offers a separate prototype incorporating Leios, giving development teams another environment for early integration work. However, the formal node 11.3 release remains under active development. 

Input Output estimates Leios will require registered voting keys representing approximately 90–95% of delegated stake before activation. Intersect has announced neither a mainnet launch date nor a required node upgrade participation percentage.

Cardano Price Prediction: Will $0.21 Support Hold or Is $0.20 Next? The ADA price traded near $0.2156 on October 23, with the active four-hour candle showing a 0.37% decline. Cardano price failed to break below $0.21 support and stayed below $0.22 resistance, where it bounced off in the last few days.

The RSI was at 42, neutral territory.  The MACD line was almost flat near -0.0019 while the signal line was also on an almost flat level at -0.0017, and the histogram still showed its bear status. This setup is bearish, with the smaller histogram bars recently suggesting a possible decrease in selling pressure.

Source: TradingView The bear case would be strengthened if the stock closed below $0.21 for four hours, and the $0.20 psychological level would come into play. 

However, initial buyers would have to recover the sum of $0.22 and hold it in the event of a second pullback, as per the long-term ADA projection.

The sustained break above $0.23 may create a path to $0.25, which is a +16% move from $0.2156.

Update (Oct. 23, 6:27 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a response from Tether.

Senator Richard Blumenthal has requested information from Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino after a Wall Street Journal report said that the stablecoin issuer had inked a $6.3 million deal with a marketing company co-founded by former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines.

In a Thursday letter to Ardoino, the Connecticut lawmaker said that the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations demanded “records and information related to contracts, payments, communications, and lobbying” between Tether and Nxum, Hines’ company. The probe into Nxum, Tether and Hines, according to Blumental, was part of what the senator called the Trump administration’s “self-enrichment and self-dealings with cryptocurrency firms.”

“While Hines failed to divest his one-third stake in Nxum [...] he worked closely over encrypted messaging applications with Nxum to coordinate lobbying, advocacy, and browbeating of members of Congress that were opposed to, or had sought changes to, pending stablecoin legislation,” said Blumenthal. “Those messages also reportedly demonstrate that Tether was directly coordinating Nxum’s lobbying efforts on the GENIUS Act which would regulate stablecoins, with CEO Paolo Ardoino demanding that Nxum ‘obliterate’ the legislation’s opponents.”

The lawmaker added:

“The highly unusual terms and nature of Tether’s business relationship with both Nxum and Bo Hines raise alarming ethical and legal concerns, indicating that Tether was likely well aware of the illegality and impropriety of issuing payments to a current White House official with such a direct role in shaping cryptocurrency legislation that was instrumental to its business.”Hines worked as executive director as President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets from January to August 2025, when he left the White House to join Tether as a “strategic adviser.” He later became CEO of Tether US. Harry Jung, another crypto adviser in the Trump administration, left his position in July 2026 and joined Nxum as a managing director in August.

A Tether spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the company was aware of the allegations and an external counsel ”found no evidence of wrongdoing” after a previous ”in-depth internal investigation into the matter.”

Trump, his family and members of his administration continue to face scrutiny over accusations that they are reaping financial windfalls from crypto policies on laws over which they have control or influence. The president disclosed earning $1.4 billion from investments related to crypto in 2025.

Crypto ties could be a factor in midterm electionsWhile Blumenthal has limited authority as the Democratic ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the results of the 2026 midterm elections could potentially change party control in the House of Representatives and Senate. This could give the Connecticut lawmaker and other Democratic additional authority to conduct investigations into Trump and his administration’s ties to the crypto industry, including those which could present conflicts of interest.

As of Friday, event contracts on prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket favored Democrats retaking majority control of both chambers of Congress in 2027, with 92% and 68% chances on Kalshi for the House and Senate, respectively. US Election Day is on Nov. 3.

Magazine: New DeepSeek ban in US, Swiss-Asia crypto ties deepen: Asia Express

Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he wants answers from Tether following reports that the stablecoin issuer paid millions of dollars to a consulting firm started by former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines and his father amid negotiations to pass stablecoin legislation into law.

The Connecticut Democrat said that relationship raised legal and ethical concerns, in a letter sent to Tether and Hines.

"Tether’s alleged multimillion-dollar payment to a firm controlled by the White House official primarily responsible for cryptocurrency policy implicates federal ethics, anticorruption, and lobbying laws," Blumenthal said on Thursday.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Tether had started a business relationship with Nxum — a consulting firm started by Bo Hines and his father — weeks after Hines took the helm as the White House's top crypto advisor. During Hines' time at the White House, he played a pivotal role in passing the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act, which created the first federal regulatory framework for stablecoins. 

Tether, which issues the world's largest stablecoin, became an advocate for the GENIUS Act and, through it, launched the U.S.-based version of its flagship stablecoin, called USAT.

A Tether spokesperson told The Block that the company is reviewing the letter. "Tether is aware of the allegations reported in The Wall Street Journal that form the basis of Senator Blumenthal’s letter," the spokesperson said. "External counsel previously conducted an in-depth internal investigation into the matter, which found no evidence of wrongdoing."

Lawmakers, including Blumenthal, have repeatedly scrutinized Tether over the past year. Last month, Blumenthal released findings of an investigation that found that Tether had become central in "Iran's shadow banking system" and the financing activities of terrorist groups. Tether has pushed back and said it helps authorities find bad actors. 

In Blumenthal's latest letter, he asked Tether to provide records involving the stablecoin issuer's business dealings with Nxum as well as with Hines. 

Blumenthal also sent a letter on Thursday to Nxum. Harry Jung, the now-former deputy director of the President's Council of Advisors for Digital Assets who worked with Hines, is now at Nxum, according to his X account.

Leadership at the council is also absent now following the departure of Patrick Witt last week after his detail expired. Witt did not say where he would be going next, but said in a post on X that he looked forward to advancing his mission in the private sector.  

In brief Sen. Richard Blumenthal asked Tether to hand over records on its dealings with Bo Hines and his consulting firm, Nxum, by Nov. 3. The Wall Street Journal reported that Nxum earned $6.3 million from a Tether deal struck while Hines, who kept a one-third stake, helped craft the GENIUS Act. A Nxum representative said Hines wasn’t involved in the deal and received no Tether-derived funds while in government. Tether is facing fresh scrutiny in the Senate over millions of dollars that reportedly flowed to a firm co-owned by Bo Hines while he helped shape U.S. stablecoin law at the White House.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino a letter Thursday demanding records of the company’s dealings with Hines and Nxum, the consulting firm he co-founded. Blumenthal gave Tether until Nov. 3 to respond.

Myriad: Who will win the midterms? Click to make your prediction.Hines was executive director of President Donald Trump’s Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets and a key architect of the GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025. He left the White House on Aug. 9, 2025, and Tether named him CEO of its new U.S. division the following month.

Blumenthal’s letter builds on an Oct. 14 Wall Street Journal investigation. The Journal reported that Nxum has earned $6.3 million from a deal Tether struck in May 2025. Tether agreed to pay a marketing firm, Notorious, $415,000 a month, and the firm passed most of the first payment to a wallet used by Nxum, where it was split three ways. Later payments went directly to Nxum after Hines left government. Hines kept his one-third stake in Nxum while serving in the White House, the Journal reported.

The Journal also reported that Hines urged lawmakers to double the law’s compliance window from 18 to 36 months, a change that chiefly benefited Tether. Messages it reviewed showed Hines sharing talking points about Republican holdouts with his Nxum partners. After a call from Ardoino, Hines’ father and Nxum co-owner, Todd Hines, wrote: “They want us to obliterate these members that are fighting crypto.”

A Nxum representative told the Journal that Hines wasn’t involved in the Tether deal while in government and “did not receive any Tether-derived funds during that period.”

“Tether is aware of the allegations reported in The Wall Street Journal that form the basis of Senator Blumenthal’s letter,” Tether today said in a statement. “External counsel previously conducted an in-depth internal investigation into the matter, which found no evidence of wrongdoing.”

Blumenthal wrote that the payment structure suggests Tether “was likely well aware of the illegality and impropriety” of paying a sitting official, and that the arrangement “implicates federal ethics, anticorruption, and lobbying laws.” He also asked about a Nxum pitch deck, reported by the Journal, saying Tether would buy a 25% stake in the firm for $56 million.

It’s Blumenthal’s second Tether-linked letter this month. On Oct. 8, he asked Cantor Fitzgerald, Tether’s reserve custodian and a 5% shareholder chaired by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s son, for records on that relationship.

That letter followed a report from his staff finding that most Iran-linked wallets used USDT. Tether responded by citing about $550 million in Iran-linked freezes, including $344 million in April.

Lutnick defended Tether at his confirmation hearing last year, and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden pressed him in April over a reported Tether loan to a trust for his children.

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Sen. Richard Blumenthal is demanding records from Tether over reported multimillion-dollar payments to a consulting firm co-founded by Bo Hines, the White House’s former top crypto adviser.

Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said Thursday he had sent letters to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino and to Nxum, the consulting firm Hines started with his father, in a press release from his office. The letters request records and information related to contracts, payments, communications and lobbying between Tether and Nxum. A third letter reportedly went to Hines himself.

The inquiry targets payments Blumenthal’s letter describes as exceeding $6 million, reportedly under a strategic communications arrangement that began weeks after Hines took office. Hines led the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets from January to August 2025, then joined Tether as a strategic adviser and later became chief executive of Tether US. During his White House tenure he helped steer the GENIUS Act, the first federal framework for stablecoins, through Congress, and Tether launched its US-based stablecoin USAT under the new law.

“Tether’s alleged multimillion-dollar payment to a firm controlled by the White House official primarily responsible for cryptocurrency policy implicates federal ethics, anticorruption, and lobbying laws,” Blumenthal said in the letter.

Tether pushed back. A company spokesperson said Tether is aware of the allegations that form the basis of the senator’s letter, and that “external counsel previously conducted an in-depth internal investigation into the matter, which found no evidence of wrongdoing.” The company, which issues the world’s largest stablecoin, said it was still reviewing the letter.

It is the senator’s second move against Tether in a month. Last month his office released findings that Tether had become central in Iran’s shadow banking system and the financing activities of terrorist groups, which Tether disputed at the time, saying it helps authorities find bad actors. The new letter is an inquiry and does not establish that Tether, Hines or Nxum acted unlawfully.

Cover image via depositphotos.com

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Hong Kong broker Futu Securities has launched direct deposits and withdrawals of BNB tokens via the BNB Smart Chain network, opening a legal gateway for the digital asset to its multimillion-user platform. 

Previously, users of the Futubull and moomoo brands could trade BNB only within the company's closed loop. Now qualified investors can directly move the real token between their external wallets and Futu brokerage accounts.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) promptly reacted to the integration by publishing an announcement on his official page on the social network X.

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CZ's post on X confirming BNB deposit and withdrawal launch on Futu, Source: @cz_binance on X.com
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The entire technical side of the operations is provided by the PantherTrade platform, a Futu subsidiary licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). Access to on-chain transactions is limited to professional investors with capital of at least 8 million Hong Kong dollars (~$1 million). 

To comply with AML standards, external wallet addresses undergo preliminary verification through "whitelists," and withdrawal processing takes up to three business days.

What is happening in Hong Kong itself (a multibillion-dollar crypto hub is being built there)This step coincided with the large-scale digitalization of Hong Kong's financial sector in October 2026. Banking conglomerate HSBC officially launched the RedCoin (RCHKD) stablecoin, pegged to the local currency, inside the PayMe payment app for 3.3 million users, while the Anchorpoint Financial consortium led by Standard Chartered continues the rollout of the HKDAP stablecoin. 

At the same time, the region's government completed its fourth issuance of digital "green" bonds worth 20 billion Hong Kong dollars, settled in tokenized deposits. According to Secretary for Financial Services Christopher Hui, the volume of digitized capital on the region's bank balance sheets has already reached 29 billion Hong Kong dollars.

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The market is being accelerated by the authorities' tough stance: the new dedicated law, which will be submitted to the Legislative Council by the end of the year, provides for no transition periods — platforms without a VATP license will be required to cease operations in the region immediately. 

In this regulatory race, BNB's direct access to the audience of a NASDAQ-listed broker gives the ecosystem a sustainable positional advantage. Although competitors from Solana are also expanding their presence in the region — including the listing of a second spot Solana ETF by Pando — it is BNB, through Futu's channels, that has secured the most direct access to the capital of traditional Asian investors.

Nasdaq-listed Futu has enabled BNB deposits and withdrawals for eligible professional investors in Hong Kong via BNB Smart Chain, following its July BNB trading launch.

Nasdaq-listed brokerage Futu has opened $BNB deposits and withdrawals for eligible professional investors in Hong Kong, allowing clients to move the token between self-custody wallets and Futu crypto accounts over @BNBCHAIN.

The change was announced on October 23, according to Crypto Briefing. It was rolled out through Futu Securities International (Hong Kong) Limited, the group's Hong Kong subsidiary. @cz_binance shared the news, noting that Futu also operates as moomoo in markets including the US and Japan.

How BNB transfers on Futu workTransfers run on BNB Smart Chain using the BEP20 token standard. Deposits flow from a user's self-custody wallet into a Futu crypto account. Withdrawals carry more checks: Crypto Briefing reports that Futu only sends BNB to addresses that have been verified and whitelisted in advance, and that withdrawals typically finish processing by 6:00 PM HKT on the third business day.

Futu is not charging extra platform fees for BNB transactions until further notice, though withdrawals carry a network fee of roughly 0.000055 BNB, per the same report. The service is limited to professional investors, a category in Hong Kong with high-net-worth thresholds. One example cited is a portfolio worth HK$8 million.

Until now, BNB could only be traded inside Futu's platform. U.Today noted that users of the Futubull and moomoo brands could previously trade BNB only within the company's closed loop. Eligible investors can now move the token directly between external wallets and their brokerage accounts.

Building on July's BNB trading launchThe deposit and withdrawal feature follows Futu's earlier BNB move. In July, Futu Securities International (Hong Kong) began offering BNB spot trading to eligible professional investors. According to an announcement relayed by PANews and shown on Futubull's company page, it was the first licensed brokerage in Hong Kong to offer BNB order-book trading pairs. Futu said the listing relied on PantherTrade, its self-built virtual asset platform, which lists tokens in line with Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) standards.

PantherTrade (Hong Kong) Limited received its SFC virtual asset trading platform licence on 27 January 2025, according to Hong Kong Crypto's review of the platform. Futu has said it intends to keep aligning with the SFC's regulatory roadmap and add more mainstream cryptocurrencies within a compliant framework.

For BNB, the update gives it a more direct on-chain link to a regulated broker with a large retail user base in Asia, though access remains restricted to professional investors for now.

SourcesCrypto Briefing: Futu opens BNB deposits and withdrawals to Hong Kong professional investors
U.Today: Binance Coin (BNB) Bags Major Hong Kong Listing
Futubull: Futu Holdings (FUTU) news

Tether (USDT) on BNB Chain recorded $3.69T in 30-day transfers, about 2.5 times Tron and Ethereum combined, per rwa.xyz, despite a far smaller supply.

$USDT on @BNBCHAIN recorded $3.69T across 471 million transfers over the past 30 days, about 2.5 times the combined total of Tron and Ethereum, according to data from rwa.xyz. The figure places BNB Chain well ahead of the two networks that hold most of Tether's supply.

Small supply, very high turnoverThe activity comes from a much smaller base. USDT on BNB Chain stands at $9.18B, compared with roughly $92B on Tron and $75B on Ethereum. On rwa.xyz's asset page, the BNB Chain supply is listed at about $9.18B, tagged as a bridged token rather than a native one.

That gap implies very different usage patterns. Each dollar of USDT on BNB Chain changes hands about 400 times a month, compared with roughly 8 to 9 times on Tron and Ethereum. The two larger networks hold far more supply, but much of it appears to sit in wallets, custody and exchange balances for longer periods.

Transaction counts point the same way. Data from the ACHIVX stablecoin scanner, which tracks settled USDT flows, shows BNB Chain carrying the most USDT transfers of any network at much smaller average sizes than Tron or Ethereum. That pattern is consistent with high-frequency, low-value activity rather than large settlement transfers.

What the totals includeThe headline numbers count every transfer, including trading bots and contract activity. They are a measure of onchain movement, not of unique users or organic payment demand, and repeated transfers of the same funds are counted each time.

There is also a technical caveat on what "USDT on BNB Chain" means. According to an explainer citing Tether data, Tether-issued supply on BNB Smart Chain is $0, and the BEP-20 token there is Binance-Peg BSC-USD. Aggregators such as rwa.xyz classify it as bridged USDT, which is why it appears under the USDT label.

Tron remains the largest USDT network by supply. Datawallet, citing DefiLlama, put Tron's USDT at about $92.4 billion on 1 October 2026, roughly half of global USDT in circulation. The BNB Chain figures show that supply and activity can diverge sharply, and that raw transfer volume says little on its own about where stablecoin capital actually sits.

Sources

RWA.xyz: Tether USDt asset data
ACHIVX: USDT transfers by network
Datawallet: TRC20 USDT market data

Zebec and Stellar are driving corporate payrolls worldwide

Fintech company Ascend Markets and blockchain infrastructure provider M1X Global announced on October 23, 2026, that they have completed the first officially regulated short-term collateralized lending transaction, known as a repo, conducted entirely on the Stellar (XLM) network. This pilot involved digitized US Treasury bonds used for interbank settlements, marking a significant shift by enabling direct collateral mobilization without the need for centralized clearing houses.

Smart contracts drive 72 seamless transactionsThe traditional repo market is restricted by the limited operating hours of settlement systems and relies heavily on back-office staff for manual collateral revaluation. In contrast, this operation by Ascend Markets and M1X Global transferred the entire repo process onto smart contracts, automating all core steps.

The pilot transaction started on October 16 and concluded on October 19, running continuously for 72 hours, including weekends when regular banking operations typically pause. A smart contract-based algorithm executed 72 hourly rollovers—extending the loan each hour—without any manual involvement. All aspects, including locking up collateral, calculating and applying interest, and handling the clearing process, ran automatically. Total network fees for the three-day period amounted to less than one US cent.

Pilot structure and complianceThe transaction’s structure conformed to standards from SIFMA, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. The digital bonds used as collateral were USDM1 issued by M1X Global, fully backed 1:1 with US Treasury bills and subject to New York law. Stablecoins denominated in USDC served on the other side of the transaction.

Interest on the loan was fixed at SOFR plus 10 basis points, for a total of 3.98% annualized. Chainlink, a provider of decentralized oracles, monitored collateral value, applying a 2% haircut and maintaining a loan-to-value (LTV) cap of 98% throughout the cycle.

Compliance was also automated at the code level. Participants’ identities and required anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) checks took place directly on the blockchain, utilizing the ERC-3643 and SEP-57 token standards.

Mini dictionary: ERC-3643 and SEP-57 are technical token standards that enable compliance features—including on-chain KYC and AML checks—for blockchain-based securities and stablecoins.

Over 72 hours, the system processed hourly extensions and settled collateral movements automatically, despite the closure of conventional banking infrastructure during the weekend. Overall fees for the transaction cycle remained below a cent, demonstrating the network’s cost-efficiency.

RWA growth and industry impactThe development introduces new capital efficiency for the Stellar network. Market data from rwa.xyz shows that by the end of October 2026, the Stellar-based platform had integrated real-world assets (RWAs) valued at $3.64 billion. These assets were largely concentrated in money market funds managed by Spicet Asset Management at $2.4 billion, Oasis at $557.92 million, and Franklin Templeton at $411.90 million.

Asset ManagerRWA ValueSpicet Asset Management$2.4 billionOasis$557.92 millionFranklin Templeton$411.90 millionThe USDM1 instrument now offers an instant rehypothecation capability, allowing collateral liquidity to be deployed around the clock. This provides a real-world demonstration that capital locked in sovereign debt instruments is now accessible and redistributable with near-zero operating costs, any time of the day or week.

Arc’s stablecoin supply expanded sharply over the past week, increasing 33.51% to reach approximately $830.34 million, according to DefiLlama data. This surge stands in contrast to a slight contraction in the total global stablecoin supply, which declined by $1.25 billion during the same period to roughly $304.89 billion.

USDC Drives Arc’s GrowthAlmost all of the stablecoin supply on Arc comes from Circle’s USDC, which alone accounts for around $821 million. This figure represents nearly 98.9% of Arc’s total stablecoin float, marking a weekly gain of around 34% for USDC on this network. Small amounts of euro and sterling-pegged tokens are also present, but their contributions remain marginal.

Globally, Tether (USDT) continues to lead with about $182.51 billion in circulation, making up 59.86% of the total stablecoin market. USDC follows as the second-largest player with approximately $72.10 billion. Despite Arc’s robust growth, the overall market trend points to a net decrease in stablecoin supply, reflecting broader shifts in capital allocation and market sentiment.

Arc’s rapid expansion does not signal a broad recovery across all blockchains. Rather, the data show a significant migration of USDC liquidity specifically toward Arc, with other chains not experiencing similar inflows.

Arc’s Role and Technical PositioningArc serves as Circle’s open Layer-1 blockchain, promoted as an enterprise-focused, EVM-compatible network designed for stablecoin settlement. Circle introduced Arc with the intention of providing predictable transaction fees denominated in stablecoins like USDC, rather than volatile native tokens. The network targets institutional and enterprise use, setting itself apart from chains with larger or more generalized user bases.

The recent spike in Arc’s stablecoin balance largely reflects increased USDC activity. This pattern indicates participants are choosing to hold, transfer, or deploy USDC on Arc rather than on competing platforms. The week’s strong inflows do not alter the primary ranking of stablecoin assets between networks: Arc still trails behind blockchains such as Ethereum and Tron, which maintain multi-billion dollar stables reserves.

Liquidity Migration and Market DynamicsThe decline in global stablecoin supply, coupled with Arc’s outsized weekly gain, underlines a localized shift in liquidity rather than a market-wide rally. Factors such as redemption flows, portfolio rebalancing, or quieter inventory reductions may have contributed to the overall market contraction. Meanwhile, Arc’s segment saw an abrupt concentration of USDC, reinforcing the network’s role as a focused stablecoin hub.

Potential explanations for Arc’s stablecoin surge include fresh issuances and bridging of USDC, internal treasury reallocations by Circle, or other non-public capital moves. However, public float tables reveal only the outcome—more USDC now resides on Arc than seven days ago.

Tracking such liquidity movements remains essential for market participants and observers. Following both pricing trends and investor behavior can offer valuable insights for asset allocation and project development strategies.

In light of the increased emphasis on monitoring stablecoin deployment and asset flows, the meme token segment also serves as an example of rapid changes driven by internet trends. In this area, a low-barrier trade can evolve into substantial profit within days. Fomo App data highlight a remarkable case where the “Niu Lai” meme token turned a $99 initial investment into $370,000. For those navigating meme token volatility, observing not just price action but investor timing and token selection is vital. Fomo App consolidates token discovery, trading, social feeds, investor rankings, and trade alerts into one interface, helping users stay updated on both token moves and investor activity.

Arc float is up sharply. USDC dominates that balance. The broader market is slightly smaller than it was a week ago.

The fundamental stability question for pegged tokens remains unchanged. This week, however, attention has focused on which blockchain networks are holding the largest share of circulating stablecoins.

Arthur Hayes expects HYPE to deliver weaker returns than Ethereum and Zcash from current levels. The view follows months of position changes, including his full exit from HYPE in June. HYPE is pulling back toward the moving average that has supported its entire 2026 rally. Ethereum’s deep discount to its record high is central to the Hayes argument. Arthur Hayes, the BitMEX co-founder who now serves as chief investment officer of crypto fund Maelstrom, said in an October 16 interview that Hyperliquid’s HYPE token could underperform Ethereum (ETH) and Zcash (ZEC), pointing to growing competition among decentralized perpetual futures exchanges, platforms where traders open leveraged bets on prices without an expiry date. A week later, HYPE trades near $78.26, about 20% below its $97.99 record after four straight weeks of lower highs. Hayes added that he respects what the Hyperliquid team has built and would still use its products, but he no longer wants to own the token, which makes the comment the latest step in a shift that started in June.

From a $150 Target to a Full Exit Hayes on HYPE in 2026

● March: Discusses a $150 HYPE scenario ● May: Names HYPE, NEAR and ZEC his “holy trinity” ● June 4-5: Sells HYPE, NEAR and then ZEC ● August: Calls ETH his preferred trade ● October 16: Says HYPE could lag ETH and ZEC In March, Hayes argued that record open interest in HIP-3 markets, which let developers list new perpetual contracts on Hyperliquid, could carry HYPE to $150. By late May he was grouping it with NEAR and ZEC as his favorite trio, praising the token’s revenue model and its access to traditional assets. Less than two weeks later, on June 4, he sold his HYPE and NEAR positions, citing higher energy prices, the risk that large AI listings would pull liquidity away from crypto and a weaker macro backdrop. A day later he exited ZEC as well, saying a vulnerability in Zcash’s Orchard pool meant the network could not cryptographically prove that extra coins had never been created.

The speed of the reversal drew criticism, and on-chain investigator ZachXBT accused Hayes of using his followers as exit liquidity. In August, Hayes disclosed that Maelstrom had bought HYPE in the low $30s and sold around $75, adding that ETH could rise three to five times relatively quickly. By the October 16 interview, ETH and ZEC were back at the center of his thinking, despite his June exit from Zcash.

Why ETH Looks Cheaper on His Math The case rests on relative valuation, since Hyperliquid generated roughly $429 million in revenue between January 1 and September 15, and nearly all protocol fees go toward buying HYPE on the open market, which ties the token directly to trading activity. Investors now widely recognize that link, so in Hayes’ view much of the success is already reflected in the price. Rival perpetual exchanges pose the specific risk: every share of volume they win reduces the fees Hyperliquid collects, and with them the size of the buybacks that support HYPE.

Ethereum sits on the other side of that trade, since it remains the main settlement layer for decentralized finance yet has lagged smaller assets for most of the past year, and it trades about 51% below its August 2025 peak. His Zcash thesis is different in kind, built on the idea that financial privacy gains value as governments, large tech companies and AI systems track more economic activity. Both are investment views, and ZEC in particular carries its own liquidity and regulatory risks.

HYPE Leans on Its 21-Week Average HYPE/USDT weekly chart. Source: Alexander Stefanov / TradingView The 21-week exponential moving average at $72.85 has guided the whole 2026 advance. HYPE reclaimed it in January, has closed above it every week since and bounced off it in July before the August breakout. The same line marked the turn in late 2025, when losing it in October and November preceded a three-month slide to $20. Together with the 0.382 Fibonacci retracement at $68.38, it forms a $68.4-72.9 support band that also overlaps the range where price spent most of May through July.

Momentum has weakened even as HYPE set a far higher high in September than in June, yet the relative strength index peaked near 83 in late May and reached only about 70 at the record, meaning buyers pushed with less force on the final leg. The reading now sits at 56.2, below its signal line, although still above 50, which fits a cooling trend rather than a reversal. A weekly close below $68.4 would point to $59.24 and then the $50-51 area, where the 0.618 level meets the rising 50-week average. Holding the band and reclaiming $85-88 would reopen a test of $97.99, with $119.07 as the next extension above it.

ETH Is Stuck Between Two Averages ETH/USDT weekly chart. Source: Alexander Stefanov / TradingView Ethereum trades at $2,407.69, inside a narrow cluster formed by the 50-week EMA at $2,419.68 and the 200-week EMA at $2,462.74. Sellers stopped the September rally at $2,749, which is both the 0.618 Fibonacci level and the measured target of the double bottom ETH built near $1,550-1,600 in June and July. Volume during the pullback has stayed below the August breakout, suggesting profit-taking rather than heavy selling, while the RSI at 52.85 shows no clear direction. A close above $2,463 would turn the cluster into support and open a second test of $2,749, then $3,171. Repeated closes below the 50-week average would send price back toward the $2,149 neckline.

ZEC Defends a Month-Long Floor ZEC/USDT weekly chart. Source: Alexander Stefanov / TradingView Zcash bounced 9.25% this week to $1,235.40, extending a four-week stretch in which every weekly low held above the 0.382 level at $1,047.48. The upper wick to $1,368 shows sellers remain active above the 0.236 level at $1,289.17. ZEC trades about 90% above its 50-week EMA, and its RSI peaked near 78 at the September record versus roughly 95 during the November 2025 rally, a gap that marks weaker buying pressure at higher prices. A close above $1,289 would put the $1,680 record back in view, with $2,130 beyond it. Losing $1,047 would expose $852, then the $647-657 zone where the 0.618 level and the 50-week average meet.

Sunday’s Closes Will Test the Rotation The weekly candles close on Sunday, October 25. If HYPE ends the week below $72.85 while ETH settles above its 200-week average, the charts would show the rotation Hayes describes, with money moving from a token near its highs toward one still far below. Hyperliquid’s buyback size depends directly on its share of perpetual trading volume, so monthly market share data across decentralized derivatives venues offers a more concrete test of the competition argument than price alone.

Hayes has reversed course on all three tokens within months this year, and blockchain analysts track wallets linked to him and Maelstrom closely. Any renewed buying of HYPE, or new selling of ETH or ZEC, would likely appear in on-chain transfer data before he comments on it publicly.

Alex is a financial markets journalist and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, and he's spent close to ten years trying to answer one stubborn question: what's really driving this? It started in 2016, when Bitcoin refused to make sense to him - and rather than shrug, he stayed with it until it did. That patience became his method. He's less interested in what an asset is doing today than in the plumbing behind it: how liquidity flows, where risk hides, what a chart is quietly telling you that the headline isn't. That lens eventually stretched well past crypto into traditional markets, because the same forces - fear, leverage, incentives, timing - show up everywhere once you know how to look. Most coverage, in his view, insults the reader by stopping at the surface. Price up, price down, moving on. He'd rather leave someone genuinely understanding a move than merely informed that it happened. His path into markets ran through a Tourism degree at New Bulgarian University - proof, maybe, that curiosity beats credentials. With more than 200 deep analyses and over 10,000 articles behind him, he still walks away from most trading days having learned something he didn't know that morning.

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$10,000 in Zcash at this morning’s $1,177.59 buys 8.49 ZEC. If ZEC simply reclaims its September 26 high of $1,698, that position is worth $14,419. The bet rests on one dated fact: Zcash’s NU7 network upgrade is now locked to mainnet block 3,543,405, which the chain should reach around November 5. The broader market is drifting the other way. Bitcoin slipped under $81,000 in the first hour of October 24 for the first time since mid-month, and only one top-10 coin is printing green.

Bitcoin traded at $80,882 as of 00:13 UTC on October 24, down 0.24% over 24 hours, per CoinGecko data. Ethereum sat at $2,379.52 (−0.17%), Solana at $102.49 (−0.95%), and XRP at $1.29 (−1.10%). BNB was the lone top-10 gainer, up 1.14% to $737.99. Zcash changed hands at $1,177.59, down 3.28% on the day, with a $20.0 billion market capitalization — the number that frames everything below.

Bitcoin Under $81K: A Level the Data Keeps Testing
The 30-day chart shows the story in one line. Bitcoin peaked near $86,490 on October 10, faded through the middle of the month, and has now spent four of the last six sessions under the $82,000 mark it defended through the first half of October. The slide from $86,490 to $80,882 is a 6.5% drawdown, and it has come on falling conviction rather than a single liquidation cascade: 24-hour volume near $23.9 billion is well below the October highs.

What matters for a trader is that $81,000 is not a random round number. It has acted as the pivot of the current range: buyers stepped in near $81,100 on October 22, and sellers have capped every push above $83,000 since the middle of the month. A daily close below $80,000 — the level defended through the weekend — opens the next test around $79,500, the deeper floor traders cited ahead of the Federal Reserve’s October 27–28 meeting. A reclaim of $83,000 puts the October 10 high back in play. Those are the two conditions, and both are data-bound, not vibes.

The Zcash Catalyst: NU7 Locks to Block 3,543,405
Zcash’s case is different because it is not waiting on a central bank. The Zcash Foundation released Zebra 7.0.0 on October 22, the first stable node release with mainnet support for Network Upgrade 7. The foundation is direct about what the upgrade changes: “NU7 brings blocks every 25 seconds instead of every 75, a Network Sustainability Mechanism that recycles part of every transaction fee into future block rewards, and new shielded limits that protect wallets from spam.”

Activation is not a calendar date but a block height: 3,543,405, targeted for around November 5. The upgrade had already gone live on testnet at block 4,465,026 on October 4. The speed change is the headline. Target block spacing falls from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, so the average wait for a first confirmation drops from 75 seconds to roughly 25 seconds. At target spacing, the chain produces about 3,456 blocks a day instead of roughly 1,152, and three confirmations clear in about 75 seconds rather than 225.

The fee change is the part most holders will actually feel. Under ZIP 235, the foundation writes, “60% of each block’s transaction fees are removed from circulation and placed in a reserve, while miners keep the other 40% so they still have every reason to include transactions.” Those reserved funds are scheduled to return gradually through later block rewards, beginning at mainnet block 8,939,664 — around February 2031. The 21 million ZEC supply cap does not change, and the halving schedule is untouched.

There is one deadline that is not optional. “Once NU7 activates, version 4 transactions are no longer valid,” the release states, and “because Sprout transfers can only use version 4, funds left in the Sprout pool become unspendable.” Anyone still holding ZEC in the original Sprout shielded pool must move it before block 3,543,405 or lose access. Node operators face the same cutoff: the foundation’s instruction is that “All Mainnet operators MUST upgrade before height 3,543,405 (~Nov 5) to stay on the consensus chain.”

The 2x Math: What Doubling Actually Demands
The money angle is concrete and the arithmetic is the own-work part of this screen. At $1,177.59 and a $20.0 billion market cap, a 2x on ZEC means $2,355 and a $40 billion market cap. That is not a re-rating of the entire Zcash story — it is ZEC returning to the $1,698 level it printed less than a month ago, before the NU7 testnet cycle began. The 8.49 ZEC a $10,000 position buys becomes $20,000 at that level, and $14,419 just by reclaiming the September high.

Bitcoin, by contrast, has to do much more for the same return. Doubling from $80,882 to $161,764 requires the market cap to grow from $1.63 trillion to roughly $3.25 trillion — a $1.62 trillion inflow that no single catalyst in the current calendar promises. BNB sits in between: a 2x to $1,475.98 needs its market cap to move from $97 billion to about $194 billion. The point is not that ZEC is the better asset in absolute terms. It is that a dated, network-level catalyst is a cheaper trigger than a macro regime change, and the math makes the tradeoff explicit.

The benchmark that matters is the one the market already tested. ZEC peaked near $1,698 on September 26 and has given back about 30% since, so today’s $1,177.59 is a retrace, not a new high. The NU7 activation is the first hard event since that peak that changes the protocol’s throughput, and the October 21 merge of the height into the ZIP specification removed the last “to be determined” from the schedule. That is what turns a retrace into a re-rating candidate.

Why This Setup Fails
The skeptical case is straightforward and should be taken seriously. First, ZEC is down 3.28% on the day while the rest of the market is flat — the NU7 catalyst has not yet shown up in price, and a protocol upgrade is a supply-and-throughput event, not a demand event. Faster blocks and a fee reserve do not, by themselves, bring new buyers. Second, the upgrade is still two weeks out, and the interim belongs to the macro calendar: the Federal Reserve decides on October 27–28, and a hawkish surprise would pressure every risk asset, ZEC included, regardless of its own roadmap.

Third, the Sprout migration is a real operational risk for a small but non-zero set of holders. Roughly 0.4% of shielded funds still sits in the legacy pool, and any of it left behind at activation becomes unspendable — a self-inflicted supply event that could read as confusion rather than progress if the migration warnings do not land. Finally, the broader privacy-coin trade has already run hard this year, which means some of the NU7 outcome may be priced into a token that is still up sharply on a year-to-date basis despite October’s pullback.

None of this breaks the trade, but it defines the invalidation. If Bitcoin closes the week under $80,000, the ZEC setup is fighting a falling tide. If NU7 slips past November 5 — the height is a target, not a promise — the catalyst is gone and the position thesis is gone with it.

The Levels That Matter Before November 5
For ZEC, the levels are clean: support at $1,081, the October 16 low after the inflation selloff, and resistance at $1,252 and then the $1,698 September peak. A close above $1,252 reopens the range top; a break of $1,081 puts the $1,049 mid-September low in view. For Bitcoin, the $80,000 close is the line in the sand, with $79,500 as the deeper floor and $83,000 as the reclaim that would turn the daily trend back up.

The two dates to keep on the calendar are October 27–28 (the Fed) and the November 5 NU7 window. The Zcash position is a bet that the second event matters more for one asset than the first one matters for everything else. That is the whole trade in a sentence, and it is why the Zcash news hub and the Bitcoin news hub are the two pages worth refreshing between now and then.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best crypto to buy now?
On October 24, 2026, the strongest dated catalyst sits with Zcash, whose NU7 upgrade is locked to mainnet block 3,543,405 for around November 5. Bitcoin is the safer core position but is drifting under $81,000 ahead of the Fed’s October 27–28 meeting.

What is Zcash’s NU7 upgrade?
NU7 is Zcash’s seventh network upgrade. It cuts target block spacing from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, adds a Network Sustainability Mechanism that diverts 60% of transaction fees into a reserve, and disables version 4 transactions, which makes legacy Sprout-pool funds unspendable at activation.

When does the Zcash NU7 upgrade activate?
NU7 activates at mainnet block 3,543,405, which the network is expected to reach around November 5, 2026. Because block production is not perfectly uniform, the exact time can shift slightly; the height, not a clock, controls activation.

Is Bitcoin a buy at $80,882?
Bitcoin trades under $81,000 with support near $80,000 and $79,500. A daily close below $80,000 opens the next leg down; a reclaim of $83,000 would turn the daily trend back up. The October 27–28 Fed decision is the next macro catalyst.

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

Ethena’s USDe goes native on OKX’s X Layer, with Aave first in line

Canary Capital’s exchange-traded fund (ETF), which tracks Hedera (HBAR), has continued its listing on NASDAQ with steady trading activity through a challenging year for the digital asset. Despite HBAR losing 52% of its value over the past twelve months and falling 28% year-to-date, the ETF posted a notable 69% cumulative increase in net inflows for the same period.

Institutional Resilience Amid Market DeclineThis persistent influx signals strong institutional commitment, even as market sentiment around HBAR remains weak. The ETF’s asset base reached $113 million, reflecting consistent demand. However, net flows have recently stagnated, with three consecutive weeks without any new inflows in the last quarter.

Last week saw net outflows of $558,980, attributed to larger investors reducing their positions amid geopolitical uncertainty. This withdrawal follows a period when the ETF was attracting several hundred thousand dollars per week, suggesting that while institutional participants are not broadly exiting, some have scaled back their exposure.

This slow but steady shift points to large investors methodically adjusting allocations in response to prolonged bearish trends, rather than abandoning their positions entirely.

A segment of institutional participants is treating current HBAR price levels as an opportunity, guided by indicators like the Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) index. When this metric turns negative, it signals the chance to purchase at what could be considered discounted prices, as earlier investors may have absorbed much of the earlier sell-off.

Mini dictionary: MVRV index — The Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) index measures the ratio between a cryptocurrency’s total market cap and its realized cap. A negative MVRV can indicate that the asset is potentially undervalued, often prompting accumulation by long-term investors.

HBAR Trading Activity and On-Chain DataHedera’s spot trading volume reached $154,901,395 over 24 hours, while derivatives activity was slightly higher at about $180 million for the same period. According to analytics provider SoSoValue, HBAR’s spot market turnover rate stands at 4.45% in that window. Although the long versus short ratio is currently marginally in favor of bullish traders at 1.069, the liquidation data paints a different picture.

Out of $430,500 in liquidated HBAR positions, $422,600 were from long positions, highlighting that short-sellers have recently gained momentum. They appear to be testing support near the $0.08 mark, with HBAR currently trading at $0.079. This price sits below the key SuperTrend resistance value of $0.096 and the $0.086 mid-range Bollinger Band.

MetricValueHBAR price (current)$0.079SuperTrend level$0.096Bollinger Band (mid)$0.086Spot trading volume (24h)$154,901,395Derivatives volume (24h)$180,000,000Long vs Short Ratio1.069Long liquidations (24h)$422,600Total liquidations (24h)$430,500ETF net inflow (12 months)+69%ETF asset value$113 millionHBAR yearly change-52%HBAR YTD change-28%Recovery to higher price levels could depend on renewed whale participation and further institutional buying. The lack of substantial inflows in recent weeks suggests that while conviction in the ETF remains, cautious positioning prevails.

A positive shift in trading activity and whale accumulation may be required if HBAR is to reclaim significant resistance points above $0.08 in the near term.

Uniswap (UNI) recorded its strongest surge in new wallet creations in nearly four years, with analytics firm Santiment reporting 2,295 new addresses generated in a single day. This marks the highest network growth for UNI since November 2022, as measured by the number of addresses interacting with the token for the first time.

Unprecedented network activity for UniswapSantiment, a blockchain analytics company, tracks network growth by counting unique addresses that engage with a protocol’s token for the first time. While this figure does not indicate individual users—since one person can control multiple wallets—the spike suggests an influx of fresh on-chain participation around UNI.

Analysts attributed the uptick in address creation to a combination of factors in the Uniswap ecosystem. The introduction of Uniswap v4, improvements in liquidity routing, and ongoing work on the Unichain platform may have contributed to the recent activity. However, Santiment did not identify a single dominant driver behind the daily spike.

The analysts explained that these developments expand access to the Uniswap protocol, but the one-day surge does not necessarily guarantee that all new addresses will remain active or represent sustainable adoption.

Mini dictionary: Santiment is a blockchain analytics platform that provides on-chain and social data to track activity across cryptocurrency networks.

Analysts pointed to new Uniswap v4 features, better liquidity routing, and ongoing Unichain development as likely explanations for the surge in new UNI addresses, while noting that it remains unclear which factor had the largest impact.

Market observers suggested that increased wallet growth is an adoption signal, especially as prices approach notable support levels. However, the analysts emphasized the need for sustained network activity to confirm a broader trend.

Key UNI price levels and next stepsAt the time of this activity, UNI was trading near $7. Santiment identified $7.00 as a crucial downside support and $7.50 as the first resistance zone to reclaim. The firm suggested that maintaining wallet growth above recent baselines could strengthen the case for a further price advance, while a drop in new address creation might indicate the spike was driven by short-term excitement.

In their analysis, a sustained hold above $7 along with robust network growth could set up UNI for a renewed push toward $8. A move above $7.50 would be the first sign of buyers regaining control, but the analysts cautioned that one day of price action or address growth is not enough to declare a breakout.

If UNI price falls below $7 at the same time new address creation declines, Santiment warned this would point to fleeting interest rather than lasting ecosystem growth. Conversely, persistent activity even on price dips, or price stability despite a decrease in address creation, would send mixed signals. The firm noted that several daily closes and consistent address counts are needed to assess whether the trend will persist.

Address metrics show how many new participants are interacting with UniSwap, while price action reveals if buyers can absorb selling pressure; these signals may diverge as markets respond to shifting demand.

Santiment’s methodology distinguishes between growing wallet counts—which reflect new engagement—and token price, which responds to buyer and seller dynamics. As a result, network growth does not always guarantee bullish price action, particularly if overall demand fails to keep pace with selling.

LevelInterpretation$7.00Key downside support$7.50Initial resistance, first reclaim target$8.00Potential retest if support and activity remain strong

Securitize has confirmed that 12 tokenized U.S. stocks, including Apple, Nvidia and Tesla, are live on Solana for eligible investors, with each token backed by a share the company says is never lent out.

Summary

12 stock tokens are live on Solana, including Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Securitize says backing shares are never lent out, and eligible U.S. investors can participate.
Holders receive security entitlements; direct registration requires conversion, subject to the available arrangements.
The original launch announcement dates to Oct. 8, before the latest posts confirming availability.

In its Oct. 23 X post, Securitize said that eligible investors in the United States, European Union and other permitted jurisdictions can trade the products through Securitize Stocks. Solana repeated the availability announcement, including the one-for-one backing and no-lending claims.

Securitize Stocks went live after an Oct. 8 announcement
Securitize’s original announcement named Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet, Tesla, Meta, Amazon, Netflix, Circle, SpaceX, Strategy, and Palantir in the initial offering. The latest promotional image displays the same companies, including Alphabet’s GOOGL ticker.

The company had announced the product on Oct. 8. Its Oct. 23 posts describe the stocks as available, without announcing a new set of 12 companies or a separate expansion in the number of products.

As crypto.news previously reported on Oct. 9, the stock entitlement structure gives holders an interest through an intermediary. Simply holding a token does not put the investor’s name on the underlying company’s shareholder register.

The earlier coverage identified eligibility and the precise underlying interest as questions for individual products, particularly SpaceX. Inclusion in a platform’s catalog does not by itself establish identical access conditions for every security or investor.

The Oct. 8 release named Jump Trading as a market maker supporting the initial Solana offering. It described transactions settling in USDC and identified Securitize Europe Brokerage and Markets, S.A. as the offering entity in the EU. Planned lending and collateral uses were described as future applications, including potential support through Aave.

Eligible US investors must complete onboarding
Securitize’s product page identifies Securitize Markets, LLC as the SEC-registered broker-dealer offering the stocks. The page says participation remains subject to onboarding, identity verification, and jurisdictional eligibility.

Investors can buy with USDC and hold the tokens in an approved Solana wallet, according to the product description. The page advertises trading 24 hours a day, five days a week, while describing seven-day trading as a future feature.

The platform says an underlying share is held in a segregated account for each tokenized stock. Its description includes dividend payments after applicable withholding and participation in shareholder votes.

Securitize’s disclosures state that the underlying issuers have neither sponsored nor endorsed the products. Investors hold security entitlements through the broker-dealer and become registered shareholders only if they convert.

The page warns that extended-hours trading carries additional risks. Its USDC disclosure states that the stablecoin is neither legal tender nor a bank deposit and has no FDIC or SIPC protection.

Kraken’s xStocks carry different access and ownership terms
Kraken’s tokenized stock vaults, introduced on Sep. 14, offered estimated net yields of 2% on SPYx and QQQx and 1.8% on NVDAx during the initial launch period. The products track two U.S.-listed funds and Nvidia shares.

Kraken said those tokens provide exposure to the referenced assets’ prices without the voting rights, dividend rights, or legal claims against the underlying companies associated with conventional share ownership. The vault service excluded residents of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

Its vault documentation described a three-day redemption process and risks including liquidation, smart-contract failures, liquidity shortages, bad debt and cross-chain transactions. Kraken warned that a stablecoin losing its peg or a custodian failing could reduce a user’s vault balance.

Separately, Payward’s Sep. 24 Ledger wallet partnership outlined hardware-wallet support for eligible xStocks customers. The companies planned deeper integration so users could buy, sell, and transfer tokens while holding their own keys.

Payward put cumulative xStocks transaction volume above $42 billion in that announcement. Its terms continued to exclude U.S. persons, and hardware-wallet support did not remove the jurisdictional restrictions. The September coverage distinguished holding tokens in a wallet from depositing them into a lending strategy.

Robinhood stock tokens use derivative contracts
Robinhood’s stock token terms describe its Classic Stock Tokens as derivative contracts under MiFID II. Holders receive exposure to a referenced asset’s price without owning the underlying shares or receiving voting rights, according to the company’s description.

Robinhood said the assets supporting those contracts were held through a U.S.-licensed institution. Its stock tokens remained unavailable to U.S. investors in the September coverage, despite referencing securities traded in American markets.

The same coverage reported approximately $44 million in Robinhood tokenized assets in a comparison that put Ondo at $857 million and xStocks at $487 million. Those figures described the assets in that comparison, rather than trading volume.

Securitize’s Oct. 8 release described possible future trading on NYSE and OKXICE venues, while its disclosures said neither venue had launched and access remained subject to approval and review. The company reserved the right to withdraw listings where needed or required.