Ukraine’s international reserves fell by 3.2% in September, – National Bank
The country’s current foreign currency reserves cover 4.0 months of future imports and are sufficient to maintain market stability.
The overall 3.2% decline in reserves was due to the regulator’s foreign exchange interventions and payments on external obligations exceeding inflows from international partners.
The following key factors determined reserve dynamics in September:
🔸the regulator’s net sale of foreign currency on the market, totaling $5,449.9 million; 🔸inflows of $890.4 million to government accounts from the World Bank; 🔸the government’s conversion into hryvnias of $3.81 billion received from the European Union under the Ukraine Support Loan program.
IMF forces El Salvador to HALT its Bitcoin purchases.
After approving a fresh $138M disbursement under its $1.4B program, the IMF granted El Salvador a waiver for breaching its Bitcoin accumulation limits set by the Fund.
The Fund is also demanding greater transparency around the government’s Bitcoin holdings in continued efforts to reduce the state’s involvement in Bitcoin-related activities.
No further government BTC accumulation is envisaged beyond documented donations, effectively endings El Salvador’s sovereign Bitcoin buying spree.
In your opinion, why is the IMF forbidding El Salvador from continuing to buy Bitcoin?
World Bank Downgrades Ukraine’s GDP Growth Forecast for 2026
Ukraine’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth will slow to 1.2% in 2026, down from 1.8% last year, and will reach just 1.5% the following year, compared with the previous forecast of 4%. Reasons for the downgrade The World Bank published this updated forecast in its report, "Europe and Central Asia Economic Update: Making AI Work for Everyone: Jobs, Firms, and Productivity."
Anyone who trades on Alpha, please tell me what exactly motivates you to trade there, what its listings and drawbacks are, and what advantages it has over other trading platforms on Binance? I want to learn as much as possible and gain the most knowledge I can about trading assets. #trade
As we can see, artificial intelligence is steadily making its way into everyday trading on Binance
GREGORY_MAN
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👨💻 AI tools for trading have appeared
📍 Binance has introduced Binance Intelligence — a new AI layer integrated into the crypto ecosystem. It combines three products: Agent OS, Binance AI, and Binance AI Pro. They are designed to help users work with market data, track assets, and create trading scenarios without special skills in finance or programming.
🔎 Agent OS is aimed primarily at developers. The tool allows Binance to be connected to external AI systems, independently define the permissions available to them, and operate through an isolated sub-account. In case of problems, the user can use Emergency Stop.
🤖 Binance AI is a free assistant inside the app. It adapts the Markets section to the specific user's assets and interests. Its features include personalized text and audio Market Briefs, Smart Tracker for tracking assets, Smart Alerts about important changes, as well as AI analysis of cryptocurrencies, stocks, and ETFs. Users can also ask additional questions about the market.
➡️ Separately, Binance is preparing Binance AI Pro for traders. The service will allow users to describe trading strategies in plain language, test them, and launch them after user confirmation.
South Korea Leads East Asia's Crypto Market Driven by AI Tokens — Chainalysis
South Korea has taken the top spot among East Asian crypto markets, reaching a volume of $449.1 billion between July 2025 and June 2026. This rapid market growth was mainly driven by active trading in artificial intelligence (AI) tokens, making the country a regional leader. Dominance of AI Tokens and Retail Market Driver According to Chainalysis, South Korea's crypto market volume grew by 12.3% in 2026 compared to the previous year. The main driver of growth remains retail investors, who are actively investing in AI-related cryptocurrencies. At the same time, centralized exchange volume in the country increased by 16.3%, while institutional participation remains limited due to regulatory barriers. "South Korea's market is known for its focus on retail investors," noted Francis Kang, Executive Director of Korea Blockchain Week. Korean financial institutions are only beginning to build digital asset teams and pilot projects in stablecoins and tokenization. AI tokens enjoy particular popularity among investors. By June 2026, this category became the largest by trading volume share in Korean won, even surpassing payment tokens like XRP. Trading volume of AI cryptocurrencies in Korean won is 19.5 times higher than in Japanese yen. The most popular assets include: Worldcoin (WLD) — $7.41BSAHARA — $3.2BVIRTUAL — $2.7BBIO — $2.BNEAR — $1.7B Market leaders shift quickly: VIRTUAL and KAITO tokens, which dominated in 2025, yielded their positions to Worldcoin and SAHARA. Chainalysis analysts emphasize that Korean traders react faster to AI token trends than their peers in other regional markets. Crypto Market Trends in Japan, Hong Kong, and China Japan remains the second-largest crypto market in East Asia with a volume of $228.3 billion. A key feature of the Japanese market is the high share of decentralized exchanges (DEXs), accounting for 34.5% of the service segment — the highest indicator in the region. Since 2022, DEX activity in Japan has grown by over 200%, with about 25% of users transferring funds into DeFi protocols after withdrawing from exchanges. "The most notable activity is occurring in perpetual futures contracts," stated Taishi Sato, CEO of DeFimans. Japanese traders actively use platforms like Hyperliquid to manage stock portfolios and macro exposures, rather than just traditional crypto trading. Hong Kong, for its part, has become the region's primary institutional crypto hub. Institutional platforms, such as OTC desks, custodians, and market makers, account for 16% of inflows into the service segment — three times higher than any other East Asian country. Total B2B transfers in Hong Kong reached nearly $24 billion over the year, while net institutional capital flowing through regulated platforms since mid-2022 reached $17.4 billion. In China, despite an official ban on cryptocurrency services, P2P transactions dominate, accounting for 59.1% of the total crypto economy. The number of unique wallets making peer-to-peer stablecoin transfers increased 43-fold from Q1 2024 to Q2 2026. South Korea plans to pass a new digital asset law in the second half of 2026, which could further impact the development of the national cryptocurrency market. Do you think that in the near future, Japan or South Korea could catch up with—and eventually surpass—China in terms of influence on the Asian cryptocurrency and blockchain market?
Hong Kong Financial Services Secretary Christopher Hui says the city will file an amendment bill "within this year" to license crypto trading, custody, advisory, and management services.
U.S. government moves over $100 million in BTC and BNB. A sale hasn't been confirmed
Wallets supposedly linked to the U.S. government moved more than $100 million in crypto on Tuesday, according to data from blockchain intelligence firm Arkham. The government sent 833.599 BTC, worth about $71.6 million at the time, to two addresses Arkham doesn't label. Within hours, both addresses passed the coins on to addresses Arkham labels as Coinbase Prime deposit addresses. A separate government-labeled wallet sent about 40,285 BNB, worth $31.63 million, to another unlabeled address, 0x7F68F63fB3A9CCCf352409603421E0A574FbAD90. That address then sent all of it on to a second unlabeled address, 0x6fB3Fe7b7E78AbB84CE007cBC7412C850B15A579. The BTC came from a wallet Arkham labels as Potapenko/Turogin forfeited funds (568.7 BTC) and from coins seized in the Bitfinex hack case (264.9 BTC). The BNB came from assets seized from Alameda Research. The government still holds about $27.5 billion in crypto, all of it seized in enforcement actions. To date, it has not used taxpayer money to make new purchases. Such transfers often spark fears of an impending sale, but that doesn’t appear to be the case here. "A transfer is not the same as a sale. Under a March 2025 executive order, bitcoin forfeited to the government is meant to be held in a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve," Jose Rosell, market commentator, said on X $BNB $BTC
Verevskyi bought out more than 1 million additional Kernel shares
Namsen Limited, a company linked to Andriy Verevskyi, purchased 1.03 million shares in agricultural holding company Kernel on October 2. This was reported by the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The shares were bought at a price of 19.93 Polish zlotys each. The total value of the block was about 20.5 million zlotys, or $5.27 million. The transaction was carried out as part of a mandatory share buyout procedure and the second of the five buyout periods provided for. Kernel shareholders may submit offers to sell their shares until December 29, 2026.
Joseph Che, CEO of Solana Company, says cryptocurrencies could enter another supercycle if China finds a way to manage risks and reopens access to trading and broader blockchain use. He notes that Beijing appears to be using Hong Kong as a testing ground for managing this adoption. $SOL
Ondo is bringing an AI IPO ONCHAIN as it expands beyond its $1 BILLION tokenized stock platform.
Ondo Finance is launching tokenized exposure to an unnamed pre-IPO AI company, giving eligible investors 24/7 access through self-custody wallets.
The tokens don’t represent direct ownership. Payouts are tied to the value realized per common share at a qualifying liquidity event, including an IPO.
Of note, AI is just the START. Robotics, cybersecurity, biotech and infrastructure are NEXT.
Oil prices rise due to a storm in the Gulf of Mexico and supply disruption risks
On October 7, oil prices rose as the market evaluated the risks of supply cuts caused by a storm approaching US oil-producing areas, as well as attacks by Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis on Saudi Arabia. Brent crude futures rose by $1.05, or 1.04%, to $101.63 a barrel as of 04:00 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures increased by 80 cents, or 0.89%, to $90.24 a barrel. US forecasters stated on October 6 that the storm forming in the Gulf of Mexico would become the first Atlantic hurricane of 2026 within two days and strike oil and gas facilities. Tim Waterer, chief analyst at KCM Trade, said the storm was an unwelcome complication for crude oil, increasing the risk of production and refining disruptions at a time when the market is already facing sufficient supply issues.
17 years ago, you could buy 1,309 BTC for $1. On October 5, 2009, the first service for exchanging Bitcoin for dollars appeared. At that time, 1 BTC cost only about $0.00076. If you had spent just $1 on Bitcoin back then, those 1,309 BTC would be worth approximately $112.6 million today. $BTC
Solana is expanding its influence in on-chain finance.
Solana is expanding its influence in on-chain finance.
Solana (SOL) is increasingly competing with Ethereum in decentralized finance. DEX trading activity on the network already surpasses that of Ethereum and several popular Layer 2s, pointing to Solana’s growing role in the on-chain economy.
Another important area of development is the use of blockchain beyond the traditional crypto market. More than 90 banks and credit unions in North Dakota can now make stablecoin transfers through Solana-based infrastructure. This creates additional use cases for the network in financial transactions.
Major Patent Agreement Between Qualcomm and Huawei Covering 5G and AI.
US chipmaker Qualcomm and Chinese tech giant Huawei have announced the signing of a comprehensive, multi-year cross-patent licensing agreement covering 5G, artificial intelligence, computing, and networking technologies.
Under the terms of the agreement, both companies will gain access to each other's patent portfolios, and Qualcomm will also incorporate certain patents registered by Huawei in the US into its own holdings.
This landmark agreement—the financial details of which were not disclosed—strengthens patent-focused cooperation between the two giants while further boosting Huawei's global intellectual property revenues.
Bloomberg Terminal adds live data from Hyperliquid’s perpetual markets
Hyperliquid perpetual contracts are now available via the Bloomberg Terminal, bringing data from the decentralized exchange into a widely used professional market data workflow. The contracts became available in the terminal just a few hours ago. The availability of market data can make it easier for professional users to search, monitor, and compare Hyperliquid with other trading venues, potentially contributing to increased analyst attention and institutional crypto research. Institutional investors typically require controls for key management, execution, and custody beyond access to pricing data, as noted in discussions of institutional custody and execution infrastructure. Similarly, clearing and regulatory registration differ from the visibility provided by a market data platform. Hyperliquid operates on its own Layer 1 blockchain and supports over 100 assets via HyperCore. However, based on available data, Bloomberg access does not confirm real-time data, a direct connection to the exchange, institutional participation, or regulatory approval. Hyperliquid Perpetuals Rely on Hourly Funding Hyperliquid documentation describes perpetuals as derivatives with no expiration date. Funding payments occur hourly and are designed to help keep contract prices anchored to the spot market, so there is no scheduled settlement date forcing positions to close. The documented margin structure uses USDC collateral for linear contracts denominated in USDT. Documentation identifies PURR-USD and HYPE-USD as exceptions denominated in USDC. This market structure helps clarify what terminal users can monitor, but on its own says nothing about who gets access to the data or whether that access converts into trading. Hyperliquid Demand and Bloomberg Terminal Listing In the report, Bloomberg inclusion is presented as a potential sign of growing interest from traditional finance in decentralized platforms. A more useful test is whether this leads to tangible changes: sustained institutional attention, further Bloomberg coverage, strategic partnerships, or increased exchange activity. Polymarket pricing is at 71.5% for Hyperliquid, up from 68% over the previous 24 hours. This is a predicted market probability, not a verified forecast, and it is not proof that Bloomberg access caused the price repricing.
ZachXBT said he infiltrated a Chinese organized crime network that laundered over $1 billion across multiple Lazarus Group-linked crypto exploits.
Posing as a client, the sleuth said he gathered intelligence that helped freeze funds tied to the $1 .5 billion Bybit hack and attribute illicit activity onchain.