Key events preview:
CME Group will launch Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Uniswap (UNI) futures on October 19;
The Zcash development team plans to assess the performance of the NU7 testnet on October 20 before finalizing the mainnet upgrade and activation block height;
Fables, a trading platform in the Robinhood Chain ecosystem, plans to hold its TGE on October 20;
LayerZero (ZRO) will unlock approximately 23.28 million tokens at 7:00 p.m. Beijing time on October 20, equivalent to about 3.83% of the circulating supply and worth approximately $43.3 million;
The Solana Alpenglow upgrade will launch on mainnet on October 21, reducing finality time to approximately 150 milliseconds;
Decentralized exchanges Velodrome and Aerodrome set to merge into Aero on October 21;
SpaceX to report third-quarter 2026 results and host webcast on October 20
October 19
Exchanges:
CME to launch Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Uniswap (UNI) futures on October 19
According to an official CME announcement, CME Group will launch Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Uniswap (UNI) futures on October 19, with both standard and micro contracts. Standard BCH contracts will be for 250 coins and micro contracts for 25; standard UNI contracts will be for 10,000 coins and micro contracts for 1,000. This is CME's latest expansion of crypto futures offerings this year, following the launch of futures for major tokens including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and SOL.
Upbit to delist ICX trading pair on October 19; withdrawals available through November 18
South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit announced that it will end support for ICX/KRW trading at 15:00 KST on October 19, 2026. Unfilled orders will be canceled, and withdrawals will be supported through November 18. Upbit said it had designated ICX as an investment warning asset on August 28, and a further review found that the grounds for the designation had not been resolved, prompting the decision to end trading support. The ICON network suffered a replay attack on August 27, in which two signed withdrawal messages were reused 1,492 times, releasing 119.9 million ICX and 531,600 bnUSD. The network was down for approximately 25 hours. Following the announcement, the exchange will no longer support ICX airdrops, wallet upgrades, migrations, or hard forks.
Binance to suspend FIL deposits and withdrawals on October 19 to support Filecoin network upgrade and hard fork
According to an official Binance announcement, Binance will suspend deposits and withdrawals of Filecoin (FIL) network tokens from 19:59 UTC+8 on October 19, 2026, to support the network upgrade and hard fork. The upgrade and hard fork will take place at block height 6,470,279, estimated for 20:59 UTC+8 on October 19. The announcement said trading of the network token will not be affected and Binance will handle all technical aspects for users. Deposits and withdrawals will reopen once the upgraded network is stable, with no further announcement.
Binance to support IoTeX (IOTX) network upgrade and hard fork
Binance expects to suspend deposits and withdrawals of IoTeX (IOTX) network tokens at 09:00 UTC+8 on October 19, 2026, to support the network upgrade and hard fork. The project team will carry out the upgrade and hard fork at block height 53,533,081, estimated for 10:00 UTC+8 on October 19, 2026.
Of Special Interest:
2026 Financial Street Forum Annual Conference opens October 19; central bank digital yuan system and digital yuan smart contract ecosystem service framework expected to be unveiled
The 2026 Financial Street Forum Annual Conference will be held in Beijing's Financial Street from October 19 to 22, with more than 400 guests from over 40 countries and regions attending. The 15th edition, approved by the State Council, is themed “Openness, Cooperation, and Inclusiveness—Building a New Ecosystem for Global Financial Development.” The conference plans to hold 21 sessions across its main and parallel forums, as well as three special conferences. For the first time, the National Financial Regulatory Administration will host the Insurance Conference, while the Investment Conference will make its debut, joining the Fintech Conference in the special conference program. More than 100 projects, including an intelligent agent for credit risk-control strategy sandboxes and an intelligent evolution platform for quantum-fusion algorithms, will be unveiled. The conference will expand to an African venue for the first time and hold its first three-city broadcast connecting Beijing, Hong Kong, and London. Seven events will take place at five overseas venues in Hong Kong, London, Paris, Toronto, and Nairobi.
The 2026 Fintech Conference will further innovate its format and expand its scale, with 13 sessions on cutting-edge topics including artificial intelligence, blockchain, and digital-intelligence finance. Within the conference framework, the People's Bank of China will host the Chengfang Fintech Forum and a seminar on financial applications of AI and risk prevention and control, and will continue to organize a series of events such as the Fintech Application Scenarios Competition. It plans to release related outcomes, including a central bank digital yuan system and a digital yuan smart contract ecosystem service framework.
Project Updates:
U.S.-listed Universal Safety to rename itself DeFi Capital Markets on October 19 and pivot to blockchain financial markets
U.S.-listed Universal Safety Products (UUU) announced that it will change its name to DeFi Capital Markets on October 19 and trade under the new ticker “DCM.” It will gradually discontinue its existing product business and focus on asset tokenization, digital assets, market making, quantitative trading, and blockchain financial markets.
October 20
Policy and Regulation:
South Korea to discuss virtual asset taxation with five major crypto exchanges on October 20
The South Korean government will convene representatives from the five major virtual asset exchanges—Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Digital X, and GOPAX—along with executives from the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA) on October 20 to hear their views on virtual asset taxation, which is planned to take effect next year. Under the current proposal, income from virtual asset transfers and lending would be subject to a 22% tax rate, comprising other income tax and local income tax, after a basic tax-free allowance of 2.5 million won. The tax policy has been postponed three times since it was first proposed in 2020. The industry says tax standards for staking, airdrops, and DeFi transactions, as well as tax infrastructure, are not yet in place and is calling for another postponement. The government is currently proceeding with preparations according to the original schedule.
Exchanges:
Binance to delist EPIC and QUICK on October 28; opening new positions prohibited from October 20
Binance will stop trading and delist all spot trading pairs for EpicChain (EPIC) and QuickSwap (QUICK) at 03:00 UTC on October 28, 2026. In addition, Binance Futures will close and automatically settle positions in the above token contracts at 09:00 UTC on October 20. Opening new positions will be prohibited from 08:30 UTC on October 20. Withdrawal services will no longer be supported from 03:00 UTC on December 28.
Project Updates:
Fables plans FABLES token TGE on October 20
Fables, a trading platform in the Robinhood Chain ecosystem, announced that the FABLES token is scheduled for a TGE on October 20, alongside the launch of its ve(3,3) mechanism. The points campaign has been extended through October 19. The project will release claiming instructions on October 12, and points participants must choose between claiming liquid tokens or locking them as veFABLES between October 12 and 19. The snapshot for PROLOGUE holders is planned for October 17–18, with the final conversion ratio to be confirmed after the snapshot. The team says every 40 eligible PROLOGUE can be redeemed for at least 1 liquid FABLES. A maximum of 75 million FABLES will be in circulation at the TGE; the team's allocation will not be in circulation at that time.
Zcash development teams plan to assess NU7 testnet performance on October 20 before finalizing the mainnet upgrade and activation block height
According to the Zcash community forum, Zcash development organizations and engineering teams have agreed on the contents and timeline for the NU7 network upgrade. The plan is to complete the code by September 30, activate it on the official testnet on October 6, and make a final decision on mainnet activation on October 20 based on test results. Mainnet launch is tentatively scheduled for November 5. NU7 primarily includes reducing block intervals to 25 seconds (ZIP-218), disabling v4 transactions, and incorporating proposals related to a new issuance mechanism based on the vote results (the ZIP-234 alternative and ZIP-235): retaining the halving mechanism and initiating reissuance from February 2031. The upgrade does not include a new transaction format and is not expected to have a major impact on wallets, though infrastructure such as full nodes, indexers, and block explorers may need adjustments.
Strive plans to increase SATS preferred stock IPO to 7 million shares and raise $630 million, with closing expected on October 20
Bitcoin treasury company Strive has increased the size of its IPO of 15% Series A perpetual preferred stock, SATS, by 2 million shares to 7 million shares, at a public offering price of $90 per share. Subject to customary closing conditions, the offering and sale of SATS shares is expected to close on October 20, 2026. Strive expects gross proceeds from the offering to be approximately $630 million before underwriting discounts, commissions, and the company's estimated offering expenses.
Osmosis community proposes ending OSMO inflationary issuance; proposal set to go on-chain on October 20
The Osmosis community has proposed ending OSMO inflationary issuance, stopping the creation of new tokens for staking rewards and community pool allocations so that staking rewards come entirely from protocol revenue. The proposal would also pause the daily vesting of developer tokens. The remaining approximately 51.9 million developer tokens would stay in the module account, with any future release subject to a separate governance decision. The proposal is scheduled to go on-chain on October 20 and, if approved, would take effect from the next daily cycle. It is currently still under discussion on the forum.
Mint Blockchain announces shutdown; users must withdraw assets by October 20
Mint Blockchain announced that it officially ceased operations on April 17, 2026. Users must withdraw ETH, WBTC, USDC, and USDT from Mint Chain to Ethereum mainnet by October 20, 2026. Assets not withdrawn by the deadline cannot be recovered.
StandX announces phased shutdown and no token issuance; perpetual futures will be reduce-only from October 20
StandX announced a phased shutdown and said it will not issue a token. It will make a one-time DUSD airdrop with no lockup, funded by remaining project revenue and additional contributions from the team. The platform is ending all yield today. Perpetual futures will be reduce-only from October 20. All open positions will be closed at mark price on January 15, 2027, and DUSD redemptions and withdrawals will close on January 31. The airdrop will be available to claim from 08:00 Beijing time on November 1 until 16:00 on December 31.
Of Special Interest:
SpaceX to report third-quarter 2026 results and host webcast on October 20
SpaceX (SPCX.O) will report its third-quarter 2026 results and host a webcast on October 20, 2026.
Token Unlocks:
LayerZero (ZRO) will unlock approximately 23.28 million tokens at 7:00 p.m. Beijing time on October 20, equal to about 3.83% of circulating supply and worth approximately $43.3 million
Kaito (KAITO) will unlock approximately 17.6 million tokens at 8:00 p.m. Beijing time on October 20, equal to about 3.69% of circulating supply and worth approximately $5 million
October 21
Project Updates:
Lighter announces third-quarter investor call on October 21
According to Lighter's official X account, the project will hold its third-quarter investor call at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, October 21. Founder Vladimir Novakovski (@vnovakovski) will share the latest project developments, followed by a Q&A session.
Velodrome and Aerodrome set to merge into Aero on October 21, with each VELO converting to approximately 0.044 AERO
Aero, the merger project of decentralized exchanges Aerodrome and Velodrome, has announced the token conversion terms and deadline. The merger will begin at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on October 21, when token emissions from both legacy platforms will stop. Existing AERO will convert to new AERO at a 1:1 ratio, while each VELO will convert to approximately 0.044 AERO; the same ratio applies to liquid and locked tokens. Aerodrome holders will receive 94.5% of the new token supply, while Velodrome holders will receive 5.5%. As of October 9, the two exchanges had a combined total value locked of approximately $422 million. Existing veAERO and veVELO locks will convert to the new sAERO, with the remaining lockup duration carried over. However, migration must be completed manually through the official portal; self-custodied assets will not convert automatically. The merger was announced by Dromos Labs in November 2025.
Solana's Alpenglow upgrade to launch on mainnet on October 21, cutting finality to approximately 150 milliseconds
Solana development team Anza announced that the Alpenglow upgrade will launch on the mainnet-beta environment at around 14:50 UTC on October 21. Anza said the upgrade took 18 months to develop and that the mainnet migration will be completed within a single slot. Once completed, Solana's network finality is expected to fall sharply from several seconds to approximately 150 milliseconds. Alpenglow aims to further optimize Solana's consensus mechanism and improve network confirmation speed and performance, making it a major upgrade in the evolution of Solana infrastructure.
Extended to migrate settlement network from Starknet to Arc; users holding USDT and other assets must convert or withdraw by October 21
On-chain perpetual futures trading platform Extended said in a post on X that it will migrate its settlement network from Starknet to Arc next week. Trading will continue during the migration, while deposits and withdrawals may be paused for approximately two hours. After the migration, the platform will use USDC to pay gas fees and plans to expand its range of perpetual futures to include stocks, commodities, and crypto assets. Since Arc does not support USDT or wBTC, users holding more than $1 of these assets must convert or withdraw them by 20:00 on October 21. Otherwise, their accounts may be restricted and related positions may be forcibly liquidated.
October 22
Project Updates:
Starknet community launches sentiment poll on transition to an independent quantum-resistant L1; voting ends October 22
According to the Starknet community forum, the community has launched a seven-day, non-binding poll to gauge STRK holders' views on exploring a transition to an independent quantum-resistant L1. If supported, research will begin and a follow-up proposal will be put forward; if opposed, work on quantum resistance for the L2 will continue. STRK will be retained regardless of the outcome, with no new token issued, and the Ethereum bridge will remain open. There is no timeline for a transition.
As of October 18, the research proposal on whether Starknet should continue transitioning to an L1 had received more than 345 million votes in favor, or 99.95%, and approximately 157,700 votes against, or 0.05%. Voting on the proposal ends on October 22.
Bitwise's spot Dogecoin ETF BWOW to liquidate and close; investors will receive net asset value in cash on October 22
According to an official Bitwise announcement, the Bitwise Dogecoin ETF (BWOW) will liquidate and close. October 14 will be its last trading day on NYSE Arca, and investors will receive the fund's net asset value in cash on October 22. Bitwise said the move is part of its ongoing efforts to optimize its product lineup in response to changing investor needs.
October 23
Project Updates:
Venus to end support for opBNB, Optimism, and Unichain on October 23
Venus Protocol said that Venus will end support for opBNB, Optimism, and Unichain on October 23. Users with open positions on these three chains are advised to close them and withdraw their funds before October 23.
Metis to end support for Stargate on October 23
According to Metis's official X account, two changes are coming to Metis Andromeda this month: support for Stargate will end on October 23, and LayerZero V1 routing must be shut down before then; LayerZero Labs' DVN and Executor will stop serving Metis on October 30. Users providing liquidity to Stargate pools on Metis must withdraw it by October 23. Those with staked assets must first unstake, then select Metis Andromeda in the Stargate app to withdraw. Holders of m.USDC, m.USDT, WETH, and METIS are unaffected. These assets are issued by the official Metis bridge, and minting, redemption, and the official bridge between Ethereum and Metis will continue as usual. Stargate V1 pools will also close on all chains on December 15.
Nvidia-backed AI company Firmus plans Australian IPO on October 23 at an approximately $30.6 billion valuation
Firmus, an AI infrastructure company that evolved from a Bitcoin mining business, plans to raise up to $5.5 billion through an IPO at an approximately $30.6 billion valuation, with investor demand already exceeding the offering size. Firmus plans to allocate about half of the offering shares, including the over-allotment option, to selected existing strategic and financial investors. Investors previously disclosed by the company include Nvidia, Coatue, Blackstone, and Jane Street. The offering would be the second-largest IPO in Australia's history. Underwriters expect institutional subscriptions to close on Thursday, one day earlier than originally planned. The prospectus is expected to be filed on October 12, with trading on the Australian Securities Exchange to begin on October 23.
Firmus was valued at approximately $10.5 billion after completing a $2 billion strategic equity financing in August. Based on the proposed offering price, the company's valuation has nearly tripled in two months. Firmus develops and operates modular AI factories, currently running data centers in Melbourne and Singapore while continuing to expand across the Asia-Pacific region.
REX Shares and Osprey Funds update SEI staking ETF filing, setting proposed effective date for October 23
Sei Network said on X that REX Shares and Osprey Funds have updated their filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a SEI staking ETF, setting October 23 as the proposed effective date. The ETF is intended to provide spot exposure to SEI and support staking rewards. REX Shares and Osprey Funds have previously filed similar ETF applications for assets including NEAR, HYPE, SUI, and AVAX.
Token Unlocks:
SOON (SOON) will unlock approximately 20.24 million tokens at 4:30 p.m. Beijing time on October 23, equal to about 3.50% of circulating supply and worth approximately $6.3 million
October 24
Token Unlocks:
SoSoValue (SOSO) will unlock approximately 23.46 million tokens at 5:00 p.m. Beijing time on October 24, equal to about 5.63% of circulating supply and worth approximately $6.9 million
October 25
Token Unlocks:
Plasma (XPL) will unlock approximately 227 million tokens at 8:00 p.m. Beijing time on October 25, equal to about 5.02% of circulating supply and worth approximately $17.9 million
Humanity (H) will unlock approximately 266 million tokens at 8:00 a.m. Beijing time on October 25, equal to about 6.84% of circulating supply and worth approximately $15 million
ChainOpera AI (COAI) will unlock approximately 19.55 million tokens at 3:00 p.m. Beijing time on October 25, equal to about 6.36% of circulating supply and worth approximately $5 million