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Meta has postponed the implementation of its revised Commercial Terms and Self-Serve Ad Terms to November 20. Originally set to be implemented on October 30, the revised schedule came after some publishers and advertisers raised concerns regarding a new website-crawling provision.
The outcome of this decision will determine who holds the right to use journalistic content in AI products. On 23 October, Reuters reported that the complaints had been submitted to the EU and UK competition authorities. Meta dismissed the allegations about wanting to have unlimited rights to content published online. The company said that the postponement gives it a chance to give an explanation about its crawlers. It also reminded publishers of the fact that they have a right to exclude or allow the usage of their sites through robots.txt, a file giving instructions to automated bots.
Publishers demand security from Meta
Publishers are looking for more than just a sense of security. UK News Media Association chief Theo Bamber referred to the postponement as “a pause, not a solution,” and urged the introduction of legally binding commitments. In a letter dated October 22, WAN-IFRA called for binding robots.txt protections, revocation of Meta’s permission to generate test credentials, measures preventing the bypassing of paywalls, as well as the possibility of opting out of crawling without losing access to business tools.
WAN-IFRA president Ladina Heimgartner summed up the industry’s concerns: Journalism is not raw material to be collected as a condition of being present on a platform. The issue is in the language. Meta’s revised terms allow the automatic harvesting of data from online content “associated with” business accounts for the purpose of creating advertisements and business products. Meta has dropped the word “training.” However, legal experts told Nieman Lab that “develop” may still be interpreted as AI training.
Moreover, the new terms do not contain any explicit statement that robots.txt will be honored. Meta disputes that reading. The postponement has not contributed much to easing regulatory concerns. Although the European Commission welcomed the move, Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority said it would continue examining Meta’s terms. There is also an increasing call by publishers for better protections.
Angela Mills Wade, the executive director of the European Publishers Council, stated that there should be no reason for the company to gain control over publishers’ content simply due to it having a Meta business account. In the US, Senator Marsha Blackburn has even demanded that the company guarantee the withdrawal of the new terms altogether. The dispute goes beyond publishers’ control over their content. It could also affect the growing market for AI licensing deals.
As Cryptopolitan reported on October 15, CNN joined Google’s paid News AI pilot, which now includes more than 400 publications. Such deals may be harder to reach once platforms are allowed to access content more broadly under their commercial terms. Small AI developers may also suffer against those firms that have control over both distribution and access to content. The OECD points out that the current concentration of AI resources plus vertical integration entails risks for competition. Still, publishers are not counting on licensing to deliver substantial revenue.
The Reuters Institute’s 2026 survey found that only 20% of publisher respondents expected substantial AI-related income. Another 49% anticipated minor contributions, while 20% expected none. Better tracking could help publishers negotiate. On October 2, the SPUR Coalition introduced a telemetry standard to record when AI systems retrieve or cite their content. It could strengthen their bargaining position, although it cannot guarantee payment. For now, publishers want Meta to turn its assurances into binding protections for crawling, opt-outs, and licensed AI use before November 20.
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On Thursday, the Kimchi account on X sent a brand-new Pump.fun token to a ~$15 million market cap in minutes. About 30 minutes later, the post disappeared, and the coin tumbled by over 98%. The account shared a photo of a poster on a sidewalk in Manhattan that read “project kimchi, same internet, different outcome.”
The poster had a Pump.fun logo, App Store badges, and a QR code pointing to a fresh token called Project Kimchi. Market cap hit $10 million in seconds and peaked at about $15 million, though Lookonchain pegged the high at around $14 million. Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen reposted the promo from his personal account before erasing it. Traders who rescanned the QR code later said it no longer led to the token. At one snapshot, the market cap was ~$284k, with $8.66M in trading volume. Another got it at ~$600,000 in minutes and ~$183,000 the next day. Market cap prices the full supply at the last trade.
Users blame Kimchi drop on several factors
Lookonchain flagged wallets that bought Kimchi early and sold into the rally for a combined $385,000+ in profit. It listed three addresses on Solana. Early posts blamed an account hack. Skeptical on-chain sleuths doubted this within minutes, citing Cohen’s speedy repost and just as fast reversal. Cohen did not post any hack warning after pulling the repost, trader Fabiano said on X. If they had a partnership deal, it made little sense for Kimchi to delete Pump.fun posts, he added.
Kimchi, real name Clayton Kim, has since scrubbed Pump.fun from his X bio and wiped older posts about joining the platform. By Friday, neither Kim nor Pump.fun had responded. On October 20, two days before launch, Kimchi became a creative partner with Pump.fun. Cohen called him “the first ever example of a trader becoming a celebrity.” X user tontheneko told Cohen to return buyers’ money. “You literally retweeted a rug pull and made hundreds of people lose money,” the user wrote.
There has been no official finding of fault or refund. Separately, Bitquery also detected three related wallets that made ~$104,000 on an earlier KIMCHI launch around October 20, but couldn’t connect them to the deployer. Kimchi’s notoriety is based on a claim to ~$40 million in profit from the official TRUMP token, which launched in January 2025. Bubblemaps tracked his linked wallets on the day of the crash and found ~$6 million in verifiable profits. Bubblemaps said a hidden address was possible, but unlikely, as Kimchi would have probably revealed it by now.
His first KIMCHI meme coin attained ~$40 million within an hour of the Pump.fun signing. An anonymous deployer purchased ~79% of the supply for ~$9,300 and routed creator fees to a wallet labeled Kimchi. Former Pump.fun developer Jarett Dunn got six years in prison from a London judge over a $2 million Solana fraud, Cryptopolitan reported in December 2025. Only 6.25% of Solana meme traders made a profit over 90 days, with the median trader down $120, Cryptopolitan reported in August.
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OpenAI sent teams of its own frontier-model agents to its training infrastructure, and the models discovered previously unknown software bugs that allowed them to break out of sandboxes and access the live internet. The campaign featured some of the company’s best models, including the upcoming GPT-6 Astra Cyber model and an internal frontier model.
OpenAI furnished them with source code for infrastructure, configuration information, and documentation on likely weak spots. They then spent hundreds of billions of tokens on the tests. The agents had three goals: to reach the live internet, to cross an internal security boundary, and to exchange messages with agents they were supposed to be walled off from. Fixes were pushed upstream to Kata Containers (including CVE-2026-24834), gVisor, and Moby/Docker. Linux kernel patches are out for CVE-2026-74753, CVE-2026-80521, and CVE-2026-80841. OpenAI said it has also reported many other vulnerabilities that have not been made public.
OpenAI frontier models escape sandboxes to reach open internet
Agents that were given a host machine exposed holes in almost all narrow services that were still allowed out, such as metrics, logging, and authentication management. In one test, an agent used an existing connection approved by a firewall to hit a blocked authentication endpoint in the metrics service and then had it fetch a URL the model gave it. Agents in distinct VMs exchanged secrets even in the absence of a network link and common files.
One evicted chosen data from the processor’s cache; the other timed how long it took to reload it, the same cache-timing trick behind the Spectre and Meltdown attacks. OpenAI said it didn’t find a way to the internet that agents could trivially exploit while hiding from its monitors. As testing went on, discoveries dwindled, the company said, but it expects that future models will find flaws it doesn’t know about yet.
Now, says OpenAI, it blocks live internet access during frontier training until its safeguards are good enough to warrant more. Models practice browsing in an “offline world” of indexed and cached web pages, wrote OpenAI, so that capable, misaligned agents have no opportunities to influence systems outside the company’s control via live access. The pause was forced by the incident of September 20. An internal research model stuck on a search task detected that its sandbox’s own DNS resolver was responding to real queries.
It used DNS delegation to pass questions on to an outside chatbot that replied: “The capital of France is Paris.” Monitoring flagged the activity for review within 15 minutes, and a person began reviewing it three minutes later. The run didn’t stop automatically and was killed about 2.5 hours later. OpenAI froze training and evaluation of its most capable models, and then closed the gap at two independent layers. The RL training and internal use of its frontier models resumed Oct. 1, 11 days after the pause began.
The lockdown goes back to July when OpenAI agents hacked Hugging Face’s systems, getting around evaluation controls. OpenAI’s biggest planned frontier RL run was still on ice in August. Since then, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has issued the company an investigative subpoena over cybersecurity incidents involving its models, Cryptopolitan reported.
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A group of waddling Microduck robots stole the spotlight during Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s GTC Berlin keynote. It reportedly bagged more than 20,000 preorders. However, Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue was less definite in his original post: “Going to cross 20,000+ total pre-orders probably tomorrow making Microduck probably the most sold robot of 2026?”
Delangue was predicting that preorders would reach 20,000, not confirming they had already crossed that mark. The figures also represent advance orders, not robots delivered to customers. In an October 21 clip, Huang asks for a somersault. The ducks walk, sit and play dead. Pollen Robotics made Microduck and became part of Hugging Face in 2025. Nvidia agreed to acquire Hugging Face in September, though the deal isn’t expected to close until 2027. Microduck deliveries are expected before Christmas.
Nvidia set to make first deliveries before Christmas
The Microduck is more of a programmable desk robot than a household assistant. It is 25 cm tall and weighs 800 grams, and is equipped with 15 motors, a camera, LIDAR, and two inertial sensors. It comes with seven trained moves. But owners can teach it new tricks and share those movements with other Microduck users. Its software is open source under Apache 2.0. The robot costs $399 before taxes and shipping. In an October 23 technical post, Nvidia showed how robots like Microduck can learn to move through simulation.
AI agents first created a virtual obstacle course. Isaac Lab then trained the robot’s movements across 4,096 simulated environments using a Blackwell GPU. Finally, Isaac Sim checked its performance before testing on a physical robot. Robots can already navigate warehouses and make deliveries, according to Epoch AI. But handling everyday objects at home is another matter. Robots typically work three to ten times slower than humans and often need retraining when faced with unfamiliar tasks.
Microduck’s seven trained moves may be entertaining, but they don’t solve these problems. Nearly 25,000 humanoid robots were shipped worldwide in the first half of 2026, according to IDC figures reported by Forbes. That’s a 432.1% increase from a year earlier, with revenue topping $740 million. Chinese manufacturers produced more than 95% of them. However, 69% of shipments went to research, exhibitions and data collection rather than everyday commercial work.
Consumer robots tell a different story. The IFR reported that sales reached 34.2 million units in 2025, up 37%. Most were household robots, such as automated vacuum cleaners, rather than humanoids. In a survey, 65% of U.S. respondents wanted an advanced home robot. Yet 69% would not pay over $5,000, and about half worried about safety. Former Nvidia robotics executive Amulya Vishwanath called the industry a “Lego era” in Cryptopolitan, pointing to unfinished components and safety systems. McKinsey sees supply-chain limits, too.
While selling robots might not be considered to be Nvidia’s greatest opportunity, BCG reports that software training and deployment could lead to growth in the robotics sector. On its part, Nvidia intends to become the supplier of chips and simulation technologies employed by those robots, regardless of whether they are from China or elsewhere. The case of Microduck provides insight into this broader approach.
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Under the theme “Finance in Motion,” the 2026 season finale connects executive priorities, operating evidence and the decisions that will define financial services in 2027.
EVENTFINNOVEX Middle East — Chapter 39 THEMEFinance in Motion DATES10–11 November 2026 LOCATIONDubai, UAE
DUBAI, UAE — FINNOVEX Middle East will return to Dubai on 10–11 November 2026 for Chapter 39, bringing senior financial-services leaders together for the closing chapter of the 2026 FINNOVEX Global Series and a forward-looking conversation on the connected financial ecosystem institutions are building for 2027.
Held under the theme “Finance in Motion,” Chapter 39 is designed around a simple reality: financial transformation no longer happens inside a single institution, technology stack or market. Customers move across platforms. Money moves in real time. Intelligence is entering everyday decisions. Regulation is moving closer to the technologies and operating models it governs.
The programme will examine what must move next across customer experience, intelligent infrastructure, payments, data and identity, artificial intelligence, resilience, inclusion and regulation — not as isolated subjects, but as connected decisions that influence trust, growth and execution across the financial system.
“The next era of finance will not be defined by who innovates alone, but by who connects, collaborates and moves the financial ecosystem forward,” said Shabaz Ahmed, Executive Director, FINNOVEX Global Series. “Chapter 39 is about bringing those decisions into one room — connecting ambition with implementation, leadership with accountability, and today’s operating priorities with the financial system we need to build for 2027.”
Day One will focus on executive direction, operating cases, leadership dialogue and recognition, giving participating leaders a shared view of the decisions shaping the region’s financial-services agenda. The programme is intended to move beyond broad transformation language by asking what institutions should connect, govern, scale — or retire — as they set priorities for the year ahead.
Day Two will move into invitation-led executive dialogues and private decision rooms, creating a more focused environment for senior leaders to examine implementation questions, compare operating experience and identify relevant next actions. The format is designed to support substantive peer exchange rather than conventional conference repetition.
The Chapter 39 experience will also extend Beyond the Ballroom through FINNOVEX After Five, creating an informal setting for relationships and conversations to continue after the formal programme. Together, the two-day format connects the public leadership agenda with the quieter executive discussions that often move decisions forward.
Dubai provides a fitting setting for the 2026 finale. As a market where capital, policy, technology, trade and ambition converge at unusual speed, the city reflects the central premise of Finance in Motion: progress increasingly depends on how effectively institutions connect across systems, responsibilities and markets.
Chapter 39 also marks a transition point for FINNOVEX as the platform moves from its 2026 regional journey into its 2027 agenda. The emphasis remains consistent: bringing the right financial leaders, institutions and relevant partners into focused conversations that can translate strategic priorities into clearer operating choices and stronger executive relationships.
FINNOVEX is an Exibex portfolio, organised by Exibex. The FINNOVEX Global Series convenes financial institutions, policy perspectives, technology partners and senior executives through regional chapters and focused leadership formats designed around the practical questions shaping financial services.
PARTNER ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Current sponsors and partners: Alfa Bank, Sardine, Sense, BPC and Posidex. PR / Communications Partner: Watermelon Communications.
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Sakura Internet froze part of its cloud service on Wednesday due to two critical PHP flaws. Later that day, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called on website operators to patch their sites that night or shut them down temporarily.
The Sakura notice, published at 1:22 p.m. Japan time on October 21, is withdrawing the web UI tools from its Database Appliance service. Those tools are phpMyAdmin, phpPgAdmin, and pgAdmin. The Database Cluster service is still up. Sakura did not give a date for the restart and, in the interim, pointed customers to SQL clients compatible with MariaDB and PostgreSQL. The company apologized to customers for the interruption.
Sakura apologizes to users over issues
Cygames and pixiv also declared emergency maintenance about the PHP flaws. PHP is widely used in e-commerce and other web applications. Takaichi’s appeal was posted on X at 9:55 p.m. Japan time. She said it was a very pressing request for action that night and asked operators to verify whether their public websites were using PHP. She told them to prepare to roll out the patch due at 11 p.m. Japan time. Taking a website offline temporarily was one way to reduce risk if quick patching was tricky, she wrote.
She also directed followers to the National Cybersecurity Office’s account on X. The office said at 10:57 p.m. that the updates were out and urged users to install them as soon as possible. The office warned that unpatched sites could be breached. By Thursday, Takaichi’s post had picked up more than 308,000 likes and about 78,000 reposts. Fixed versions: PHP 8.2.35, PHP 8.3.36, PHP 8.4.27, PHP 8.5.12.
According to Cryptopolitan, details leaked, so PHP’s maintainers shipped the fixes a day early. The two flaws, dubbed “PHP2Shell” and identified as CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, each earned a 9.2 out of 10 score and could allow hackers to execute code on unpatched servers. The first bug exploits how PHP deals with out-of-memory conditions. The second exploits request state that survives after its memory is freed.
The advisory from PHP puts all installations that serve web requests at risk. That covers PHP-FPM, Apache with mod_php, php-cgi, FrankenPHP, and LiteSpeed. The project ranks mod_php as the riskiest setup, and there is a demonstrated exploit that fires before any application code runs. Linux distributors and long-term-support vendors were shipped the patches in advance.
No further updates for PHP 8.1 and below come from the project. The security team still put out minimal source backports for PHP 7.4, 8.0 and 8.1. About 70% of all websites whose server-side language is known use PHP. Japan, the EU, the US, Germany, Australia and the UK also issued warnings. Finland, the Netherlands and France took government websites offline as a precaution. Nintendo pulled services to patch.
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Anchorage Digital Bank, the first federally chartered crypto bank in the US, has secured two distribution wins in just two days. It can now settle international trades on Securitize with its stablecoins and also power a new Western Union cross-order payout service. The latest wins cement the bank’s role as an issuer for money-transfer and tokenization giants.
The second deal occurred on October 21, when Western Union named stablecoin infrastructure firm Noah to run the backend of a new remittance product built on USDPT. The US dollar stablecoin is issued by Anchorage on Solana. It comes just one day after Securitize announced that it would mint and redeem Anchorage-issued stablecoins with the bank directly. In its announcement, Western Union stated that Noah stablecoin infrastructure will power Receiver Redirect and provide the on-chain banking network that it will run on.
Anchorage Digital enters stablecoin agreements
Receiver Redirect is Western Union’s service that delivers money transfers to recipients as stablecoins, in this case USDPT. The service will cover more than 60 currencies and over 200 countries and territories, reaching Western Union’s customer base of 150 million-plus. Senders can use the firm’s 500,000-plus agent locations, and recipients get to collect the stablecoin into a Western Union wallet.
Holders can keep USDPT indefinitely through Stablecard, which is a product that Western Union announced in August 2026. Noah’s role in the arrangement is to handle treasury, licensing, and the compliance needed to pre-fund, convert, and disburse the token across local rails. The stablecoin infrastructure provider closed a $38 million seed round earlier in October. Noah founder and CEO Shah Ramezani said in the announcement, “The international movement of money through traditional banks is slow, expensive, and no longer fit for purpose.”
Western Union’s Global Head of Digital Assets, Malcolm Clarke, called the direct wallet delivery “a global first.” Compared to the market leaders in the stablecoin space, USDPT is still relatively small. It currently has a market cap of $17.36 million per DeFiLlama data. The stablecoin is not FDIC-insured or backed by the US government. The Securitize partnership, announced on October 20, lets institutions on the tokenization platform mint and redeem Anchorage-issued stablecoins directly with the bank instead of buying them from intermediaries.
Anchorage handles minting, custody, and settlement in one place, according to its press release. Securitize (NYSE: SECZ), which the company describes as the largest tokenization platform by assets under management, is the infrastructure layer behind tokenized funds from Apollo, BlackRock, BNY, Hamilton Lane, KKR, and VanEck, with more than $4 billion on the platform. The pitch is counterparty symmetry: the cash leg of a tokenized trade can now meet the same custody standard as the securities leg.
“Regulated issuance is what lets tokenization reach institutional scale,” Anchorage co-founder and CEO Nathan McCauley said in the release. Securitize chairman and CEO Carlos Domingo said the deal gives the platform “direct access to digital dollars issued under federal oversight, custodied by the same institution that issues them.” Anchorage cited rwa.xyz data showing the tokenized real-world asset market grew from about $23 billion at the end of 2025 to $31 billion by March 2026.
The two deals plug into a lineup Anchorage has been assembling. Its issuance roster includes USDtb, built with Ethena Labs, and USA₮, developed with Tether, alongside USDPT and others listed on the bank’s transparency page. Those tokens already lean on tokenized assets for backing. Roughly 99% of USDtb’s $530 million in reserves sat in BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, itself tokenized by Securitize, as of August 31, 2026, per Anchorage’s attested reserve report.
DefiLlama pegged USDtb’s market cap at about $517 million today. Anchorage, founded in 2017 and valued above $3 billion at its Series D, counts Goldman Sachs, KKR, and Visa among backers. Cryptopolitan reported in June that Bybit became the first major exchange to integrate USDPT, which Western Union is positioning against rivals like Circle’s USDC.
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Judge Francis Mathew ruled Wednesday that Meta Platforms owed New Mexico $219.5 billion, then trimmed the fine to $25 billion. The order sets the amount Facebook will pay in the state’s Cambridge Analytica case. Mathew multiplied the jury’s count of more than 43 million violations by $5,000 each.
New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act provides for no greater penalty per violation. The interest is 15% a year until Meta pays in full. The court deferred injunctive relief pending further briefing. New Mexico sought between $35 billion and $40 billion. Meta asked the judge to restrict penalties to $3.45 billion, saying that a higher number would risk chasing businesses out of the state. “Facebook systematically misled the public regarding the core of its business operations,” Mathew said. His order estimated Facebook’s value in 2025 at about $1.7 trillion and annual revenue of $200 billion.
Meta refutes user data sale allegations
On Sept. 25, jurors found that 26 of 29 statements made by Facebook and its leadership were misleading. The statements included who is able to see user data, how the company contends with hate speech and misinformation, and other internal policies. Each violation counted as one Facebook user or one New Mexico resident in the audience for a misleading statement.
Meta said in filings it does not sell user data and New Mexico never established any consumer was actually misled. Then-Attorney General Hector Balderas filed suit in 2021. Data from as many as 87 million Facebook users was harvested by British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica using a third-party app. “A New Mexico jury found nearly 44 million violations of our consumer protection statute, and this penalty order demonstrates that those violations carry real consequences,” said Attorney General Raúl Torrez in a statement.
New Mexico’s school system gets penalty money by state law. “We may have paid for the construction of schools for the next 100 years,” Torrez said. If Meta appeals, the money will be tied up, he said. Meta chief legal officer C.J. Mahoney said the company is “confident” it will “prevail on appeal.” “This ruling, and the Attorney General’s approach to this enforcement, makes it all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico,” Mahoney said.
The decision is the second Santa Fe ruling against Meta in six months. A jury in March levied $375 million in penalties related to young users’ safety, and a judge later steered $567 million into a teen mental health fund. New Mexico opted out of a multistate settlement agreed to on August 26 that also settled claims against Meta over Cambridge Analytica.
The deal brings Oregon alone $125 million, and Meta shares climbed 2.1% that afternoon, reported Cryptopolitan. The state Department of Justice said its allegations were put to the test in court because it went to trial. Florida, the only other holdout, asked a Pasco County court on October 7 to ban Instagram and Facebook for users under 14.
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Citadel founder Ken Griffin told a New York audience on October 20 that AI is “almost certainly” in a bubble. He stopped short of calling a crash but said firms that emerge from it will lead markets for decades. Griffin was speaking at the Future of Global Markets Conference, an annual event hosted by Citadel Securities, on Tuesday night.
“Any radical transformation of our economy is generally intertwined with a bubble,” he said. He cited the dot-com era and said he wished he had held on to his Amazon stock. The companies that survive a bubble “are the market leaders for decades to come,” Griffin said, adding the froth was no reason to sell. Nvidia shares closed at $216.47 on Oct. 20, hours before the talk, then leapt 2.5% to $221.97 the following day. On October 21, Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) increased 1.1% to $725.20.
Griffin talks about his Amazon stock sale
Citadel’s own desks show the upside. AI agents, programs that carry out multistep jobs without a human at the helm for each step, trim some of the firm’s research from six to eight weeks to two or three hours. Griffin’s view of AI flipped in 2026. He was dismissive of it at Davos in January, then “unsettled” by its capabilities at Stanford’s business school in May. AI is opening up a strong stretch for entrepreneurs, he also said, and already threatens white-collar jobs.
He said that GPUs, the chips that train and run AI models, are like airplane seats. Since it doesn’t cost much to sell one more of either, the price can crash when there are more of them than people want. He brought up the telecom boom around the year 2000, when companies laid a lot more fiber-optic cable than anyone needed and call and data rates went down. Chips that are five or six years old still rent for what he called extraordinary rates.
He didn’t think they would keep renting for that much for another five or six years. Buyers are getting more selective, said Griffin. They’re figuring out which jobs need premium models from OpenAI and Anthropic, and which can be handled with cheaper open-source models. “Corporate America has been very uneven in its ability to extract value from its AI models,” he said. He spoke of finance teams reviewing the lab bills, asking where the productivity gains are.
Cryptopolitan reported that Google brought out Gemini 4 Argon on October 13, priced at an introductory rate of $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens. Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5.5 costs $4 and $20, while OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra costs $10 and $50. Meta then published Muse Spark Open, an open-weight model with 816 billion parameters that a number of developers are able to download and use for free under limited commercial terms.
Nvidia sells the GPUs Griffin was talking about. It has $279 billion in supply commitments, mostly for memory for its Vera Rubin systems. The company reports its third-quarter results on November 17, with guidance of $108.0 billion.
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Robinhood and Bybit are pursuing international expansion as competition grows across regulated financial markets.
Robinhood plans to enter the Middle East, while Dubai-based Bybit explores opportunities in the United States. Both companies are targeting new investors through brokerage services, digital assets, and wider market access.
Their expansion strategies highlight the growing connection between traditional investing platforms and cryptocurrency exchanges.
Robinhood secures Dubai license for 2027 Middle East launch
Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) has secured approval from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to launch its retail investing platform.
The company plans to begin serving Middle Eastern investors in 2027 through the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
The license covers trading and custody services across all 10 asset classes permitted by the regulator. These include equities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), cryptocurrencies, and investment tokens.
Robinhood appointed Salah Kaddoura as senior executive officer and president of Robinhood MENA. He will oversee operations from the company’s new regional headquarters within the DIFC.
Robinhood Chairman and CEO Vlad Tenev described the DIFC as one of the world’s most important financial hubs.
The Dubai approval follows Robinhood’s broader international expansion throughout 2026.
The company entered Asia-Pacific through Singapore in April and acquired Canadian cryptocurrency platform WonderFi in June.
According to Robinhood’s July expansion update, the brokerage served nearly 28 million customers across 38 countries.
Meanwhile, DIFC reported 72 authorized brokerage firms as of March 31, 2026.
Competition continues to grow, with Revolut receiving in-principle approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in July.
Local investing platform Baraka followed in September. Earlier entrants included eToro in November 2023 and Interactive Brokers in 2024.
Bybit considers US entry through existing brokerage
While Robinhood expands into Dubai, cryptocurrency exchange Bybit is considering an entry into the United States.
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou is reportedly exploring partnerships with existing American brokerage firms to establish a regulated market presence.
Interactive Brokers has emerged as a possible partner, although Bybit has not confirmed any agreement or launch date.
The exchange established its international headquarters in Dubai in 2022 and continues strengthening its regional operations.
Bybit also secured a Virtual Asset Service Provider license from VARA for spot exchange services.
Zhou highlighted Dubai’s progress in developing regulatory frameworks for digital assets following the approval.
Meanwhile, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer Peter Loo indicated that Bybit intends to pursue additional licenses.
These could include derivatives trading permissions, subject to regulatory approval.
Bybit launches US stock trading ahead of potential expansion
Bybit introduced trading for more than 1,000 US-listed stocks and ETFs on October 12.
The platform allows eligible customers to fund stock purchases using the USDC stablecoin.
Alpaca Securities handles trade execution and custody, while Mauritius-regulated Infra Capital Limited serves as the introducing broker.
Alpaca also holds membership with FINRA and SIPC.
However, Bybit currently excludes US residents from accessing the service.
The offering differs from its stock contracts for difference, which debuted in June 2025.
Unlike CFDs, the newer service provides direct economic ownership of underlying shares.
Bybit reports more than 80 million users globally as it considers further expansion into regulated markets.
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Zcash is preparing for a major network upgrade that could reshape transaction speeds across its privacy-focused blockchain.
The upcoming NU7 upgrade promises faster payments while keeping the cryptocurrency’s supply rules unchanged. Meanwhile, ZEC traders have increased their buying activity ahead of the scheduled activation.
The approaching upgrade has also drawn attention to mining rewards, network security, and changes affecting older Zcash wallets.
Developers have scheduled Zcash Network Upgrade 7 (NU7) for block 3,543,405, which they expect around November 5. The upgrade will cut block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, making transaction confirmations three times faster.
Meanwhile, ZEC has gained more than 15% over the past week, trading near $1,300. The cryptocurrency climbed from approximately $1,060 on October 19 to nearly $1,360 on October 21.
Its market capitalization now stands near $22 billion, placing Zcash ninth among cryptocurrencies by market value.
Zcash NU7 upgrade will cut transaction confirmation times by 67%
The Zcash NU7 upgrade will significantly reduce the time users spend waiting for their first transaction confirmation.
Currently, miners produce a new block approximately every 75 seconds. Following activation, the network will generate blocks every 25 seconds.
This change builds on the Blossom upgrade from December 2019, which reduced block times from 150 seconds to 75 seconds.
Faster confirmations could reduce payment delays for merchants, exchanges, and other services that rely on Zcash transactions.
Importantly, developers have designed NU7 to preserve Zcash’s existing monetary policy despite the faster block production.
The network currently distributes 1.5625 ZEC per block. After activation, rewards will decrease to approximately 0.5208 ZEC per block.
Consequently, miners will produce three blocks during the previous 75-second interval without increasing the overall issuance rate.
Zcash will also retain its maximum supply of 21 million ZEC, with approximately 16.99 million tokens currently circulating.
NU7 introduces deferred mining fees and ends sprout transfers
Beyond faster transactions, NU7 will introduce changes to how Zcash miners collect transaction fees.
Under the existing system, miners receive all transaction fees included in their blocks. The upgrade will change that distribution.
Miners will immediately collect 40% of fees, while the network will reserve the remaining 60% for future payments.
According to the upgrade’s design, miners will begin receiving those deferred rewards in February 2031.
The mechanism aims to support mining incentives as Zcash undergoes future halvings, which reduce block subsidies approximately every four years.
Additionally, NU7 will permanently disable transfers from Sprout, Zcash’s original privacy pool introduced in 2016.
Holders must move any remaining Sprout funds into newer pools before activation or lose access to transferring those coins.
Developers began testing NU7 on the testnet in early October, allowing exchanges and wallet providers to prepare.
ZEC price rally gains momentum as futures open interest hits $4.55 billion
Trading activity has accelerated ahead of the November 5 activation target.
According to CoinGecko figures cited in the market report, ZEC perpetual futures open interest has reached approximately $4.55 billion.
That compares with roughly $1.15 billion in daily spot trading volume, highlighting substantial leveraged positioning.
However, elevated derivatives exposure can amplify price fluctuations as traders adjust positions around major network events.
For now, Zcash continues operating under its existing rules until the blockchain reaches activation block 3,543,405.
The approaching NU7 upgrade gives traders a specific milestone to monitor as ZEC prices respond to growing market activity.
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The security token initiative introduces an investment-backed conservation model designed to support rainforest protection while creating opportunities for potential investor distributions from verified environmental-credit sales.
October 2026 — Global Conservation Capital, Inc. (GCC) has announced the upcoming presale of Sloth Coin (SLOC), scheduled to launch on November 15, 2026. The security token initiative is designed to connect private investment with rainforest conservation, introducing a financial model that links potential investor distributions to revenue generated through verified environmental credits.
With an initial presale price of $0.03 per token, SLOC represents GCC’s effort to establish an investment structure in which capital can support environmental conservation projects while providing investors with potential participation in the economic value those projects may generate.
The initiative is built around a central objective: developing a long-term financing model that makes rainforest conservation economically sustainable without relying exclusively on donations or traditional environmental funding.
Turning Rainforest Conservation Into a Long-Term Economic Model
Rainforests are among the planet’s most valuable natural ecosystems, supporting biodiversity, regulating climate patterns, and storing significant amounts of carbon. Yet protecting these environments requires continuous financial resources, particularly in regions where land preservation competes with alternative forms of commercial development.
For decades, conservation organizations have relied heavily on donations, grants, and public funding to protect vulnerable ecosystems. Although these funding sources remain essential, they do not always provide the predictable, long-term capital necessary to maintain and expand conservation efforts.
Global Conservation Capital is developing an alternative approach.
Through Sloth Coin, GCC aims to connect conservation activities with financial markets by developing projects capable of generating eligible environmental credits. These credits could create a potential revenue stream tied to independently verified environmental outcomes.
The proposed model is designed to direct capital toward conservation activities while establishing a framework through which successful environmental-credit sales may contribute to investor distributions and future project expansion.
By connecting capital allocation with independently verified environmental results, GCC seeks to explore a model in which long-term conservation efforts can attract investment alongside traditional sources of funding.
How Sloth Coin Connects Environmental Impact With Investor Revenue
Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies primarily designed for payments, trading, or decentralized platform access, SLOC is structured as a security token with proposed economic rights connected to environmental-credit revenue.
The model begins with the identification and development of conservation projects on eligible rainforest land.
Once operational, these projects would undergo environmental measurement and independent verification processes to determine whether qualifying environmental credits can be issued under applicable standards.
Following successful verification and issuance, eligible credits could be sold to buyers in environmental-credit markets.
Net revenue generated from completed credit sales would then form the basis for the project’s proposed revenue allocation model.
Under the contemplated structure:
Up to 20% of net verified environmental-credit sale revenue may be allocated toward distributions to eligible SLOC investors.
Up to 80% of net verified environmental-credit sale revenue may be allocated toward additional land opportunities, conservation activities, and future project expansion.
This structure is intended to connect the project’s financial development with the continued growth of its conservation portfolio.
The proposed allocations are subject to the final offering documents. SLOC does not provide investors with direct ownership of rainforest land, and potential distributions depend on the successful development, verification, issuance, and sale of eligible environmental credits.
Neither environmental-credit revenue nor investor returns are guaranteed. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Words such as “may,” “could,” “aims,” “seeks,” “planned,” “intended,” “potential,” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those projected. GCC undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Global Conservation Capital Advances Project Development
As preparations continue for the November presale, GCC has already developed investor onboarding and token-management infrastructure intended to support the SLOC offering.
These systems form part of the project’s operational foundation, providing infrastructure for investor participation and security token administration.
Alongside its technical development, GCC is evaluating potential rainforest conservation opportunities in Peru, a country home to extensive portions of the Amazon rainforest and ecosystems of significant ecological importance.
Two potential rainforest parcels are currently undergoing due diligence as the company assesses opportunities for future conservation development.
The properties remain prospective opportunities and have not been acquired. Their inclusion in any future GCC conservation portfolio will depend on satisfactory due diligence, commercial feasibility, and applicable legal and environmental requirements.
This project-development process reflects GCC’s intention to build its conservation portfolio around identifiable land opportunities and environmental projects capable of meeting independent verification requirements.
SLOC Presale Launch Set for November 15, 2026
Global Conservation Capital is targeting November 15, 2026, for the official launch of the SLOC presale, marking a key milestone in the development of its investment-backed conservation initiative.
The initial presale round is planned at $0.03 per SLOC token.
The presale is structured around a security token offering rather than a conventional public cryptocurrency launch.
For U.S. investors, the intended offering framework relies on an exemption from registration under Regulation D, Rule 506(c) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, with participation limited to investors who satisfy the applicable accredited-investor verification requirements. The securities offered have not been registered under the Securities Act or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold absent registration or an applicable exemption.
Non-U.S. participation will be governed by relevant securities regulations, jurisdictional restrictions, and the conditions established in the final offering documents.
GCC is finalizing the offering documentation ahead of the planned launch. Final participation requirements, investor rights, restrictions, and economic terms will be set out in those documents.
Interested participants can access official project information and presale updates through the Sloth Coin website. Participation in the SLOC offering is limited to accredited investors as defined under applicable securities regulations.
Building a Scalable Future for Rainforest Protection
Beyond its initial token offering, GCC’s broader vision is to establish a conservation financing framework capable of supporting the development and expansion of rainforest protection projects.
The proposed model is designed around a cycle of investment, conservation development, independent environmental verification, environmental-credit sales, and reinvestment.
If successfully implemented, this approach could provide additional financing for conservation activities while creating a potential economic incentive for eligible investors to participate in environmental protection.
A central component of the proposed model is the contemplated allocation of up to 80% of net verified environmental-credit sale revenue toward supporting further land and project expansion, subject to the terms of the final offering documents.
This reinvestment approach is intended to help GCC pursue additional conservation opportunities as projects develop and eligible credit sales generate revenue.
Future expansion will depend on available financing, successful project execution, land acquisition opportunities, independent verification, and market demand for eligible environmental credits.
With the November 15 presale approaching, Global Conservation Capital is preparing to introduce Sloth Coin as a security token initiative focused on connecting private capital with rainforest conservation and the potential financial value of independently verified environmental outcomes.
About Sloth Coin (SLOC)
Sloth Coin (SLOC) is a blockchain-based security token to be issued by Global Conservation Capital, Inc., designed to connect eligible investor capital with rainforest conservation and potential revenue generated through verified environmental credits.
Through its proposed financial structure, SLOC seeks to support long-term conservation activities while establishing a framework for potential investor distributions and continued expansion of environmental projects.
Global Conservation Capital’s broader mission is to develop investment-backed conservation initiatives that combine environmental responsibility with commercially sustainable financing models. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Any offer of SLOC tokens will be made only by means of the final offering documents prepared by Global Conservation Capital, Inc. Offers and sales of securities will be made only to accredited investors in compliance with Regulation D, Rule 506(c) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Participation in the offering will be subject to verification of accredited-investor status and the terms and conditions set forth in the offering documents.
Posts by SlothCoinSLOC https://slothcoin.net
Info@globalconservationcapital.com
The post Global Conservation Capital Announces November 15 Presale Launch of Sloth Coin (SLOC), Connecting Rainforest Conservation With Environmental Credit Revenue first appeared on Coinfea.

Coinbase Wallet has introduced a trading rewards program that offers customers cashback on eligible trading fees.
The initiative targets active traders as competition intensifies across cryptocurrency exchanges and decentralized trading platforms.
Through tiered rewards, Coinbase aims to encourage higher trading volumes and strengthen customer retention. However, the program raises questions about whether fee incentives can sustain long-term engagement.
Coinbase Wallet introduces cashback tiers based on trading volume
Coinbase Wallet launched its loyalty rewards program on October 20, 2026, offering up to 50% cashback on eligible trading fees.
According to Coinbase Wallet, customers receive rebates in USDC based on their rolling 30-day trading volume. The company distributes rewards weekly, with higher trading activity unlocking larger cashback percentages.
Traders who reach $5,000 in volume qualify for 15% cashback on eligible fees. Meanwhile, the reward increases to 30% at $25,000 and 40% at $100,000.
Customers who reach $500,000 in rolling trading volume qualify for the highest 50% cashback tier.
However, Coinbase calculates rewards against eligible trading costs rather than the total value of transactions. Consequently, a $500,000 trade does not generate $250,000 in cashback.
The initiative differs from Coinbase Bermuda Technologies Limited’s existing referral program, which offers referred customers a 10% fee discount.
That discount covers eligible native, same-chain swaps, while referring users receive 25% of profits from qualifying trades.
However, the referral program excludes several jurisdictions, including Italy, the United Kingdom, Malta, the Philippines, and Singapore.
Coinbase expands trading services amid growing exchange competition
The cashback launch follows Coinbase’s September decision to rebrand Base App as Coinbase Wallet and prioritize trading services.
The company’s expanded trading strategy includes Hyperliquid-powered perpetual futures, prediction markets, and tokenized stocks.
Meanwhile, Coinbase reported a record 10.3% share of global cryptocurrency trading during the second quarter. The July report covered spot markets, derivatives, and stablecoin transactions.
Average USDC holdings across Coinbase products also reached $20 billion during the period.
CEO Brian Armstrong has emphasized that Coinbase’s business extends beyond exposure to Bitcoin price movements.
Competition remains intense as centralized exchanges face pressure from decentralized trading platforms.
According to CoinGecko, leading centralized exchanges recorded $1.65 trillion in third-quarter spot trading volume, representing a 14.2% decline.
Meanwhile, decentralized exchanges increased their spot market share from 6.9% in January 2024 to 13.6% in January 2026.
Coinbase’s cashback initiative could also support its USDC operations by encouraging traders to retain and reuse rewards.
The company reported capturing approximately half of USDC economics over the previous year.
Cashback rewards favor larger traders as retail activity grows
Research suggests financial incentives can influence participation in cryptocurrency loyalty programs.
A 2025 SAGE Open study identified perceived usefulness as an important factor behind customer interest in blockchain loyalty programs.
Similarly, Juniper Research highlighted cashback incentives as a competitive feature for digital wallets. Analyst Thomas Wilson also identified rewards and gamification as important engagement tools.
However, Coinbase must demonstrate whether cashback incentives encourage lasting loyalty rather than temporary trading activity.
Chainalysis reported $9.4 trillion in global cryptocurrency activity during the year ending June 2026, representing a 1.6% decline.
That resilience came despite a 50% contraction in cryptocurrency market capitalization.
Meanwhile, transfers below $100 increased 78.4%, highlighting continued participation among smaller cryptocurrency users.
Those retail customers remain far below Coinbase Wallet’s $500,000 threshold for maximum cashback.
Although smaller traders can access lower reward tiers, the program directs its largest incentives toward high-volume customers.
Coinbase Wallet’s next challenge involves converting those trading incentives into sustained activity as competitors compete for the same customers.
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Bitcoin could outperform traditional investments over the next decade, according to JPMorgan’s first long-term cryptocurrency forecast.
The bank expects Bitcoin to deliver stronger annualized returns than U.S. stocks, gold, and real estate investment trusts.
However, its outlook also highlights substantial volatility and risks that could affect long-term performance. The forecast marks a new step in how JPMorgan evaluates Bitcoin alongside established asset classes.
JPMorgan forecasts 10% annual Bitcoin returns over the next decade
J.P. Morgan Asset Management projected a 10% compounded annual return for Bitcoin in its 2027 Long-Term Capital Market Assumptions.
The bank released its 31st annual report on October 19, introducing Bitcoin projections for the first time. The analysis covers more than 200 asset classes and compares Bitcoin with 12 conventional investments.
According to JPMorgan, U.S. large-cap stocks could deliver annual returns of 7.5%, while small-cap stocks could generate 7.7%. Meanwhile, real estate investment trusts carry an 8.2% forecast, compared with 5.5% for gold.
Base, bear and bull case projections for bitcoin’s 10-year returns, with data as of September 30, 2026, in J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s 2027 Long-Term Capital Market Assumptions report.
Bitcoin’s projected return exceeds large-cap equities by 2.5 percentage points and gold by 4.5 percentage points.
However, JPMorgan outlined sharply different outcomes depending on market conditions. Its bearish scenario projects an annualized loss of 11.2%, while its bullish scenario forecasts 16.6% yearly gains.
The projections use Bitcoin’s September 30 spot price of $83,000.
JPMorgan assigned a 65% weighting to Bitcoin supply growth relative to money supply. The gold-complement scenario received 30%, while network adoption accounted for the remaining 5%.
Meanwhile, the bank projected 7% annualized returns for a traditional 60/40 stock-bond portfolio. It attributed this outlook to AI-driven productivity improvements, corporate profitability, and higher bond yields.
Bitcoin’s 55% volatility keeps it outside core investment models
Despite its leading return forecast, JPMorgan identified Bitcoin’s volatility as a major portfolio risk.
The bank estimated Bitcoin’s annualized volatility at 55%, compared with 17.2% for gold and 18% for large-cap stocks.
Consequently, JPMorgan excluded Bitcoin from its main covariance matrices, which measure relationships between asset price movements.
Instead, analysts developed a separate model comparing Bitcoin against selected investments.
The bank also calculated Bitcoin’s arithmetic average annual return at 20.9%, substantially exceeding its 10% compounded projection. Compounding accounts for losses and subsequent recoveries, making volatility especially important when evaluating long-term returns.
JPMorgan indicated that greater market stability could eventually support Bitcoin’s inclusion in its primary models. However, that would require more consistent correlations, deeper liquidity, clearer regulation, and reduced volatility.
Report authors Dr. Sheena Shah and Dennis Cristallo described Bitcoin as the cryptocurrency ecosystem’s anchor. They highlighted its liquidity, longevity, and improving regulatory clarity.
Bitcoin ETF inflows strengthen institutional interest
Institutional Bitcoin demand also attracted attention following JPMorgan’s long-term forecast.
BlackRock’s IBIT recorded $665.16 million in inflows on October 19, its strongest daily figure since October 2025. Meanwhile, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs collectively attracted $526.6 million as Bitcoin traded between $82,000 and $83,000.
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan welcomed JPMorgan’s decision to include Bitcoin in its long-term assumptions.
However, Hougan challenged the bank’s 55% volatility estimate, citing declining Bitcoin price fluctuations over the past 15 years. He also argued that different economic outcomes could support Bitcoin’s long-term investment case.
Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor similarly acknowledged Wall Street’s growing attention to Bitcoin’s investment potential.
Nevertheless, JPMorgan urged investors to examine Bitcoin allocations carefully and stress-test portfolios against its bullish and bearish scenarios.
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Qualcomm has set plans for job cuts across its global workforce in motion, with employees facing the axe expected to be notified from November, according to an internal memo from CEO Cristiano Amon reviewed by Reuters.
The chipmaker had about 52,000 employees as of September 2025 but has not said how many jobs it plans to eliminate. In the memo, CEO Amon stated that the layoffs would help foster what he called “a stronger performance culture” while addressing areas of the company’s business that had continued to fall below expectations.” Amon added that performance ratings would not be the sole factor in determining who would be affected, as managers would also assess other factors such as the company’s business priorities, organizational needs, and the expertise required for its expansion.
Qualcomm to ensure employees have skills to meet changing needs
The CEO believes Qualcomm needs to ensure employees have the skills and roles needed to meet the company’s changing needs and support its growth. Qualcomm is also facing an increasing challenge in its core smartphone business, with consumer electronics sales cooling sharply and rising memory prices having a negative effect on demand in key markets.
Qualcomm stock has also risen by just 1.5% in 2026, well behind the S&P 500’s gain of over 12% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index’s almost 60% increase, Business Standard reported. The company’s shares remained under pressure ahead of the market open, seeing a 1.16% fall to $171.52 in premarket trading. Qualcomm is looking to diversify beyond smartphones, but its latest earnings outlook points directly to the challenges facing that strategy.
In late July, the company forecast quarterly profit below analyst expectations and warned that revenue from Apple-related products would fall faster than previously anticipated. The company is betting on growth beyond smartphones to offset the decline in Apple-related revenue. By fiscal 2027, the company expects its data center, automotive and other businesses to more than compensate for the shortfall, with non-smartphone markets accounting for most of its chip sales. Qualcomm’s fiscal year typically ends in late September.
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Amazon will invest more than €16 billion ($18 billion) in Germany next year. The plan was unveiled at Berlin’s first Invest in Germany Summit, where commitments have passed €225 billion. David Zapolsky, Amazon’s chief global affairs and legal officer, alongside Chancellor Friedrich Merz, confirmed on Tuesday that Amazon has pledged to invest more than €16 billion ($18 billion) in Germany next year.
Amazon said €4.8 billion of the total will go to expanding its AWS Europe (Frankfurt) Region, which has run since October 2014. The rest of the money will be used to fund data centers and AI capacity, logistics, a new Prime Video production slate, and Amazon Leo, the company’s low Earth orbit satellite network. Amazon Leo has booked 24 launches with European provider Arianespace, and Oxford Economics expects Germany to feel the network’s second-largest economic effect in Europe.
Amazon reveals timeline to fulfil its promise
Amazon has communicated plans to update its fulfillment centers in Bad Hersfeld, Dortmund and Werne by 2027. Its fulfillment centers in Koblenz, Pforzheim and Rheinberg will be completed in 2028. Notably, Amazon has created more than 40,000 permanent German jobs since 2010 and put over €100 billion (about $115 billion) into the country. In August 2025, the German government said that it wants to reduce its reliance on U.S. technology after conceding that the country relies on a handful of foreign suppliers for cloud infrastructure, operating systems and network technology.
Large U.S. tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft hold large shares of the German cloud market, and even the Federal Police make use of them. Amazon has had a European Sovereign Cloud, a separate cloud run entirely inside the EU by EU residents, generally available since January 2026, backed by a planned €7.8 billion investment. Economy Minister Katherina Reiche called Amazon’s planned 2027 investment “a clear vote of confidence in Germany.”
Beyond Amazon, other investors pledged more than €225 billion ($252.5 billion) at the summit. More than 200 domestic and international executives gathered in Berlin on Monday for the two-day event, which Merz opened by framing Germany as “open for business.” A day before Amazon’s news, Merz and two German ministries signed a joint announcement with Nvidia to build “physical AI” for robots, machines and vehicles.
Nvidia named four German startups that it plans to support as part of a nearly $10 billion European commitment. The summit closes Tuesday, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang due to give a keynote at the company’s GTC Berlin conference on Wednesday.
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South Korea’s top financial supervisor has admitted to lawmakers that regulators pushed single-stock leveraged ETFs through review to meet a launch date. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) chief Lee Chan-jin is now the third senior official to admit fault for products that cost retail investors trillions of won.
The Financial Supervisory Service chief Lee Chan-jin admitted at the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee audit on Monday that the FSS finished its work with single-stock leveraged products before the exchange was done, instead of allowing the ETF listing to clear a Korea Exchange preliminary review first. Even after this admission, it is still unclear who ordered the funds to be sold. Critics have named Kim Yong-beom, the former presidential policy chief; Lee Eog-weon, chairman of the Financial Services Commission; and Lee Chan-jin himself.
FSS chief admits error in leveraged ETF review
People Power Party lawmaker Park Dae-chul asked Lee if the steps had ever been done in reverse order before, and his response was that regulators had checked and it seemed this was the first time. Lee said the speed was due to a deadline. After the FSC announced a listing schedule in mid-April, he said that the regulators “moved quickly through the review” in order to keep up.
May 27, which the FSC set as the launch date, was also the day that 16 funds went on sale with the aim of rising or falling by double the daily move of Samsung Electronics (KRX; 005930) or SK Hynix (KRX; 000660) shares. The elections were held one week later, on June 3. Opposition lawmakers have repeatedly said the launch was timed to come just before the vote. Lee said at a June 22 briefing that he felt he should have blocked the launch and that the products appeared to have “only fattened securities firms.”
On October 8, FSC Chairman Lee Eog-weon apologized at his own audit, saying he “deeply regret[s] the various losses, concerns, and damages that have resulted.” A market note from Citi’s Mohamed Apabhai, head of Asia-Pacific trading strategy, put Korean retail losses at roughly $38.7 billion, or 58 trillion won, by late July. The FSC chairman dismissed a separate 54 trillion won ($36.5 billion) figure from an overseas bank as unofficial, but the FSS’s own data confirmed 2.3242 trillion won ($1.57 billion) in realized trading losses at 10 financial investment firms between the May 27 launch and August 14.
The Finance Ministry, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), and the Bank of Korea all told lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon’s office that they never calculated how much the funds would reduce money leaving Korea or increase investment at home. Yet that was the FSC’s main argument when it first proposed the change on January 30. The Cabinet approved the rule on April 21 through an enforcement decree, so the National Assembly never voted on it. Within weeks, trading got out of control. On July 16, regulators stopped new funds from being listed.
From July 31, they raised the minimum cash needed to trade the funds from 10 million won (about $6,750) to 30 million won ($20,250). Trading then dropped about 97% from its June peak. Cryptopolitan previously reported that Korean traders have moved their money abroad in order to find leverage that domestic rules do not allow, using KORU-linked perpetual futures on Binance, Bybit, OKX, and KuCoin that can run to 150 times the Kospi’s daily swing. Tiger Research, working with Chainalysis, estimated about 700 trillion won left domestic exchanges between 2021 and 2026. Licensed Korean crypto exchanges shed 35% of their won deposits in the first half of 2026.
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SpaceX founder and CEO, Elon Musk announced early Monday that every child in the United States will receive one unit each of his shares in the Starship maker next year. Musk committed to the giveaway, estimated at roughly $10.5 billion, within a day of publicly criticizing the new charity fund that Anthropic announced ahead of its upcoming IPO.
In his early Monday morning X post, Elon Musk promised to “give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America” next year. The Tesla founder also teased future giveaways, writing that it is “the first of many.” However, Musk did not go into detail on how the giveaway would work or who qualifies for the “kid” designation. Per the Census Bureau data, over 72 million people are under the age of 18 in the US. SpaceX’s SPCX stock closed at $146.03 per unit on Friday. At that rate, the giveaway Musk promised for 2027 would be worth a little over $10.5 billion.
Musk also teases future giveaway
Before Musk’s October commitment, SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell made a similar share pledge to 2 million Trump accounts. That gift is worth close to $300 million at current prices. The nearly $11 billion Musk promised is nearly double the record-breaking gift Michael Dell made to federal Trump accounts. Musk’s SpaceX share commitment came one day after Anthropic said it would commit at least 5% of its equity to a new public benefit fund, as Cryptopolitan reported.
The entity could be worth $100 billion or more at the IPO valuation the company is rumored to be pursuing. Anthropic said it would set up a separate corporation to hold the shares and make donations. Musk reacted directly to the news, writing, “I recommend giving the shares directly to the public.” The SpaceX founder added, “This is what I will be doing.” Musk was not the only critic. Business Insider reported that Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner warned about “foundation wealth concentration” despite praising the “extraordinary gift.”
He also added that he hoped a chunk of AI wealth would arrive as “a direct dividend.” NYU professor Gary Marcus was harsher, writing that “Anthropic is playing games here” and that the plan “reeks of desperation.” Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy asked why the company did not simply hand the money to citizens who “would know what to do with the money better than bureaucratic institutions.”
Musk’s jab is directed at a company his SpaceX does business with. As Cryptopolitan reported, Anthropic pays SpaceX $1.25 billion a month for compute through May 2029, a run rate near $15 billion a year, and Musk earlier called the lab “clearly” the current leader in AI after walking back a 2025 dismissal.
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MARA Digital Holdings has renewed concerns about potential Bitcoin sales after transferring more BTC to cryptocurrency exchanges.
The latest movements follow months of reserve reductions as the mining company adjusts its financial strategy.
Meanwhile, falling share prices and heavy short interest have added pressure to the company’s market outlook. Investors now face uncertainty over MARA’s Bitcoin holdings and its expansion into artificial intelligence infrastructure.
MARA transfers 1,000 BTC to Binance and Gate amid reserve reductions
MARA Digital Holdings (Nasdaq: MARA) transferred another 1,000 BTC from its public wallets to Binance and Gate exchange addresses.
On-chain data showed the company moved Bitcoin in several transactions involving 100 BTC and 500 BTC.
The transfers originated from the MARA Miner wallet, which receives Bitcoin through the company’s mining operations.
However, MARA has not confirmed whether the latest transfers resulted in sales. The movements nevertheless follow its broader reserve liquidation trend throughout 2026.
According to the reported figures, MARA has sold more than 33% of its Bitcoin reserves year-to-date.
The company previously transferred more than 800 BTC in early August. Its largest reported liquidation occurred in March 2026, followed by smaller transactions during the second half.
MARA’s last sale on August 6 liquidated some of the mined coins, but the company has not announced any other large cliff sales since March. | Source: Bitcoin Treasuries
Despite these reductions, MARA remains among the five largest corporate Bitcoin holders.
As of October 19, the company reportedly held approximately 35,577 BTC, supported partly by continued mining production.
MARA maintains 59 EH/s mining capacity while expanding AI infrastructure
MARA continues operating at approximately 59 exahashes per second (EH/s), maintaining mining activity near its highest levels.
Its mining pool typically produces two to three Bitcoin blocks daily, although network competition can influence production.
The company’s mining operations have expanded since 2024, supporting continued Bitcoin accumulation despite periodic reserve sales.
Meanwhile, MARA and other Bitcoin miners have increasingly sold newly mined coins rather than retaining their entire production.
Bitcoin prices above $83,000 have offered miners opportunities to secure revenue and manage operating expenses.
For MARA, Bitcoin sales could also support debt management and investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The company plans to secure up to 4.8 gigawatts of energy capacity for its data center operations.
Its expansion strategy includes immersion cooling systems designed to support high-performance AI computing services.
MARA currently operates 19 mining sites, with five additional locations under development.
However, its AI infrastructure projects remain at an early stage, with significant revenue contributions potentially years away.
MARA stock falls toward yearly lows as short interest exceeds 26%
MARA shares traded near $7.53 on October 19, roughly 50% below their yearly peak.
The stock previously climbed above $14 in May following company announcements and growing interest in AI infrastructure.
However, declining miner valuations and weaker AI-related sentiment have weighed on its performance.
Reported short interest now exceeds 26% of MARA’s free float, representing approximately 100 million shares.
Shareholders have questioned the elevated short positions and requested greater transparency regarding trading activity.
Their concerns include whether investors primarily use these positions for hedging or bearish speculation.
Despite the substantial short interest, MARA has recorded no significant failures to deliver since March’s short-selling activity.
Some analysts believe MARA shares have lost the valuation premium previously associated with its AI expansion.
Consequently, Bitcoin reserves and mining performance could become more important drivers of future stock demand.
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An invitation-only Executive Leadership Lunch at The Chedi Muscat built around one clear proposition: One Leader. One Goal. One 2027 Agenda.
MUSCAT, OMAN — FINNOVEX will convene an invitation-only Executive Leadership Lunch at The Chedi Muscat on 21 October 2026, bringing together senior banking and financial-services leaders for a focused conversation on the priorities that should shape 2027.
Built around the signature dialogue “One Leader. One Goal. One 2027 Agenda.”, the lunch is designed as a concentrated leadership exchange rather than a conventional conference. The format places executive perspectives, practical priorities and meaningful peer interaction at the centre of the room.
The leadership gathering is intended for senior banking decision-makers and policy stakeholders from Oman’s financial ecosystem. The discussion will focus on the decisions institutions need to make now across digital transformation, customer experience, payments, resilience, data, artificial intelligence and responsible growth.
Each participating leadership voice will be invited to contribute one clear priority for the year ahead, helping create a concise collective picture of the issues that matter most to Oman’s banking sector as institutions prepare for 2027.
“The strength of this leadership lunch is not in scale, but in relevance. We are bringing together a carefully selected group of senior banking leaders so every conversation has purpose, context and a clear reason to continue beyond the room,” said Habeeb Anwar, Head of Delegates, FINNOVEX Global Series. Drafted quote – obtain Habeeb Anwar’s sign-off before external publication.
The programme will combine leadership perspectives, a focused agenda exchange and a hosted networking lunch in a private setting designed to encourage candid and useful conversation among senior peers.
The Oman Executive Leadership Lunch forms part of the FINNOVEX leadership platform, which connects financial institutions, technology partners and industry stakeholders through focused regional conversations. FINNOVEX is an Exibex portfolio and is organised by Exibex.
LUNCH PARTNERS
Media & Partnership Enquiries
FINNOVEX Global Series · Exibex FZ LLE
info@exibex.com
Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
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