Crypto firm Ripple has emerged as a provider of swap financing to leveraged exchange-traded funds. These funds let investors amplify their investment bets.
Trump will award science and technology medals to six tech leaders
President Donald Trump will award Elon Musk the National Medal of Science on Thursday as one of six technology leaders receiving science and technology honors. Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and AMD CEO Lisa Su will also receive the science medal. Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will receive the technology medal. OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei are not among the recipients, and the White House has not explained the selections. The White House ceremony will take place at a summit focused on superintelligence.
Justin Drake urges crypto security preparations after OpenAI math advances
Ethereum researcher Justin Drake urged the blockchain industry on Oct. 7 to prepare for a possible AI threat to wallet security. Drake recommended that large holders move most assets into fresh addresses whose public keys have never been exposed. Drake warned that an effective ECDSA break could arrive in months rather than years in the worst case. OpenAI's mathematical results do not demonstrate a practical attack on ECDSA or RSA, and Drake's timeline is conjectural. Drake cautioned that rushed transfers could create more risk than they remove.
Solana's Orca merges with Loopscale to target AI, robotics and defense financing
Solana-based decentralized exchange Orca and lending platform Loopscale have merged under the new name Formation. Formation aims to expand into financing for AI, energy, robotics and defense. Formation plans to introduce asset issuer tools and new investment strategies over the next 12 months. Loopscale co-founder Luke Truitt will lead Formation as CEO, according to the merger announcement. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OpenAI says unreleased AI solved hundreds of open math problems in one prompt
OpenAI says an unreleased internal AI model solved hundreds of open math problems using a single prompt. OpenAI published 722 manuscripts on GitHub on Tuesday, but that figure counts manuscripts rather than solved problems. An OpenAI spokesperson said almost everything came from one prompt given to one AI agent, although some results may have required multiple attempts. MIT mathematician Andrew Sutherland said the single-prompt, single-agent claims remain unverified until researchers can access the model and replicate the results. Only 162 manuscripts have computer-checked main results, according to the repository's formalization catalog. OpenAI warned that some unformalized results could have issues.
New York jury convicts hacker who stole $53.3 million and bought Pokémon cards
A New York jury on Wednesday convicted Jonathan Spalletta of theft after Spalletta drained about $53.3 million from Uranium Finance in April 2021. Spalletta, 36, of Maryland, faces up to 30 years in prison. Spalletta spent part of the stolen money on Pokémon cards and other collectibles. Spalletta's lawyers argued that Spalletta only used tools the platform made available to anyone. A judge will decide Spalletta's sentence.
Ethereum researcher says AI may break encryption before quantum computers do
Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake warned that artificial intelligence might break ECDSA before quantum computers do, potentially within months in the worst case. Drake urged the blockchain industry to plan a controlled migration of funds to fresh addresses that have never signed a transaction. Drake said holders should not rush or panic because moving assets requires no new cryptography or wallets. Drake said Ethereum should accelerate its shift toward hash-based cryptography.
Analysis: Robinhood buys $25 million in Bitcoin to signal commitment to crypto
Robinhood added $25 million worth of Bitcoin to its corporate balance sheet. Robinhood framed the purchase as a commitment to crypto, not a bet on returns. Crypto executive Johann Kerbrat disclosed the purchase on Wednesday and said the small stake would do little to change the company's trajectory. However, CFO Shiv Verma questioned in November 2025 whether holding Bitcoin was the best use of company capital. Robinhood has not disclosed the exact number of coins purchased.
Analysis: Bitcoin falls below $84,000 as IBIT and BITO drop more than 3%
Bitcoin fell to roughly $83,300 to $83,600 on Wednesday, down about 3% to 3.5%, after repeatedly failing to break through $87,000. The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) and iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) both fell more than 3%. IBIT trading volume reached 35.6 million shares. A worsening macroeconomic backdrop drove Bitcoin's latest decline. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $118.9 million in net inflows on Tuesday, according to the TFTC ETF-flow tracker. Analysts cited by Barron's identify $83,000 as Bitcoin's immediate downside level, with a decisive break potentially pushing Bitcoin toward $80,000.
Circle brings USDC and EURC to SAP payment workflows through Tereina partnership
Circle is bringing USDC and EURC into enterprise payment workflows through a partnership with SAP-backed financial services company Tereina. The integration will let businesses using SAP's financial software send and receive the stablecoins within existing applications. USDC will be the preferred stablecoin for dollar-denominated transactions, while EURC will be available for euro-denominated payments. Tereina and Circle said they plan to test the integration with customers over the coming months, including for global payments and treasury operations.
Anthropic launches Claude Haiku 5.5 with 90% lower short-prompt prices
Anthropic released Claude Haiku 5.5 on Wednesday with prices 90% below Haiku 4.5 for prompts up to 100,000 tokens. Developers pay $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens for those prompts. Anthropic calls Haiku 5.5 its cheapest, fastest and most capable small model, and estimates average savings near 75%. A simple logic test produced an almost instant response but an incorrect answer. Anthropic is also adding monthly API credits for Max and Team subscribers this week.
Analysis: Financial firms and regulators push to bring tokenized stocks to US
Traditional financial firms, crypto upstarts and regulators are pushing to bring tokenized stocks to the U.S. Tokenized stocks trade on the blockchain, the ledger system that underpins cryptocurrencies. Until recently, tokenized stocks were a niche option reserved mostly for overseas investors.
Lightspark reportedly launches dotMoney prototype for sending test funds
Bitcoin News reported that Lightspark released a dotMoney prototype for sending test funds through shareable links, .money files or directly between nearby iPhones. The test funds have no monetary value. Each file can be claimed only once, and copying or forwarding a file does not duplicate funds. Senders can cancel unclaimed payments. Lightspark is also testing bank, Cash App and Lightning withdrawals through Grid.
CFTC Chair Selig says crypto rules will prevent another FTX-style collapse
Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Mike Selig said new crypto rules will prevent another collapse like FTX. Selig said Wednesday that crypto exchanges will have the chance to register with the CFTC to safeguard digital asset spot markets. The CFTC this week sought public comment on a proposed federal registration category for exchanges offering leveraged, margined or financed crypto trades to retail customers. Exchanges without leverage could remain under state licenses. However, the CFTC's broad interpretation of leverage could bring even fully paid trades under federal oversight unless customers take delivery of their crypto.
French Hill says SEC and CFTC crypto rules fall short of legislative clarity
Rep. French Hill said SEC and CFTC crypto rulemaking falls short of the legislative solution needed for digital assets. The Senate failed to advance the Clarity Act in a 49-50 vote last month. The bill would have governed most cryptocurrency activity in the United States and clarified the agencies' respective jurisdictions over digital assets. Hill said he still hopes the bill can pass during the lame-duck session. The SEC and CFTC have advanced their own initiatives, but exemptions and guidance can face court challenges or reversal by a future administration.
Sky Protocol receives Moody's first stablecoin protocol rating at B3
Bitcoin.com News reported that Moody's assigned Sky Protocol a B3 long-term counterparty risk rating with a stable outlook, the agency's first stablecoin protocol rating. Sky Protocol held approximately $90 million in tangible common equity as of September. Sky Protocol had about $10 billion in tangible managed assets. Moody's described Sky Protocol's capital position as a significant credit weakness.
Tether signs Kazakhstan deal to explore tenge stablecoin and tokenized assets
Tether announced Wednesday that Tether signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the Alatau City Authority. The parties plan to explore a stablecoin pegged to the tenge and a tokenized-asset pilot in Alatau. The announcement does not identify who would issue the stablecoin, and the memorandum sets no date for either pilot. The memorandum also includes workshops to train central bank staff on token issuance, reserve management and asset tokenization.
Dogecoin falls 7% as daily golden cross remains intact
Dogecoin dropped 7% Wednesday while a daily golden cross remained intact as DOGE tested key support levels. Analyst Kevin identified $0.083 to $0.089 as a major support zone and argued that a pullback into recently reclaimed moving averages would be normal. Whether support holds could ultimately depend on Bitcoin's performance. Metallicus CEO and Dogecoin Foundation board member Marshall Hayner said a separate proof-of-stake payment layer built by Metallicus and Metal Blockchain is 300 times faster.