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Digital asset custody provider Cobo announced that its Cobo Wallet App will shut down on December 1 as part of a strategic business adjustment. Users must withdraw all assets by November 30 at 11:59 PM (UTC+8). Any remaining assets will incur a monthly management fee of 2%, with a minimum charge of $100. Accounts holding less than $100 will have their entire remaining balance deducted. The first fee will be charged on January 1, 2027, and fees will continue until all assets are withdrawn or depleted. Cobo emphasized that its other businesses will remain unaffected and continue operating normally.

Ledger confirmed a hardware tampering attack involving a Southeast Asian reseller, Solana scheduled its Alpenglow mainnet upgrade targeting 150ms finality, and US inflation rose to 3.7%, above expectations. This week also saw a UK court ruling involving 61,000 BTC, new crypto regulations in Australia, and BitMine's ETH holdings nearing 5% of total supply. For the complete weekly roundup, subscribe to our Substack.

Circle disclosed that it generated approximately $1.4 billion in revenue in the first half of 2026, of which $819 million (59%) went to USDC distribution partners and transaction costs. Another $473 million (34%) was spent on licensing, banking relationships, settlement liquidity, compliance, and product development, leaving approximately 7% as net profit.
Circle also stated that customers using the Circle Payments Network (CPN) and eligible Circle Platform customers can now access free, near-real-time USDC redemptions around the clock. USDC recorded more than $36 trillion in on-chain transaction volume in H1 2026, accounting for approximately 77% of global stablecoin transaction volume in June, according to Circle.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin showcased his personal privacy-focused AI agent setup, integrating zkAPI, Tor, random cover traffic, and local LLM prompt rewriting into the pi agent harness. The system assigns each conversation a separate Tor circuit, uses zkAPI to protect payment privacy, and rewrites prompts locally with a Qwen model. Vitalik said the setup is becoming usable but still suffers from significant latency, especially when starting new conversations, while Tor remains vulnerable to timing-correlation attacks involving colluding providers and entry nodes. He suggested that a specialized mixnet may offer stronger protection and added that lower gas costs for zkAPI deposits and withdrawals on Ethereum mainnet are coming soon.

According to Reuters, Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank, plans to launch cryptocurrency custody services within weeks and expand into Asian financial hubs in 2027. Gerald Podobnik, co-head of its corporate bank, said the service will initially support major cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH, with plans to add fiat-to-stablecoin conversion services. The bank also intends to offer tokenized deposits and help clients issue blockchain-based securities, including digital bonds, as part of its broader corporate banking growth strategy.

1. US September CPI Tops Estimates, YoY Rate Hits 3.7%, Highest Since May link
US September unadjusted CPI YoY came in at 3.7%, the highest since May this year and above market expectations of 3.6%. US September unadjusted CPI MoM stood at 0.6%, the highest since April this year. US September unadjusted core CPI YoY rose to 2.6%, the highest since June this year and above market forecasts of 2.5%. US September seasonally adjusted core CPI MoM printed at 0.3%, exceeding market expectations of 0.2%.
2. Democratic Midterm Win May Spur Probes Into Crypto Firms’ Trump Links link
Reuters reported that if Democrats gain control of either the U.S. House of Representatives or the Senate in the November midterm elections, they may ramp up investigations into crypto firms, prediction markets and Wall Street banks, and obtain the power to subpoena regulators and corporate CEOs to testify at congressional hearings. Democratic lawmakers are prepared to probe the business ties between Trump and his family with the cryptocurrency and prediction market industries, focusing on potential conflicts of interest and national security risks. The report notes that such investigations may not block the Trump administration’s financial regulatory rollbacks, yet they could slow policy advancement and raise legal and reputational risks for enterprises.
3. France Pushes EU-Wide Crypto Tax to Fill €2 Trillion Budget Gap link
Leaders of the 27 EU member states launched negotiations on the long-term budget for 2028–2034 on October 15, with sharp disagreements among countries over the budget size and new tax revenue sources. France opposes deep budget cuts and calls for new EU-wide taxes covering digital services, crypto assets and online gambling to boost common fiscal revenue. The European Parliament previously proposed exploring taxes on capital gains from crypto assets as a potential new revenue stream for the EU budget. EU leaders aim to strike a deal by the end of the year, and any new taxes require unanimous approval from all member states.
4. UK High Court: Chinese Law Applies to 61,000 BTC Claim; Victims May Miss Value Gains link
The High Court of England and Wales handed down a ruling on October 12 in a cross-border asset recovery dispute involving more than 61,000 Bitcoins linked to the Tianjin Lantian Gerui illegal fund-raising case. It held that Chinese investors’ property claims over the involved Bitcoins should be determined under Chinese law rather than English law. This means around 16,000 Chinese victims participating in the UK recovery proceedings may not be entitled to the appreciation gains from the rise in Bitcoin price, and the scope of recovery may be limited to principal and interest.
5. BoE Deputy Governor: No Rush for CBDC, Backs Domestic Stablecoins Over USD Variants link
Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, stated that given rapid innovation in digital payments, the United Kingdom does not need to rush to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for the general public. Commercial stablecoins and bank tokenized deposits may deliver some of the same functions as a digital pound. Breeden stressed that the Bank of England wants domestic firms to develop successful sterling stablecoins to offer an alternative to a market dominated by US dollar stablecoins, preventing UK households and businesses from relying solely on US dollar stablecoins for innovative payment services. The Bank of England is also upgrading its real-time gross settlement system to support tokenized financial transactions and round-the-clock instant settlement.
6. Australian Crypto Exchanges to Be Licensed Under New Rules Effective Next April link
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced on October 15 that Australia will implement a new digital asset regulatory framework on April 8, 2027, bringing digital asset trading platforms and tokenised custody platforms under financial services licensing oversight. Relevant platforms must apply for or vary an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence and comply with regulatory requirements including client disclosure, asset custody, trade settlement and net tangible assets. ASIC has released Consultation Paper 392 seeking feedback on detailed implementation standards, with submissions closing on November 27. ASIC stated it has received over 140 licence applications for digital asset financial services, of which more than 110 were lodged during the regulatory transition period from October 2025 to September 2026.
7. Brazil Securities Regulator Launches Tokenized Securities Pilot for Blockchain Stock Trading link
Brazil’s securities regulator CVM issued Resolution №249 to launch a tokenized securities pilot programme. It intends to test securities transactions on blockchain using simulated stocks and funds within a controlled environment, with no real assets involved. The pilot will assess the suitability of public and private blockchains for securities issuance and operations, alongside risks related to smart contracts, cybersecurity, interoperability and network resilience. It will also explore translating market rules into smart contract logic. Brazilian stock exchange B3 plans to launch its tokenized platform in 2027, paired with its own stablecoin.
8. Ledger Confirms Supply Chain Hardware Tampering Attack on SEA Distributor CryptoBilis link
Ledger Donjon, the security team of hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger, published an article formally confirming a supply-chain hardware tampering attack targeting devices sold by Southeast Asian distributor CryptoBilis. Ledger emphasized that all confirmed theft cases to date only involve units sold by CryptoBilis, with no abnormalities found in other sales channels. Widely circulated figures of heavy losses online are third-party estimates and have not been fully verified by the official team. The firm warned users who purchased devices from CryptoBilis but have not initialized them not to power them up for setup, while those who have completed setup should immediately transfer assets to a wallet with a brand-new seed phrase.
According to Cointelegraph, major European consumer electronics retail group MediaMarktSaturn has removed all Ledger hardware wallet products from its physical stores and online platforms. A spokesperson for the group confirmed the measure and stated that it is in communication with Ledger. Earlier, X user Johannes claimed unauthorized installed cables and cellular communication modules were found in two Ledger wallets he bought from separate MediaMarkt stores.
In Ledger’s official response, as of October 13, European electronics retail group MediaMarktSaturn has suspended sales of Ledger devices across its stores and online platforms with Ledger’s cooperation. The suspension follows a report by a German consumer discovering suspected malicious implants in a device, and the relevant investigation is still ongoing with no reported fund losses so far. Ledger stressed there is no sign of compromise to its infrastructure, systems or services. Its security team Ledger Donjon will inspect the received devices. Ledger also reminded that many related allegations and loss figures circulating online remain unconfirmed and official investigation findings should be treated as authoritative.
Ledger announced “Atom”, an Android-based hardware device scheduled for official release in mid-2027. The device can run ordinary smartphone applications while delivering hardware-level security protection for crypto assets. It comes with a tamper-proof enclosure specifically designed to defend against and block physical hardware tampering attacks such as screen-reading implants exploited in previous breach incidents.
9. BitMine Adds 12,532 ETH, Holding Hits 6.0289M ETH, 99% Toward 5% Target link
BitMine stated that it added 12,532 ETH over the past week, bringing its total holdings to 6,028,946 ETH, accounting for approximately 4.9% of Ethereum’s 122.1 million supply. Around 99% of its target of holding 5% of ETH supply has been achieved. As of October 11, 5,067,309 ETH held by the company was staked. The announcement also noted in forward-looking statements that management believes the company has “substantially completed ETH purchases”, meaning the pace of future accumulation may slow as it nears the 5% target.
10. Solana Alpenglow Upgrade Slated for Oct 21 Mainnet Activation, Targeting 150ms Finality link
Anza, the core development team of Solana, announced that the Alpenglow consensus upgrade is scheduled to activate on the mainnet at approximately 14:50 UTC (22:50 Beijing time) on October 21. This upgrade will replace the existing TowerBFT with the Votor consensus mechanism, aiming to cut transaction finality time from around 12.8 seconds to 150 milliseconds. After the upgrade, validators will exchange voting information directly instead of recording votes as on-chain transactions, which may lead to a notable drop in transaction count statistics including validator votes. Alpenglow was previously deployed on the testnet and devnet on September 24 and 25 respectively. This mainnet upgrade remains a plan, and the 150-millisecond figure is an expected performance target rather than actual mainnet operational results.
Fundraising
Polychain led a new round of financing for Network School, valuing it at $2 billion. link
Fission closed a $10 million Series A financing round led by Pantera. link
Binance US plans to raise up to $100 million, targeting a valuation of approximately $1 billion. link
Uniform Labs, developer of Multiliquid, secured $8 million in financing led by Polychain. link
Learn more, check out crypto-fundraising.info.
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CoinShares said U.S. September CPI rose 3.7% year-on-year, above the 3.6% forecast, while retail sales increased 0.8% versus 0.3% expected. The stronger data pushed rate expectations more hawkish, with global digital asset investment products seeing $434 million in outflows so far this week. CoinShares said Bitcoin’s near-term setup remains difficult rather than fundamentally bearish.

OKX Global Managing Partner and CMO Haider Rafique plans to leave by the end of 2026, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Rafique joined OKX in March 2020, led the exchange’s rebranding, and drove partnerships including with the McLaren F1 team and the Tribeca Film Festival. He also helped facilitate Intercontinental Exchange’s $200 million strategic investment in OKX in March, which valued the exchange at $25 billion. Both OKX and Rafique declined to comment.

Arthur Hayes: Trading Other Assets to Buy More Bitcoin
On October 13, 2026, Maelstrom co-founder Arthur Hayes said in an interview with The Rollup that whether scarce assets like Bitcoin or on-chain businesses outperform depends on the entry price, market capitalization, and the protocol and smart contract risks investors are willing to take. He suggested that a token with a market cap below 1 billion could outperform Bitcoin if demand from AI agents drives a valuation re-rating.
Discussing his own allocation, Hayes said the fund’s Bitcoin position is so large that its other holdings are insignificant by comparison. Even when the fund holds substantial positions in ETH or other tokens, it takes profits and uses them to buy more Bitcoin. Trading other assets to generate profits and accumulate more Bitcoin is the fund’s core objective.
WuBlockchain notes that Arthur Hayes' market forecasts have had a low historical accuracy rate and that his views frequently change. Readers are advised to focus on his analytical framework rather than specific price targets or timing predictions.

Strive has upsized its 15% Series A Perpetual SATS Preferred Stock IPO by 2 million shares to 7 million shares, priced at $90 per share. Gross proceeds are expected to be about $630 million before underwriting discounts, commissions and offering expenses. Settlement is scheduled for October 20. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including bitcoin and bitcoin-related products, working capital, income-generating assets, capital expenditures, share repurchases and potential acquisitions.

According to Bloomberg, a Coin Metrics report shows that meme coins reach all-time highs an average of 17.2 days after their first trade, with one-quarter peaking within 1.6 days. The median time from peak to a 95% decline into a “dead” state is 370 days, and only 3% of meme coins return to their all-time highs.

The "Solana Accelerate China 2026" event, hosted by the Solana Foundation in Shanghai on the morning of October 16, was abruptly cancelled; the reason remains unknown. Some registered attendees reported that they were still unable to gain entry after waiting for an hour and a half. At 12:00 PM, the organizers sent out an email offering an apology.

Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB) announced that retail customers can use its mobile banking app to convert between U.S. dollars (USD) and USDT or USDC in both directions. Customers do not need to transfer funds to a crypto exchange and can hold USDT, USDC and other fiat currencies in the same bank account. The service is available 24 hours a day from Monday through Friday. Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB), launched by Singapore’s Whampoa Group, is one of Asia’s most important crypto-friendly banks.

According to a Castle Labs report on the Solana ecosystem, on-chain RWA market capitalization on Solana grew from about $700 million to $4.3 billion over the past year. Over the same period, Ethereum RWA grew from $15.5 billion to $16.6 billion. Solana’s share of total RWA relative to Ethereum rose from roughly 4.5% to 26%. The report also noted Solana’s application revenue over the past 30 days reached $193.1 million, ranking first among the networks tracked, ahead of Hyperliquid at $86.5 million and Ethereum at $53.8 million.

Vitalik Buterin: A Sign of Ethereum's Maturity Is That It Can Keep Moving Forward Without My Involvement
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said in an October 9 interview with Balaji Srinivasan at the Network State Conference 2026 that constantly being in the spotlight can be draining. On Ethereum's leadership and succession, he said decentralization is not about going from one leader to zero, but from one to many, and Ethereum is beginning to move in that direction. Vitalik said he looks for whether people across the Foundation and community can keep pushing Ethereum forward and defend values such as security and privacy without his involvement. He added that more people are now stepping up without waiting for him to speak first - a key positive sign in his view.

According to a Chainalysis report, the U.S. became a net importer of Bitcoin in 2026 for the first time since 2022, with institutions continuing to buy Bitcoin while retail investors were net sellers. Since the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in 2024, the U.S. share of global Bitcoin activity has increased in every reporting period. Meanwhile, the U.S. crypto economy totaled $2.78 trillion, down 2.2% quarter over quarter, while dollar-backed stablecoins continued to expand in overseas payments and cross-border commerce, generating billions of dollars in economic activity for U.S. companies and the government.

MSCI has adopted new rules to exclude non-operating companies from its Global Investable Market Indexes. In an earlier simulation based on May 2026 data, MSCI identified Bitcoin treasury companies Strategy (MSTR) and Metaplanet (3350) as potential removals, while Ethereum treasury company SharpLink (SBET) would be placed on a watchlist. The final list of affected constituents will be published on November 11.
The new rules, effective after the November 30 close, will exclude companies that fail an operating-assets test and trigger at least four of five financial exclusion criteria. Existing constituents must fail the screening in both of their two most recent annual filing periods before removal. MSCI will also lift temporary index restrictions on companies previously identified as holding digital assets worth at least 50% of total assets, assessing them under the new methodology instead.

Chainalysis said that one of the largest victims of a recent theft involving Ledger wallets was a scammer who lost over 60 BTC, worth approximately $4.8 million. The funds originated from a task scam in which people were paid to generate fake sales and reviews for real products, then told to deposit their own money after a negative balance appeared in order to receive payment. On September 22, the scammer transferred the proceeds to three separate Ledger addresses. On October 9, thieves drained all three addresses through one transaction each, sending the funds to the same wallet, which has been flagged as associated with stolen funds.

Bloomberg reported that Binance US is seeking to raise up to $100 million in a private funding round at a target valuation of approximately $1 billion to expand its US operations. World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture linked to the Trump family, was made aware of the fundraising but is not participating. Binance US previously raised over $200 million in 2022 at a $4.5 billion pre-money valuation but lost significant market share following Binance's 2023 settlement with US authorities. The exchange is now exploring expansion into prediction markets, seeking to restore certain state money transmitter licenses, and considering external sources of trading liquidity, potentially including Binance's global exchange, though no final decision has been made.