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South Korea Regulates Stablecoins as Payment Means, China to Build National Blockchain Network, HSBC Launches Stablecoin, Hong Kong Tokenization Moves to Deployment Phase, Robinhood Secures Dubai Approval.
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1. Malaysian and Thai Central Banks Join Singapore’s BLOOM Initiative for Cross-Border Stablecoin Settlement link
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on October 23 that Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand have officially joined the BLOOM cross-border digital currency initiative to jointly advance cross-border payment and settlement for digital currencies such as regulated stablecoins and tokenized deposits. The initiative has added new participants including Ripple, Visa, Mastercard, Airwallex and the World Bank Group. It focuses on researching cross-border settlement, interoperability of different payment networks and programmable compliance controls, aiming to cut cross-border transaction costs for financial institutions.
2. Bank of Korea to Require Monthly Balance Reporting for Cross-Border Crypto Users from Dec 2 link
The Bank of Korea will require virtual asset transfer service providers starting December 2 to submit monthly reports to the foreign exchange information system on end-of-month holdings of users who have made cross-border crypto asset transfers to overseas exchanges, personal wallets and other destinations since July 19, 2024, even if there were no cross-border transactions in the month. The reports shall include token quantities, KRW-equivalent balances and total cross-border inflows and outflows for the month. Dormant accounts, delisted assets and staked assets are also covered, and submissions are due by 17:30 on the 10th of the following month. It has not yet been decided whether cross-border transfer records predating the implementation of the rule will need to be retroactively filed.
3. South Korea Revises Foreign Exchange Act to Regulate Stablecoins as Payment Means link
The South Korean government and the Bank of Korea plan to draft amendments to the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act within this year to regulate stablecoins used as payment instruments. In a report submitted to the National Assembly on October 22, the Bank of Korea stated that it is negotiating with the government on regulatory frameworks for cross-border crypto asset transactions and preparing to establish a crypto asset monitoring system via the foreign exchange information system. The central bank noted that anonymous technologies such as mixers and regulatory gaps around personal wallets raise risks of illicit cross-border transactions, and it will cooperate with relevant authorities to prevent market participants from evading supervision by exploiting regulatory loopholes during the digital asset legislative transition period.
4. Kazakh Court Bans Coinbase and Five Platforms from AIFC Services link
The Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) of Kazakhstan has obtained an injunction from the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) court prohibiting six crypto platforms, namely Coinbase, BingX, Bitcoincom, Huobi Global (HTX), BitMart and WEEX, from providing or marketing digital asset services and distributing mobile applications within the AIFC without a licence. The court clarified that the injunction applies strictly only to the AIFC, which has an independent legal and regulatory framework, and its local users, rather than being a nationwide ban across Kazakhstan. The ruling also imposes constraints on app stores including Google and Apple, though the court has not yet issued a direct ban against the app stores and requires AFSA to engage with them first. In addition, LBank was removed from the ruling as it has already blocked services in the country. Back in 2023, Coinbase had its website blocked in Kazakhstan over alleged violations of the nation’s Digital Assets Law.
5. China Targets Basic National Blockchain Network by 2030, Launches Construction Project link
The Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission has issued the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Informatization. It proposes that the national blockchain network will be basically completed by 2030, and a national blockchain network construction project will be implemented to lay the foundation for the Value Internet. The plan calls for accelerating the completion of the central backbone network, advancing the interconnected operation of regional hubs, improving basic common services such as decentralized digital identity, deepening digital applications in shipping, freight and trade, and expanding application scenarios including development and reform, low-carbon transition, government affairs and taxation. The plan also sets out to steadily develop the digital renminbi, further apply blockchain and privacy-preserving computing in data circulation and trading, promote the interconnection and mutual recognition of decentralized digital identities, and refine the blockchain technical standards system. In terms of industrial development, the plan aims to cultivate internationally leading technological products in integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, blockchain and other fields.
6. Hong Kong Tokenization Moves From Pilot to Deployment Phase link
Christopher Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of Hong Kong, stated that asset tokenisation in Hong Kong is moving from experimental trials to full-scale implementation. The fourth issuance of digital green bonds last month was oversubscribed across all currencies, with tokenised Hong Kong dollar deposits integrated into the settlement workflow. The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) aims to launch a tokenised warehouse receipt financing pilot next year. It will partner with designated banks to leverage distributed ledger technology to turn commodity warehouse receipts into collateral, while building a multi-asset tokenisation platform.
7. Thailand SEC Has Not Received Spot Crypto ETF Applications, Year-End Launch Unconfirmed link
Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stated that although multiple asset management institutions have consulted on spot ETFs for Bitcoin and Ethereum, no formal applications have been received, so it cannot confirm whether such products can be listed in 2026. The new framework effective October 16 allows licensed asset management companies to launch passive ETFs tracking a single qualified asset, currently including Bitcoin and Ethereum, with an annual average net exposure of no less than 80% allocated to the tracked asset. The products may only be traded on the Stock Exchange of Thailand and must use digital asset custodians approved by the SEC; securities firms are prohibited from providing margin financing. Retail investors may participate after listing only upon completion of risk education and confirmation of relevant risks.
8. HSBC Launches RedCoin Stablecoin for 3.3M PayMe Users on Oct 23 link
HSBC has rolled out the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin HSBC RedCoin in phases to over 3.3 million users of its PayMe app starting October 23. The first phase supports instant transfers between PayMe users and payments to merchants. Users can activate the RedCoin wallet after updating the app with no extra account opening or minimum balance requirements, and full rollout is expected before the end of this weekend. HSBC also plans to fully integrate RedCoin into its Hong Kong mobile banking app by year-end, enabling users to subscribe to tokenised money market funds and other assets instantly with a minimum of HK$100, with future expansion to tokenised gold and third-party fund products.
9. Robinhood Gets Dubai DFSA Approval, Retail Products Slated for 2027 link
Robinhood announced that it has obtained authorization from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and designated the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) as its Middle East headquarters, with plans to launch investment products for local retail investors in 2027. The authorization covers trading and custody services for all ten classes of assets approved by the DFSA, including stocks, cryptocurrencies, ETFs and investment tokens. Robinhood’s Middle East and North Africa operations will be led by senior executive and regional president Salah Kaddoura. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev stated that this expansion marks an important step in the company’s mission to build a global investment platform. Johann Kerbrat, Head of Robinhood Crypto and International Business, said the firm will further address the financial service needs of retail investors in the Middle East and North Africa. The relevant products are not yet live and are expected to launch in 2027.
10. MEXC to Halt Services for Russian and Belarusian Users link
Crypto trading platform MEXC issued an official service update announcement stating that to strengthen global compliance operations, the platform has decided to discontinue services for users located in Russia or Belarus. MEXC said the assets of affected users remain secure, and official in-app notifications will be sent separately to relevant accounts specifying the exact position closing deadline and asset withdrawal procedures. Users who do not receive individual notices are unaffected by this adjustment and may continue using all trading services normally.
Crypto exchange HTX has added Russia to the list of prohibited service jurisdictions in its user agreement. The restrictions apply to individuals residing in or present in Russia, as well as enterprises registered there or conducting primary business locally. Under the agreement, HTX reserves the right to restrict affected users’ access to services, suspend withdrawals or close accounts. Earlier, Bitget and MEXC also announced in October that they would stop offering services to Russian users. RBC did not disclose the effective date of HTX’s relevant restrictions.
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According to the Financial Times, the Bank of Israel publicly rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to use cryptocurrencies to circumvent potential international financial sanctions. On October 24, the central bank stated that crypto could not serve as a means of bypassing sanctions, urging the government to preserve economic ties with major trading partners and prevent further restrictions. In an October 23 television interview, Netanyahu warned that Israel could face international banking sanctions and said he had requested plans exploring alternative financial systems, including blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Jeff Yan: Hyperliquid Is More Like the Internet or Linux Than a Traditional Exchange
Hyperliquid Labs co-founder Jeff Yan said at DAS Asia 2026 on October 7 that Hyperliquid should not simply be viewed as a competitor to any particular exchange. He noted that Hyperliquid was initially compared to DeFi protocols, then major crypto exchanges, and now even traditional giants like CME and Nasdaq, yet none is a perfect comparison. Yan argued that Hyperliquid is more like the internet or Linux, providing neutral public infrastructure rather than building multiple systems that serve the same purpose. He emphasized that the Hyperliquid community is not trying to replace existing platforms, but hopes to empower them with technology that helps them better serve their users.

Keystone Hardware Wallet confirmed that a third party obtained customer shipping and order information following unauthorized access to its official website. The incident was detected on October 20, with the data exposure confirmed on October 23 after reviewing API activity with Shopify. Exposed information included names, contact details, shipping addresses, purchased items, and prices. Payment card and bank details, recovery phrases, private keys, and wallet passwords were not exposed. Keystone said it has blocked the access, fixed the vulnerability, and is notifying affected customers. It also warned of impersonation scams involving fake refunds, replacement devices, or order fixes.

According to Unchained, Ethereum staking protocol Swell has paused deposits and withdrawals for swETH and rswETH until it corrects the net asset values (NAV) and exchange rates of both tokens. Data shows that the swETH and rswETH contracts reported exchange rates of approximately 1.203 ETH and 1.138 ETH, respectively, about 6% and 5% higher than normal levels.
On-chain analyst Spreek suspected a compromise of the relevant token admin keys and identified a malicious upgrade contract that could potentially impact around 2,500 ETH, though the upgrade has not yet been executed. Swell stated that no ETH has been transferred out of the affected contracts and that the exact cause remains under investigation.

1. Dogecoin Labs Launched with Foundation Backing to Drive DOGE Payments and DeFi link
Dogecoin Labs has been officially established with backing from the Dogecoin Foundation. Jordan Jefferson, founder of DogeOS, serves as CEO. It consolidates the MyDoge wallet, DogeOS application platform and Such App payment product, aiming to advance DOGE adoption in payments, commerce, DeFi and gaming. MyDoge wallet has over 500,000 users. DogeOS rolled out its EVM-compatible public testnet on September 30. Such App supports merchant invoicing and offline QR payments. Dogecoin Labs operates independently, while the Dogecoin Foundation continues to oversee ecosystem governance and open-source development.
2. Circle Shareholders Sue Trump and World Liberty Financial Over Unconstitutional UAE Profits link
Circle shareholder Benjamin Greenberg has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., against President Donald Trump and World Liberty Financial, the crypto project co-founded by the Trump family. The lawsuit alleges that Trump illegally profited from two transactions involving the United Arab Emirates, violating the U.S. Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause, and harmed Circle shareholders through unfair competition. The transactions in question include a UAE royal-family-backed investment entity acquiring a 49% stake in World Liberty for $500 million, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX Fund using its stablecoin USD1 to complete a $2 billion investment in Binance. The plaintiff is seeking a court order to bar the alleged unconstitutional conduct, claw back illegal gains, and award damages. Circle emphasized that the lawsuit was filed by the shareholder personally and that the company is not involved. World Liberty denied the allegations, stating that its business complies with U.S. laws and regulations.
3. Zcash to Activate NU7 Upgrade Around Nov 5, Block Time Cut to 25 Seconds link
Zcash developers have agreed on block height 3,543,405 for the NU7 upgrade activation, expected around November 5. It will reduce the block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. The upgrade will also temporarily remove 60% of each block’s transaction fees from circulation, with the funds set to be returned to miners starting approximately February 2031. The existing mining reward halving schedule remains unchanged. The legacy Sprout privacy system will be fully shut down, and funds that have not been migrated will become unspendable after that point. As of 08:00 UTC on October 21, the activation height proposal has not yet been merged into deployment specifications and still needs to be incorporated into node software to take effect.
4. OpenSea CEO Launches Public App, Aggregating Cross-Platform Trading and Social Graph link
OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer announced that the OpenSea App is now available for public download. This version fully integrates three core features: it aggregates trader social graphs and trading activity scattered across platforms including Fomo, Pump and Farcaster, allowing users to track on-chain actions in activity feeds and claim personal profiles in real time. It also supports easy funding via Apple Pay to create or import existing wallets, enabling cross-wallet asset tracking within one account and one-click trading of tokens, memecoins, NFT art and trading cards. Trades are executed on the back of cross-chain liquidity and real-time pricing. Finzer stated that the current release marks an initial aggregation phase, with more customizable trading alerts and on-chain performance trackers to be rolled out later.
5. Qubic L1 Hacked: 1,404 Wallets Lose ~2.94T QU, 87.1% of Stolen Funds Frozen link
Layer 1 network Qubic posted that between 23:42 UTC on October 17 and 01:26 UTC on October 18, attackers exploited insufficient seed randomness in certain wallets to compromise 1,404 wallets and steal roughly 2.94 trillion QU tokens. The vulnerability stemmed from the seed generation mechanism rather than the Qubic protocol itself. Qubic halted network transactions at block height 85,371,949. Around 87.1% of stolen funds remain frozen on the network, while 12.9% were transferred to MEXC and the associated accounts have been frozen. Other exchanges have suspended QUBIC deposits and withdrawals. Qubic fixed the seed generation flaw in version 4.26.4, and subsequent remediation will be decided by the Computor quorum under network rules.
According to analysis from the GoPlus Chinese community, the official Qubic wallet used Math.random() to generate wallet seeds. Under the JavaScriptCore engine on Apple platforms, the underlying pseudorandom number generator only provided 32 bits of entropy. Attackers could offline enumerate roughly 4.3 billion possibilities, derive private keys and addresses, and match them against addresses with on-chain balances to steal assets. Affected wallets include those created via the Qubic official client on iPhone, iPad browsers or Mac Safari before October 18, 2026, and wallets generated through the Qubic iOS app before July 2025. Public research and tools targeting this weakness emerged in September 2026. The official Web wallet v4.26.4 now uses crypto.getRandomValues as the fix.
6. Aave Founder Stani: Aavenomics 3.0 to Include AAVE Buybacks, Staking and Burns link
Stani, founder of Aave, stated during the Q3 livestream that Aavenomics 3.0 will include AAVE buybacks, staking and burns. AAVE buybacks were suspended on April 19, the day after the rsETH exploit. Since then, the DAO has committed 25,000 ETH to DeFi United for loss recovery and arranged a credit line of up to 30,000 ETH from Mantle. Before the suspension, a forum proposal sought to cut the annual buyback budget from approximately $50 million to $30 million.
7. Uniswap Aggregator Hooks Goes Live on Ethereum, Base and Robinhood Chain link
Uniswap Labs announced that Aggregator Hooks have launched on Ethereum, Base and Robinhood Chain. The tool can import liquidity from external platforms into Uniswap v4 to help users find better trading routes. Fluid, Curve and PancakeSwap are the first integrated external liquidity sources. The feature is accessible via the Uniswap web application and API, with support for more blockchains planned. Built on Uniswap v4’s Hooks framework, Aggregator Hooks wrap external liquidity as Uniswap v4 liquidity pools, letting Uniswap compare prices across its own pools and external platforms and pick the optimal route.
8. Starknet 93.5% Vote Backs Research Into Independent Post-Quantum L1 Transition link
Starknet (STRK) holders backed a research proposal with over 93.5% of voting power to explore migrating Starknet from an Ethereum Layer 2 to a standalone post-quantum Layer 1 network. StarkWare plans to release a draft whitepaper in November. The vote only approves the research work and does not constitute formal approval of the migration plan, which will require further governance votes to proceed.
9. GMX Tokenomics Adjustment on Oct 28, Solana Revenue Allocated to Full GMX Buybacks link
The GMX governance forum published Proposal GMLabs-003. The decentralized derivatives trading platform GMX plans to implement two tokenomics adjustments on October 28. After GT buybacks for its Solana operations, all remaining protocol revenue will be used to repurchase GMX, with acquired tokens going into the staking reward pool. GMX and esGMX staked on Arbitrum and Avalanche will be subject to a 180-day staking unlock waiting period, applying to both existing and new staking positions. On-chain staking rewards remain paused. The changes are scheduled to take effect on October 28.
10. Base and Optimism DEXs Aerodrome and Velodrome Complete Merger link
Aerodrome, the leading DEX on Base, and Velodrome, the top DEX on OP Mainnet, have formally merged into a unified on-chain spot trading platform called Aero. According to the team, Aerodrome accounted for 58% of DEX volume on Base in Q3 this year, while Velodrome captured 60% on OP Mainnet. The merger also unifies the token economy. Legacy AERO will be swapped 1:1 for the new AERO, and VELO at a ratio of 1:0.044. Existing veAERO and veVELO locked positions will convert into sAERO. The new platform introduces cross-chain trading via Metaswaps, the dynamic-fee Slipstream V3, and a predictive liquidity incentive allocation mechanism.
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Arthur Hayes said Maelstrom has closed all positions in its directional trading book, taking profits on ETH, ENA, UNI and other altcoins. He believes the market may need to fall before rising, citing uncertainty surrounding macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions. He plans to remain on the sidelines and wait for an all-clear signal.

Arthur Hayes: High-FDV Shitcoins Can't Even Pump on Binance Anymore
Flop Labs CEO Arthur Hayes said in an October 16 interview with LukeMartin that the entire crypto industry has abused tokenomics. From ICOs to VC private sales and presales, some projects raise funds supposedly to build products, only to dump tokens after launching protocols and unlocking allocations. Retail investors buying at TGE suffer heavy losses, sometimes watching token prices plunge 95%. Hayes argued that retail investors increasingly see through the high-FDV, low-float model, saying such tokens "can't even pump on Binance anymore." He favors projects like Hyperliquid, which have genuine product-market fit, return revenue to token holders, and avoid massive sell pressure from presold token unlocks.

Bloomberg, citing data compiled by a Dune Analytics user, reported that weekly notional volume in crypto-related contracts on Kalshi and Polymarket hit a record $2.7 billion last week, driven mainly by bets on short-term Bitcoin and other crypto price moves. Crypto now ranks second only to sports on both platforms.
Crypto exchanges are expanding into prediction markets as spot volumes decline, with Coinbase's offering powered by Kalshi. However, legal challenges to sports contracts in several U.S. states could affect crypto exchanges' willingness to expand into prediction markets.

Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the platform was wrong to send emails to clients who bought and withdrew Monero (XMR) using their own money, asking for information about their employer, source of funds, and intended use of the coins. He said no rule required these inquiries, and someone had flagged a client simply for being young and having substantial funds. The requests have been withdrawn, and affected clients have been told they do not need to provide anything. Sethi said asking where funds came from is reasonable, but asking how they will be used after leaving the platform is unacceptable. Kraken has removed such questions and will keep XMR listed.

According to Russian business media outlet RBC, cryptocurrency exchange HTX has included Russia in its list of restricted jurisdictions under its user agreement. The restrictions apply to individuals residing in or located in Russia, as well as companies registered or primarily operating there. Under the agreement, HTX may restrict access to its services, suspend withdrawals, or close affected accounts.
Earlier in October, Bitget and MEXC also announced plans to discontinue services for Russian users. RBC did not specify when HTX's restrictions took effect.

According to Reuters, Argentine federal judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi has dropped the criminal investigation into President Javier Milei, his sister Karina Milei, and U.S. businessman Hayden Davis over the LIBRA meme coin scandal, finding insufficient evidence of fraud.
The judge ruled that while Milei’s endorsement on X may have amplified the token’s launch, it did not in itself constitute a fraudulent scheme. Milei promoted LIBRA in February 2025 before deleting his post as the token’s price collapsed. Blockchain researchers previously reported that eight wallets linked to the token’s creator withdrew approximately $99 million in cryptocurrency from the token’s trading market.

CME Chairman: Hyperliquid Will Struggle to Enter the U.S. Market Without Addressing KYC Requirements
On October 20, 2026, CME Group CEO Terry Duffy said on Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast that Hyperliquid cannot shift all regulatory responsibility to users or deployers by claiming it merely provides the underlying infrastructure. He argued that the lack of know-your-customer checks, combined with high leverage and automatic liquidation mechanisms, could trigger cascading liquidations and disrupt markets. Platforms have a duty to oversee trading and ensure fair and orderly market participation. He stressed that Hyperliquid must comply with U.S. law if it wants to enter the U.S. market, adding that, in his view, the operating model proposed by its founder Jeff Yan raises multiple compliance issues.

Hyperliquid Strategies Inc. (NASDAQ: PURR), a HYPE-focused digital asset treasury company, has increased its share repurchase authorization from 30 million USD to 100 million USD, with approximately 72 million USD remaining available. The company also extended the program's expiration date from December 5, 2026, to October 31, 2027. Actual repurchases will depend on market conditions and management's discretion.

Initia said its L1 and rollups were halted as of 15:41 UTC on October 23 following a security incident, with the team investigating the scope of the impact alongside validators, exchanges and security firms. Separately, security researcher Spreek said an attacker had minted tokens without authorization and cashed out about $2.6 million so far, with additional funds still in transit. Initia has not yet confirmed the loss amount or technical cause.

a16z plans to drop “Crypto” from its flagship fund name, CZ warns of critical PHP vulnerabilities under active exploitation, and the OCC issues its first rule under the GENIUS Act. Solana activates its Alpenglow upgrade targeting 150ms finality, while Switzerland approves its first retail Bitcoin ETF. This week also saw Mastercard expand AI agent payments with Coinbase and Base, Ethereum advance post-quantum proposals, and major companies oppose tokenized stock trading on OKXICE. For the complete weekly curated reports, subscribe to our Substack:

CME Group reported record third-quarter revenue of $1.74 billion, up about 13% year over year, with net income of roughly $1 billion. Crypto derivatives averaged about 196,000 contracts per day during the quarter, representing approximately $469.5 billion in notional trading volume, including $326.7 billion in Bitcoin derivatives and $118.8 billion in Ether derivatives.

According to MAS, the central banks of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand will work with industry participants on cross-border settlement using regulated stablecoins, tokenized deposits and other forms of digital money. Ripple, Visa, Mastercard, Airwallex and the World Bank Group are among the new participants, with work focused on interoperability between payment networks and programmable compliance controls.

1. CZ Warns Critical PHP Vulnerability Under Active Exploit: Exercise Extra Caution Visiting Websites in Coming Days link
CZ, founder of Binance, posted a reminder to exercise extra caution when visiting websites in the coming days, as some website administrators may fail to install security patches in a timely manner. He stated that PHP, widely used for web applications such as WordPress and Magento, fixed two critical vulnerabilities (CVE-2026–109618, CVE-2026–109619) on October 21. Details of the vulnerabilities were leaked ahead of their official disclosure, and exploitation of them has since been detected. Under certain conditions, attackers may execute malicious code remotely without authentication, take control of vulnerable web servers, and raise risks such as the theft of user credentials.
Amazon’s threat intelligence team found that hackers attempted to exploit the vulnerabilities as early as October 17, several days before their public disclosure. Exploitation activities intensified after the vulnerabilities were made public on Wednesday. Amazon said the vulnerabilities are being widely exploited but did not release information on specific victims. Cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks identified more than 22.6 million exposed instances worldwide affected by the flaws. Researchers at Wiz estimated that the vulnerabilities could impact roughly 70 percent of the internet and that the underlying issue has existed for over a decade. Matt Hull, Vice President of Cyber Intelligence and Response at NCC Group, warned that some vulnerable systems may have already been compromised and backdoored.
Responding to recent debates over offensive and defensive cybersecurity sparked by the discovery of severe PHP vulnerabilities with the aid of AI, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said he has never predicted that cyber defenses would automatically stay ahead of attacks. Instead, he believes cybersecurity may eventually evolve into a landscape favorable to defenders in the long run, though the transition will be extremely difficult. He pointed out that having security researchers discover vulnerabilities in existing software before hackers does not create a fundamental defensive advantage. Meaningful shifts in the attack-defense balance require profound changes in technical approaches, including formal verification and minimizing the trusted computing base (TCB), and such transformations have only just begun. This is one key reason he continues to support considering slowing or pausing AI development, and he advocates allocating more than 1 percent of GDP to cybersecurity, biosecurity and real-world safety protection.
2. Dragonfly Partner: Crypto Industry Bears Brunt of Global Hacking Wave First link
Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly, stated that global cybersecurity is facing a wave of hacking attacks analogous to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the crypto industry has experienced this trend first. He believes that since on-chain attacks are the easiest to monetize directly, security incidents involving crypto protocols can serve as an early warning of security risks across the entire internet. While the number of hacking attacks in the crypto industry has surged sharply, the annualized total value of stolen funds remains roughly on par with 2025, indicating that the average loss per attack has declined. Haseeb noted that attackers are targeting small DeFi protocols with weak security measures and insufficient maintenance, whereas large protocols have started leveraging AI tools to bolster defenses. He expects this trend of large-scale attacks to spread to the traditional internet sector.
3. a16z Drops “Crypto” From Flagship Fund Name link
Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) plans to remove the word “Crypto” from the name of its flagship blockchain fund and expand its investment focus to areas beyond cryptocurrencies. In addition, a founding member of the fund will depart. It remains unclear whether this adjustment will affect its existing crypto investment business. a16z Crypto is one of the largest venture capital institutions in the crypto industry. It completed the fundraising of its $2.2 billion fifth crypto fund in May this year, roughly half the size of the $4.5 billion fourth fund raised in 2022. Its five crypto funds have raised approximately $9.8 billion in total.
4. OCC Issues First GENIUS Act Rule: No Automatic Exemption for Stablecoin Yields, Case-by-Case Review link
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) of the United States has issued the first final implementing rule under the GENIUS Act, setting forth regulatory requirements for stablecoin issuance, custody and third-party collaboration. The rule will take effect on January 18, 2027. Regarding stablecoin yield and reward programs, the OCC stated that existing programs are not automatically deemed compliant merely because they were launched before the Act, and no safe-harbor exemption is granted for pre-existing businesses. Regulators will assess compliance on a case-by-case basis according to specific arrangements.
The GENIUS Act prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying holders returns solely for holding, using or retaining stablecoins, though this does not mean all third-party reward programs are banned. The OCC noted that rewards may fall outside the scope of the prohibition if they are based at least partially on other grounds. Platforms including Coinbase, PayPal and Kraken currently offer stablecoin reward programs, and uncertainty remains over the compliance of such arrangements going forward.
5. Swiss Regulator Approves First Domestic Bitcoin ETF, Grants Partial Diversification Waiver link
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) announced on October 20 that it has approved the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) for retail investors to invest directly in Bitcoin. Classified under Swiss law as an alternative investment fund with specific risks, the product received a waiver from certain risk diversification rules, as FINMA cited Bitcoin’s longer trading history and higher trading volume relative to other cryptocurrencies. Regulated entities are required to implement measures to mitigate operational and asset custody risks, and clearly disclose Bitcoin’s price volatility and potential loss risks in fund documentation. Sales of the product must also comply with codes of conduct set out in Switzerland’s Financial Services Act (FinSA), including investment appropriateness and suitability assessments. FINMA noted that other fund providers have submitted or announced plans to submit applications for Bitcoin ETFs.
6. JPMorgan: U.S. Regulatory Moves Partly Offset Stalled CLARITY Act, Political and Legal Risks Remain link
JPMorgan analysts said recent policy moves by U.S. regulators have partially offset the negative impact of the stalled CLARITY Act in the Senate, though political and legal risks will persist. The SEC introduced a five-year innovation exemption for tokenized securities, the CFTC is exploring allowing regulated platforms to offer leveraged crypto trading, the OCC has granted national trust charters to stablecoin issuers and digital asset firms, and the FASB is considering permitting companies to classify certain stablecoins as cash equivalents. JPMorgan believes these measures help draw institutional participation in the short term but could be reversed by future administrations and cannot replace congressional legislation. The CLARITY Act is unlikely to pass this year and may be revisited in 2027. The crypto sector will continue to carry a high political and legal risk premium until comprehensive market structure legislation is enacted.
7. Ethereum Community Proposes Consensus Decoupling Draft for Post-Quantum Upgrade and Faster Finality link
A core protocol draft titled “Decoupled Consensus” has appeared in the Ethereum EIP repository. It proposes separating beacon chain head voting from finality voting to improve fork-choice safety, reduce finalization time, and lay groundwork for a future transition to post-quantum cryptography. Authored by Francesco D’Amato, Roberto Saltini, Yann Vonlanthen, Mikhail Kalinin, Ben Edgington and others, the proposal remains an early draft with many details unresolved. The submitters primarily seek an EIP number at this stage. The proposal is pending further review and has not been merged.
8. Solana’s Major Alpenglow Upgrade Goes Live, Targets ~150ms Transaction Finality link
Alpenglow, Solana’s largest network upgrade since 2020, went live on Wednesday. The upgrade moves validator voting off-chain into certificates, enabling transactions to be finalized within one to two rounds. It targets a reduction in transaction finality time from roughly 6 seconds to around 150 milliseconds, representing a roughly 40-fold speedup. The current 6-second finality window allows prices to shift before transactions are locked in, forcing exchanges and payment applications to wait before marking deposits as completed. By comparison, Ethereum takes approximately 13 minutes to achieve full finality. Validator costs are projected to drop by about 60%. Validators currently pay roughly 2 SOL per day in voting fees; Alpenglow eliminates per-vote fees and replaces them with a fixed validator admission ticket fee of 0.8 SOL per epoch, which lasts about 24 hours. Since launching in early May, the testnet has been wiped and restarted six times, including one full-network migration failure that required a rollback. Galaxy Digital, one of around 100 validator operators on the testnet, stated that subsequent migrations succeeded. The upgrade activated at the start of epoch 1064 on Wednesday, with the actual change taking effect at slot 459,653,000.
9. Mastercard Opens Early Access to AI Agent Payment System, Completes Pilots With Coinbase, Base and Others link
Mastercard has opened early access to its AI agent payment system Agent Pay for Machines for developers after completing end-to-end pilots with Coinbase, Base, Cloudflare, Ant International, BVNK and AIsa. It provides buyer and seller APIs, a development toolkit and a sandbox environment and is not yet commercially available. During the demonstration at Cloudflare Connect, an AI agent completed nine payments to two service providers within a preset budget via the x402 protocol introduced by Coinbase. The Coinbase Developer Platform supplied wallet infrastructure while Base handled on-chain settlement. The system supports deferred batch settlement of payment credentials and enables fiat and stablecoin payments through BVNK and Mastercard’s payment infrastructure.
10. Microsoft, Goldman Sachs and 14 Other Firms Oppose Tokenized Stock Trading on OKX-ICE Joint Platform link
Seven listed companies including Microsoft, Alphabet (Google’s parent firm) and Goldman Sachs have opposed the trading of tokenized versions of their shares on OKXICE, the joint platform established by OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent of the New York Stock Exchange. According to an updated notice released by OKXICE on October 19, the newly added objectors also include Qualcomm, Caterpillar, McDonald’s and Western Digital, bringing the total number of dissenting firms from nine to sixteen. Broadcom, Verizon and CoreWeave were among the companies that previously raised objections. OKXICE plans to launch round-the-clock tokenized stock trading under the U.S. SEC’s innovation exemption framework, with stablecoin settlement and backing by actual shares on a one-to-one basis. The framework allows issuers to object to tokenized trading of their shares on specific platforms, and the specific reasons for these companies’ objections have not yet been disclosed.
Fundraising
X Pay, an AI agent payment infrastructure provider, has raised $1 million. link
Dataline has secured $10.6 million in seed funding with participation from Coinbase Ventures and other investors. link
Tether led the pre-seed round for Peso to expand USDT payment infrastructure across Latin America. link
Crypto data provider Kaiko secured an extended Series B round led by S&P Global, bringing the total round size to $110 million. link
Hylo completed a $1 million strategic round led by Solana Ventures. link
Mural announced the completion of a $15 million funding round led by Tether. link
The developer of Bitcoin yield platform HoneyB closed a $5 million financing round at a $30 million valuation. link
Learn more, check out crypto-fundraising.info.
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