🌍 500M $USDT Users, The Fed Embrace, In-Kind Transactions

Good Afternoon,

Crypto adoption and institutional momentum continue to accelerate. Tether hits 500 million USDT users in a landmark moment for global financial inclusion, while the Fed signals openness to crypto and DeFi in a major policy shift. BlackRock has processed $3B in in-kind transactions by drawing bitcoin whales onto Wall Street through Bitcoin ETFs, gold sees its sharpest decline in five years, and regulators push banks to adapt—not panic—around stablecoins.

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News Roundup

Artificial Intelligence

• Michigan Woman Wins $100K Powerball Using ChatGPT-Generated Numbers (Decrypt)

• OpenAI Challenges Google Chrome With Launch of ChatGPT Atlas AI Browser (Decrypt)

Decentralized, Centralized, & Traditional Finance

• House of Doge Becomes Largest Shareholder in Italian Soccer Club U.S. Triestina Calcio 1918 (The Block)

• Asia’s Stablecoin Race Heats Up as Japan, Singapore, and China Diverge on Strategy (Decrypt)

• Solana Company Opens Investor Resale, Shares Drop 22% Amid $500M Solana Treasury Bet (Decrypt)

• Coinbase Acquires Crypto Investment Platform Echo in $375 Million Deal (Reuters)

• Maple and Aave Partner to Bring Institutional-Grade Assets Into DeFi Lending (The Defiant)

• Tether Reaches 500 Million Users, Marking Crypto’s Biggest Financial Inclusion Milestone (PanAsiaBiz)

• Federal Reserve Enters ‘New Era’ of Payments—Governor Waller Welcomes Crypto and DeFi (Bitcoin Magazine)

• Aave Dominates Ethereum Lending With $25 Billion in Outstanding Loans (The Block)

Exchanges

• Coinbase Opens Bitcoin Rewards Card to All U.S. Users (The Block)

• Upbit Lists New Futures (F) Token for KRW and USDT Trading (Upbit)

• Bithumb Lists ZORA and RECALL on KRW Market With Free Trading Promotion (Bithumb)

Exchange-Traded Funds

• 21Shares Files S-1 for Injective (INJ) ETF With Potential Staking Component (SEC)

• On October 20, U.S. Ethereum spot ETFs recorded $146 million in net outflows, their third straight day of withdrawals,

• U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs posted $40.47 million in outflows on October 20, marking a four-day streak of investor pullback.

• BlackRock Lures Bitcoin Whales Into Wall Street With $3B ETF Conversions (Bloomberg)

Infrastructure

• Ethereum Testnet Holešky Set for Degradation to Begin This Week (X)

• Bitget Wallet Integrates EIP-7702, Enabling Stablecoin Gas Payments Across Eight Networks (The Block)

• BNB Chain Partners With BPN to Build Multi-Stablecoin Global Payment Network (BNB Chain)

• Ark Labs Launches Arkade Public Beta — A Bitcoin-Native Layer 2 for Instant, Programmable Transactions (The Block)

• Railgun Surpasses $4 Billion in Private Transactions as On-Chain Privacy Demand Booms (DL News)

• Circle Launches Bridge Kit to Simplify Crosschain App Development (Circle)

• Ethereum’s Fusaka Hard Fork to Introduce Per-Transaction Gas Cap via EIP-7825 (Ethereum Foundation)

Markets

• Prediction Markets Smash $2B Record Amid NYC Mayoral Election Frenzy (DL News)

• Bitcoin Falls Below $108K as U.S.–China Trade Tensions Weigh on Markets (The Block)

• Elon Musk’s AI Floki Video Sends Meme Coin Surging 27% (Decrypt)

• Keeta (KTA) Spot Trading to Launch on October 22 (X)

• Galaxy Stock Soars After Record $728M Quarter Driven by AI and Treasury Boom (DL News)

• Bitcoin Surges Past $112K as Gold and Silver See Sharpest Drop in Years (CoinDesk)

• Gold Suffers Biggest Drop in 5 Years as Capital Rotates Into Bitcoin (The Block)

Meme Coins

• Australians Lead the World in Meme Coin Holdings, Kraken Data Shows (Decrypt)

Mining

• HIVE Expands Bitcoin Mining Operations in Paraguay, Targets 35 EH/s by 2026 (The Block)

Non-Fungible Tokens

• Coinbase Buys Cobie’s “Up Only” NFT for $25 Million, Forcing Podcast Revival (The Block)

Politics & Regulation

• Senate Republicans Seek Own Crypto CEO Meeting to Match Democrats’ Policy Talks (CoinDesk)

• British Columbia Moves to Curb AI Power Use, Permanently Ban New Crypto Mining (Bloomberg)

• Coinbase Urges U.S. to Use Blockchain and AI to Combat Financial Crime (Cointelegraph)

• Crypto and Fintech Groups Urge Trump Administration to Defend CFPB’s Open Banking Rule (The Block)

• OCC Chief Dismisses Stablecoin ‘Bank Run’ Fears, Urges Banks to Compete, Not Panic (Decrypt)

• Kraken UK Boss Urges Lawmakers: Crypto Rules Key to Regaining Britain’s Fintech Crown (DL News)

• Europe and Ukraine Draft 12-Point Peace Plan to End Russia’s War Along Current Battle Lines (Bloomberg)

Token Generation Events

• Pump.fun Retains 95% Market Share in Token Launches, Earning $1M Daily Despite Slowdown (The Block)

• Binance Launches 55th HODLer Airdrop Featuring Turtle (TURTLE) (Binance)

Treasuries

• SpaceX Moves 2,395 BTC After Three-Month Dormancy (X)

• SharpLink Buys Additional 19,271 ETH, Boosting Total Ethereum Holdings to $3.5 Billion (X)

• CEA Industries ($BNC) Crosses 500,000 BNB Milestone, Now Holds $546.8M in BNB (Globe Newswire)

Venture Capital

• Bybit-Backed Cross-Chain Launchpad Printr Raises $4.5 Million Ahead of Debut (The Block)

• YZi Labs Leads $25M Round for Sign to Build National Blockchain Infrastructure (Blockworks)

Other News

• X to Launch Handle Marketplace With Rare Usernames Priced Up to $1 Million (Decrypt)

• Ethena Labs Expands Team by 50% Ahead of Two Major Product Launches (The Block)

• Coinbase’s Base App Clarifies Zero Balances After AWS Outage (The Block)

• AWS Outage Disrupts Major Crypto Platforms, Sends Ethereum Gas Fees to Record Lows (Decrypt)

• How to Spot and Avoid Market Manipulation in Altcoins Before They Crash (Cointelegraph)

• Ethereum Developer Accuses Vitalik Buterin of Centralized Influence in Leaked Letter (GitHub)

• Vitalik Buterin Applauds Polygon’s ZK Innovation and Sandeep Nailwal’s Philanthropy (X)

• North Korean Hackers Deploy ‘EtherHiding’ Malware on Ethereum and BNB Chains (Decrypt)

• How Polymarket and Kalshi Rose to Dominate the Crypto Prediction Market Race (The Defiant)

• Solana Ends Support for Saga Phone Just Two Years After Launch (DL News)

• Ethereum Faces Backlash After Top Researcher Joins Stripe’s ‘Corpo-Chain’ Tempo (DL News)

• Europol Dismantles Latvian Cybercrime Network, Seizes $330K in Crypto (Decrypt)

Check This Out

Code Is Law is a documentary that uncovers a crypto crime spree, following cyber vigilantes and a teen hacker who stole $64M and invoked the “code is law” defense before fleeing justice.

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