➡️ Wall Street banks restrict staff trading on prediction markets

🔔 Major Wall Street banks are tightening employee rules for prediction markets as concerns grow over the use of confidential information on platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi.

🔖 Goldman Sachs has prohibited employees from trading prediction contracts linked to financial markets, political events and other subjects that could create a real or perceived conflict with the bank, its clients or the financial sector. The policy reportedly covers macroeconomic data, elections, geopolitics and events involving Goldman Sachs. However, employees may continue trading contracts related to sports and entertainment. Repeated violations could lead to disciplinary action or the loss of profits from prohibited trades.

⚡️ Morgan Stanley has also included prediction market rules in its employee code of conduct, although the bank has not disclosed the full scope of those restrictions. Meanwhile, Bank of America recently gave employees clearer examples of banned activity. Its policy restricts contracts involving company-specific developments, macroeconomic data and financial services. JPMorgan’s existing rules prohibit staff from trading with confidential information, including through prediction markets.

⚠️ The fed chair who owned crypto just ruled out saving it

🔗 Kevin Warsh held stakes in a stablecoin venture and a dozen protocols, called Bitcoin the new gold, and became the friendliest Fed chair crypto has ever had. Then Congress asked whether the Fed would rescue the sector in a run, and he said the one word the industry was not expecting. The most consequential sentence in crypto this month was not said by anyone in crypto. It was said in a House hearing room on July 14 by a Federal Reserve chair two months into the job, answering a question from a congressman who has spent years as the industry’s most reliable antagonist.

🌐 Representative Brad Sherman asked Kevin Warsh whether the Fed would backstop failing digital-asset firms the way it supported money market funds in 2008. Warsh, who sat inside the Fed during that crisis and helped design those rescues, answered: “We do not want to be in the bailout business, full stop.” He then added that the goal is a position where nobody gets bailed out, crypto included.

📊 The industry has spent a decade assuming that if the worst happened, the safety net underneath the traditional system would stretch, however grudgingly, underneath the digital one. The friendliest chair in Fed history just said it will not, and the fine print of how he said it matters more than the headline.

‼️ What is auto-deleveraging? When winning gets you closed

📊 Every leveraged crypto venue has a mechanism that can close your profitable position without asking, and it fires precisely when you are most right. It is the last step in a risk waterfall, it selects victims by a published formula, and it works differently on every architecture.

➡️ Here is how it operates and what actually reduces your exposure to it.There is a category of financial risk that traders learn about only at the moment it costs them money, and in crypto derivatives the leading example is auto-deleveraging. The mechanism is simple to state and hard to accept: on a venue where you hold a large, profitable, leveraged position, the exchange may close part or all of that position without your consent, at a price you did not choose, because someone on the other side blew up so badly that the venue cannot cover the shortfall any other way. You did nothing wrong. Your analysis was correct.

🔗 Your position is being reduced precisely because it was working. Every major perpetual futures venue, centralized and decentralized alike, has some version of this mechanism, and it is disclosed in their documentation, which almost nobody reads until afterward. This guide explains why the mechanism must exist, where it sits in the sequence of defenses, how venues decide whose positions to cut, how the architectures differ, and what a trader can actually do to reduce exposure to it.

🔔 Bitcoin Telegram accounts targeted by North Korean hackers

➡️ Bitcoiners are facing a renewed warning over an active social-engineering campaign that hijacks trusted Telegram accounts and funnels cryptocurrency professionals into fake Zoom or Microsoft Teams meetings.

❗️ JUMPSEC said in July that it obtained source code from an active BlueNoroff phishing kit after exposed JavaScript source maps. The researchers found a victim-acquisition platform that abuses compromised Telegram contacts, profiles cryptocurrency wallets and delivers malware to selected targets on Windows and macOS systems. JUMPSEC said identified campaign infrastructure remained active as of July 22.

📊 The attack begins with trust rather than a blockchain vulnerability. JUMPSEC found operators using compromised Telegram accounts belonging to real industry contacts to invite targets to fake video meetings. Because messages arrive from genuine accounts and can reference existing relationships, sender recognition alone provides limited protection.

🌐 Metaplanet launches BitBonds with ¥200M private sale

🔖 Metaplanet launched a continuous bond issuance program called BitBonds on Aug. 13 and completed its first four private placements, raising about 200 million yen, or roughly $1.3 million. The bonds were distributed through wholly owned Metaplanet Securities under Japan’s small number private placement framework. Solicitation began in late July and has now closed. Future series will be priced separately according to funding needs, market conditions and investor demand.

🔔 Metaplanet said BitBonds will sit alongside common shares, equity linked instruments and preferred shares as a recurring funding channel. The program lets the company issue senior debt as needed rather than depend on a single large bond transaction. Metaplanet “intends” to prepare for public bond offerings if issuance expands, but no such offering has been approved. The inaugural securities differ from earlier descriptions of potential Bitcoin backed bonds. Metaplanet’s filing states that these BitBonds are unsecured, unguaranteed and unrated. No security interest has been granted over Bitcoin or other group assets, and principal is not protected. Investors instead rely on Metaplanet’s overall ability to repay.

⚠️ Bitcoin nevertheless remains relevant to the credit risk because it is Metaplanet’s principal asset. The company warned that its financial condition and ability to meet principal and interest obligations could be affected by Bitcoin price movements. The bonds also carry transfer restrictions, while liquidity before maturity is not guaranteed.

➡️ Bitcoin price falls to $64,300 after $65K rejection, will support hold?

⚠️ Bitcoin price pulled back to about $64,300 on Aug. 19 after failing to hold above $65,000, as weak spot demand, rising bond yields, and resistance near $65,400 limited the rebound. According to data from cryptonews, Bitcoin (BTC) price was trading at about $64,390 on Binance on Wednesday afternoon in Asia, down roughly 0.5% on the daily candle. The price had reached an intraday high of $64,736 before sellers pushed it lower.

🔔 The retreat followed a rebound from the $62,700 area earlier in the week. Bitcoin moved through $64,000 and approached $65,000 on Aug. 18, but the rally did not attract enough buying pressure to clear the upper end of its recent range. Snyder said he was maintaining a short position opened near $65,000 but planned to move it to breakeven if possible. His downside scenario depends on Bitcoin losing $64,000, while another defense of the $62,500 range low would leave the market increasingly compressed.

⚠️ Bitcoin has traded mostly between $62,500 and $65,400 since late July, aside from brief moves outside the range. Repeated reversals have reduced the value of entries near the middle, where neither buyers nor sellers have established control.

🌐 Hyperliquid price eyes $97 as HYPE holds above $80

🔔 Hyperliquid price rose to a record high above $83 after a sharp weekly rally, with strong momentum and positive capital flows supporting the move. However, an overbought daily reading and dense liquidation clusters on both sides of the market could produce wider price swings. According to data from cryptonews, Hyperliquid price traded near $80.50 on Aug. 25 after reaching an all-time high of approximately $83.27 over the weekend. The token opened the seven-day period around $69.60, leaving it with a double-digit weekly gain even after traders took profits near the record.

⚠️ The rally accelerated on Aug. 19, when HYPE jumped from below $60 to around $70. Buyers extended the move over the following sessions, pushing the price through its previous June and July peaks near $75. HYPE briefly traded above $83 before retreating toward the $78 area and recovering. The 4-hour chart shows that buyers have repeatedly entered during declines toward $77–$78, but sellers continue to defend the area between $82 and $83.50.

🔖 The rally coincided with reports of further adoption of Hyperliquid’s trading infrastructure, including integration work involving Coinbase and the unveiling of Elysium L2 for the ecosystem. Broader strength across the cryptocurrency market also supported demand for higher-risk altcoins.

➡️ JPMorgan is weighing a stablecoin, and the bank that called Bitcoin a fraud ran out of reasons to wait

🔖 The Wall Street Journal reports that JPMorgan Chase is exploring a public stablecoin separate from its existing JPM Coin deposit token while 39 state banking associations form the BankChain Alliance and target a 2027 blockchain launch. The GENIUS Act gave banks the legal rails they needed.

📊 The question is no longer whether traditional finance will enter the stablecoin market. It is whether Tether and Circle can hold their ground when incumbents arrive with balance sheets 100 times larger. The bank that once dismissed Bitcoin as a fraud is now studying how to issue the very type of digital dollar it spent years criticizing. JPMorgan Chase, which already runs the largest blockchain payment network in traditional finance through its Kinexys platform, is weighing a public stablecoin that would sit alongside its existing JPM Coin deposit token.

🌐 The disclosure came not from a press release or a keynote speech but from a Wall Street Journal report published on Aug. 26, 2026, that mapped a much broader shift across American banking JPMorgan is not alone. More than a dozen global banks are reportedly developing a multicurrency stablecoin venture beginning with dollars. Thirty-nine state banking associations have formed BankChain Alliance to build shared blockchain infrastructure. Early Warning Services, the Zelle operator owned by seven of the nation’s largest financial institutions, has already launched a dollar-backed stablecoin called ZLUSD.

🌐 Bitcoin OG activity doubles as 1,500 BTC moves

📊 Bitcoin holders whose coins have remained dormant for more than five years have doubled their spending activity since May, pushing the cohort’s 90-day average to about 1,500 BTC. CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost reported that activity among Bitcoin’s oldest holders has increased during the latest period of price consolidation. The analyst defines the group as investors whose coins had remained unspent for more than five years before moving onchain.

🔖 The 90-day moving average of spent outputs from the cohort has reached about 1,500 BTC, twice the level recorded in May, according to Darkfost. A moving average smooths daily changes, making it less sensitive to isolated transfers from a few large wallets. At 1,500 BTC, the current average is also about 56% above the 962 BTC reported on June 24. At the time, the reading had fallen below 1,000 BTC for the first time since November 2024, indicating that activity from older holders had slowed to its lowest point in nearly two years.

🔔 Darkfost linked the latest increase to unease created by Bitcoin’s consolidation. Even investors who have held through several market cycles appear more active, the analyst said, although the data cannot identify the reason behind each transaction.

🌐 PayPal’s new platform lets anyone issue a dollar backed by a dollar

⚠️ PayPal, M0 and MoonPay went live on September 9 with PYUSDx, a platform that lets any business issue its own branded stablecoin without touching reserves, custody or redemption infrastructure. Three issuers launched with it. More than $100 million already processed between them. The pitch from all three partners is that the product layer should belong to whoever is building the product, and the monetary plumbing should belong to people who do plumbing. That is a good pitch and a sensible product.

📊 So the thing backing the second token is the first token. The GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025 and still being turned into regulations, tells you who may issue a payment stablecoin and what has to sit behind it. Cash. Insured deposits. Short-dated Treasuries. Repos against Treasuries. Money market funds holding those.

⚡️ It does not say anything about a stablecoin backed by a stablecoin, issued by someone else entirely. Nobody covering the launch has asked about it. It is worth asking now, while the rules are being drafted, instead of in eighteen months when they are not.

🌐 NEAR crosses $70 million in confidential TVL, unlocking first incentive drop

⚠️ NEAR has surpassed $70 million in confidential total value locked, automatically triggering the first snapshot under its NEAR 3.33 incentive program and setting aside 333,333 milestone tokens for eligible users. According to a Sept. 17 announcement from NEAR shared with crypto news, the milestone was reached through Confidential Intents, its private execution system for cross chain transactions, with the snapshot determining eligibility for the first reward distribution.

📊 Users who qualify for the first drop must maintain more than $100 in confidential balances and have an active swap history. The milestone tokens will remain locked until NEAR’s three day volume weighted average price reaches at least $3.33, when they can convert into NEAR. The incentive program places a 2% cap on the amount that can be allocated to any single wallet. NEAR said the restriction is intended to limit concentration and spread the distribution across more participants.

‼️ Confidential Intents routes transactions through a private NEAR shard, which NEAR says removes transactions from public mempool exposure and protects users from front running, strategy leakage and other forms of maximal extractable value. The system is designed to provide confidential execution without relying on the computational requirements associated with zero knowledge systems, according to NEAR. Its confidential liquidity can be used for high volume swaps across connected blockchains without publicly linking the activity to the party behind the transaction.

🌐 Kazakhstan crypto trading turnover surged past $10 billion in 2025

⚠️ Kazakhstan’s regulated cryptocurrency market has surpassed $10 billion in annual trading turnover as the country expands licensed digital asset services and builds its domestic Web3 developer ecosystem. According to Deputy Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development Gizzat Baitursynov, trading turnover across the regulated market reached $10.58 billion in 2025, compared with $320 million in 2023, while the number of users rose from 53,000 to 215,000 over the same period.

📊 Baitursynov disclosed the figures during a government meeting on Sept. 15, detailing the expansion that followed Kazakhstan’s initial crypto market pilot with the Astana International Financial Centre and financial regulators. Launched in 2022, the pilot was designed to test a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency exchanges before becoming the basis for a licensing and operating system within the AIFC.

⚡️ National Bank Chairman Timur Suleimenov said the center would operate on the central bank’s SupTech supervisory platform and connect with its existing Anti Fraud Center. Banks, law enforcement agencies and licensed digital asset providers are expected to receive access to its verification tools.

📊 Franklin Templeton brings $687M tokenized fund to Bybit

🌐 Franklin Templeton has expanded its tokenized money market infrastructure to Bybit, allowing eligible institutional clients to use Benji-issued fund shares as off-exchange collateral while accessing USDT or USDC trading credit lines. The underlying tokenized assets remain outside the exchange in custody while their value is mirrored into the client’s Bybit trading environment. Eligible investors can continue receiving fund yield while using the collateral value to support trading activity.

📊 Under the new arrangement, eligible institutional clients can pledge Benji-issued money market fund shares through ByCustody. The custody platform holds the assets off-exchange, while Bybit recognizes their mirrored value when providing USDT or USDC trading credit. The Franklin fund itself invests primarily in U.S. government securities, cash and repurchase agreements. Its latest published seven-day current yield was 3.57% as of Sept. 16, while its seven-day effective yield stood at 3.63%, according to Franklin Templeton’s fund page.

⚠️ Yoyee Wang, Bybit’s global head of RWA and TradFi, said institutional investors increasingly expect flexibility and risk controls similar to those used in traditional markets. Wang said the expanded collateral options are intended to let clients deploy capital while retaining exposure to regulated investment products.

⚠️ Japan sanctions Garantex among 33 Russian entities

🌐 Japan has sanctioned Russian crypto exchange Garantex as one of 33 entities added to a new asset-freeze list on Oct. 2, alongside nine individuals and restrictions covering 35 vessels. The ministry’s official appendix identifies Garantex Europe OU, with Garantex listed as an alias. The document gives addresses in St. Petersburg and Moscow, including Federation East Tower in Moscow City.

➡️ Under the Oct. 2 measures, payments to the 33 entities and nine individuals are subject to a permission system. Japan applies the same requirement to capital transactions involving deposits, trusts and money loans with designated parties. The government describes the measures as an asset freeze, but the notice does not disclose the value of any Garantex-linked assets located in Japan. It does not identify cryptocurrency wallets connected to Garantex or state that a particular amount of digital assets was frozen.

❗️ Garantex is the only cryptocurrency exchange named in the appendix among the latest Russian entities. Japan’s list identifies the company under its formal name, Garantex Europe OU, and includes its commonly used Garantex name. The sanctions package extends beyond financial restrictions. Japan introduced export prohibitions covering four specific entities located outside Russia and Belarus and announced further restrictions on goods that could contribute to Russia’s industrial capabilities.

📊 UK blacklists Cryptomus, Heleket and TokenSpot over Russia links

🌐 The United Kingdom has sanctioned cryptocurrency platforms Cryptomus, Heleket and TokenSpot as part of 38 new Russia-related designations targeting financial services, payment networks, oil companies and suppliers linked to Moscow’s war in Ukraine. According to an October 8 TRM Labs report shared with cryptonews, the measures cover cryptocurrency exchanges and payment companies suspected of helping Russia bypass financial sanctions, including platforms connected to the Kremlin-backed A7 financial network.

⚠️ The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office imposed the restrictions under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. The package covers 12 shadow fleet tankers, two Russian oil companies and 17 individuals and entities involved in supplying goods used by Russia’s military industry. Among the financial targets are Canadian company Xeltox Enterprises Ltd, which operates Cryptomus, Kyrgyzstan-based TokenSpot, Tsunami Payments and Processing KG, along with Russian companies Planeta and commercial bank Stolichny Kredit.

⚠️ British authorities listed Cryptomus, Heleket and Certa Payments as names associated with Xeltox, treating the services under a single sanctions designation. TokenSpot received a separate listing following research connecting its operations to previously sanctioned Russian cryptocurrency exchange Grinex.

📊 Standard Chartered’s crypto trading stays inside the bank

🌐 Standard Chartered has begun offering Bitcoin and Ether trading through existing bank accounts to Professional Investor clients in the UAE. Customers do not need a separate wallet, and the bank says it will handle custody and settlement within a closed loop system. The convenience has a defined boundary: the announcement explains how customers can buy and sell inside the bank but does not specify whether they can withdraw coins to a wallet they control.

🔗 An eligible Professional Investor can use an existing Standard Chartered account to buy or sell BTC and ETH under the announced model. The bank says customers do not need a separate wallet or third party platform. That removes setup steps that keep some investors away from direct crypto ownership, but it also means the customer depends on the bank’s platform to view and manage the position.

‼️ The release uses “affluent clients” in its headline, then narrows the initial eligibility to Professional Investors in the body. An ordinary affluent customer in the UAE does not become eligible simply by having a large account balance. The bank did not disclose the full onboarding criteria, minimum ticket size, fees, trading hours or a date for extending the product to other client groups. Those conditions need published product terms or direct bank confirmation.

📊 Bitcoin price prediction for November: Can BTC reclaim $90,000?

📌 Bitcoin has returned to around $83,000 ahead of the Federal Reserve’s October 28 decision, leaving November’s price outlook dependent on whether fund buying can outlast another shift in rate expectations. The October rebound gives the market a foothold, but a move to $90,000 would require more than a favorable central bank headline. U.S. spot funds have swung between large daily subscriptions and withdrawals, and the latest price remains below the September high.

➡️ Bitcoin has traded around 83,150 on October 21, recovering from the previous week’s sub-80,000 low without returning to September’s high above $87,000. Сryptonews’s BTC market page provides a moving spot reference, while its historical table records an October 20 close around $82,944. Prices change throughout a session, so the levels in this story are scenario markers based on the October 21 reading, not a claim about November’s eventual close.

🔗 A forecast should separate those steps. From an October 21 reference of $83,150, $87,392 is approximately 5.1% higher and $90,000 approximately 8.2% higher. The first hurdle is an observed price from September; the second is a round scenario level, not an established target produced by a single technical indicator. A price touch during an illiquid hour would be weaker evidence than a sustained move accompanied by fund subscriptions and spot trading across several sessions.

⚡️ Crypto election spending hits $176M as Fairshake targets US midterms

⚠️ The U.S. crypto industry has spent approximately $176 million across more than 100 congressional races ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, seeking to build political support for digital asset legislation that could survive beyond President Donald Trump’s administration. Fairshake reported that 53 of the 58 candidates it supported during primaries and special elections won their races. The super PAC network, primarily funded by Coinbase, Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz, is now concentrating resources on competitive congressional contests, including Ohio’s Senate race.

👀 Fairshake has become the industry’s main political spending vehicle, building on its $196 million expenditure during the 2024 election cycle. Its affiliated groups, Defend American Jobs and Protect Progress, finance advertisements supporting or opposing candidates without coordinating directly with their campaigns. The committees frequently run advertisements about taxes, immigration and other political issues without explicitly discussing cryptocurrency. Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter said the organization supports candidates who favor American financial innovation across both parties.

🕯 The group’s political strategy extends beyond individual election victories, according to industry representatives interviewed by Reuters. Colin McLaren, head of government relations at the Solana Policy Institute, called the spending “an investment in the future,” describing the effort as a way to secure predictable cryptocurrency regulations over the coming decades. The spending campaign follows regulatory changes introduced during Trump’s presidency, including the 2025 GENIUS Act establishing a federal framework for payment stablecoins. Industry representatives have argued that legislation offers more lasting certainty than regulatory policies that future administrations could reverse.