Cryptoccino — Saturday 24 October 2026

Bitcoin steadies near $81,700 while altcoins catch a bid. Spot BTC held its range despite the ETF outflow pressure, with PEPE leading alts up 13% on the session. Analysts note BTC is now trading at volatility levels comparable to Nvidia, a marked compression from prior cycles though still eight times choppier than EUR/USD. coindesk

Franklin Templeton files for two blended stock-Bitcoin ETFs. The products would allocate 95% to equities and 5% to BTC, targeting advisers who want crypto exposure inside a familiar equity wrapper. The filings add to a growing shelf of hybrid structures designed to bypass the compliance friction of pure-play crypto allocations. cryptobriefing

Arthur Hayes argues the high-FDV token playbook is dead on Binance. Hayes contends that retail has stopped buying the fully diluted valuation narrative on centralised venues, pointing to repeated post-listing dumps. He frames the shift as a forcing function toward fairer distribution structures, though he has obvious incentives to talk the counter-narrative. cryptobriefing

Robinhood users are betting on Bitcoin and gold, not just sports outcomes. Prediction market volume on Robinhood has shifted noticeably toward macro asset contracts, with BTC and gold prices now driving meaningful engagement. The trend lines up with Phantom’s rollout of Kalshi markets to US wallets this week, suggesting the prediction market layer is broadening beyond its election-cycle roots. coindesk theblock

HSBC launches its first stablecoin to 3 million retail app users. The bank has pushed its stablecoin product directly into its consumer mobile app, making it one of the largest TradFi deployments of a bank-issued stablecoin by reach. No public detail yet on the underlying chain or redemption mechanics. coindesk

Singapore’s BLOOM cross-border stablecoin rail adds Malaysia and Thailand. The expanded initiative now loops in three central banks alongside Ripple, Visa, and Mastercard for tokenised deposit and stablecoin settlement across borders. It is one of the more concrete multi-jurisdiction infrastructure plays to emerge from Southeast Asia, rather than another MOU. theblock

Ethereum’s Glamsterdam testnet fork is postponed after gas-limit security findings. ChainSecurity flagged gas changes that could allow contracts to trap reverts permanently, with researchers identifying 13 live contracts already exposed. Developers pulled the Hoodi testnet deployment rather than proceed, and no rescheduled date has been set. coindesk decrypt

a16z quietly drops ‘Crypto’ from its fund name. The rebrand is framed internally as reflecting a broader investment mandate, though the firm says it will keep writing crypto cheques. The timing, alongside a rough ETF flow week and a softening sentiment index, means the optics are not great regardless of intent. decrypt

Initia halts its entire network after an attacker mints tokens. The team suspended the chain while investigating the scope of the incident. Onchain data shows a $2.7 million ETH transfer linked to the event, and the attacker reportedly exploited a minting path before the halt was executed. theblock

India’s largest exchange denies a $16 million hack after on-chain sleuths flagged suspicious outflows. Blockchain researchers pointed to unusual wallet movements totalling roughly $16 million before the exchange issued a public denial. No independent confirmation of either the breach or its absence has emerged yet. coindesk

Bitcoin Core overhauls its security disclosure policy for the AI bug-finding era. Developers will now backport fixes and ship releases immediately for any flaw classified as easily discoverable, abandoning the prior long-embargo model. The change acknowledges that a single AI prompt can now surface vulnerabilities that previously required deep manual code review. coindesk decrypt

Interpol’s Operation Serengeti III recovers $105 million and shuts illegal crypto mines across Africa. The sweep covered 21 countries and led to 1,462 arrests, with Angolan authorities alone seizing over 2,000 mining devices. The operation targeted cybercrime networks that used illicit mines to launder proceeds. decrypt

SEC adds tokenisation to its 2027 examination priorities alongside AI systemic risk. The Division of Examinations named tokenised securities as an emerging market risk area, while cryptocurrencies as a standalone category remain absent from the list. The pairing with AI ‘super intelligence’ signals the SEC is treating tokenisation as a structural concern rather than a niche asset class issue. cointelegraph_regulation decrypt sec_press

Senator Blumenthal demands Tether records over payments to a firm linked to a former White House crypto adviser. The Democratic ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations sent a formal request to Paolo Ardoino for documents related to payments Tether reportedly made to Nxum, a company co-founded by ex-White House crypto adviser Bo Hines. The probe lands at an awkward moment for Tether’s ongoing lobbying effort to shape US stablecoin legislation. cointelegraph_regulation theblock decrypt

Netanyahu asks his team to draft a blockchain plan as a hedge against potential banking sanctions. The Israeli prime minister, speaking days before national elections, said the country needs to prepare contingency rails if its banking system is targeted. The comment is partly political theatre ahead of the vote, but the underlying infrastructure logic is real given the pace of secondary sanctions pressure globally. theblock decrypt

IRS is planning lower penalties for voluntary crypto tax disclosures. A reported programme overhaul would reduce penalties for taxpayers who come forward proactively about past crypto tax violations, alongside faster resolution timelines. For holders sitting on unreported gains, the window to engage on better terms may be narrowing as the IRS sharpens its enforcement posture elsewhere. cointelegraph_regulation

What else is grinding?

• Argentina’s courts dropped the criminal investigation into President Milei over the $LIBRA memecoin collapse, ruling that speculative losses alone don’t establish criminal liability. cryptobriefing
• CME’s CEO said Hyperliquid faces real US market entry barriers due to KYC gaps, a pointed competitive comment from the incumbent derivatives venue. cryptobriefing
• Bybit secured its first full Dubai VARA licence for spot trading, though additional compliance steps are required before it can go live. cointelegraph_regulation
• New York’s attorney general is seeking over $1.3 billion from NovaTech’s founders, who allegedly took in $1.16 billion from victims recruited through church prayer groups and then fled the country. theblock decrypt
• Sweden’s Riksbank has revived the e-krona debate, citing competitive pressure from stablecoins and the incoming digital euro. coindesk
• Polymarket has reportedly dismissed its marketing chief, who was also a personal friend of CEO Shayne Coplan. coindesk

Last sip. Initia’s chain is back up, but the post-mortem on how a minting path survived to production hasn’t arrived yet.