Bitcoin slides below $81,500 as tech stock sell-off spreads to Asian equities

The Wall Street sell-off extended to Asian equities on Friday morning, with South Korea's Kospi down 2.3% and Japan's Nikkei 225 down 1.6%.

Switzerland approves first spot Bitcoin ETF for retail investors

BIT Asset Management’s Bitcoin Fund ETF is expected to begin trading on SIX Swiss Exchange in November, with its public offering restricted to Switzerland.

Pentagon bans US forces from using military info to bet in prediction markets

Hegseth warned that prediction market wagers could expose military operations to adversaries.

New DeepSeek ban in US, Swiss-Asia crypto ties deepen: Asia Express

DeepSeek banned from US federal civilian agencies over spying fears. Singapore firm behind Europe’s only spot Bitcoin ETF, as Switzerland partners with Vietnam on crypto tech.

Senate's top Democratic investigator looking into Tether payments to Bo Hines' firm

Senator Richard Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the investigations subcommittee, added a probe of the ex-White House crypto adviser to his list of crypto interests.

Is the Internet Safe Again After the PHP Nightmare? What You Need to Know

PHP shipped its fix, attackers launched millions of attempts, and governments say no one has broken in yet. Here's what that means for your passwords, your crypto, and your browsin…

Birdeye Launches Peak Terminal For Institutional Crypto Research

Birdeye has launched Peak, a subscription terminal combining digital-asset market data, fundamentals and portfolio analytics. Its pitch centers on consistent data across venues, ra…

Circle shareholder sues Trump, World Liberty and Steve Witkoff over crypto deals

According to a Circle shareholder, the US president’s “corruption” through USD1 left the company unable to compete with stablecoins, harming USDC.

Google’s Updated UAE Crypto Advertising Rules Take Effect

Google’s updated rules for UAE-targeted crypto exchange and wallet ads took effect October 21. Advertisers need an accepted local license and Google certification; the policy is no…

ChatGPT Teaches Messi Chess—On a Board It Set Up Wrong, With an Opening That Loses in Four Moves

Lionel Messi’s ChatGPT ad has the AI teaching him chess on a board with kings and queens swapped, then suggesting an opening that loses in four moves on that board.

Dune launches real-time data feeds covering 200 onchain trading venues

The new service aims to bring onchain trading data into institutional financial systems as tokenized stock markets expand and face growing scrutiny.

Zcash Foundation Details Zebra Sync Fixes Ahead Of NU7 Release

The Zcash Foundation says it merged fixes for Zebra nodes that stopped syncing near the chain tip. The October 21 update places the work ahead of a stable NU7 release and reminds o…

Here’s what happened in crypto today

Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, Web3 and crypto regulation.

Bitwise Asks SEC To Protect Funds Relying On Token Status Filings

Bitwise filed a supplemental SEC comment seeking clearer protection for firms that rely on token-status filings. The October 21 letter develops its earlier proposal; it is an indus…

a16z Drops Crypto From Its Name, Widens Bets to AI and Frontier Tech

Andreessen Horowitz is renaming its crypto fund a16z Frontier and widening its scope to AI, autonomous machines and biology, saying the line between crypto and everyday tech has bl…

Winklevoss PAC moves into Texas Senate race with $81K ad buy

While crypto-aligned PACs have stepped up spending in Ohio, a committee launched by the co-founders of crypto exchange Gemini made one of its first forays into the Lone Star State.

JPMorgan says crypto regulatory moves partly offset Clarity Act failure, but risks remain

JPMorgan said actions by U.S. regulators partly offset the Clarity Act setback, but longer-lasting rules are still needed.

MoonPay And Dunamu Explore Stablecoin Payments And GIWA Expansion

MoonPay and Dunamu are exploring stablecoin payments, corporate treasury services and broader access to GIWA. Their announcement describes work to assess opportunities, with no com…

Meta Creates Non-Voting Stock to Fund AI Buildout, Keeping Zuckerberg in Control

Meta will hand shareholders a free non-voting share for every share they own in January, giving it a way to raise equity for AI spending without diluting Zuckerberg's 60.6% vote.

Blockchain Association pushes for crypto tax clarity as broader bill stalls

As progress stalls on a crypto bill, the Blockchain Association is urging Congress to pass legislation to resolve uncertainty around taxes.

Coinbase Fined Again in Ireland, This Time $3.6M Over Fund Safeguarding

The Central Bank of Ireland penalized Coinbase Ireland €3,252,618 for leaning too heavily on its U.S. parent and leaving its safeguarding account underfunded—its second hit to the…

A16z is the latest VC giant to widen bets beyond crypto and into AI and emerging tech

The venture investor behind early bets on Coinbase, Solana and Uniswap said is broadening its focus, joining other crypto investment firms looking beyond blockchain to artificial i…

BitGo Launches Labs Unit With AI-Powered Gokubu Consumer App

BitGo has launched a research and product unit focused initially on AI and crypto. Its first projects include Gokubu, a consumer financial app that BitGo says is already live.

TRON Settles $2.2T in Q3, Captures 73% of All Stablecoin Volume as First TRX ETF Launches: CoinDesk and Nansen

Geneva, Switzerland, October 22, 2026 — TRON reinforced its position as a leading blockchain network for stablecoin settlement in the third quarter of 2026, with trillions in trans…

Tesla's Profit Drops 43% as Musk Starts Building Robots and Plans to Sell Driverless Cabs

Tesla earned $787 million last quarter, down from $1.37 billion, as spending on robots and self-driving cars soared. Optimus is in production, and Tesla aims to get Cybercabs to cu…

Dogecoin Labs Brings MyDoge And DogeOS Together In Commercial Reset

Dogecoin Labs is bringing wallet, payment and application teams into one organization. House of Doge says it will contribute operations for an equity stake while retaining rights t…

Oil Climbs Above $111 as AI Stocks Slide, Dragging the S&P 500 and Global Markets With Them

Brent crude hit a five-month high while Nvidia, Meta and chip stocks fell, pulling Asia's benchmark indexes down by up to 3.5% a week after South Korea's Kospi plunged 7.57%.

Underdog taps zerohash to bring crypto deposits to prediction markets

The new funding option, expected to launch later this year, will allow eligible Underdog users to deposit digital assets around the clock.

Tether Invests In Bolivian Fintech Peso To Expand USDT Payments

Tether says it led Peso’s pre-seed round to expand USDT payment infrastructure in Latin America. The announcement emphasizes local bank connections and merchant payments, without d…

Bitcoin hashrate hits seven-month high as AI shift fails to ease mining competition

According to BlocksBridge, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty is rising despite the industry’s AI transition, with smaller operators potentially absorbing equipment abandoned by larger co…

Irish cenbank fines Coinbase arm $3.6M for oversight, safeguard failures

According to the Central Bank of Ireland, Coinbase Ireland had agreed with the facts around the enforcement action and will be subject to fines and sanctions upon approval by a hig…

Bitcoin ETFs Erase October Losses With $1 Billion in Three Days

Spot Bitcoin ETFs have drawn about $1.07 billion over three sessions, pushing October flows to a gain of roughly $460 million, even as Bitcoin and Ethereum prices slipped.

Solana Activates Alpenglow As Anza Targets Millisecond Finality

Anza says Alpenglow activated on Solana mainnet-beta on October 21. The consensus change targets roughly 150-millisecond finality; further networking and post-quantum improvements…

Bitcoin circles $81.5K ETF cost basis as Trump Iran comments send stocks lower

Bitcoin extended daily losses to 3% as US stocks came under pressure from President Donald Trump’s comments on Iran military action.

What Is a Neocloud? The GPU Clouds Powering the AI Boom

Neoclouds like CoreWeave and Nebius rent Nvidia GPUs to AI labs, and several started out mining crypto. Here's how the AI cloud model works.

Irish central bank fines Coinbase Ireland $3.6 million over fund safeguarding failures

When Silvergate was on the verge of collapse in 2023, Coinbase instructed 30 customers to deposit funds into an alternate account held by Coinbase at another U.S. bank.

Major Banks Find Rogue AI Agents Inside Customer Accounts—And They’re 'Horrified'

Major banks including Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Citi are moving to restrict third-party AI agents that log in with customers’ credentials.

Crypto for Advisors: Stablecoins are ready for prime time

Fireblocks disputes report of $2.5B Visa acquisition talks

Fireblocks told Cointelegraph that reports of a potential $2.5 billion acquisition by Visa are “not true at present time,” while Visa declined to comment on the reported talks.