Markets wobbled into the evening, but meme mania still found a spark. Floki Inu (FLOKI) ripped as much as 30 percent after Elon Musk posted a photo of his dog as the CEO of X, briefly igniting trading activity before giving back gains alongside a broader pullback in Bitcoin (BTC). The whipsaw underscored the mood of the day: high volume, thin conviction, and a crowd still eager to chase headlines. Under the surface, institutional plumbing kept tightening. Bitcoin’s largest holders continued shifting exposure into exchange-traded funds like BlackRock’s vehicle, a migration that folds BTC into the traditional financial system and lets investors tap collateral and lending rails without immediate tax events. The ETF pipeline swelled too, with total U.S. crypto ETP filings rising to 155 across 35 digital assets and T. Rowe Price stepping in with an actively managed fund proposal, as the industry waits on key SEC calls stretching into late 2025. Asia delivered a split-screen view. Hong Kong cleared its first Solana spot ETF, with trading slated for October 27, putting Solana (SOL) in elite company alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum. Elsewhere, exchanges in India, Hong Kong, and Australia tightened scrutiny on companies using crypto-heavy treasury models, aiming to curb listings seen as little more than shells hoarding tokens. Retail adoption quietly took a step forward. Bealls, a 110-year-old American retailer, partnered with Flexa to accept crypto payments in more than 660 stores, opening checkout lanes to 99 plus currencies via hundreds of digital wallets. That kind of real-world presence can matter more than price charts for nudging consumer behavior. On the price front, majors wrestled with resistance. Ether (ETH) hovered around 3800 and struggled to reclaim 4000, weighed by ETF outflows and soft demand even as daily volumes climbed and institutions kept sniffing around. XRP (XRP) traded near 2.39 to 2.40 with whales active around 2.42 support, but chart watchers warned a slip below 2.30 could open more downside. Aster (ASTER) continued its slide, down almost 40 percent on the month and drifting below 1 with some eyeing 0.89 as the next test. Exchanges and tokens also had their moment. Robinhood and Coinbase rolled out new listings for BNB (BNB), lifting sentiment for the token and underscoring that large U.S. brokers still see room to expand their crypto shelves. Kraken reported a 114 percent jump in third-quarter revenue to 648 million dollars and 178.6 million dollars in adjusted earnings as it gears up for a planned U.S. IPO in 2026. Not all headlines were growth stories. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority sued HTX (HTX), alleging unlawful promotions to British consumers, a reminder that marketing rules are tightening. In Washington, Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized a new stablecoin law and urged the Treasury to step up oversight, while Senator Cynthia Lummis delayed a broader crypto bill over provisions tied to interest on stablecoin reserves. Separate talks among agencies, Senate Democrats, and industry CEOs kept advancing a market structure bill that dovetails with proposals like the GENIUS Act. Mergers and infrastructure played defense and offense. FalconX agreed to acquire 21Shares to bolster a full-stack ETF and derivatives offering, and Modern Treasury bought stablecoin startup Beam for 40 million dollars to sharpen its edge against fintech heavyweights. Coinbase pushed further into privacy by preparing private stablecoin transactions on Base after acquiring Iron Fish, even as legal and policy questions around private transfers linger. Security teams banded together too: MetaMask, Phantom, and others joined SEAL to launch a real-time, cryptographically verified phishing defense network after more than 400 million dollars in losses to scams. DeFi kept experimenting with new formats. Jupiter, the Solana-based DEX aggregator, launched a Kalshi-powered prediction market beta for the Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix, letting users trade on race outcomes and offering a cleaner bridge between on-chain liquidity and real-world events. And in a more contentious corner of the stack, Ocean Protocol (OCEAN) faced accusations of a 100 million dollar token dump after large transfers to Binance and GSR, prompting Fetch.ai (FET) to post a 250,000 dollar bounty for information on OceanDAO wallet signers ahead of a planned 2024 AI alliance merger. Geopolitics added a fresh wrinkle. Russia legalized the use of crypto for cross-border trade in a bid to route around sanctions, introducing a framework with centralized oversight. Lawmakers there also proposed treating crypto as marital property in divorce settlements, acknowledging the asset class’s growing footprint in household balance sheets. Back in the U.S., scrutiny landed on personnel as much as policy. Senate Democrats pressed Steve Witkoff, a Trump envoy to the Middle East, on ongoing crypto ties and links to World Liberty Financial (WLFI), citing potential conflicts of interest. Meanwhile, Andreessen Horowitz argued the industry has entered a more mature phase, where stablecoins and AI integrations are building durable, real-world use cases that increasingly resemble the plumbing of global finance. If today felt like a tug-of-war between caution and progress, that is because it was. Prices looked tired, yet pipelines for products, payments, and policy kept filling. The market may be catching its breath, but the rails are still getting laid, one listing, lawsuit, and checkout counter at a time.
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📈💰The Federal Reserve announced today that it will maintain its current interest rates, citing a strong job market and moderate economic growth. This decision comes as no surprise to those in the crypto community, as many have been anticipating this outcome for weeks. However, this news may have some investors feeling slightly disappointed, as they were hoping for a rate cut to boost the market.💸💻Crypto tickers such as BTC, ETH, and XRP have been trending upwards in recent weeks, with many investors hoping for a continued bull run. However, with the Fed's decision to keep interest rates steady, some may be wondering if this will have a negative impact on the market. While it's impossible to predict the exact effect on crypto prices, it's important to remember that the Fed's decision is based on a variety of factors and not solely on the crypto market.📉🌎The Fed's decision also has implications for the stock market, with many investors closely watching the anno...
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