crypto

According to the "2026 Crypto Geography Report" released by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, Sub-Saharan Africa, although the smallest crypto market in the world, became the fastest-growing region globally with an annualized growth rate of 13.4% from July 2025 to June 2026, reaching a total scale of 101 billion dollars. South Africa and Nigeria together account for over three-quarters of the trading share in the region.Among them, South Africa's crypto economy surged 52% year-on-year to 39.3 billion dollars, with strong growth in commercial payment scenarios and cross-border stablecoin flows, becoming a regional crypto hub connecting neighboring countries. Nigeria's crypto scale reached 38.1 billion dollars, ranking third in global grassroots adoption rates, with local trading platforms absorbing half of the inflow funds from the country's centralized exchanges amid changes in the regulatory environment, and Bitcoin accounting for as much as 92% of small P2P transfers.

According to The Defiant, Australian bank Westpac announced that starting in December, it will set a monthly limit of 10,000 Australian dollars on payments involving cryptocurrency for its customers, and it will not provide exemptions or arrangements for higher limits.Westpac also stated that withdrawals from cryptocurrency exchanges to Westpac accounts are not affected by this adjustment and will continue to be processed as before.

According to BBX data, the global capital markets revealed the latest developments in direct investment in Bitcoin and the performance of brokerage digital asset businesses yesterday. The core information is as follows:Japan Bitcoin Industry has completed a capital increase of 840 million yen, fully paid in physical Bitcoin: The Web3 infrastructure developer Japan Bitcoin Industry announced the implementation of a third-party share allocation capital increase, successfully issuing shares to two institutions, Fulgur LLC and ANAP Lightning Capital (ALC), raising a total of 840 million yen (approximately 5.07 million USD). Notably, this capital increase will be fully funded in physical Bitcoin, with on-chain delivery expected to be completed on November 2. At the same time, the company signed a basic agreement for cooperation in Lightning Network routing business with ALC, which will use the Bitcoin held by ALC as the underlying liquidity for the company's operational channels. The raised funds will be specifically used for the research and development of the infrastructure "aurora" (supporting enterprises to access Lightning payments via API), talent recruitment, and local routing network infrastructure.Robinhood (NASDAQ: $HOOD) Q3 crypto revenue plummets 55%, causing overall profits to fall short of expectations: American internet brokerage giant Robinhood released its third-quarter financial report. The data shows that due to a slowdown in cryptocurrency trading activity and increased operating expenses, overshadowing its strong performance in options and prediction markets, the quarterly profits fell below Wall Street expectations. In the third quarter, its cryptocurrency trading revenue decreased significantly by 55% year-on-year to 120 million USD. Although options trading revenue grew by 31% and event contract revenue surged more than sixfold, driving overall trading revenue up 19% year-on-year to 867 million USD, total operating expenses also increased by 16% year-on-year to 739 million USD. The company's earnings per share for the quarter were 0.51 USD, falling short of analysts' expectations of 0.55 USD, leading to a drop of over 7% in its stock price in after-hours trading.

According to RBC, Russia has established testing standards for cryptocurrency investors, planning to require investors to pass a knowledge test before buying and trading cryptocurrencies on regulated platforms. Ekaterina Andreeva, the First Vice President of the National Association of Securities Market Participants of Russia (NAUFOR), stated that the draft of the relevant standards has been submitted to the Central Bank of Russia's Basic Standards Committee.Brokerages expect to start offering tests to clients as early as the end of November, with scores recognized across different regulated platforms. According to the cryptocurrency regulatory law that Russia began implementing in phases starting this September, non-qualified investors can only trade high liquidity crypto assets on the whitelist after passing the test.

According to The Block citing local media reports, South Korea's ruling party, the Democratic Party of Korea, will meet on Friday with representatives from the country's five major cryptocurrency exchanges: Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax, to discuss whether to postpone the cryptocurrency tax originally scheduled to take effect in January 2027.The party has proposed a bill to delay the implementation until 2029, citing insufficient infrastructure and difficulties in obtaining transaction data.

According to CBC, a federal judge in Miami, USA, sentenced 20-year-old Canadian man Trenton Johnston to 25 months in prison. Previously, he admitted to participating in a money laundering conspiracy and surrendered approximately 3.8 million dollars worth of stolen cryptocurrency.Johnston began his crimes in January 2024, impersonating Google technical support and representatives from cryptocurrency companies to trick victims into providing wallet access codes. In one case, he and an accomplice defrauded a victim in California of 185 bitcoins (worth about 13 million dollars at the time). He then used the stolen funds to purchase luxury items such as a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ, two BMWs, jewelry, and private jet rentals. Johnston has agreed to be deported back to Canada and is still facing drug possession charges in Florida.

According to Coinglass data, the cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index is currently at 50, an increase of 0 points from yesterday. The average over the past 7 days is 50, and the average over the past 30 days is 60.

Y Combinator, a startup incubator, released a report on the direction of cryptocurrency startups, focusing on stablecoins, asset tokenization, and AI Agents. The report states that over the past year, cryptocurrency applications have been led by institutions rather than consumers for the first time, with the main driving force shifting from speculation to actual financial needs such as hedging oil price risks and cross-border capital transfers for businesses.The report predicts that stablecoins, as well as assets like stocks, debts, commodities, and property rights, will be further tokenized. New types of assets, such as equity in startups and small securities valued under $10,000, will also be issued via blockchain, promoting financial services like trading, lending, and derivatives. AI Agents will become one of the main participants in financial activities.In the next six months, the report focuses on using blockchain to finance the AI industry, new types of dollar stablecoins and non-dollar stablecoins targeting niche markets, new banks based on stablecoins, tokenization of real-world assets, new trading platforms and trading interfaces, as well as AI Agent trading and related API infrastructure. The text mentions that blockchain technology and stablecoins may pose a threat to traditional stock exchanges and banking systems.

CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju stated that the ETF engine has hardly operated this year, with net inflows close to zero from the beginning of the year to now, yet Bitcoin has only dropped 7%. In the context of weak ETF demand while prices remain strong, the likelihood of OG whales or miners selling off in large quantities seems low; those who wanted to sell may have already done so.Ki Young Ju expects that once the uncertainty of the U.S. midterm elections dissipates and ETF capital inflows resume, bullish momentum will return.

The criminal case involving Aiden Pleterski, who claims to be the "King of Crypto" in Canada, related to a Ponzi scheme involving digital assets, will be submitted to the jury for deliberation after closing arguments this week. Presiding Judge Shaun Nakatsuru has given the jury final instructions, and the jury is set to begin deliberations on Thursday. Pleterski is accused of defrauding approximately $30 million from fans on social media between 2021 and 2022, and was charged with fraud in 2024, subsequently awaiting trial for over two years.In his closing arguments, Pleterski declared his innocence. He stated, "I am not guilty of these charges, which is why I am not pleading guilty. This would have been proven if I had not been forced to represent myself. That's all I have to say." Due to his choice to represent himself, he is acting on his own behalf in court. If convicted of fraud, he faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.In another criminal case, five men are charged with kidnapping and torturing Pleterski in 2022, some of whom are reportedly victims of his scheme. Defendant Deren Akyeam-Pong has pleaded guilty to nine charges and is awaiting sentencing. Pleterski is one of several figures in the crypto industry facing fraud charges; former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted in 2023 and is serving a 25-year sentence in the United States.

According to a report by Decrypt, a national survey commissioned by the cryptocurrency policy advocacy organization DeFi Education Fund and conducted by Ipsos shows that 22% of American adults have held or used cryptocurrency, up from 18% in 2025, but the usage rate over the past 12 months remains flat at 13%. The survey, conducted from September 8 to 16, interviewed 1,545 adults, with a margin of error of ±2.8 percentage points. The growth almost entirely comes from users who have dropped out: among those who have not used cryptocurrency in the past year, the proportion who had held or used it rose from 5% to 11%; the willingness to purchase in the future also remains flat, with 17% indicating they might hold or use it in the future, compared to 16% last year.In terms of user demographics, the usage rate for men in the past year was 18%, while for women it was 8%, with the former being more than double the latter. Adults under 60 showed a significantly higher usage rate than older individuals. The primary reason for trying cryptocurrency is curiosity (34%), followed by long-term investment (25%). Respondents expressed significant unease about the traditional financial system: only 19% believe it is safe, and 63% think it needs to be upgraded to address cybercrime and AI threats; 60% are concerned about data breaches at large financial institutions, and 54% doubt their ability to withstand AI-driven threats, while 74% indicate that financial privacy is important.This skepticism has not translated into trust in cryptocurrency. Only 4% have high trust in cryptocurrency exchanges, and 5% have high trust in decentralized platforms, while large national banks and credit unions have trust levels of 42% and 48%, respectively. The knowledge gap is also significant: only 2% of Americans are very familiar with DeFi, 6% can identify all four characteristics of cryptocurrency listed in the survey, and 35% are completely uncertain about how to describe cryptocurrency. However, 40% indicate that if DeFi were available, there is at least some possibility they would try it, with over 80% stating they would use it to save money, earn interest, or send money to friends and family; the desire to understand stablecoins and DeFi decreased from 11% to 7% and 8%, respectively.

According to The Block, as the U.S. midterm elections approach, the digital asset industry may face changes in the congressional political landscape. Over the past two years, the Republican-led Congress passed the stablecoin bill GENIUS Act and advanced the broader Clarity Act; the latter passed the House in 2025 but stalled in the Senate due to controversies over stablecoin rewards and ethical issues raised by former President Trump's crypto wealth. Prediction market Kalshi shows that the probability of the Democrats winning the Senate and the House is 64% and 90%, respectively.The chair of congressional committees holds the power to set the agenda. If the Democrats regain the Senate, Elizabeth Warren will become the chair of the Senate Banking Committee. Ron Hammond, head of policy and advocacy at Wintermute, expects that she will actively use subpoena power and may focus on scrutinizing the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's approvals of new bank charters for Ripple, Coinbase, and World Liberty Financial, which is supported by the Trump family.The election situation in Ohio is also under scrutiny, with former Senate Banking Committee chair Sherrod Brown facing pro-crypto Republican Jon Husted. Fairshake PAC has pledged $30 million to support Husted. Hammond stated that if Brown wins, he may become the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, which could potentially shelve related crypto legislation. In the House Financial Services Committee, regardless of whether Maxine Waters, Sean Casten, or Bill Foster leads, the Clarity Act is unlikely to advance. Lindsay Fraser, chief policy officer of the Blockchain Association, stated that while congressional control may change, the demand for clear crypto regulations will not.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against 10 individuals and 1 entity. These targets are involved in North Korean IT workers defrauding U.S. companies, with the proceeds used for North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.The sanctioned Russian national Ilya Boykov has exchanged approximately 3.5 million dollars in cryptocurrency for the North Korean company Alis since 2024. The Russian national Vitold Obertas has completed nearly 2 million dollars in cryptocurrency exchanges for North Korean officials since January 2025.Also sanctioned is the entity FFTDC, controlled by North Korea and based in Russia, along with its 6 IT workers, who have generated over 750,000 dollars since 2025. Australia and the European Union have also taken similar sanction actions this month.

Circle submitted comments to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding its proposed regulatory framework for cryptocurrency assets. Circle supports the proposal's goal of fostering innovation under clear rules while maintaining the advantages of U.S. capital markets, including transparency, investor protection, market integrity, liquidity, and efficiency.Circle also suggested that the cryptocurrency asset regulatory framework should align with the GENIUS Act. Given that payment stablecoins are increasingly becoming important considerations and settlement assets for on-chain capital formation, Circle requests that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) clarify how payment stablecoins that comply with the provisions of the GENIUS Act can be used for these purposes.The letter further requests that the Commission clarify that eligible payment stablecoins constitute "cash" under proposed Rule 302(b), should receive appropriate U.S. dollar valuation treatment, and comply with the corresponding accounting and customer reserve treatment conditions.Circle also recommends that, provided objective safeguards are in place, the current 2% broker discount for payment stablecoins that comply with GENIUS be reduced to zero. Finally, Circle requests that the SEC clarify that technical services provided after the network goes live (including maintaining a known set of validating nodes) do not constitute necessary management work. Establishing safe harbor rules for the technical roadmap would allow issuers to continue maintaining and improving the operational network without inadvertently restarting the related analysis.

According to market news, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that regardless of whether Congress takes action, the U.S. Treasury will push to bridge the regulatory gap between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regarding cryptocurrency.

Michael Saylor posted that he believes artificial intelligence (AI) can attack cryptocurrency applications, so there is no reason to hold Bitcoin, just as there is no reason to speak English because AI can attack communication applications.Saylor uses this to refute the viewpoint that directly links AI's ability to attack applications with the value of holding Bitcoin.

According to Solid Intel, Brazil's largest bank Itaú Unibanco has become the first bank to officially engage in cryptocurrency trading and custody services under the new regulations set by the Central Bank of Brazil. The bank has reported the relevant business to the Central Bank of Brazil on Tuesday, ahead of the deadline of October 30.