digital

According to Bitcoin Magazine, Amy Oldenburg, head of Morgan Stanley's digital asset-related business, stated in a video interview with Bitcoin Magazine that the investment logic of Bitcoin as "digital gold" is "quite sound." However, she hopes to see Bitcoin's trading performance align more closely with gold, rather than being highly correlated with technology-related risk assets. She mentioned that factors such as the correlation between Bitcoin and gold, demand for stablecoins, concerns about quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and inflation are all influencing the market's demand for Bitcoin.She also stated that she would not define Bitcoin's prospects based on a single day's market performance or a specific inflation data point. The interview also covered topics such as the application of stablecoins and USDT on the Bitcoin network, the client composition of Morgan Stanley's spot Bitcoin ETF, the pathways for clients to transfer self-held Bitcoin into ETF shares, and borrowing against Bitcoin ETFs and spot Bitcoin as collateral.In addition, Oldenburg introduced how Morgan Stanley assesses quantum risks and discussed how asset tokenization could change various asset classes, as well as the role of Morgan Stanley's Digital Asset Lab and AI agents in the future "agent economy."

According to the CoinShares market report, the U.S. September CPI rose by 0.6% month-on-month and 3.7% year-on-year, exceeding the market expectation of 3.6%. Gasoline prices increased by 9.1% for the month, accounting for about half of the overall increase. The core CPI rose by 0.3% month-on-month and 2.6% year-on-year. During the same period, U.S. September retail sales grew by 0.8% month-on-month, higher than the expected approximately 0.3%, with August data revised up to 1.3%. However, retail sales excluding gasoline only grew by 0.2%, lower than August's 1%.The report pointed out that inflation remains high, and economic demand also remains resilient, leading the market to reprice the Federal Reserve's policy in a hawkish manner, causing Bitcoin and the overall digital asset market to decline. Data shows that since the CPI was released, market sentiment has significantly weakened, with global digital asset investment products seeing an outflow of $434 million so far this week. Regarding interest rate expectations, as of October 15, Polymarket data shows that the probability of the Federal Reserve maintaining interest rates at the October meeting is about 75%, while the probability of a 25 basis point rate hike is about 25%. After the CPI release, the futures market clearly shifted to a hawkish stance, with expectations for another rate hike within the year rising significantly.

Upbit's official announcement states that due to BitMEX terminating the integration of the travel rule solution VerifyVASP, Upbit will suspend deposits and withdrawals of digital assets of 1 million Korean Won and above with BitMEX starting from October 16. Deposits below 1 million Korean Won will continue to be supported as usual.Manual deposits of over 1 million Korean Won from BitMEX to Upbit will cease at 14:00 on December 18, and any similar assets credited thereafter will enter the refund process, which users must follow to retrieve.

According to Cointelegraph, the Swedish central bank (Riksbank) recently submitted a proposal to the parliamentary finance committee, urging lawmakers to initiate legislative preparations for a potential central bank digital currency—Digital Krona.

Ant International and Huaxia Fund (Hong Kong) jointly announced that Ant International has recently completed the allocation of the Huaxia Renminbi Digital Currency Fund (3461.HK / 83461.HK) and has incorporated it into its treasury allocation.The related fund transfer was initiated by Ant International at the Shanghai Pudong Branch of China Construction Bank, with digital renminbi assets being transferred in real-time from Shanghai to Hong Kong, ultimately deposited into the relevant account at Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), and the fund allocation completed in offshore renminbi, achieving a full-link connection for cross-border allocation of digital renminbi and investment in offshore renminbi assets.The announcement stated that this practice opens up the channel for offshore asset management of digital renminbi and corporate treasury applications, and verifies the feasibility of digital renminbi in the cross-border fund allocation scenario between Shanghai and Hong Kong. The above news was reported by Huang Xinyi from the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily.

The Sharjah Police in the United Arab Emirates, in conjunction with the Ministry of Interior, launched an operation codenamed "End of Battle," successfully dismantling four interconnected transnational crime networks and arresting 33 suspects from 12 nationalities, including key leaders.Investigations revealed that the crime networks were involved in illegal activities such as cyber infiltration, money laundering, digital wallet theft, fraud, extortion, and illegal data trading. During the operation, the police protected over 30 businesses and institutions worldwide, ensuring the safety of assets exceeding $17.7 billion (approximately 65 billion UAE Dirhams), confiscated assets worth over $54.4 million (approximately 200 million UAE Dirhams), and conducted in-depth examinations and evidence collection on more than 3,000 digital wallets.

The Swedish central bank (Riksbank) has suggested that lawmakers prepare relevant legislation for the potential launch of a digital krona, citing reasons including the European Central Bank (ECB) advancing the digital euro and the increasing use of foreign currency stablecoins.In a letter, the bank stated that the ECB plans to conduct a pilot for the digital euro in 2027 and may launch it to the public in 2029. The Swedish central bank pointed out that if the payment system lacks a digital version of the national currency, its competitiveness may be affected. The bank believes that foreign currency stablecoins, such as those pegged to the US dollar, are widely used for payments within Sweden, which may put pressure on the use of the Swedish krona, but short-term risks are limited. The Swedish central bank estimates that the launch of a digital krona will take at least five years, not including the time required for legislative changes.

During a live AMA interview hosted by CoinMarketCap, Gate founder and CEO Dr. Han discussed the development direction of digital finance, the product positioning of Gate Money, and the accelerated integration of digital assets with traditional finance.Dr. Han stated, "The future of digital finance lies not only in providing more asset choices but also in connecting assets, funds, and payments, allowing users to manage assets, transfer funds, and meet daily payment needs more conveniently within one ecosystem." Upholding the core concept of "One Gate, Everything Money," Gate Money integrates services such as digital assets, fiat currency, stocks, ETFs, gold, bank accounts, payments, and asset management into a single account, covering scenarios like asset holding, receiving payments, transferring, exchanging, paying, and earning. Users in eligible regions can also open an e-banking account with the same name and use the Gate Card for online and offline consumption with fiat or digital assets, further bridging asset allocation and daily payment scenarios.Regarding the accelerated integration of digital assets and traditional finance, Dr. Han also explored the roles of stablecoins and asset tokenization in cross-border capital flow, on-chain settlement, and financial service innovation. As user demands extend from single transactions to investment management, fund transfers, and daily consumption scenarios, Gate will continue to expand the asset categories, payment methods, and service capabilities of Gate Money, enriching the application of digital assets in diverse financial scenarios and providing users with a more integrated financial service experience.

According to Beijing Daily, the 2026 Financial Street Forum Annual Conference will be held from October 19 to 22 on Financial Street in Beijing, with over 400 guests from more than 40 countries and regions attending. This is the fifteenth session, approved by the State Council, with the theme "Openness · Cooperation · Inclusiveness ------ Building a New Ecosystem for Global Financial Development Together."The annual conference plans to hold a main forum and parallel forums with a total of 21 topic activities and 3 special conferences. Among them, the Insurance Conference will be hosted for the first time by the National Financial Regulatory Administration, and the Investment Conference will make its debut, forming a matrix of special conferences with the Financial Technology Conference. More than a hundred achievements, including credit risk control strategy sandbox agents and quantum fusion algorithm intelligent evolution platforms, will be launched for the first time. The annual conference will expand its African sub-venue for the first time, initiate a three-city connection between Beijing, Hong Kong, and London, and hold 7 events in 5 overseas sub-venues in Hong Kong, London, Paris, Toronto, and Nairobi.The Financial Technology Conference in 2026 will further innovate its format and expand its scale, setting up 13 topic activities around cutting-edge issues such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and smart finance. The People's Bank of China will host the Chengfang Financial Technology Forum within the framework of the conference and hold a seminar on artificial intelligence financial applications and risk prevention and control, continuing to organize a series of activities such as the Financial Technology Application Scenario Competition, and plans to release relevant achievements such as the central bank's digital renminbi system and digital renminbi smart contract ecological service framework.

Galaxy Digital Research Director Alex Thorn stated that over half of the BTC supply is located in addresses of unknown ownership. Despite the trend of institutionalization and centralized holdings in recent years, there is still a massive (possibly even the majority of) amount of Bitcoin being self-custodied by individuals.

The Blockchain Association, the Crypto Innovation Committee, in conjunction with the Illinois state government, the Digital Chamber of Commerce, and the Illinois Blockchain Association, submitted a joint motion to the Sangamon County Circuit Court, requesting the court to expedite the hearing of two lawsuits against the state's Digital Asset Tax Act. The state government has agreed to issue an injunction to suspend the effectiveness and enforcement of the Digital Asset Tax Act until July 1, 2027.In order to make a ruling on the legality of the tax law as soon as possible, the parties have proposed a timeline for expedited summary judgment submissions: the first round of motions is scheduled to be submitted on November 4, 2026, and all relevant submissions will be completed by January 22, 2027. The parties request the court to hold a hearing between February 8 and February 19, 2027, and request the court to make a ruling by March 1, 2027, to which the state government has no objection. This timeline is subject to court approval.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Galaxy Digital OTC clients transferred 134,000 LINK to Binance, worth 1.73 million USD, possibly for sale.

According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin's monitoring, a certain whale/institution conducted OTC trading through Galaxy Digital and sold the last 10,000 ETH 5 hours ago, completing their liquidation.This entity bought and sold 52,000 ETH within two and a half months, making a profit of 24.49 million dollars: from July to September, they accumulated 52,000 ETH at an average price of 2,161 dollars; since the end of September, they liquidated at an average price of 2,632 dollars.

Nasdaq-listed company Cipher Digital plans to raise funds for its Barber Lake project and high-performance computing (HPC) data center business expansion by issuing $850 million in zero-coupon convertible bonds.Cipher Digital stated that the private placement could be expanded to a maximum of $1 billion if the initial purchasers exercise their option to purchase additional bonds, which would add $150 million in bonds.At the same time, the company plans to convert part of its 1.75% convertible bonds maturing in 2030 into common stock. The company has previously adjusted the planning of its Barber Lake data center project located in Colorado City, Texas, and signed an agreement with Fluidstack and an undisclosed AI laboratory to extend the project contract term from 10 years to 20 years, with expected contract revenue increasing from $3.8 billion to over $9 billion.

According to Bloomberg, Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, stated during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meeting that the UK is currently not in a hurry to launch a central bank digital currency for the public, namely the digital pound Britcoin. Whether to advance the digital pound project depends on whether other innovative payment solutions, such as commercial stablecoins and bank tokenized deposits, can achieve the benefits brought by tokenization.She also emphasized the hope that UK businesses can develop successful pound stablecoins, avoiding the situation where UK residents and businesses can only use innovative payment services through dollar stablecoins.

On October 13, 2026, the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub released the second phase report of the Aurum project, themed "Exploring Privacy-Enhancing Technologies for Digital Cash." This phase implements a privacy-protecting digital cash prototype based on the existing Aurum codebase, helping policymakers understand how relevant technologies can alleviate the dilemma between privacy and compliance in digital cash.The prototype adopts the principles of privacy by design and default privacy, demonstrating practices that lie between complete anonymity and complete transaction transparency, and achieving customizable features to meet business needs in compliance and operations. The project indicates that privacy can be embedded in the design of digital cash through technology, rather than solely relying on institutional guarantees, thereby reducing unnecessary exposure of personal and transaction data while maintaining compliance and system integrity.Privacy-protecting designs can assist central banks and policymakers in understanding the relevant considerations and trade-offs. The prototype's functionalities demonstrate policy flexibility between privacy, transparency, compliance, and other attributes, which can be calibrated according to different policy choices and risk preferences. In addition to digital cash, central banks can further explore privacy-enhancing technologies in more use cases, with the report listing several usage experiences.

According to PR Newswire, NASDAQ-listed company TROOPS Inc. (TROO) announced that it has signed a conditional share purchase agreement with EFFORCE Group, planning to expand its digital asset infrastructure business through this transaction.EFFORCE was founded by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and focuses on blockchain technology, digital assets, and sustainability. After the transaction is completed, Wozniak will retain his rights as a shareholder of EFFORCE. TROOPS stated that this merger will combine the advantages of both parties in technology, regulatory compliance, business expansion, and market channels to create a digital asset infrastructure platform covering multiple fields.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Bitcoin mining company Genesis Digital Assets will transition to an AI data center. SWI Group invested $500 million to acquire a significant stake in the company in June this year, subsequently becoming the controlling shareholder, and announced on October 12 that it has secured €800 million (approximately $900 million) for data center upgrades and expansions.SWI plans to utilize Genesis Digital's data centers in Texas, North and South Carolina, and Sweden to provide computing power for large cloud service providers and sell off the remaining assets of its Kazakhstan mining operations.