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U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal has launched an investigation into the stablecoin issuer Tether's payment of approximately $6.3 million to the consulting firm Nxum. Nxum was co-founded by former White House cryptocurrency advisor Bo Hines, who holds one-third of the company's shares. Blumenthal sent a letter to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino on October 22, requesting the contracts between the two parties, cryptocurrency payment records, wallet addresses, and communication content.Tether is accused of paying Nxum $415,000 per month since May 2025 for strategic communications, lobbying, and public relations services. Blumenthal pointed out that Bo Hines held shares in Nxum while serving as the Executive Director of the White House Digital Assets Advisory Committee and coordinated affairs with the company through encrypted communication applications. He also questioned whether Tether transferred cryptocurrency through the marketing company Notorious and then allocated funds to Nxum shareholders. Tether began directly contracting with Nxum after August 2025 and hired Bo Hines to oversee the newly established U.S. operations. Blumenthal has requested Tether, Nxum, and related parties to respond by November 6, noting that the relevant allegations have not yet formed a legal determination, and Tether has not publicly responded.

According to a report by Reuters, as of Friday, 22 companies have submitted objections against listing their U.S. stocks in tokenized form on the tokenized stock platform OKXICE, jointly launched by OKX and the Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. The latest batch of companies opposing includes Wells Fargo, Arm Holdings, and Intuit, following Microsoft and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, who joined the opposition the previous week. Among the 22 companies mentioned, 16 are listed on Nasdaq, while only 6 are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.Nasdaq issued guidance in September regarding the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's innovation exemption mechanism, reminding issuers that "they must be cautious about their own participation," and stated that the consequences for liquidity, price discovery, and long-term shareholder value may not become apparent until the experiment has progressed for some time. Andrew Cuomo, co-chairman of OKXICE and former governor of New York, indicated that more objections are expected for the joint venture platform, as companies wish to avoid being among the first to test this stock model.Earlier this month, the joint venture platform submitted documents to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, planning to provide tokenized stock listings for 62 companies. Cointelegraph sought comments on Intuit's decision to withdraw from the plan but did not receive an immediate response; spokespeople for Wells Fargo and Arm Holdings declined to comment.

According to a report by Forbes on Friday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is preparing to reform its voluntary disclosure program, planning to reduce penalties and expedite the processing of tax violation cases, including those involving cryptocurrency.Jarod Koopman, head of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, stated that the agency aims to launch the revised program before December and to close cases within 120 days after taxpayers complete the required submission process. He noted that the new plan will not establish a separate disclosure channel for digital assets but will apply the same voluntary disclosure procedures to other forms of tax noncompliance. Koopman also mentioned that the penalties under the revised program will be significantly lower than current levels, although he did not provide specific amounts. The IRS is considering allowing taxpayers to settle debts through installment payments or settlement offers.According to Forbes, the current program often takes a year or longer to complete and primarily targets taxpayers who intentionally fail to comply with tax laws and may face criminal prosecution, rather than those who make reporting errors due to negligence. Meanwhile, legislative efforts are advancing another voluntary disclosure program aimed at cryptocurrency taxpayers. Section 502 of the Digital Asset Taxation Certainty Act will establish a correction process with clear penalty standards for past violations, and the bill was passed by the House Ways and Means Committee in September.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Cumberland (0x83B...Fc2e4) transferred 10.31 million USD1 to BitGo, worth approximately 10.3 million USD, possibly for over-the-counter trading.

The UK government stated that Prime Minister Burnham emphasized during his conversation with President Trump that the comprehensive use of Starlink in Ukraine is crucial.

The decentralized perpetual contract protocol Lighter announced the inclusion of weETH as collateral for perpetual contract trading on the platform. The platform calculates the trading margin based on 70% of the weETH index value, which sets a 30% discount on the collateral asset.At the same time, Lighter has set the maximum supply limit of weETH collateral across the platform to 1000 units. After the adjustment, users can use weETH as margin to open perpetual contract positions on Lighter.

According to Israeli media i24, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to develop a blockchain-based plan to address potential financial sanctions that Israel may face in the future. Currently, the specific details and implementation plan of the relevant proposal have not been disclosed.

According to Bitcoin Magazine, Franklin Templeton, with assets under management of $1.7 trillion, has completed the final regulatory procedure before listing two ETFs that convert stock dividends into Bitcoin.On October 22, the company submitted Form 8-A to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to register shares of the Franklin US Equity Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF and the Franklin US Innovation Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF for trading on NASDAQ. The prospectus submitted on the same day indicates an effective date of October 27. These two funds were first filed in June of this year, with codes and fees not disclosed at that time.The stock fund code is FBEQ, which tracks the VettaFi US Large-Cap 500 Bitcoin DRIP Index. This index holds the 500 largest companies in the U.S. by market capitalization, weighted by free float. As of September 30, it actually held 499 stocks, with a concentration in the information technology sector. The fund's initial allocation is 95% stocks and 5% Bitcoin, with regular or special dividends distributed by companies being used to purchase Bitcoin at the opening of the next trading day after the ex-dividend date, increasing the Bitcoin allocation with each dividend payment.During quarterly rebalancing, any Bitcoin allocation exceeding 5% will be reduced to 4.5%; if the Bitcoin allocation exceeds 20% between two rebalancing periods, it will be brought down to 4.5% within two trading days, with the funds flowing back into stocks. The fund does not directly hold on-chain Bitcoin but gains exposure through Bitcoin exchange-traded products (including its own spot fund), futures and options, or depository receipts, with some achieved through a subsidiary in the Cayman Islands. The FBEQ fee is 0.09%, with no 12b-1 fees, managed by Franklin Advisory Services, and Franklin Templeton Institutional serves as a sub-advisor. The innovation fund employs the same mechanism, tracking the VettaFi US Innovation 100 Bitcoin DRIP Index, with components from the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on NASDAQ.Franklin Templeton had previously filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF in September 2023 and launched it in January 2024 under the code EZBC; in April of this year, it acquired 250 Digital and established an institutional digital asset department, Franklin Crypto. These two DRIP funds extend the strategy to investors who will not purchase Bitcoin on their own.

The Kremlin expressed gratitude to Melania Trump for her contribution to the Oleshky humanitarian agreement, as the Russian and Ukrainian military are determining the ceasefire date in the region.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the inspection priorities for the fiscal year 2027, continuing to conduct risk-oriented inspections of over 34,000 registered entities, focusing on investment advisors, funds, brokers, clearing agencies, and other market participants.The SEC stated that the fiscal year 2027 will focus on the fiduciary duty and conflicts of interest of investment advisors, retail investor protection, private funds and private credit, brokers' anti-money laundering and transaction supervision, operational resilience, and cybersecurity, among other areas. Emerging technologies and market infrastructure are also listed as priorities.Among these, the SEC will pay attention to the impact of advanced technologies, including "superintelligence," on market operations, compliance, fraud prevention, and investor protection, while also assessing the risks brought by government bond clearing reform, tokenization, and related changes in market structure.

The cryptocurrency wallet Phantom is opening the Kalshi prediction market to users in the United States, allowing users to trade event contracts directly within the Phantom app. This feature will begin rolling out on October 23 and will gradually expand coverage over the coming weeks. Users must first complete Kalshi's KYC.Transactions will be conducted using the CASH stablecoin in the Phantom Cash account, and funds will be converted to fiat currency for settlement after being transferred to Kalshi. Withdrawals and profits will return to Phantom Cash. Phantom currently shows a fee of $0.02 per contract, with a small additional fee for network transfer.Due to local regulatory controversies, Phantom will restrict market categories in certain states: Michigan temporarily blocks sports markets; Nevada restricts sports, elections, politics, and entertainment markets; Washington state has broader restrictions, including categories such as culture, technology, and geopolitics. Phantom's General Counsel Kevin Jacobs stated that the company believes the CFTC's jurisdiction over relevant products is clear and will continue to comply with existing restrictions in various states.

Trader Killa posted that the next important cycle turning point for Bitcoin is expected to arrive in a few days. Based on his observations of price trends over the past 600 days, the previous 11 turning points all showed movements contrary to the mainstream market narrative.Currently, bearish sentiment in the market is still accumulating. If this pattern repeats, Bitcoin may rise against the trend by at least 5%. Killa also reminds that a significant fluctuation may not occur immediately after the turning point arrives, and he will focus on the price performance at that time.

QCP stated that the credit risks related to AI infrastructure are accelerating in repricing. CoreWeave's bond yield has risen to about 15% this year, as the market begins to reassess high financing costs and debt sustainability.The related pressure has spread from CoreWeave to the broader neocloud infrastructure sector, dragging down the performance of tech stocks and crypto assets, while pushing funds towards long-term U.S. Treasury bonds.

On October 23, the Central Cybersecurity and Informatization Commission issued the "National Informatization 14th Five-Year Plan." The plan proposes that by 2030, significant progress will be made in our country's informatization, with its role in promoting Chinese-style modernization becoming more prominent. The information infrastructure will consolidate and expand its leading advantages, a three-dimensional network system encompassing land, sea, air, and space will be basically formed, a new generation of communication networks will be fully established, the commercial use of the sixth generation of mobile communication (6G) will be launched in a timely manner, and the national blockchain network will be basically established, with intelligent internet development accelerating.The plan also states that the innovation capability of cybersecurity technology will be significantly enhanced, the technological innovation system will be more complete, and breakthroughs will be achieved in key core technologies in key areas. The cybersecurity industry ecosystem will prosper and develop, with deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, and the comprehensive strength of cybersecurity enterprises will be significantly enhanced. The level of digital, networked, and intelligent applications in economic and social development will reach a new level, empowering economic and social development and significantly improving governance capabilities. Cybersecurity guarantees will be solid and powerful, the legal and regulatory standards system will be more complete, and the concept of a community with a shared future in cyberspace will be deeply rooted in people's hearts.

On October 22 local time, OpenAI announced the full launch of the Decision API. This API is based on GPT-6 Luna and is designed to assist applications and agents in making near real-time decisions based on text, images, and structured inputs for questions with limited answers. IT Home reported that its response speed is up to 10 times faster than calling GPT-6 Luna through the Responses API.In terms of pricing, the cost is $0.1 per million tokens for input, which is approximately 0.67 Chinese Yuan at the current exchange rate; for cache hit input, it is $0.01 per million tokens, about 0.067 Chinese Yuan. The API charges only for input tokens, while output tokens are free. The page states that OpenAI has already used this API internally for product and business workflows.New features after the public beta include native GPT-Live integration, prompt caching for reused contexts, and reasoning data residency in the United States and the European Union. Developers can pass in native JSON and include images in the question instructions, with a maximum of 400 questions submitted in a single request, double the previous limit. The page also states that OpenAI is continuously optimizing latency and expanding capacity in several regions across Asia.

Marinade, the Solana staking service protocol, released its Q3 2026 report. As of September 30, the amount of SOL staked was 7.94 million, a quarter-over-quarter increase of 21.2%, mainly driven by the non-custodial native staking product Native and the institutional-focused Select. The amount staked in Native increased by 47.3% quarter-over-quarter to approximately 3.77 million, while Select grew by 38.7% to about 1.68 million, and mSOL decreased by 6.8% to around 2.27 million.Revenue for the third quarter was approximately $1 million, corresponding to 10,918 SOL, a quarter-over-quarter increase of 25.9%, primarily from validator margin settlement income, which grew by 38.1% quarter-over-quarter. In the staking auction market, 48 out of 51 epochs in the quarter had yields higher than the Solana staking index, with an average yield before Marinade fees of 5.93%, compared to 5.67% for the index during the same period.In governance, since the implementation of MIP-22 in July, Marinade has used 10% of auction fees to repurchase MNDE on the open market. In the third quarter, a total of 4.2 million MNDE was repurchased with 906.6 SOL, and the first distribution opened on October 1. The report also disclosed that on September 25, attackers exploited a vulnerability in the DAO voting process to submit two malicious proposals, one of which involved transferring DAO treasury assets; the council vetoed both proposals within about 6 hours, and the fix was completed that night, with no funds being transferred.

According to CoinDesk, the Swedish central bank is pushing lawmakers to reconsider the necessity of issuing an electronic krona (e-krona), believing that with the development of foreign stablecoins and the digital euro, the use of the Swedish krona in the payment system may face long-term pressure.Per Jansson, the Deputy Governor of the Swedish central bank, stated that if cash becomes further digitized and the Swedish krona lacks a convenient digital form, the local currency may struggle to compete with digital payment tools that can be used across borders. Although the central bank has not yet decided whether to officially issue an electronic krona, it hopes to initiate preparations at the legislative level as soon as possible, as the related institutional and technical work is expected to take at least 5 years.

According to official news, Futu Securities has opened BNB deposit and withdrawal services for qualified professional investors in Hong Kong, further expanding the virtual asset service chain.Qualified professional investors can now deposit funds via the BNB Smart Chain (BEP20) network between self-custody wallets and Futu crypto accounts, or withdraw to verified whitelist addresses, achieving compliant interconnection between on-chain assets and the securities trading ecosystem.

According to Digital Asset, the security platform OpenSourceMalware revealed in a program on October 21 that a North Korea-linked hacking group is using a technique called Contagious Interview, luring job seekers in the cryptocurrency industry through LinkedIn to invite them to visit private code repositories and install software packages required for development tasks.The attackers set up a .npmrc configuration file in the repository, causing npm to download dependencies from a specified external package repository instead of the public registry, which could potentially execute malicious code during the installation process and reduce the likelihood of being detected by public security scans. Paul McCarty, co-founder of OpenSourceMalware, stated that this type of technique has been observed recently among attackers. The specific number of victims, affected companies, or the amount of digital asset losses has not yet been disclosed.