gm 26/10

Summary
gm, Zelle announced plans to integrate stablecoins for cross-border transactions and Tether revealed its ambitions to launch a U.S.-compliant USAT stablecoin targeting 100 million Americans. In the institutional sphere, Crypto.com applied for a National Trust Bank Charter to expand its custody services, while Coinbase received a bullish upgrade from JPMorgan based on its Base layer-2 network's monetization potential. Meanwhile, financial infrastructure continues to evolve as Custodia Bank and Vantage Bank Texas launched a live tokenized deposit network for U.S. banks, compliant with banking regulations and the GENIUS Act, signaling an accelerating convergence between traditional banking and blockchain technology.

News Headlines
🚗 Ferrari Launches Digital Token for Exclusive Le Mans Car Auction

• Ferrari is launching a digital token that will allow select Hyperclub members (100 elite customers) to bid on its Le Mans-winning 499P race car in an exclusive auction planned for 2027.
• The "Token Ferrari 499P" will enable trading and auction participation, building on Ferrari's existing cryptocurrency acceptance (Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC) and partnership with fintech firm Conio for the token project.

💸 Ripple Launches Prime Brokerage Service After $1.25B Acquisition

• Ripple has completed its $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road, rebranding it as Ripple Prime—an all-in-one service for institutional trading, financing, and clearing across digital assets and various financial products.
• Since the acquisition announcement in April, Ripple Prime's business has tripled, now serving over 300 institutional clients and facilitating more than $3 trillion in cleared transactions, while enhancing the utility of its RLUSD stablecoin.

👾 Polymarket to Launch Token and Airdrop After US Relaunch

• Polymarket will introduce a token with airdrop distribution following its official US relaunch, according to the company's CMO Matthew Modabber, after acquiring QCX, a regulated derivatives exchange, for $112 million.
• The prediction market platform, valued at $10 billion after securing a $2 billion investment from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), is also negotiating additional funding to potentially raise its valuation to $15 billion.

📽️ Rumble to Launch Bitcoin Tipping for 51M Users in December

• Video platform Rumble will launch Bitcoin tipping for creators by mid-December in partnership with Tether, implementing an integrated digital wallet for its 51 million monthly users.
• Tether has invested $775 million in Rumble and will leverage the platform to promote its USAT stablecoin, while Rumble itself holds 211 BTC as part of its treasury strategy.

🌐 Bitcoin Options Worth Record $31 Billion Set to Expire on Halloween

• A record $31 billion in Bitcoin options will expire on Halloween, up significantly from last month's $18 billion, despite a recent flash crash that reduced open interest by approximately $7 billion.
• Current open interest at Deribit has reached an all-time high of $50.27 billion, with significant put contracts at the $100,000 strike price and call contracts at $120,000, potentially leading to heightened market volatility.

Market Metrics

Fundraising & VC
No fundraising data today.

Regulatory
💰 Kyrgyzstan Introduces National Stablecoin and Cryptocurrency Reserve

• Kyrgyzstan has launched a som-pegged stablecoin (KGST) on the BNB Chain while also legally recognizing its central bank digital currency (CBDC) for future government payments.
• The country is establishing a national cryptocurrency reserve containing assets like BNB and partnering with Binance Academy to develop educational programs in universities.

📜 U.S. Senate Nears Agreement on Crypto Regulation

• Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has expressed optimism that U.S. senators are close to agreement on cryptocurrency market structure legislation before Thanksgiving, with approximately 90% of the framework already established.
• Remaining discussions primarily focus on decentralized finance (DeFi), with Armstrong emphasizing the need for regulation aimed at centralized intermediaries while protecting innovation in the DeFi space.

🌍 African Nations Accelerate Crypto Regulation Development

• The Bank of Ghana announced cryptocurrency regulations are expected by the end of 2025, joining nine other African nations that have established legal frameworks for digital assets.
• Countries including South Africa, Mauritius, Botswana, Nigeria, and Kenya have implemented various approaches to regulation, focusing on consumer protection, VASP licensing, and taxation frameworks.

⚖️ UK Tax Authority Intensifies Crypto Tax Compliance Efforts

• HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has more than doubled its issuance of warning letters to crypto investors in the 2024-25 tax year, alerting them to potential undeclared digital asset income.
• Experts warn that UK crypto investors may still have tax liabilities even without receiving HMRC letters, as the authority increasingly uses bank records, exchange data, and international information sharing to detect non-compliance.

Technical Analysis
Bitcoin - Bitcoin is within an approximate horizontal trend channel in the short term, which indicates further development in the same direction. The currency has support at points 109600 and resistance at points 115500. Negative volume balance indicates that volume is high on days with falling prices and low on days with rising prices, which weakens the currency. The currency is overall assessed as technically slightly negative for the short term.

Ethereum - Investors have accepted lower prices over time to get out of Ethereum and the currency is in a falling trend channel in the short term. This signals increasing pessimism among investors and indicates further decline for Ethereum. The currency is moving within a rectangle formation between support at 3813 and resistance at 4645. A decisive break through one of these levels indicates the new direction for the currency. The currency is testing resistance at points 3970. This could give a negative reaction, but an upward breakthrough of points 3970 means a positive signal. Volume tops and volume bottoms correspond badly with tops and bottoms in the price. Volume balance is also negative, which confirms the trend. The RSI curve shows a rising trend, which is an early signal of a possible trend reversal upwards for the price as well. The currency is overall assessed as technically negative for the short term.