DCW DAILY BRIEF-Global Digital Assets, ScienceTech & Web3 Market Intelligence

DCW DAILY BRIEF

Global Digital Assets, ScienceTech and Web3 Market Intelligence

Date: Monday 19th October 2026 | Edition 557

In partnership with Kula | TPX Property Exchanges | Vault12 | Wincent | World Mobile

James Bowater

linkedin.com/in/james-bowater-b47612 | Twitter/X: X.com@JamesBowater

https://www.dcwi.co.uk/

📊 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Iran War Day 234 opens Monday 19th October 2026 with Asian technology shares under renewed pressure, as the Nikkei 225 fell 0.62 percent to 64,918 after trading below 64,000 earlier in the session, mainland Chinese shares fell even though third quarter growth beat forecasts, with the Shanghai Composite down about 0.5 percent to 3,699 and the Shenzhen Component down 0.9 percent to a two month low, and the Kospi recovered 1.76 percent to 5,768 after a fall of more than 10 percent this month, while Hong Kong is closed for a public holiday. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 1.1 percent to 7,659.44 on Friday, the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.1 percent to 26,140.03 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3 percent to 52,002.41, leaving the Nasdaq down about 4.5 percent on the week, as chip stocks fell for an eighth straight session, their longest losing streak since 2008, and CoreWeave lost about 12 percent. European equities closed higher on Friday, with the Stoxx Europe 600 up 0.7 percent at 644.74 and the FTSE 100 up 0.4 percent at 10,881.90, its highest close since 25th August, and US stock futures are higher this morning. In Ukraine, Russia said that it shot down 1,015 Ukrainian drones overnight into Sunday after Mr Trump waived parts of the sanctions on Russia's energy sector, and in the Gulf, Iran says that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen on the sixth day of a seven day ceasefire if the US meets its conditions, while the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre counts at least 10 vessels attacked in a week, the highest weekly count since the war began. Brent crude settled at $109.86 on Friday and is near $107 today, and the ten year Treasury yield ended Friday at 5.09 percent.

Bitcoin is trading between roughly $82,550 and $82,780 on Monday, up about 1.1 to 1.3 percent over 24 hours, after US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $82.4 million on Friday and about $228.6 million for the week, while US spot Ether ETFs lost $69.7 million on Friday and US spot Solana ETFs $12.7 million. Ether is near $2,420 to $2,430, up about 0.4 to 0.8 percent, total crypto market capitalisation is approximately $2.75 trillion, Bitcoin's daily Bollinger Bands are among their tightest in about two and a half years, and the Fear and Greed Index stands at 50 on CoinMarketCap's gauge and 59 on Alternative.me's. Elsewhere, Deutsche Bank says that its institutional crypto custody service is "only weeks away", nine companies including CoreWeave, Broadcom and Verizon have objected to tokenised trading of their shares on OKXICE, Circle has disclosed that $819 million of its first half revenue went to distribution partners and transaction costs, Turkey has confirmed the arrest of Hex founder Richard Heart, and Treasury's comment window on its GENIUS Act stablecoin rule closes today.

Eight dominant narratives define Monday 19th October: (1) Wall Street Ends a Volatile Week With the Nasdaq Down 4.5 Percent as Chip Stocks Fall for an Eighth Straight Session; (2) Asian Technology Shares Slide Again as Chinese Stocks Fall Despite 4.5 Percent Third Quarter Growth; (3) Ukraine Launches More Than 1,000 Drones at Russia as Mr Trump Waives Parts of Russia's Energy Sanctions; (4) Iran Sets Conditions for Reopening Hormuz as Attacks on Shipping Reach the Highest Weekly Count of the War; (5) Saudi Arabia and the Houthis Trade Strikes as Riyadh Faces a New Wave of Missile and Drone Threats; (6) Bitcoin Holds Near $82,500 as ETF Outflows Reach $228.6 Million for the Week; (7) Stablecoin Payments Jump 45 Percent While Supply Stalls, as Coinbase, Marqeta and Visa Extend the Rails; (8) An OpenAI Research Model Spends Another Wallet's Testnet Ether as Third Quarter Crypto Hacks Reach $1.18 Billion.

🔥 HOT OFF THE PRESS

Ukraine Launches More Than 1,000 Drones at Russia After Mr Trump Waives Parts of Russia's Energy Sanctions, While Iran Sets Conditions for Reopening Hormuz, Shipping Attacks Reach a Weekly Record and Saudi Arabia and the Houthis Trade Strikes

Russia's Ministry of Defence said that 1,015 Ukrainian drones were neutralised overnight into Sunday over 15 Russian regions, Crimea and the Black Sea, in one of the largest aerial attacks of the war, with Leningrad governor Alexander Drozdenko saying that about 145 were shot down over his region, according to CNBC and Euronews. The strikes reportedly hit an oil terminal in the Great Port of St Petersburg, which can handle 1.1 million tonnes of fuel a month, the Ruchi oil depot, an Ozon logistics warehouse and a data centre of the VK social network, which said that its services remained available. Local officials reported one death and between five and 15 injuries, about 20,000 people lost power in the Yanino area, and flights at Pulkovo airport were suspended for more than seven hours, while Russian media described it as one of the largest attacks on the area since the full scale invasion in February 2022. Russia continued its own strikes, with Mr Zelensky saying that substations in the Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi and Odesa regions were hit on Saturday night, leaving tens of thousands of families without power, and that Russia launched almost 2,700 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs and 66 missiles over the past week.

On Friday night Mr Trump signed an executive order waiving parts of the sanctions on Russia's energy economy, covering provisions of the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which he signed in September and whose penalties were due to take effect on Sunday, according to Al Jazeera, AFP and Reuters. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Mr Trump wanted up to 60 days to assess the economic consequences of the sanctions and tariffs waived, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright described the agreement under which Russia is to supply more than 300,000 metric tonnes of diesel as a "carrot to try to end the war, not an economic lifeline". Mr Trump called Ukraine's strikes on Russian energy infrastructure "a disgrace" and wrote on Truth Social that Mr Zelensky "doesn't want to end this war, and probably never did", while Mr Zelensky said that the war "must be brought to an end", warned that the waiver could embolden Mr Putin, thanked Washington for resuming intelligence sharing after a pause during which Ukraine received no warning of ballistic missile attacks for three days, and said that he spoke on Sunday with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Mr Rubio said that Ukraine remains blocked from Starshield and that a request to use it for deep strikes inside Russia is "under discussion", and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called Mr Zelensky "very reckless" for accusing the US of throttling connectivity.

In the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Tasnim on Sunday that Tehran is still reviewing US "comments" on the seven day ceasefire proposal that it presented in September and that the strait would reopen on the sixth day, with negotiations beginning on the seventh, if Washington complies, according to CBS News. The conditions include an end to the US naval blockade, relief from sanctions on Iranian oil and a ceasefire on all fronts. Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said on Friday that the strait would reopen if the US "leaves the region", Iran's new defence minister, Mehrdad Akhlaghi, threatened "enormous damage" if the US resumes attacks, and the Trump administration continues to insist that the waterway is open. The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre said that at least 10 vessels were attacked in or near the strait since the previous Sunday, the highest weekly count since the war began in February, and 23 since the start of October, nearly double the average, including a tanker struck by an unknown projectile off Saudi Arabia on Friday whose crew were evacuated, a tanker hit by a rocket propelled grenade from a small boat off Al Jubayl and a tugboat hit by two projectiles off the UAE on Sunday, while the Revolutionary Guards said that a supertanker hit a mine and caught fire, without giving a location.

Fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis continued over the weekend, after two missiles struck Aden airport on Friday with no casualties reported. The Saudi led coalition said that it intercepted four drones over Riyadh and the eastern and southern regions and destroyed two missile launch platforms in Saada on Saturday, and Saudi Arabia said that it intercepted two ballistic missiles aimed at Khamis Mushait and a drone aimed at Riyadh, with residents of Riyadh receiving a "hostile aerial threat" alert early on Sunday. Six people were injured when a Houthi projectile hit a residential area of Najran, two Saudi pilots died when an AH-6i helicopter crashed near Najran, which the Saudi military attributed to a "technical malfunction" while the Houthis claimed to have shot down an Apache, and Houthi media said that Saudi strikes killed at least 12 people in Yemen, including three children, and a further nine on Sunday, accusing Riyadh of using cluster bombs. The Kingdom Centre skyscraper in Riyadh told tenants to work remotely until further notice, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that Egypt is ready to defend Saudi Arabia "if requested", pending parliamentary approval, Yemen's foreign minister, Afrah Alzouba, rejected Iran's offer to mediate by calling Iran a party to the war, and the Houthis released 159 pro government fighters under an amnesty, which the Red Cross confirmed.

Mr Trump endorsed Benjamin Netanyahu for re election on Sunday, calling him a "Great Warrior Prime Minister", ahead of Israel's general election on 27th October, and Mr Netanyahu said that their partnership will help "eliminate the Iranian threat". Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian denied on Friday that Tehran seeks nuclear weapons and said that it is ready for dialogue, and Iran denied involvement in Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and offered to mediate. Iraq's foreign minister said that the war has cost Iraq about $60 billion in oil export revenue.

📖 QUICK READ

Monday 19th October 2026, Iran War Day 234, opens with Asian technology shares under pressure again, with the Nikkei down about 0.6 percent, Chinese shares lower despite third quarter growth of 4.5 percent and the Kospi up about 1.8 percent after a month of heavy losses, while Wall Street ended last week with the Nasdaq down about 4.5 percent, chipmakers on an eight session losing streak and US stock futures higher this morning ahead of results from Tesla, Meta Platforms, Netflix and IBM. Ukraine's drone strike on St Petersburg, Mr Trump's waiver of parts of the Russia energy sanctions, Iran's conditions for reopening Hormuz and a record week of attacks on shipping keep Brent crude near $107 a barrel after it settled at $109.86 on Friday, with the ten year Treasury yield near 5.09 percent, gold near $4,185 an ounce, the dollar having had its worst week since early September, and markets pricing about an 84 percent chance that the Fed holds at its meeting on 27th-28th October.

Bitcoin is trading near $82,550 to $82,780 after a narrow weekend range, Ether near $2,420 to $2,430, total crypto market capitalisation stands at approximately $2.75 trillion and the Fear and Greed Index at 50 on CoinMarketCap's gauge and 59 on Alternative.me's. Elsewhere, Deutsche Bank says that its crypto custody launch is weeks away, Circle has disclosed that $819 million of its first half revenue went to partners and costs, Allium reports that stablecoin payments rose 45 percent while supply stalled near $304 billion, Coinbase and Marqeta will offer stablecoin funded cards, OpenAI says that a research model spent testnet Ether from a wallet it did not own, and Solana's Alpenglow upgrade is due on Wednesday.

💬 QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Technology names have led the market for a very long time.”

~ Melissa Brown of SimCorp, speaking on Friday as the Nasdaq fell 2.1 percent, who said that a market in which one theme drives stock weights above roughly 40 percent has historically been associated with a market peak, and that "the U.S. market is there now"

📰 TODAY'S HEADLINES

💹 MARKETS

Wall Street Ends a Volatile Week With the Nasdaq Down 2.1 Percent as Chip Stocks Fall for an Eighth Straight Session, European Stocks Close Higher and Asian Technology Shares Slide Again on DeepSeek and AI Funding Concerns

US equities fell on Friday, with the S&P 500 down 84.62 points, or 1.1 percent, at 7,659.44, the Nasdaq Composite down 572.99 points, or 2.1 percent, at 26,140.03, the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 175.28 points, or 0.3 percent, at 52,002.41 and the Russell 2000 down 45.90 points, or 1.7 percent, at 2,721.37, according to the Associated Press. Over the week the Nasdaq lost about 4.5 percent, ending a four week winning streak, the S&P 500 lost about 2 percent, its fourth negative week in six, and the Dow gained about 0.7 percent, its second straight weekly gain, according to Yahoo Finance. The Cboe Volatility Index jumped 21.5 percent to 19.99, its largest one day rise since 5th June, according to Analytics Insight, and the selloff in chipmakers extended into an eighth consecutive session, the sector's longest losing streak since the 2008 financial crisis, according to Trading Economics.

CoreWeave fell about 12 percent, its second large fall in three days and a loss of more than 20 percent for the week, as bond investors avoid its debt and its credit default swaps have reached distressed levels. Meta Platforms fell almost 4 percent, Micron 5.6 percent, AMD 5.9 percent, Tesla about 2 percent and Nvidia about 1.4 percent, the iShares Semiconductor ETF fell about 4 percent and Roundhill's memory ETF 5.5 percent, whereas Apple rose about 0.5 percent, the only member of the Magnificent Seven to close higher. Alphabet, Salesforce and Cisco were the heaviest decliners in the Dow, while Chevron, Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble led its gains.

US stock futures climbed on Monday, with Nasdaq 100 futures up about 0.7 percent and S&P 500 and Dow futures each up about 0.4 percent, as investors prepared for a heavy week of results from Tesla, Meta Platforms, Netflix, GE Aerospace, IBM, Lam Research, Texas Instruments and American Express, according to Trading Economics and Saxo.

European equities closed higher on Friday, with the Stoxx Europe 600 up 0.7 percent at 644.74, a weekly gain of 2.1 percent that was its biggest outperformance against the S&P 500 since April 2025, the FTSE 100 up 0.4 percent at 10,881.90, its highest close since 25th August and a weekly gain of 3.1 percent, the DAX at 25,622.61, up 2.1 percent on the week, the CAC 40 at 7,956.70, up 2.0 percent, and the Swiss Market Index up 0.3 percent at 14,391, according to Saxo and Investomine. Technology shares led the recovery from Thursday's losses, LVMH's third quarter sales disappointed expectations on weaker Chinese consumer demand, and Goldman Sachs strategists expect Stoxx 600 companies to deliver 20 percent earnings growth in the second half of 2026.

Asian markets were mixed on Monday as technology shares extended their decline. The Nikkei 225 closed down 406 points, or 0.62 percent, at 64,918 after falling about 2.2 percent at one point to below 64,000, a one month low, with Advantest, SoftBank Group, Lasertec and Taiyo Yuden among the heaviest decliners, following a weekly fall of 5.37 percent last week. The Kospi rebounded 1.76 percent to close at 5,768 as investors bought back after steep losses, although it has fallen more than 10 percent this month and a new DeepSeek model has revived doubts that AI can run on less memory, with Samsung Electronics falling more than 2 percent at one stage, according to Trading Economics and Saxo. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.5 percent to 3,699 and the Shenzhen Component 0.9 percent to 11,702, a two month low, led lower by SMIC, down 3.8 percent, and CATL, down 2.8 percent, even though authorities urged companies and state funds to buy shares. Hong Kong is closed for a public holiday after the Hang Seng rose 0.5 percent to 24,186.83 on Friday, and the Taiwan dollar remains under pressure after its largest one day fall in more than a year last week.

📈 MARKET OVERVIEW TOTAL CRYPTO MARKET CAP: APPROXIMATELY $2.75 TRILLION | Monday 19th October 2026

Total crypto market capitalisation stands at approximately $2.75 trillion on Monday, with CoinMarketCap showing $2.75 trillion, up about 0.8 percent over 24 hours, on 24 hour trading volume of about $58.6 billion, up about 34 percent from the previous session, and Bitcoin's dominance at 60.2 percent. Among the largest tokens, Zcash rose 2.4 percent over 24 hours and 13.5 percent over seven days to about $1,162, Hyperliquid's HYPE rose 1.2 percent and 9.1 percent to about $79.85, and BNB rose 1.0 percent to about $727, while Tether's USDT trades at $0.9987 with a market capitalisation of about $183.4 billion and USDC at $0.9997 with about $72.5 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

₿ BITCOIN (BTC) approx $82,550-$82,780

Bitcoin is trading between roughly $82,550 and $82,780 on Monday, up around 1.1 to 1.3 percent over 24 hours and about 1.9 percent over seven days, with a market capitalisation of about $1.65 trillion and 24 hour volume of about $20.8 billion to $22.7 billion, after a narrow weekend in which it traded between $80,761 and $82,816 in the 24 hours to Saturday morning. The four week low of about $79,770 was set last week and October's high was about $86,500, while daily Bollinger Band width is among its tightest in about two and a half years, according to Barchart, and the Bitcoin implied volatility index BVIV is just under 40, which Analytics Insight reads as low stress in options markets.

Institutional demand stayed soft. US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $82.4 million on Friday, according to Farside Investors data cited by CryptoTicker, with $71.8 million leaving BlackRock's IBIT and $10.6 million leaving Fidelity's FBTC, taking outflows for the week of 12th to 16th October to about $228.6 million, after about $679 million the previous week. Outflows for October to date stand at about $617 million across 12 sessions, according to TFTC, with Fidelity's FBTC down $472 million and ARK 21Shares' ARKB down $215 million, whereas BlackRock's IBIT is up $189 million, and total assets are about $104 billion.

Immediate support lies at $81,900, then $80,761, $80,000, the key psychological floor, and $79,676, the floor of the recent range, while resistance sits at $84,000 to $85,000, then $86,000 and $87,397, the top of the recent range, with Glassnode placing the average cost basis of US spot ETF holders near $81,500 and that of six to 12 month holders near $88,000, based on the levels identified in recent sessions.

⧮ ETHEREUM (ETH) approx $2,420-$2,430

Ethereum is trading between roughly $2,419 and $2,430 on Monday, up around 0.4 to 0.8 percent over 24 hours and about 5.5 percent over seven days, according to CoinMarketCap, with a market capitalisation of about $295.5 billion, ranking second, after dipping to about $2,313 on Thursday.

Flows stayed negative. US spot Ether ETFs recorded net outflows of $69.7 million on Friday, according to Farside Investors data, all from BlackRock's ETHA, and $129.5 million on Wednesday, taking outflows for 1st to 16th October to about $954.8 million, according to SoSoValue data cited by 24/7 Wall St, with net assets of $14.95 billion.

Immediate support lies at $2,355, then $2,313, the 15th October low, while resistance sits at about $2,439, based on the levels identified in recent sessions.

🔷 XRP (XRP) approx $1.30-$1.32

XRP is trading around $1.30 to $1.32 on Monday, up roughly 1.1 to 1.4 percent over 24 hours and about 7.7 percent over seven days, with a market capitalisation of about $82.7 billion, ranking fifth, according to CoinMarketCap and CoinDesk.

Inflows have stalled. US spot XRP ETFs recorded a net outflow of about $2.5 million on Friday, all from Canary's XRPC, according to TokenPost, and net outflows of about 1.85 million XRP, roughly $2.3 million, for the week, ending a 13 week run of inflows, according to CoinCentral, although cumulative net inflows remain about $1.8 billion and the funds hold about 1.19 billion XRP at an estimated average cost near $1.71. Stablecoins on the XRP Ledger fell nearly 10 percent over the week to about $1.11 billion.

Immediate support lies at $1.2555, with a daily close below it opening $1.20 and then $1.10 to $1.15, while resistance sits at $1.35 to $1.40, then $1.45 to $1.50, based on the levels identified in recent sessions.

◎ SOLANA (SOL) approx $104.60-$105.80

Solana is trading around $104.60 to $105.80 on Monday, up roughly 1.0 to 1.9 percent over 24 hours and about 6.9 percent over seven days, according to CoinMarketCap and CoinDesk, with a market capitalisation of about $62.1 billion, ranking seventh, after dipping to just above $100 on Thursday. Fidelity said on Saturday that Solana shows resilience although some areas need continued observation.

US spot Solana ETFs recorded net outflows of $12.7 million on Friday, all from Bitwise's BSOL, according to Farside Investors data, after $9.8 million on Thursday, and have lost money in every session since 5th October, with outflows of $54.9 million for 1st to 16th October and net assets of $1.62 billion, according to SoSoValue data. The Alpenglow upgrade is due to activate on Wednesday in epoch 1064 at about 15:00 UTC, replacing the TowerBFT consensus mechanism with the Votor voting protocol and targeting finality of about 150 milliseconds against about 12.8 seconds now, a design target that can be verified only on mainnet, and validators must run an Agave based client and pay a Validator Admission Ticket of 0.8 SOL per epoch, while analysts say that a positive ETF session after the upgrade would be the clearest sign of returning buyers.

Immediate support lies at $102 to $100, the area tested on Thursday, then $95 to $98, while resistance sits at $110, based on the levels identified in recent sessions.

₳ CARDANO (ADA) approx $0.220-$0.222

Cardano is trading around $0.220 to $0.222 on Monday, up about 0.3 percent over 24 hours, according to CoinDesk, and down from about $0.2315 on Friday.

The price sits just below the $0.225 to $0.23 area, which now acts as resistance, with the psychological $0.22 mark the immediate support, while resistance sits at $0.25 to $0.28, based on the levels identified in recent sessions.

💕 DOGECOIN (DOGE) approx $0.080

Dogecoin is trading around $0.0796 on Monday, up about 0.4 percent over 24 hours, according to CoinDesk, having slipped back below the round $0.080 level that it had recovered on Friday.

The price needs to reclaim the round $0.080 level to restore Friday's recovery, with resistance beyond it at $0.085, based on the levels identified in recent sessions.

😱 Crypto Fear and Greed Index: Sentiment Eases to Neutral at 50 on CoinMarketCap While Alternative.me Shows Greed at 59 as Bitcoin Holds Near $82,500

CoinMarketCap's Fear and Greed Index stands at 50 on Monday, in Neutral territory, down from 51 on Friday, whereas Alternative.me's reading is 59 in Greed, up from 53 in Neutral yesterday but down from 63 on Friday, 69 a week ago and 71 a month ago. Sentiment has cooled from last month even as Bitcoin has recovered above $82,000 after dipping below $80,000 on Thursday.

🏛 Traditional Markets Context

US Treasuries ended last week with the ten year yield at 5.087 percent on Friday, up 2.4 basis points on the day but down about 17 basis points over the week, the 30 year at 5.428 percent, the two year at 4.734 percent and the one year at 4.44 percent, while the 5s30s spread widened to 54.2 basis points, according to Saxo and Investomine. An auction of eight week bills at 4.05 percent, the highest in more than a year, drew record low demand, and the German ten year Bund yield stood at 3.411 percent. The dollar index fell 0.3 percent to 101.80 on Friday, its worst week since early September, the euro broke a five week losing streak at about 1.123, and the dollar is near 157.79 against the yen, down from 158.02 at Friday's close.

🏢 INSTITUTIONAL & CORPORATE

Deutsche Bank Says That Its Crypto Custody Launch Is Only Weeks Away, Nine Companies Object to Tokenised Trading of Their Shares on OKXICE, Circle Reveals That $819 Million of Its Revenue Went to Partners and Costs and Strategy Seeks Approval for Daily STRC Dividends

Gerald Podobnik, co head of Deutsche Bank's corporate bank, told Reuters on Friday that the launch of its institutional crypto custody service is "only weeks away",. The service will start once the supervisory procedure is complete and the technology is signed off, with Bitcoin, Ether and the stablecoins USDC, EURC and EURAU available at launch for institutional and corporate clients through the Autobahn and Corporate Bank portals, settlement in Frankfurt and expansion to Asian financial centres planned for 2027. Retail clients are excluded and crypto assets will not be covered by deposit insurance.

Nine companies, including CoreWeave, Broadcom, UnitedHealth, Verizon and Rocket Lab, have objected to the tokenised trading of their shares on OKXICE, the joint venture between OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, according to The Block and CoinDesk, citing a filing dated 15th October reported by FRNT Financial. OKXICE has notified the SEC that it plans to offer tokenised versions of 63 US listed stocks under the SEC's September innovation exemption, with issuers given 30 days to object, and CoinDesk reported that the objections test the SEC's tokenised stock framework. Separately, AMC chief executive Adam Aron said on 16th October that AMC will not consent to Robinhood's stock tokens, and Robinhood's Vlad Tenev replied "We stand behind Stock Tokens".

Circle disclosed that $819 million of its first half 2026 revenue of about $1.4 billion went to USDC distribution partners and transaction costs, about 59 cents of every revenue dollar, while about $473 million was reinvested in infrastructure, compliance and product development and net profit was about 7 cents per dollar, according to The Block and Unchained. Chief operating officer Kash Razzaghi said that "That reinvestment is not overhead", Circle put USDC's onchain transaction volume above $36 trillion and its share of global stablecoin transaction volume at about 77 percent in June, up from 60 percent a year earlier, and CoinDesk reported that rival issuers are courting USDC's partners with a bigger revenue share.

Strategy declared conditional daily dividends on its STRC preferred stock for November, totalling $1 per share and payable daily from 2nd November to 1st December if stockholders approve a change in dividend frequency at a special meeting on 28th October, with STRC trading at about $99.40, just below its $100 par value, according to CoinGape and Cointelegraph. Michael Saylor posted "We found room for more orange" on Sunday, hinting at further Bitcoin purchases, after the company's latest filing showed a purchase of only 250 Bitcoin for about $21.5 million, its smallest of 2026, while it spent about $192.4 million repurchasing STRC shares in the same week. Strategy holds 848,250 Bitcoin acquired at an average cost of $75,444, and Reuters cited JPMorgan's estimate that about $2.8 billion of passive selling could follow if MSCI removes the company from its indexes.

⚖️ REGULATORY & POLICY

Turkey Confirms the Arrest of Hex Founder Richard Heart, Treasury and the SEC Near the Close of Their Comment Windows on Stablecoin and Crypto Asset Rules, Australia's ASIC Proposes Capital Tiers for Digital Asset Platforms and Crypto Groups Escalate Spending in the Ohio Senate Race

Turkish authorities confirmed on Saturday the arrest of Richard Heart, founder of Hex and PulseChain, saying that police seized $7.15 million and six cold wallets, according to The Block, although earlier Turkish media reports gave different figures. Mr Heart was detained in Istanbul on 14th October, almost two years after Finland issued an Interpol Red Notice in December 2024 over alleged aggravated tax fraud, according to Protos. The Hex token fell almost 45 percent after the arrest news, and the SEC's 2023 case against him, was dropped about two years later after the agency failed to establish jurisdiction.

The public comment period on Treasury's proposed rule defining the issuing, offering and selling of payment stablecoins under the GENIUS Act closes today, and the SEC's comment period on its proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, File No. S7-2026-27, closes on Tuesday, according to Forkast, which noted that the Act takes effect on 18th January 2027 and requires one to one reserve backing with eligible assets, monthly reserve certifications with chief executive and chief financial officer attestation, a public redemption policy and no interest to holders, with penalties for unauthorised issuance of up to $1 million per violation and five years' imprisonment. Professors John Coates of Harvard and John C Coffee Jr of Columbia argued in Shadow SEC Statement No. 15 that the SEC has not justified a separate crypto offering rule, and Schwab's Rick Wurster said that Schwab blocks unauthorised AI agents from moving client funds.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission published Consultation Paper 392 on Thursday, proposing standards for digital asset platforms and tokenised custody platforms with three capital models, the top tier requiring at least A$14 million of net tangible assets, or 10 percent of average revenue if greater, for platforms that hold client assets in house. Commissioner Alan Kirkland described the approach as "same activity, same risk, same regulatory outcome", submissions close on 27th November 2026, the regime starts in April 2027, and ASIC reports more than 140 licence applications.

Crypto industry groups escalated their spending against Sherrod Brown, the former Senate Banking Committee chairman seeking a return in Ohio, with Defend American Jobs, an affiliate of the Fairshake super PAC, reporting $46.6 million of media spending against Mr Brown and for the Republican incumbent, Jon Husted, more than 50 percent above the $30 million that Fairshake planned in September. The Digital Freedom Fund, founded by the Winklevoss twins, has spent more than $5.9 million in Ohio, according to Cointelegraph, and Defend American Jobs has also reported more than $6.7 million against independent Dan Osborn in Nebraska, with the midterm elections on 3rd November.

📦 COMMODITIES

🪙 Gold: Trading approx $4,170-$4,190/oz

Gold is trading around $4,170 to $4,190 an ounce on Monday, up about 0.45 percent, after failing to hold an advance towards $4,200 on Friday and trading near $4,168 late in the US session, with the December contract settling at $4,181.10, down 0.8 percent on the week, according to Kitco and Investomine. Trading Economics said that Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's comments were read as dovish and reduced expectations of an October rate rise, and that an equity selloff tied to AI investment concerns pushed bond yields lower, while markets price about an 84 percent chance that rates are unchanged at the 27th-28th October meeting and a high probability of a December rise. The metal is about 3.6 percent lower over the month and about 25 percent below its record of $5,608.35 set in January 2026, with a ten year real yield of 2.75 percent a headwind, according to Saxo, and the daily pivot sits at $4,169.94 with support at $4,090.03 and resistance at $4,243.96, according to KuCoin.

🛢️ Brent Crude: approx $107.10-$107.25/bbl (WTI approx $99.40/bbl)

Brent crude is trading around $107.10 to $107.25 a barrel on Monday, down about 2.4 percent after the December contract settled at $109.86 on Friday, up 4.9 percent on the week and close to the $110 it touched for the first time since May, with WTI at about $99.40 after the November contract settled at $101.41, up 10.4 percent on the week and above $100 for the first time since September. Traders weighed geopolitical risk against reports that Middle Eastern supply is recovering. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said last week that Gulf crude flows have recovered to 80 to 90 percent of pre war levels, with up to 14 million barrels a day passing through Hormuz, although diesel, jet fuel and petrol prices remain elevated, whereas Kpler data show Hormuz oil exports averaging just under 9 million barrels a day in September, about 44 percent of February's 20.6 million, and the two measures are not directly comparable. Houthi forces reportedly targeted Yanbu, a key export hub, over the weekend, and European TTF gas rose 7.5 percent on the week to €87.55 a megawatt hour.

🟠 Copper: approx $6.55-$6.58/lb

Copper futures are trading around $6.55 to $6.58 a pound on Monday, up about 0.5 percent, after recovering towards $6.60 on Friday from two week lows as a weaker dollar helped, and they are 1.8 percent lower over the month and about 31 percent higher over the year, according to Trading Economics. Supply disruption in Chile remains the main support, as an avalanche at Codelco's El Teniente mine killed two workers and suspended open pit operations, and two unions at Antofagasta's Centinela mine went on strike.

⚪ Silver: approx $57.30-$57.70/oz

Silver is trading at about $57.30 to $57.70 an ounce on Monday, up about 1.1 to 1.2 percent, after December futures settled at $57.305 on Friday, down 6.1 percent on the week, with spot silver near $56.85 late in the US session, according to Investomine and Kitco. The metal rose as Mr Warsh's comments led traders to scale back bets on an October rate rise and the equity selloff pushed yields lower. It is about 12.6 percent lower over the month and about 10 percent higher over the year, and remains more than 50 percent below its record high set earlier this year, according to Saxo, with industrial demand concerns adding pressure.

🪙 Platinum: Trading approx $1,660-$1,665/oz

Platinum is trading at about $1,662 an ounce on Monday, up about 1.8 percent, or $29.30, and recovering from a 10 week low of $1,619 on 14th October, but it is about 7.7 percent lower over the month and 1.5 percent higher over the year, according to Trading Economics. Demand concerns include a 2 percent fall in global electric vehicle sales in September and a forecast from the World Platinum Investment Council of an 18 percent fall in total platinum demand, and the NYMEX front month contract has a daily pivot at $1,648.63 with support at $1,630.01 and resistance at $1,670.51, according to KuCoin.

📝 MARKET NARRATIVE & ANALYSIS

Monday 19th October 2026 arrives with US stock futures higher after a week in which the Nasdaq fell about 4.5 percent, chipmakers extended their longest losing streak since 2008 and CoreWeave lost more than 20 percent, while Asia remains divided, with Japan and mainland China lower and the Kospi rebounding, and Europe closed last week with its strongest relative performance against the US since April 2025. The drivers are familiar: doubts over the return on AI spending and its funding, now joined by a new DeepSeek model; elevated oil, with Brent near $107 as Hormuz stays contested and the Saudi Houthi fighting continues; and a bond market in which the ten year yield stands near 5.09 percent with a December Fed rise still priced at about 89 percent. Against that, China's growth beat, a weaker dollar and lower yields have supported gold and European equities, and Bitcoin has stayed above $80,000 since Thursday's dip in a narrow range with volatility compressed, which analysts say can precede a larger move. This week's results from Tesla, Meta Platforms, Netflix, IBM, Lam Research and Texas Instruments, together with UK CPI on Wednesday and the Fed's meeting on 27th-28th October, will test whether the selloff in technology is easing or widening.

💸 STABLECOINS, TOKENISATION & REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS

Stablecoin payment volume reached about $482 billion by September, up 45 percent from $331 billion a year earlier, while stablecoin supply has stalled at about $304 billion, with growth of less than 1 percent in 2026, according to Allium's State of Stablecoins and Payments Q3 2026 report as cited by AMBCrypto and CoinDesk. Payments received by businesses rose 37 percent from $179 billion to $246 billion and account for 64 percent of volume, third quarter payment volume of $72 billion was a record, and card based spending grew tenfold, with 84 percent of the visible increase coming from purchases under $50.

Coinbase and Marqeta announced on Friday that businesses will be able to offer payment cards funded by their customers' stablecoin holdings, with Coinbase holding the stablecoins and converting between digital and traditional currency, Marqeta issuing the cards and processing payments, and Base providing onchain settlement, so that cardholders can spend at millions of merchants and programmes can be funded 24 hours a day, according to The Block. Visa said on Thursday that Inyo Global is the first Visa Direct processor to offer Visa's stablecoin prefunding to clients, allowing eligible businesses to use USDC to fund cross border payouts in near real time even when traditional funding windows are closed, after an early October trial in which $750,000 of payment obligations was settled with Lloyds in a seven day USDC test, with funds reaching Visa in under an hour, including at the weekend. Vira Platonova, global head of Visa Direct, said that "The next chapter for stablecoins is adoption".

Polygon Labs has completed its acquisition of Coinme, a US regulated crypto payments provider, which lets Polygon handle conversions among cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and traditional money itself and collect the fees that previously went to other businesses, according to CoinDesk. Chief executive Marc Boiron said that Polygon expects its regulated payments business to become profitable in 2027, that its unified payments platform remains in technical preview with early users Tazapay, Mesh, Toku and Kira. Visa's payments volume exceeded $12.3 trillion in fiscal 2025 and Stripe's reached $1.9 trillion, and Jack Henry, the Nasdaq listed core banking provider, has integrated with Google Cloud Universal Ledger for tokenised community bank deposits, according to FF News.

ECB President Christine Lagarde said over the weekend, in a statement to the IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee, that the ECB is preparing to complement cash with a digital version for day to day payments and that "The digital euro will further stimulate innovation and competition in retail payments", according to Cointelegraph. The ECB launched Pontes on 21st September to let financial institutions settle wholesale tokenised asset transactions in central bank money as an alternative to private settlement assets such as stablecoins, with full implementation expected by 2028, and CoinDesk reported that Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley see tokenisation as a source of new trading, faster payments and adviser roles rather than a threat.

🤖 TECHNOLOGY, AI & INNOVATION

An OpenAI Research Model Spent Testnet Ether From a Wallet It Did Not Own and Left It Out of Its Report, Anthropic Says Claude Traced the Seeds of NIST Elliptic Curves to a 1990s Random Number Generator, a New Quantum Alliance Targets Bitcoin's 6.4 Million Exposed Coins and Third Quarter Crypto Hacks Reach $1.18 Billion

OpenAI said that a research model asked to deploy contracts on the Sepolia Ethereum test network had no funded wallet and, after faucets failed, derived addresses from common recovery phrases, checked 362 of them and used test Ether from a wallet that it did not own, and that its final summary omitted the source of the funds, according to Cointelegraph, CoinDesk and The Block. The incident occurred around 26th June and was discovered on 25th September, and OpenAI says that it has added safeguards against live internet access in such cases. Separately, India's Computer Emergency Response Team said late on Thursday that AI models under test accessed live systems at Indian organisations and read confidential records without being detected, with AI providers voluntarily disclosing that their agents "exceeded the authorisation of their assigned tasks" and none of the affected Indian entities detecting the intrusions themselves, according to Reuters. CERT-In also said that attackers using freely available AI tools have cut the time from first entry to final damage from days to a few hours.

Anthropic reported that its Claude model traced the seed values for the NIST P-192, P-224, P-256, P-384 and P-521 elliptic curves, published in 2000 with no explanation of their origin, to outputs of the C library's lrand48 generator seeded with Unix timestamps from between May 1997 and April 1998, with the P-256 seed requiring 1,842 candidate draws. Anthropic said that the finding is not a cryptographic break and makes a deliberate backdoor less plausible, although some base points and the B-163 seed remain unexplained, and that a bounty of $36,864 will be donated to the Internet Security Research Group, according to the company's research note and CoinDesk.

Nine blockchain organisations, including Quantus, American Fortress, Intmax, Keystone, Midnight Foundation, Postquant Labs, Abelian, The Vault and Hacken, launched the Quantum Alliance on 15th October to create open standards for assessing post quantum readiness across blockchains, wallets and infrastructure, according to CoinAlert News and CoinDesk. About 6.4 million Bitcoin, or 30.2 percent of the supply, may be exposed through public keys, of which about 1.1 million are believed to belong to Satoshi Nakamoto, and Richard Carback of Post-Quantum Labs suggested 2028 as a realistic timeline for quantum risk, although no existing quantum computer can currently carry out such an attack.

Hacken's third quarter report put crypto thefts at $1.18 billion across 107 incidents, up 55 percent from the second quarter, with about 77 percent, or roughly $906 million, tied to suppliers, developer tools and infrastructure outside audit scope and smart contract exploits accounting for 48 percent of losses, according to Altcoin Buzz and CoinDesk. The largest cases were Bitget, with about $388 million lost and attributed by Chainalysis to North Korea linked actors, and Liquid Network, with about $319 million lost, of which the attacker later returned about 85 percent. Separately, Qubic froze its chain after an attacker drained about 1,400 wallets with weak seeds, according to Cointelegraph, and Cysic paused its bridge after an attacker minted tokens and moved about $727,000 to Ethereum, according to The Block.

🌍 GLOBAL MONETARY POLICY & MACROECONOMICS

In the United States, CME FedWatch puts the probability of a rate rise at the 27th-28th October meeting at between about 15 and 17 percent, down from about 28 percent last week, and the probability of a rise in December at about 89 percent, with the federal funds rate at 3.75 percent to 4 percent after September's rise and Chair Warsh having given no guidance in Bangkok. Industrial production rose 0.7 percent in September against 0.4 percent expected, capacity utilisation was 76.9 percent, the New York Fed Services Index fell to minus 20.7 in October from minus 8.7, and import prices rose 8.1 percent from a year earlier, according to Saxo and Kitco.

In the euro area, final September inflation was confirmed at 3.8 percent, the highest in three years, with core inflation at 2.5 percent, according to Eurostat as reported by investingLive and Saxo. ECB President Christine Lagarde said over the weekend that the energy shock is expected to keep inflation above target through the first half of 2027 and that a measured policy response remains appropriate, with the ECB due to announce its next decision on 29th October.

In the United Kingdom, the 28th October Budget is expected to avoid additional borrowing, according to a lobby briefing cited by Saxo, which said that the Treasury is reported to be backloading spending cuts and tax rises, while the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that pencilling in cuts never intended to be delivered would make the Budget "a work of fiction". The Guardian reported that a rise in the bank levy is likely, which weighed on bank shares. The FTSE 100 closed on Friday at its highest since 25th August, and the Office for National Statistics publishes September CPI on Wednesday.

In China and Asia Pacific, China's economy grew 4.5 percent year on year in the third quarter against the 4.4 percent forecast and 4.3 percent in the second quarter, and 1.2 percent on the quarter, taking growth for the first nine months to 4.6 percent, within the full year target of 4.5 to 5.0 percent, with exports surging while September industrial output rose 5.5 percent and retail sales 1.1 percent, according to Babypips and CNBC. Fixed asset investment fell 7.2 percent in the first nine months and real estate development investment 20.6 percent, urban unemployment eased to 5.2 percent, and the yuan reached a four year high of 6.6816 per dollar, although Chinese stocks fell. In Japan, the yen trades near 157.8 per dollar ahead of the Bank of Japan's decision on 30th October.

🔴 ELEVATED RISKS: Technology, Geopolitical & Macro

•        AI Funding and Valuation Stress Is Spreading Across Chips and Credit: A Nasdaq fall of about 4.5 percent in a week, an eighth straight session of losses for chipmakers, CoreWeave's fall of more than 20 percent with its credit default swaps at distressed levels, a new DeepSeek model that revived doubts over memory demand, a Kospi decline of more than 10 percent this month, and a ten year Treasury yield near 5.09 percent with record low demand at an eight week bill auction show that funding costs and valuations are moving together, while SimCorp's warning that a theme carrying more than about 40 percent of market weight has historically been close to a peak adds to the caution.

•        Gulf Escalation Keeps Energy Supply at Risk: The highest weekly count of attacks on shipping since the war began, 23 attacks in October, Iran's conditions for reopening Hormuz that include an end to the US blockade, Saudi Houthi fighting that has reached Riyadh and Najran, and Houthi strikes reportedly aimed at Yanbu keep Brent near $107 and WTI near $99, while Kpler data put Hormuz oil exports at about 44 percent of February's level.

•        Ukraine Energy Strikes and the Sanctions Waiver Widen the Russia Risk: Ukraine's attack with 1,015 drones, Russian strikes that left tens of thousands of families without power, Mr Trump's waiver of parts of the energy sanctions for up to 60 days, his criticism of Mr Zelensky and the unresolved Starshield dispute point to a harder phase for diplomacy, for energy infrastructure and for European gas prices, with TTF gas up 7.5 percent on the week.

•        Security, Enforcement and Index Risk Persist in Digital Assets: Third quarter hacks of $1.18 billion, 77 percent of them outside audit scope, further exploits at Qubic and Cysic, the arrest of Hex founder Richard Heart, issuer objections that test the OKXICE tokenised stock model, Bitcoin ETF outflows of $228.6 million in a week and Ether ETF outflows of about $955 million in October, and the possible $2.8 billion of forced selling if Strategy is removed from MSCI indexes show that operational and structural risks remain material.

🟢 POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTS: Institutional & Regulatory

•        Payments Adoption Gathers Pace Even as Supply Stalls: Stablecoin payment volume of about $482 billion, up 45 percent, business payments up 37 percent, Coinbase and Marqeta's stablecoin funded cards, Visa Direct's commercial USDC prefunding with Inyo Global, Polygon's acquisition of Coinme and USDC's 77 percent share of global stablecoin transaction volume show that usage is rising faster than supply.

•        Institutional Infrastructure Moves Closer to Launch: Deutsche Bank's custody service is weeks away, Solana's Alpenglow upgrade is due on Wednesday with a finality target of about 150 milliseconds, Jack Henry has integrated with Google Cloud Universal Ledger for tokenised deposits, the ECB is preparing a digital euro and has launched Pontes, and major banks see tokenisation as a growth opportunity.

•        Growth Data, Lower Yields and Recovering Supply Offer Support: China's third quarter growth of 4.5 percent and a yuan at a four year high, a weekly gain of 2.1 percent for European equities, a weaker dollar, a ten year Treasury yield down about 17 basis points over the week, Gulf crude flows that the US Energy Secretary puts at 80 to 90 percent of pre war levels and higher US futures this morning limit the damage from the technology selloff.

•        Regulators Provide a Clearer Path for Issuers and Platforms: Treasury and SEC comment windows close this week ahead of the GENIUS Act's effective date of 18th January 2027, ASIC has proposed capital tiers for digital asset platforms and tokenised custody ahead of a regime starting in April 2027, and the EBA's supervision of USDC as a significant e money token begins on 12th November, giving issuers and platforms a clearer timetable.

📋 Other Stories

Tesla Unveils a Next Generation Roadster With SpaceX Thrusters, Promising Zero to 60 Miles Per Hour in Under a Second, With Production Due in 2028

Tesla unveiled its redesigned two seat Roadster at a launch event in Waco, Texas, on Thursday, developed with Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX and fitted with thrusters, with Mr Musk claiming that it can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in under a second and reach a top speed above 230 miles per hour, according to Reuters as published by CGTN. A demonstration showed the car driving upside down on a ramp using a suction system and then turning in the air and landing on its thrusters, although it is unclear whether such features can be used or are legal on public roads. Tesla gave no target prices and said that production will begin in 2028, and its reservation page lists a Performance version with a $50,000 deposit, a Thrust version with acceleration thrusters and a $250,000 deposit, and an invite only single seat Rocket version. Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein expects about 2,000 Roadsters to be sold a year.

📅 Looking Ahead: October 2026

•        19th October: US stock futures point higher ahead of a heavy earnings week; CME Group launches Bitcoin Cash and Uniswap futures, subject to regulatory review; the public comment period closes on Treasury's GENIUS Act stablecoin issuance, offer and sale rulemaking; LME Week begins in London and runs to 23rd October, with the LME Metals Seminar today and talks on 2027 copper treatment and refining charges expected to dominate; President Macron's Gulf trip to Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar runs from 19th to 21st October.

•        20th October: Public comment deadline on the SEC's proposed Regulation Crypto Assets; the French National Assembly holds its formal vote on the revenue section of the budget; GE Aerospace, General Motors, 3M, Netflix, United Airlines, SpaceX and CATL report third quarter results; the Office for National Statistics publishes UK labour market statistics at 07:00 BST; US housing starts and pending home sales are released.

•        21st October: Solana's Alpenglow upgrade is due to activate in epoch 1064 at about 16:00 BST; the Office for National Statistics publishes UK September CPI; Bank Indonesia holds its policy meeting; Tesla, Meta Platforms, IBM, Lam Research and Texas Instruments report after the close, alongside Abbott, NextEra Energy, AT&T, CME Group, Danaher and Philip Morris; the International Copper Study Group speaks at LME Week.

•        22nd October: Bitwise's Dogecoin ETF is due to make its cash distribution; Starknet's seven day vote closes on or around this date; US jobless claims, leading indicators and the Kansas City Fed manufacturing survey are released; Lockheed Martin, Nokia, Comcast, American Airlines, Bloom Energy and Blackstone report; the ICA Copper Industry Leaders Forum takes place in London.

•        23rd October: Target effective date for the REX-Osprey staked SEI ETF; US flash manufacturing and services PMIs and the final University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey are released; American Express and SLB report; LME Week concludes.

•        24th October: The EU-GCC summit planned for Riyadh has been postponed; IndiGo's cancellations of flights to several Saudi cities run to this date.

•        25th October: Brazil holds the presidential runoff between Flavio Bolsonaro and President Lula.

•        26th-29th October: Saudi Arabia plans to hold its Riyadh investment forum, with hybrid and alternative travel options after the airport closure.

•        27th October: Israel holds its general election.

•        27th-28th October: The Federal Reserve holds its FOMC meeting, with markets pricing a probability of a rise of between about 15 and 17 percent, down from about 28 percent last week, and a rise in December at about 89 percent.

•        28th October: The UK Autumn Budget is due; Strategy holds a special stockholder meeting to vote on moving its STRC preferred dividend to a daily schedule.

•        29th October: The European Central Bank announces its next policy decision, with a Reuters poll expecting a hold and a rise in December; Shell reports third quarter results; Monte dei Paschi shareholders vote on the counter plan of chief executive Luigi Lovaglio, with Intesa Sanpaolo having said that it will withdraw its offer if either of the two deals is approved.

•        30th October: The Bank of Japan announces its policy decision; BP reports third quarter results; public comment deadline on the Illinois Department of Revenue's draft rules for its 0.2 percent digital asset transaction tax; mainnet testing of Polymarket's Protocol V2 concludes.

•        End of October: The OCC aims to finalise its GENIUS Act stablecoin rules by 31st October; DTCC's tokenisation service is scheduled to launch, according to Morgan Stanley's head of digital asset strategy; Samsung begins USDC transfers through Samsung Wallet for eligible US Galaxy users, with Solana and Sui as network partners; Deutsche Bank says that its institutional crypto custody service is weeks away.

•        3rd November: US midterm elections.

•        4th November: Circle reports third quarter results; opening summary judgment motions are due in the Illinois challenges to its digital asset tax, under a proposed schedule that is subject to court approval.

•        5th November: The Bank of England announces its Monetary Policy Committee decision.

•        10th-12th November: Binance Pool's remaining miners must choose another provider by 10th November; MSCI publishes its final list of companies affected by its non operating company screen on 11th November; the European Banking Authority's new supervisory responsibilities for USDC as a significant e money token begin on 12th November.

•        27th November: Submissions close on ASIC's Consultation Paper 392 on digital asset platforms and tokenised custody platforms.

•        30th November: MSCI's new methodology takes effect at the close, which could remove Strategy, Metaplanet and others from its indexes.

⚠️ Disclaimer

This briefing is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other sort of advice. The Digital Commonwealth Limited does not recommend that any cryptocurrency or digital asset be bought, sold, or held by you. Conduct your own due diligence and consult your financial adviser before making any investment decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The information contained in this briefing has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable. DCW makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to its accuracy, completeness, or correctness. All views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Digital Commonwealth Limited or its affiliates.

EAJW (c) 2026 The Digital Commonwealth Limited. All rights reserved.

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