Wallets linked to the $295 million April hack still held $138 million in Ether after sending another $46 million to the mixer Wednesday. A Drift exploiter-linked wallet transferred 18,800 Ether, worth about $46 million, to Tornado Cash on Wednesday. The exploiter transferred $61 million in Ether to the crypto mixer on Tuesday, taking its two-day total to 44,510 ETH, or $109 million, as blockchain data tracker Onchain Lens said on X. The transfers to Tornado Cash make the funds harder to trace and represent nearly 37% of the $295 million stolen from decentralized exchange (DEX) Drift in April. The attack ranks as this year’s third-largest crypto hack, according to DefiLlama.
US spot Ether ETFs have shed $1.08 billion so far in October, the biggest monthly outflow of 2026, while Bitcoin ETF inflows slowed after Monday’s spike. The cash drain from US spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) rolled on as the funds surpassed $1 billion in withdrawals so far in October. Ether ETFs net outflows totalled $1.08 billion since the start of October after adding $26 million on Tuesday, according to SoSoValue data. The month’s withdrawals erased September’s $832 million in net inflows, leaving year-to-date net inflows at approximately $485 million. October has already recorded the largest monthly net outflow since November 2025, with eight trading sessions still to go.
The platform tracks tokenized securities ownership and transfers, linking to Malaysia’s RENTAS+ system to settle corresponding payments in central bank money. Malaysia’s central bank has launched a distributed ledger-based platform for issuing and holding tokenized bonds, connecting digital securities records with a payment system designed to operate around the clock. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said that its next-generation Scripless Securities Depository System (SSDS+) supports the issuance, depository and safekeeping of tokenized debt securities, including Islamic bonds known as sukuk. The new platform tracks ownership and transfers of tokenized securities and connects to the Real Time Electronic Transfer of Funds and Securities (RENTAS+) system, which handles corresponding bond payment…
A private key generation flaw allowed anyone to guess them and forge HTTPS certificates for any website. Tech giants have deployed emergency blocks against eight vulnerable digital certificates that could allow attackers to impersonate legitimate websites. By Tuesday, browser developers and other major technology companies had deployed protections against eight intermediate certificates issued by India-based certificate authority eMudhra Limited after discovering that their private keys were insufficiently secure. Mozilla cryptography engineer Dennis Jackson wrote in an incident report that Mozilla independently recovered the private keys when it first received notice of the flaw on Saturday, confirming that the key-generation process was “flawed” and “trivial to exploit.”
A merger would bring Tesla into the same corporate group as Grok developer SpaceXAI and social media platform X. Elon Musk said he likes the idea of merging Tesla with SpaceX in a potential move that would create a roughly $3.5 trillion technology giant combining AI, space exploration and electric vehicle manufacturing. “Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes,” Musk said of the potential merger during a SpaceX Q3 earnings call on Tuesday. Musk said that both SpaceX and Tesla have formed special committees of independent directors to discuss the idea at the request of shareholders, though he isn’t able to take part in the discussions due to being a conflicted party.
The network’s validators approved a recovery plan and opened claims until May 1, 2027. Layer-1 blockchain Qubic has restarted its network and launched a recovery process after a wallet seed vulnerability allowed an attacker to drain roughly $1.4 million in QU tokens from 1,404 accounts, according to the project’s latest update. Qubic’s blockchain explorer shows the network resumed processing ticks 8:00 pm on Oct. 19, advancing beyond tick 85,371,949, where it was halted on Sunday. Qubic said its network validators, known as Computors, had approved a recovery plan and that the project had launched a claims platform for affected wallet holders.
Derek Brown likened the prediction market company to a “public nuisance“ that was “causing a significant and substantial ongoing harm“ to state residents. Update (Oct. 20, 9:53 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a statement from Kalshi. Utah Attorney General Derek Brown announced a lawsuit against Kalshi, its affiliates and two Susquehanna trading companies, alleging that the prediction markets platform had been facilitating illegal betting in the US state since 2024. In a Tuesday press briefing, Brown said Utah officials had petitioned a court to compel the companies to return about $30 million to $60 million in profits they made through allegedly illegal event contracts. The Utah attorney general alleged that Kalshi illegally offered its services to more than 32,000 users…
The firms are seeking clearer guidance on the classification of crypto assets and secondary-market trading as the SEC’s public comment period comes to a close. Bitwise Asset Management and the Hyperliquid Policy Center are pressing the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to revise its proposed crypto rules, seeking clearer guidance on token classifications, airdrops and secondary-market trading in comment letters submitted Monday. The requests come as the SEC closes public comments Tuesday on its proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, which would create exemptions for qualifying crypto fundraising and a conditional safe harbor for tokens associated with investment contracts. In an Oct. 19 comment letter, Bitwise Asset Management urged the SEC to clarify how investment managers should d…
Crypto projects are struggling to survive as falling revenues, depleted funding and security breaches force closures across DeFi, blockchain infrastructure and gaming. Crypto researcher Stacy Muur has identified 82 digital asset projects and protocols that have reportedly shut down in 2026, raising questions about the financial sustainability of businesses across decentralized finance, blockchain infrastructure and Web3 gaming. The list, published on X on Tuesday, includes Balancer, Radiant Capital, Neon EVM and Step Finance, among dozens of others. Muur described the number of closures as unlike anything she had previously witnessed. The shutdowns follow a prolonged bear market, with Bitcoin (BTC) retreating from its October 2025 record high above $126,000 to below $60,000 earlier this ye…
The Bitcoin treasury company could acquire an estimated 7,372 BTC with its net proceeds, potentially surpassing Metaplanet’s holdings if it allocates the full amount. Strive, the Bitcoin treasury company led by chairman and CEO Matt Cole, closed its upsized initial public offering of SATS preferred stock on Oct. 20, raising $630 million gross, according to the company’s announcement. The company has not specified how much of the proceeds it will use to buy Bitcoin (BTC). Strive sold 7 million shares at $90 each. The company estimated net proceeds of $608.15 million after underwriting discounts, commissions and expenses, according to BitcoinTreasuries.net. In an SEC filing, Strive said it intended to use the funds for general corporate purposes, including Bitcoin purchases, working capital,…
Injective and BDACS plan to bring won-backed stablecoin KRW1 to tokenized asset markets as South Korea develops a regulatory framework for local currency stablecoins. Blockchain network Injective has entered into a memorandum of understanding with South Korean digital asset custodian BDACS to bring a won-backed stablecoin to its tokenized asset markets, potentially allowing institutions to settle transactions without relying on US dollar stablecoins. According to a Tuesday announcement, BDACS’s KRW1 stablecoin would serve as the exclusive won-denominated settlement asset for real-world assets (RWAs) on Injective, allowing institutions to trade and settle tokenized assets directly in Korean won. BDACS says KRW1 is fully backed by Korean won reserves. Minting and redemption would initially b…
Coinbase reports growing adoption by banks and businesses, even as stablecoin market capitalization remains largely unchanged over the past year. Stablecoins moved more than $400 million an hour in adjusted transfer volume during the third quarter of 2026, as quarterly activity reached $891 billion, more than quadrupling since early 2023, according to a new report commissioned by Coinbase. The report found that 73% of screened stablecoin transfer volume occurred outside US banking hours, including nights, weekends and holidays. Distribution of stablecoin transfer volume by time of day. Source: Coinbase and The Block Research, via Dune Analytics
About 25% of the US-listed companies in OKXICE’s initial tokenized stock platform proposal are asking to opt-out of the venture. More companies are formally objecting to having tokenized versions of their shares available on the stock platform proposed by cryptocurrency exchange OKX and the New York Stock Exchange’s parent, the Intercontinental Exchange. In a notice updated Monday, the joint venture between OKX and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), called OKXICE, reported receiving 16 notices of issuer objection from companies including Microsoft, Google’s parent company Alphabet and Goldman Sachs. The objections did not include specific reasons for the notice to OKX, but one expert told Cointelegraph that they could relate to “not knowing what happens to their price” on the proposed pl…
High US corporate earnings reports boosted stock markets and saw BTC price hit $83,300 before reversing at a 21-day trend line. Bitcoin (BTC) returned to $83,000 after Tuesday’s Wall Street open as US stocks gained on strong earnings reports. Key points:
The Animoca Brands chairman explains that AI agents can make trades while you sleep, but users need to plan for the day they lose access to the bots. Crypto traders can put AI agents to work around the clock, but Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu warns that users risk building their trading routine around a service they don’t control. An agent can keep searching for new information and alert its user to developments they might otherwise miss, Siu tells Cointelegraph on the sidelines of Token2049 Singapore. He uses conference planning as an example. A chatbot could supply a list of events when asked, but an autonomous agent would be on the lookout for new announcements and suggest attendance when a worthy event popped up.
The Swiss regulator cited a growing appetite for cryptocurrency investments and said that multiple fund providers have submitted Bitcoin ETF applications. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) approved what it said is the country’s first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) that invests directly in Bitcoin and is accessible to retail investors. The financial regulator’s Tuesday announcement cited a “growing interest” in cryptocurrency investments, particularly Bitcoin (BTC). While no fund issuer was identified by the regulator, it said multiple providers have submitted or announced Bitcoin ETF applications.
The April 1 hack caused about $295 million in losses and was later attributed to a North Korean threat group in a Mandiant investigation. A wallet linked to the Drift Protocol hack sent about $61 million in Ether (ETH) to Tornado Cash, a service that obscures transaction trails. The wallet deposited 25,700 ETH to the cryptocurrency mixer over two hours on Tuesday after two months of inactivity, blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain said in an X post. The exploiter’s addresses held about 81,454 Ether, worth roughly $194 million, according to Arkham. Crypto mixers pool funds from multiple addresses and obscure fund trails, making tracing harder.
The Brale-issued token can be minted with USDC from eight networks and is designed to settle tokenized stocks and other assets on tx. Real-world asset (RWA) platform tx has launched USTX, a dollar stablecoin for its wallet and planned marketplace for tokenized stocks. Users will need USDC to mint USTX, which can also be redeemed for USDC, the company said in a Tuesday announcement shared with Cointelegraph. The platform accepts deposits from eight blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana and Base. “It is not a USDC-backed wrapper or synthetic representation of USDC,” Ashley Ebersole, tx’s co-founder and chief legal officer, told Cointelegraph. USDC provides a way to mint USTX, which has its own 1:1 reserve structure through Brale, he said.
UK banks are facing scrutiny over crypto transfer limits and bans as Stand With Crypto reports thousands of complaints ahead of the country’s 2027 regulatory regime. Some of the biggest banks in the United Kingdom are facing fresh scrutiny over cryptocurrency transfer restrictions after thousands of customers reported difficulties moving money to crypto platforms. Crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto said 9,803 people submitted 10,092 complaints to UK banks over restrictions on transfers to crypto platforms during a 90-day period between May and August 2026. The complaints were submitted through the group’s online tool, according to a report reviewed by Cointelegraph on Tuesday. Lloyds Banking Group, one of the UK’s largest banking groups, received the most complaints at 2,297, followed…
Constance Wang criticized the streamer’s portrayal of her former FTX colleagues as not matching her own experience with Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison. Former FTX COO Constance Wang said she was upset by the upcoming Netflix drama’s depiction of the collapse of the exchange and its portrayal of some of the top executives. “The first 30 seconds were enough to upset me,” so “I stopped watching,” Wang told Cointelegraph during an episode of the Chain Reaction X spaces show published on Monday. Wang said the Netflix trailer’s depiction of some former FTX executives made her “feel physically upset,” adding that the portrayal of Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison didn’t match her personal experience. She explained that former FTX co-founder and CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, was also more “s…
