CFTC chair Mike Selig says autonomous AI agents could challenge financial rules built around human traders, and regulators need to adapt. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig says it is “no longer science fiction” to imagine one’s refrigerator autonomously purchasing groceries with money earned from staking Ether — or even launching its own memecoin, raising questions about how regulators should oversee autonomous AI agents. The colorful comment came during Selig’s remarks at the CFTC’s inaugural Frontier Forum in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, where he argued that regulators must adapt to a financial system where AI agents can hold assets and execute trades autonomously. “We’re gathered here today to discuss a technology that’s rapidly transforming the financial markets…
Police say at least two cases were reported as early as Sept. 10, nearly a month before the wider incident became public. Singapore police say at least two cases involving tampered Ledger hardware wallets have been reported since Sept. 10, with combined losses of about 3.5 million Singapore dollars ($2.7 million), placing local reports almost a month before the wider incident became public. In an advisory published Wednesday, the Singapore Police Force said preliminary investigations found malicious hardware components in Ledger wallets purchased from some retail stores in Singapore. The disclosure adds both a local loss figure and an earlier reporting date to the incident, which surfaced publicly on Oct. 9 following reports of losses involving devices sold through CryptoBilis, an authoriz…
Traders are pricing in a 78% chance of a December rate hike, while analysts say Treasury yields, the US dollar and upcoming inflation data could determine Bitcoin’s next move. Bitcoin could face further headwinds after the US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady while signaling continued concern about inflation, according to market analysts. The Fed voted 10-2 Wednesday to maintain its benchmark interest rate at 3.75% to 4%, with Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack favoring a quarter-point increase. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh acknowledged that inflation remained above the central bank’s 2% target.
Aiden Pleterski, facing fraud charges in Canada over his alleged role in a digital asset Ponzi scheme, said that he was innocent at closing. The criminal case of Aiden Pleterski, the self-described “crypto king” who was allegedly behind a Ponzi scheme involving digital assets, will go to jury deliberations after closing arguments this week. According to Wednesday reporting from CBC, the jury overseeing Pleterski’s case will begin deliberations on Thursday after receiving final instructions from Justice Shaun Nakatsuru. Pleterski allegedly defrauded his social media followers out of about $30 million between 2021 and 2022. He was charged with fraud in 2024 and had been awaiting trial for more than two years, choosing to represent himself in court. “I am innocent of these charges,” said Ple…
The former FTX CEO remains incarcerated as Irish actor Anthony Boyle portrays him in a series about the downfall of the crypto exchange and his relationship with Caroline Ellison. In about three weeks, Netflix is set to release one of the first dramatizations of the saga of cryptocurrency exchange FTX since its CEO, Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, was found guilty and sentenced to prison. According to a Wednesday Vanity Fair report, Anthony Boyle, the Irish actor portraying SBF on screen for the Netflix series ‘The Altruists,’ contacted the former CEO in prison via email as he prepared for the role. Although Boyle said he “promised him that I wouldn’t divulge anything,” Bankman-Fried reportedly answered the bulk of the actor’s questions ahead of the series’ release. “I was interested in what poss…
The largest Bitcoin treasury company will begin daily dividend payments on STRC in November, with three other preferred securities following in January 2027. Bitcoin treasury company Strategy said Wednesday that shareholders approved amendments allowing its four preferred stocks to pay daily dividends, with 99.3% of votes cast in favor, according to preliminary results. The amendments cover Strategy’s four preferred securities — STRF, STRC, STRK and STRD — shifting dividend payments from semi-monthly or quarterly schedules to every business day. Dividends will accrue daily, including weekends and holidays, without changing their annual dividend rates. Strategy expects daily payments on STRC to begin Nov. 2, with STRF, STRK and STRD following on Jan. 4, 2027. Strategy said the changes are d…
The FEC reported an “electronic filing system outage” on Tuesday as groups are expected to ramp up spending before the US midterm elections. The US Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing system is offline after reports of a hack, potentially obscuring expenditures by super political action committees (PACs) and other groups in the final days before the 2026 midterm elections. As of Tuesday at 7:48 pm UTC, the FEC said it was continuing to experience an “electronic filing system outage,” but was working to resolve the issue. Campaign finance data by PACs and other entities were still available for the public to view, but the system outage suggested that last-minute spending could go unreported. For example, with just six days until Election Day, FEC filings showed no expenditures from the…
Bitcoin failed to move past its 50-day simple moving average as market participants awaited the outcome of the FOMC meeting and key tech earnings. Bitcoin (BTC) gave back early gains around Wednesday’s Wall Street open as markets prepared for the US Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision.
The crypto wallet’s new integration offers CFTC-regulated event contracts through Kalshi, as prediction markets face growing legal challenges in the US. Crypto wallet provider Phantom has launched prediction markets for eligible US users through an integration with Kalshi, allowing them to trade on crypto prices, sports and other real-world events directly within its app. According to Wednesday’s announcement, the integration offers CFTC-regulated event contracts, including short-term Bitcoin price markets that settle every 15 minutes. Trades can be funded through Phantom Cash balances, denominated in the CASH stablecoin. Kalshi handles customer verification, account management and trade execution, while Phantom provides access through its app. The launch follows no-action relief granted b…
Google Cloud has detailed its preview MPC service for institutional Bitcoin custody as it holds a New York symposium focused on digital asset security. Google’s cloud computing division is progressing with a service that lets financial institutions jointly authorize and sign cryptocurrency transactions without giving any single party control over the full private key. Google Cloud detailed its Multi-party Compute (MPC) service in documentation updated Monday, positioning the preview product for institutional Bitcoin custody. The service remains in preview, meaning Google provides it as is, with potentially limited support. The documentation update preceded Google Cloud’s MPC Symposium, taking place Wednesday in New York. The event promises an “exclusive revealing of Google’s frontier MPC p…
Each day brings news of another AI-powered attack, or a newly discovered vulnerability. Here’s what’s happening and how ordinary people can protect themselves online. Cybersecurity professionals are having a brutal month. What’s being dubbed Black October isn’t even over, and it’s already brought about several dozen major cyberattacks and AI-identified vulnerabilities across the internet. When critical vulnerabilities in PHP, the programming language used by around 70% of websites, were uncovered with the help of AI tools and disclosed by the PHP Foundation on Oct. 21, the race to patch servers around the world began.
The post-trade market infrastructure provider said the tokenization services will create a “practical path” for tokenized securities adoption. The Depository Trust Company (DTC), a subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), has launched tokenization services enabling eligible users to mint tokenized representations of securities held at DTC. DTCC clients are eligible to use the DTCC Tokenization Service (DTS). DTS will convert between traditional and tokenized forms of securities that are transferable to digital wallets and retain the same ownership rights and investor protections as their traditional counterparts, the company announced on Wednesday. The post-trade market infrastructure provider said that 20 of its clients have signed agreements to access the service…
A Euronext spokesperson told Cointelegraph the suspension was due to “operational settlement requirements” and remains in effect until settlement operations are supported by the CSD. Stock exchange operator Euronext suspended CoinShares’ Zcash exchange-traded product (ETP) on Wednesday, when it was scheduled to debut for trading on Euronext Paris. In a Wednesday notice, the exchange operator said the CoinShares Zcash ETP (ZCSH) was suspended from trading on Euronext Paris until further notice. The notice did not provide a reason for the decision. CoinShares’ Zcash ETP will remain suspended until “standard settlement operations can be fully supported by the Central Securities Depository (CSD),” Euronext’s press and communications manager, Flavio Bornancin-Tomasella, told Cointelegraph, addi…
The company’s Hong Kong unit issued six-month notes under its $3 billion program, extending blockchain-based distribution to institutional investors. The Hong Kong arm of Mirae Asset Securities, one of South Korea’s largest securities firms, has issued tokenized notes on Solana to institutional investors. The transaction involved six-month floating-rate notes issued under the firm’s $3 billion structured note program, according to Wednesday’s announcement. Singapore-based digital market infrastructure operator Marketnode acted as an authorized distributor. Mirae Asset Securities managed token issuance, payments and the notes’ lifecycle using its internal digital infrastructure. The company said the transaction could provide a model for distributing a wider range of structured products thro…
Bitcoin sought to rebuild support at $80,000 while Asian and US tech stocks extended a rebound into key corporate earnings releases. Bitcoin (BTC) approached $82,000 on Wednesday as South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index gained over 6%. Key points:
US spot Bitcoin ETFs drew $286 million over two days, narrowing October’s net outflows to $26 million as the Crypto Fear & Greed Index remained neutral. US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) attracted about $176 million in net inflows on Tuesday, extending their recovery to a second consecutive trading day. The inflows rose from $110 million on Monday, bringing the two-day total to $286 million, according to SoSoValue data. The rebound followed nearly $774 million in withdrawals on Thursday and Friday. October net outflows narrowed to about $26 million through Tuesday, while year-to-date net inflows stood at roughly $850 million.
Coinbase said that an incident at analytics vendor Amplitude exposed some customers’ contact data, but it found no evidence of unauthorized access to its own systems. Some Coinbase customers’ contact information was exposed in a security incident at analytics vendor Amplitude, the exchange said Wednesday. The incident impacted a “small subset” of Coinbase customers, along with other Amplitude clients, Coinbase Support said on X. Coinbase denied that its own systems had been breached and said customer funds were not affected.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev says tokenized equities need more than a temporary SEC exemption to flourish in the US. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev says uncertainty over the longevity of US tokenization rules could prevent investors from committing substantial assets to tokenized markets, despite the securities regulator opening a temporary path for onchain stock trading this year. Speaking during Robinhood’s third-quarter earnings call Tuesday, Tenev welcomed the SEC’s innovation exemption but said further rulemaking or legislation would be needed to provide longer-term regulatory certainty. “As far as the innovation exemption goes, I think it’s a really positive step... I do think more needs to be done to give people a little bit of certainty because as we talk to customers, I think the uncertai…
The breach impacted its in-house mobile system, used by employees for work and information sharing. South Korea’s crypto exchange Bithumb is investigating the extent of a data leak caused by a hack of its internal mobile system earlier this week, Yonhap News Agency reported Wednesday. Bithumb discovered the breach of its in-house mobile system — the platform used by employees to communicate internally — on Tuesday and notified the Korea Internet & Security Agency and the Personal Information Protection Commission that day, according to Yonhap, which cited industry sources. The exchange is investigating the scope of the attack, including whether member data was leaked.
Discord conversations on large public servers will soon reach audiences far beyond their communities, raising privacy concerns. Discord is making a policy change that will make conversations from its largest public servers discoverable in search engines, including Google, raising privacy concerns among users whose conversations were previously confined to the platform. The change applies to Discoverable Servers — communities with at least 1,000 members listed in Discord’s public directory that do not require an invitation to join. From Nov. 16, every Discoverable Server will have a web page that may include summaries of public channel discussions. From mid-December, individual messages posted in eligible channels may appear in web search, Discord said Tuesday. Messages posted before the…
