The cooperation among rival exchanges highlights the necessity for collective security measures, impacting trust and stability in the crypto market.

The post CZ says rival exchanges helped Binance through its breach appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Google's policy forces schools to weigh AI integration against losing essential search tools, impacting educational access and decision-making.

The post Google says schools that opt out of AI tools will also lose access to search appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

AI's susceptibility to visual cues could lead to unintended coding behaviors, complicating model auditing and necessitating new oversight strategies.

The post Google DeepMind and Stanford study finds simple images can steer how AI writes code appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The surge in tokenized stocks on Solana highlights growing interest in blockchain-based equities, potentially reshaping traditional finance dynamics.

The post Tokenized stocks on Solana surge 3.5x since January 1 appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

AI data centers' shift to self-generated power highlights a growing trend towards decentralized energy solutions, impacting grid reliance.

The post INNIO’s order backlog jumps as AI data centers build their own power plants appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Bitcoin Magazine

Binance Says $6.34 Billion Hack Began With Fake Job Interview 

The $6.34 billion theft from Binance began with a fake job interview and ran for five months before a single coin moved, the exchange said Tuesday in its first public account of the Oct. 29 attack.

Another initial incident report from Binance, released alongside a media briefing by co-CEO Richard Teng and chief security officer Jimmy Su, describes a campaign that combined a poisoned software download, a staged recruitment process, malware that evaded endpoint detection and an internal AI tool the attackers turned against the company’s own wallet engineers. 

Binance said it has frozen or intercepted about $2.85 billion of the stolen assets and replenished 98% of affected tokens from its own funds, with the balance being bought on the open market.

“This wasn’t one mistake or one breach — it was a months-long campaign,” Teng wrote on X. “We’re publishing the full report because the lessons go far beyond Binance.”

The FBI has attributed the attack to North Korea. Binance’s report cites that finding but stops short of its own attribution. Pyongyang rejected the claim Monday, with Kim Yo Jong, sister of leader Kim Jong Un, calling it a “grave political provocation” through state media.

The Binance hack had five months of preparation

According to Binance, the first foothold for this hack came in June. A wallet DevOps engineer searched for a popular AI coding tool and downloaded a tampered Homebrew installer. 

Binance’s security team caught the anomaly, replaced the device and rotated credentials, but the episode exposed the engineer’s role and the names of colleagues on the wallet infrastructure team.

In September, a second engineer was approached on a legitimate job platform by someone posing as a project director. A video interview with a purported HR representative followed, with the interviewer sharing a personal social media account to build trust. A second interview with a supposed CEO ended with an “assignment”: a code repository the engineer was told to install on his work machine. 

The repository replaced a legitimate pyenv component with a malicious version and opened a channel to an attacker-controlled server. Binance said the zero-day malware was not flagged by its endpoint tools at the time.

On Oct. 20, the attackers used that machine and an internal AI tool to reach two more wallet engineers, one of whom held a container deployment token. On Oct. 29, between 17:15 and 19:56 UTC, they logged into a third engineer’s computer, deployed a container with the stolen credentials and launched the drain. Binance said it blocked 57 other suspected North Korea-linked attempts this year using similar lures.

Four hours to contain

The money left fast. Between 20:05 and 20:09 UTC, five hot wallets sent 233.46 million XRP to an attacker address. Wallets on Solana and Optimism followed with about 970,500 SOL and 44.2 million OP. A Binance hot wallet then sent 18,270 BTC. 

The attacker used the compromised signing service to invoke Ethereum’s EIP-7702, which lets an account delegate execution rights to a smart contract without exposing its key, and gave an attacker-controlled contract partial control of a Binance hot wallet.

Suspending withdrawals did not stop that last channel. The attackers had submitted 50 signing transactions to establish on-chain delegations that operated outside Binance’s withdrawal infrastructure. Because the wallet used multi-party computation, no single key existed to revoke them, and the team had to build a procedure on the spot. The final unauthorized transfer, 2,961.9 ETH, settled at 23:56 UTC. 

Binance cleared the delegation at 00:10 UTC on Oct. 30.

The report acknowledges the gap. “These challenges extended the time required to fully contain the unauthorized asset movements,” it says, adding that the company is reviewing its signing policy coverage and hot wallet controls.

Customers withdrew $10.97 billion in the 46 hours after withdrawals reopened Sunday, with net outflows of $5.28 billion, according todata Teng shared Tuesday. By 03:00 UTC hourly deposits exceeded withdrawals, a shift Teng called a sign of stabilization. Binance reopened withdrawals for dozens more assets across nine networks on Tuesday.

The breach has become a talking point in Washington. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said the hack “proves our exact point” about the need for a federal registration path for offshore exchanges, and on Tuesday the agency cleared equity perpetual futures for U.S.-regulated venues, extending the onshoring push it began with Kalshi’s bitcoin perp in May.

Binance said it has rebuilt the wallet system and the internal AI tool in new environments, replaced affected devices, revoked the engineers’ credentials and expanded behavioral anomaly detection. 

It is commissioning an independent review, raising spending on endpoint and developer-environment security and planning a research fund on AI security with outside firms. Some technical details, the report says, will stay private. 

This post Binance Says $6.34 Billion Hack Began With Fake Job Interview  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

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Bitcoin Magazine

Andrew Hohns: Why Bitcoin Can Fix America’s Debt Spiral

U.S. federal debt has grown 40x in 45 years, from $1 trillion in 1981 to over $40 trillion. Andrew Hohns, founder and CEO of Battery Finance, explains why he doesn’t expect tax hikes or spending cuts to fix it, and how a strategic Bitcoin reserve could help defease the national debt. He also makes the case for the Treasury to pilot BitBonds.

Chapters:
00:00 Andrew Hohns on Bitcoin and the Midterms
00:47 Bond Market Volatility and America’s Fiscal Outlook
01:22 40x Federal Debt Growth in 45 Years
02:55 A Strategic Bitcoin Reserve to Defease the Debt
03:20 Why BitBonds Haven’t Come to Market Yet
05:12 Higher Borrowing Costs and the Digital Credit Boom
06:15 Battery Finance’s Bitcoin-Backed Real Estate Loans
07:03 The $2 Trillion Real Estate Refinancing Wall
08:52 How Battery’s Loans Avoid Margin Calls
11:03 Which Property Types Are Under Pressure
13:34 The Future of Bitcoin and Real Estate Financing
16:25 Digital Credit and Institutional Bitcoin Adoption

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this show are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BTC Inc., Bitcoin Magazine, or any affiliated entities. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Nothing contained in this show constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell any securities or financial instruments. Viewers should consult their own advisors before making financial or business decisions.

This post Andrew Hohns: Why Bitcoin Can Fix America’s Debt Spiral first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Patrick Green.

Bitcoin Magazine

CFTC Opens U.S. Stock Market to Equity Perpetual Futures

Perpetual futures on individual stocks can begin trading on U.S.-regulated exchanges for the first time, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Tuesday, extending a product that was confined to offshore crypto venues a year ago into the equity market.

In a statement, CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said the contracts, which he called “Equity Perps,” were deemed approved under Commission Regulation 40.3 as security futures products. 

They may list on exchanges that hold a CFTC designated contract market registration and a notice registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a national securities exchange for security futures.

“This expansion marks a significant step towards allowing U.S. market participants, consistent with applicable law, to avail themselves of the advantages of perpetual futures,” Selig said. He said bringing the products inside the agency’s framework means Americans no longer need to “turn to offshore, and often unregulated, venues.”

The contracts fall under the Commodity Exchange Act, federal securities law and the rulebooks of both agencies. The statement names no exchange, lists no contracts and sets no launch date. 

Those details are expected to come from the designated contract markets themselves.

CFTC: From bitcoin perps to stock perps in five months

Perpetual futures have no expiration date. Instead of settling on a fixed day, longs and shorts exchange periodic funding payments that keep the contract price tied to spot. The structure has dominated crypto derivatives for years, with most volume on platforms outside U.S. jurisdiction.

The CFTC approved the first U.S.-listed bitcoin perpetual, Kalshi’s BTCPERP, on May 29, and Kalshi went live with the product soon after. The same day, staff granted no-action relief that lets Coinbase Financial Markets route U.S. clients into offshore perp and options liquidity. Kalshi added gold and silver perpetuals in September. 

In his statement Tuesday, Selig described the equity contracts as an extension of that May decision “beyond digital commodities and into traditional securities.”

The legal basis is older. The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 created a joint CFTC-SEC regime for security futures products, and the two agencies signed a memorandum of understanding on March 11 to coordinate rulemaking and enforcement. 

Selig cited both, and repeated SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins’s description of security futures as stranded in a regulatory “no man’s land” for lack of harmonization. The agencies had set out a joint crypto asset taxonomy earlier in the year.

Not everyone accepts the CFTC’s reading. CME Grou  sued the agency in June over the Kalshi approval, arguing that a contract built on exchanged funding payments is a swap under Dodd-Frank, not a future. 

That case is pending. An equity version adds the SEC’s jurisdiction to the mix and may draw a new set of objections from securities-side participants.

The onshoring argument after Binance

The approval lands five days after the largest theft in crypto’s history. On Oct. 29, attackers that TRM Labs and Chainalysis link to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group drained about $6.3 billion from Binance’s hot wallets in roughly 20 minutes. 

Binance reopened withdrawals on Sunday and says it has replenished about 95% of affected assets.

Selig used the breach to press the case he made in Tuesday’s statement. 

“The real issue here is that these are unregulated offshore exchanges, and they don’t have the same sorts of safeguards that we have in our financial markets here in the United States,” he told CNBC on Oct. 30. 

He said the hack “proves our exact point” about the agency’s October proposal, an advance notice of rulemaking that would create a voluntary federal registration path for crypto exchanges with cybersecurity, proof-of-reserves and custody requirements. Selig has said the CFTC cannot make that registration mandatory without Congress.

The equity perp approval works from the same premise. Perpetuals built the offshore derivatives business; moving them onto dual-registered U.S. exchanges puts the margin, clearing and surveillance rules of two federal agencies around them. 

Selig framed it as a choice between regulated access and “being forced to turn to offshore, and often unregulated, venues.”

This post CFTC Opens U.S. Stock Market to Equity Perpetual Futures first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

New Jersey Drops Coinbase Staking Order After Three Years

New Jersey’s securities regulator has withdrawn the 2023 cease-and-desist order that barred Coinbase from offering staking to new customers in the state, ending a three-year standoff that cost residents an estimated $15 million in forgone rewards.

The Bureau of Securities notice, dated Oct. 30 and signed by Acting Bureau Chief Keith A. Alt, rescinds the order and the $5 million penalty that came with it. The withdrawal is without prejudice and without a ruling on the merits. 

Coinbase disclosed the development in its third-quarter report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which states that the regulator informed the company of its intent to rescind on Oct. 29.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said New Jersey users would regain access to staking “very soon.” 

As of Monday, the exchange’s eligibility page continued to list New Jersey among the states where customers cannot stake new principal, and no reopening date has been announced.

How the staking case began

The order traces to June 6, 2023, when the New Jersey bureau joined securities regulators in nine other states — Alabama, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin — in a coordinated action against Coinbase’s staking program. 

The states alleged the service amounted to an unregistered securities offering under state law. 

California led the task force; its action covered more than 600,000 accounts. In July 2023, Coinbase agreed with California, New Jersey, South Carolina and Wisconsin to block customers in those states from staking new funds pending final adjudication. Maryland reached a similar agreement in October 2023. 

Customers who had staked before the orders kept earning rewards, but could not add principal or compound the rewards they received.

The state cases ran parallel to the SEC’s June 2023 lawsuit against Coinbase, which named staking among its claims. The SEC dismissed that case in February 2025. Alabama, Kentucky, Illinois, South Carolina and Vermont dismissed, vacated or withdrew their own actions in March and April 2025. New Jersey is the sixth of the original ten states to step back.

What the withdrawal does and does not do

Rescinding the order ends the restriction on new staking in New Jersey. It does not resolve the underlying legal question. The bureau made no finding on whether Coinbase’s staking program is a security, and the “without prejudice” language preserves its ability to file a new action. Coinbase’s own filing calls the state matters “preliminary” and says an adverse resolution “could have a material impact” on the business.

The filing describes a planned rescission rather than a completed one, which explains the gap between Armstrong’s statement and the unchanged eligibility page. The change for New Jersey residents arrives when Coinbase updates its systems, not when the notice was signed.

Coinbase has framed the state restrictions as a competitive disadvantage. In an April 2025 post, the company’s Ryan VanGrack argued the orders singled out one provider while residents could stake through other platforms. Coinbase put forgone rewards across the four restricted states at more than $130 million as of October 2025.

Four states remain. California, Maryland and Wisconsin continue to bar new staking on Coinbase while their cases proceed; Washington permits staking but is pursuing a $4 million fine. Coinbase estimates California residents have missed more than $89 million in rewards since 2023. 

The decision lands as federal policy has shifted but not settled. The SEC has withdrawn from the registration-based cases it brought in 2023, and the CLARITY market structure bill passed the House in 2025 but stalled in the Senate. State securities regulators are not bound by the SEC’s enforcement priorities, which is why the staking cases outlived the federal one by more than a year and a half. 

A future SEC, or a future bureau chief in Trenton, could revisit the question.

This post New Jersey Drops Coinbase Staking Order After Three Years first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Price Trades Near $77,500 as Midterm Voting Begins

Bitcoin price traded near $77,500 on Tuesday morning as polls opened for the U.S. midterm elections, down about .6% on the day and roughly $30,000 below its price one year ago, according to Bitcoin Magazine Pro data. 

The vote decides control of Congress and, with it, the fate of the CLARITY Act, the market structure bill that passed the House 294-134 in July 2025 and failed a Senate cloture vote 49-50 on Sept. 15. 

Prediction markets on Kalshi give Democrats a 94% chance of taking the House and 74% for the Senate. A Democratic Senate would likely put Sen. Elizabeth Warren in line to chair the Banking Committee. If Congress does not act before the new session convenes on Jan. 3, the bill dies and must be reintroduced.

Crypto groups spent more than $200 million on the midterms, CNBC reported. Analysts at TD Cowen see a Democratic sweep as the most probable outcome and the least favorable one for the industry; a divided Congress, in their view, leaves room for a narrower deal.

A week of selling

The bitcoin price action into the vote has been one-directional. Bitcoin price opened November near $78,500 and has lost about $2,000 since. October closed down about 7%, the second straight October decline. 

On Oct. 28, after a hawkish Federal Reserve hold and weak earnings from Alphabet and Samsung, the price fell below $80,000 for the first time in weeks, with about $356 million in leveraged positions liquidated.

The larger shock came the next day. On Oct. 29, attackers the FBI attributes to North Korea drained about $6.3 billion from Binance’s hot wallets, the largest crypto theft on record. 

Bitcoin price held strong but fell about 4% on Friday and more than $1.3 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs shed $643.3 million that day, their largest single-day outflow since June 25, according to SoSoValue data. Another $399 million left on Monday.

Bitcoin recovered to $78,491 late Sunday before sliding again on Monday and Tuesday. Traders are watching support between $76,264 and $76,476, which lines up with the 200-day exponential moving average. Below that sits the September low of $74,967. 

The 50-day EMA near $80,800 is the first resistance above. 

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index read 37 on Monday, in “fear” territory. 

Oil, Iran and a Fed that can hike

The macro backdrop offers little support. The Fed held rates at 3.75% to 4.00% on Oct. 28 by a 10-2 vote, with two officials dissenting in favor of a hike, after raising rates in September for the first time since July 2023. 

Polymarket puts the odds of a December hike near 71%. September PCE inflation ran at 3.6% year over year and third-quarter GDP grew at a 3.4% annualized pace.

 The 10-year Treasury yield touched 5.36% in early October, its highest since 2002, before easing to about 4.91% on Monday.

Energy sits at the center of the inflation picture. Brent crude fell 7.7% on Monday to $104.66 a barrel after Iran and the U.S. signaled openness to talks, its biggest one-day drop since July, CNBC reported. 

The move reversed in part on Tuesday, with Brent back near $106.60 after reports of a U.S. strike on Iran’s Qeshm Island. Disruption around the Strait of Hormuz has kept crude above $100 and headline inflation elevated, which keeps the Fed on a tightening path.

Equities have added to the pressure. The Nasdaq fell 2.9% on Friday, its worst day since June, after results from Intel and Amazon raised questions about AI capital spending, and lost 5.3% in October. Bitcoin price has moved with technology stocks through the selloff rather than against them.

What comes next for bitcoin price 

The calendar is full. The October jobs report lands Friday, with consensus near 65,000 after September’s 29,000. October CPI follows on Nov. 10 and the Fed’s next decision on Dec. 9. Binance’s next proof-of-reserves snapshot is due Wednesday. 

Options markets are calm, with Deribit’s DVOL index near 36.5, a sign traders expect no large swings. Seasonality cuts the other way: Bitcoin price fell 36.6% in November 2018 and 16.2% in November 2022, the two most recent midterm years, both during bear markets.

This post Bitcoin Price Trades Near $77,500 as Midterm Voting Begins first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Participating institutions can settle tokenized deposit transactions in central bank money beyond conventional hours, supporting treasury and fund activity.

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November 2 ETF redemptions add a demand concern as Bitcoin's latest decline follows a drop in real yields through October 30.

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LDK’s October 25 fix rejects a funding-location lookup used by a probe requiring connections to both endpoints of an unannounced channel.

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ISM’s production index reached 59.0 as factory price increases became less widespread, leaving growth and funding signals in tension.

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Borrowers in Aave's frozen reserves kept paying interest while the restrictions prevented fresh deposits, including the extra collateral they might normally supply to protect a loan. Suppliers were still able to request their money back, provided enough tokens were available, so withdrawals could make borrowing more expensive even though new borrowing was blocked in those…

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What is established: the TRX price stands at $0.3097 on November 1, below the level of about $0.33 that the market showed before the attack on Binance on October 29. In its version of October 31, the analytics firm Elliptic still attributes about 475 million TRX to the attacker. Our assessment follows further down: for the price, this known stash weighs more heavily than any level on the daily chart.

The case is interesting for holders in Germany because, unusually, it is known who is selling and how much is left. In most price moves the other side remains anonymous. On the Tron blockchain, by contrast, the stash can be followed address by address.

Tron falls below its level before the attack on Binance

Tron costs $0.3097 on November 1, according to CoinGecko data. The daily high was $0.3278, the daily low $0.3017, and trading volume $1.39 billion. With a market value of $29.43 billion, TRX remains number eight in the market.

How large the decline over 24 hours is depends on the time window and the data provider. CoinGecko shows a drop of 4.97 percent at that point. Invezz, citing CoinPaprika, gives 7.0 percent for Saturday evening, measured at 17:50 London time at $0.308, and also points to the exchange OKX, which showed a 9 percent drop for its own 24-hour period. The range of about five to nine percent is explained by the starting point of each measurement.

The comparison with the level before the incident is what matters. Bitquery traced how the attacker swapped 234 million USDT into TRX on the decentralised exchange SunSwap, paying an average of $0.367 per token while the market price was about $0.33. That purchase briefly lifted TRX to about $0.37 on Kraken late on October 29. Nothing remains of this artificially created high, and the $0.33 from before the attack has also been breached.

475 million TRX with the attacker: Elliptic's count

Elliptic puts the total damage at $6.43 billion, drained on October 29, 2026. Of this, the firm says it has verified $2.85 billion as frozen or seized. That leaves a stash of about $3.21 billion that no issuer can block. According to Elliptic, this sum includes 519,104 ETH, 18,270 BTC, 233 million XRP and those roughly 475 million TRX.

TRM Labs attributes the attack to the North Korean group TraderTraitor and gives a damage figure of about $6.36 billion. Binance itself speaks of $6.3 billion. The attribution to a state-linked group is an assessment by the analytics firms, not a judicial finding; the identity of the perpetrators is unconfirmed.

According to TRM Labs' count, 612.7 million USDT and 46.4 million TRX on the Tron blockchain came from the Binance hot wallet. The far larger TRX stash was therefore created only by swapping the stolen stablecoins.

Overhang in the market: how a known seller caps the price

An overhang is a large quantity of a token, known to the market, that is likely to be sold. The mechanism works in two directions. First, every actual sale pushes the price down because it meets an order book with limited buy-side depth. Second, merely knowing about the stash has an effect: anyone wanting to buy waits, expecting to get in more cheaply later. This second effect explains why a price also gives way on days when the holder moves nothing at all.

For TRX there is the added factor that the quantity is large relative to trading. With 95.02 billion tokens in circulation, 475 million is about half a percent of supply. Measured against daily volume of $1.39 billion, however, the stash corresponds to a substantial share of what is traded in a day at all.

Frozen or not: 378.7 million USDT blocked, zero for TRX

According to TRM Labs, Tether has frozen 378.7 million USDT in two of the attacker's wallets. That is not possible for TRX itself. The difference lies in the design: USDT is a token issued by a company whose contracts contain a freeze function. TRX is the native currency of the Tron blockchain; there is no issuer that could immobilise individual balances.

This very difference explains why the attacker swapped at all. Converting freezable stablecoins into tokens that cannot be frozen was the price he paid to secure his loot, and at $0.367 per TRX that price was well above the market price at the time.

From 575 million to 475 million TRX: just over 100 million tokens fewer

On October 30 we reported here on a 9 percent price slide and a stash of 575 million TRX held by the attacker. Elliptic's count now stands at about 475 million. Between the two readings lie just over 100 million tokens that have found their way into the market or to new addresses.

On October 30 the price was still above $0.33 and thus around the pre-incident level. Since then the $0.32 mark has fallen, as has $0.31. With a daily low of $0.3017, the round $0.30 mark has so far narrowly held.

Also new is the link to an older case: Elliptic has confirmed that part of the Tron funds was laundered together with proceeds from the attack on Bitget in September 2026. That points to the same infrastructure, not necessarily to the same perpetrators.

546 transfers: the loot's trail on the blockchain

The main address through which the attacker moves his TRX has sent 546 individual transfers since early on October 30, according to Elliptic's count. Between $38 million and $67 million in TRX has now left the addresses Elliptic is watching. The firm itself gives the range; it arises because not every onward transfer can be clearly attributed.

On October 30 the original roughly 638 million TRX were split across five new addresses. Over the same period Bitquery counted 15 freshly funded wallets that sold 8.9 million TRX for 3.1 million USDT early on October 30, while the largest single stash stayed put. According to Crypto Briefing, Whale Alert also reported a movement of 120 million TRX to an unknown address.

The pattern of many small transfers is typical of an attempt to make sales disappear into normal trading volume. For investors it is the second window to watch alongside the chart: as long as the large addresses keep selling in small steps, the supply pressure remains.

Levels on the daily chart: $0.30 as the line, $0.33 as the lid

The analysts cited by Coinpaper place support at $0.32, $0.31 and $0.30 and resistance at $0.33, $0.34 and $0.36. The two upper supports have since fallen. What remains is the $0.30 mark, which was almost reached with the daily low of $0.3017.

On the upside, it is striking that the first resistance at $0.33 lies exactly where the price stood before the attack. As long as TRX trades below it, the incident has not been recovered in arithmetic terms. Over seven days the price is down 5.98 percent, over 30 days 7.42 percent. According to Invezz, about 30 percent separates the price from its all-time high of $0.44 in December 2024.

There is no price target from a bank or broker. Invezz expressly notes that no major institution publishes a formal forecast for TRX. Anyone coming across specific targets online is reading model calculations by individual providers, not analyst estimates in the stock-market sense.

TRON Proposal 108: due on November 2 at 12:00 GMT

Regardless of the overhang, a network date is coming up. According to Invezz, the proposal numbered 108 is due to take effect on November 2 at 12:00 GMT, provided the Super Representatives approve it. The Super Representatives are the 27 elected nodes that confirm blocks on the Tron blockchain and vote on parameter changes.

The date falls in a phase in which the market reacts to every piece of network news anyway. If you hold TRX and watch the price that day, you should be able to tell the two causes apart: a vote on network parameters is something different from outflows from a known address.

Buying, leverage and custody under MiCA in Germany

When it comes to buying, since the EU's MiCA regulation took full effect in Germany, providers need a licence to offer crypto services. If you want to trade TRX, you will find the licensed options in our comparison of the best crypto exchanges; it also lists the fee models, which weigh more heavily for a token with a comparatively low unit price than for bitcoin.

On the holding period, the situation for private investors is unchanged: after one year a capital gain from crypto assets is tax-free in Germany, and below that the exemption limit for private sale transactions applies. Selling in a weak phase and buying back shortly afterwards resets the period for the new holding.

Those using leverage have the bigger problem in this situation. A move of five to nine percent in a day is enough to liquidate a position at ten times leverage, and an overhang produces exactly such days. If you use derivatives, you should know your provider's liquidation rules before the next such day comes.

On custody: the attack hit an exchange's hot wallet, not the Tron blockchain itself. For holders this says nothing about the security of their own tokens, but it does raise the familiar trade-off between availability on the exchange and managing your own keys. Binance has announced a full proof of reserves for Monday and cited a reserve of $6.34 billion; whether such a proof holds up depends on the audit method.

Editorial assessment: the overhang weighs more than the daily chart

In the editors' view, the most important figure in this article is not the daily loss but the difference between 638 million and 475 million TRX. It shows that the holder is actually selling, and it allows a rough estimate of the remaining pressure. Supporting this are the 546 transfers since October 30 and the $38 million to $67 million cited by Elliptic that has left the observed addresses. Against it is that nobody knows the pace of the coming days: according to Bitquery, the largest single stash was unmoved on October 30, and a holder wishing to avoid attention can pause for months.

What is assessed here is the situation, not the investment. We do not derive a buy or sell verdict from it, and the risk of total loss with crypto assets persists regardless of this specific question.

Tron overhang: Proposal 108 decides by November 2

Three things matter in the coming days:

1. The $0.30 level. It is the last of the supports cited by Coinpaper that is still holding; the daily low was $0.3017. If you trade with leverage, check the liquidation rules beforehand in our overview of perp DEX platforms.
2. The attacker's stash. If the 475 million cited by Elliptic keeps falling, supply pressure stays in the market; if it stays put, part of the burden falls away. If you reallocate in this phase, keep an eye on the holding period and document it with a tax tool or portfolio tracker.
3. The network date on November 2. Proposal 108 is due to take effect at 12:00 GMT. If you want to hold your own keys and take responsibility for movements yourself, compare the devices in the hardware wallet comparison.

Sources for further reading: Elliptic's continuously updated analysis of the incident and the market overview by Invezz of October 31.

(As of November 1, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)

XRP broke upward out of the narrow range of recent days on Tuesday afternoon and traded at $1.278, or about €1.14, at around 15:40 German time. That is a gain of 2.1 percent in 24 hours, while bitcoin lost 0.7 percent to $77,290 over the same period (data: CoinGecko). The reason to look ahead is a day away: on Wednesday, at 15:46 German time at the earliest, the correction fixCleanup3_4_0 is due to go live on the XRP Ledger, closing among other things a gap in delegated payment permissions.

What is established: 33 of 35 trusted validators currently vote for the fix, the majority has held without interruption since 14:46 UTC on October 21, and under the network's rules the change takes effect after a majority has been held for two weeks. Our assessment follows further down: the fix is a repair, not a price driver, but it removes a risk for the stablecoins on the ledger, and that counts for more in the medium-term XRP price prediction than an afternoon's move.

Where the price could head over a horizon of months is set out in our XRP price prediction with scenarios to 2030. This article stays with the next few days: what the fix changes technically, which levels now apply and what you as an investor in Germany can take from it.

XRP price leaves the range between $1.2355 and $1.2646

Since Saturday XRP had oscillated in a band of just 2.4 percent between $1.2355 and $1.2646, the tightest range since August according to the news service 99Bitcoins. On an hourly basis the price was still at $1.256 at 13:00 German time on Tuesday and at $1.278 just under two hours later. The 24-hour high reached $1.29, the low $1.24.

A breakout from such a tight range is often sharper than the figure suggests, because stop orders accumulate at both edges. A stop order is an instruction that automatically buys or sells as soon as a set price is reached. If they are triggered above $1.2646, demand enters the market that stems from mechanics rather than from new conviction. Whether this turns into a move that holds depends on whether the old ceiling now acts as a floor.

Trading volume over the past 24 hours was about $1.65 billion according to CoinGecko, and market capitalisation just under $81 billion. Over 30 days XRP is still down 14.2 percent despite the afternoon rally, and over seven days 2.1 percent.

fixCleanup3_4_0 closes the PaymentBurn gap in delegated payments

On the XRP Ledger, an amendment is a rule change on which the validators vote; there is no central body that simply rolls out an update. fixCleanup3_4_0 arrived with the xrpld 3.4.0 server software and bundles several corrections. The most important concerns permissions: since the PermissionDelegation feature, one account can transfer individual rights to another account, such as the right to destroy tokens. This right is called PaymentBurn.

According to the description in the list of known amendments on xrpl.org, a delegate holding only PaymentBurn could in certain cases execute a payment that tips a balance past zero into new issuance. A right to burn could thus, under some circumstances, become a right to mint. Affected are issued tokens, meaning trustline tokens and Multi-Purpose Tokens (MPT), as used by stablecoin issuers. XRP itself is not affected: its supply is fixed and cannot be minted afresh.

After the fix, the ledger rejects such a payment unless the delegate also holds the PaymentMint permission. Until the change is live, the developers advise issuers not to delegate PaymentBurn at all, according to crypto.news. None of the reports cites a case in which tokens were actually created illegitimately through the gap.

33 of 35 validators: the timetable to Wednesday 15:46

We queried the state of the vote directly on a public ledger server on Tuesday and cross-checked it against the amendment tracker of XRPSCAN. Both show the same thing: fixCleanup3_4_0 has had a majority since 14:46:22 UTC on October 21, 2026. Two weeks later, on Wednesday, November 4, at 14:46 UTC or 15:46 German time, the amendment can go live at the earliest.

The count is 33 yes votes out of 35 trusted validators; the threshold is 28. If support falls to 80 percent or below, the two-week period starts again. Five votes lie between the current approval of 94 percent and that limit.

Why the vote already broke down once in October

The vote did not run entirely smoothly. According to crypto.news, support was below the required majority from October 9 to October 21, and the countdown that was already running lapsed. Activation had originally been expected on October 23. Only on October 21 did the majority return, and the clock started again.

For investors this is no side issue. An amendment backed by the validators becomes mandatory for every server: anyone running a version without support for an activated rule is considered amendment blocked and can no longer process the current state of the ledger. Operators of exchanges, wallets and payment services must therefore be on at least xrpld 3.4.0 before Wednesday afternoon. Major outages are rather unlikely, because the version has been available since September, but a missed update hits smaller services first.

Single Asset Vault and Lending Protocol remain locked despite the fix

The package also contains corrections for features that are not yet running on mainnet. These include rounding issues on deposit, withdrawal and clawback in Single Asset Vaults, as well as checks on delinquency and default in the Lending Protocol. A Single Asset Vault is a vault object on the ledger in which many accounts pool a single asset; the Lending Protocol builds loans on top of it.

According to our query, both features are far from a majority: SingleAssetVault has 21 of 35 votes, LendingProtocol 19. The fix therefore tidies up in advance, before these building blocks arrive. Anyone betting that loans will be possible on the XRP Ledger from Wednesday is mistaken. That feature needs its own vote.

Since the escrow relock: XRP price from $1.25 to $1.28

On Monday our article on the escrow relock of 700 million XRP cited a price of $1.25 and two levels: $1.2400 below and $1.2625 above. Both held until Tuesday midday. Ripple had released one billion XRP from escrow on November 1 and relocked 700 million of them until 2029; 300 million remained free.

Three things are new since then. First, the price crossed the upper level on Tuesday afternoon. Second, Binance is gradually reopening withdrawals after the attack at the end of October, and XRP was part of the first phase. On October 29 we had still been reporting on paused withdrawals for Solana and XRP. Third, the analytics service Santiment counted 7,934 newly created XRP wallets on November 1, the sixth-highest daily figure of the year; the number then fell to 4,101.

Levels for the XRP price prediction: $1.2646 below, $1.30 and $1.3343 above

On the downside, the old ceiling of the range at $1.2646 counts first. If it holds on a pullback, the breakout was genuine. If the price falls back below it, the next level is the range low at $1.2355, which almost exactly matches the daily close of October 30 at $1.2357.

On the upside, the first hurdle is $1.30. XRP lost that level on October 31, when the price slid after the Binance attack. Above it comes $1.3343, the daily close of October 21, the day the majority for the fix returned. On October 22 XRP even closed at $1.3651. For context: 30 days ago the price still stood at just over $1.51.

Our view on the ledger fix as a price driver

Our assessment: the fix alone is unlikely to carry the XRP price. One reason is that it is a bundle of bug fixes that will prompt nobody to buy XRP; the tokens affected are stablecoins and other issued assets, not XRP. The comparison with October points the same way: when the majority returned on October 21, the price rose to $1.3651 the following day, but then fell to $1.29 within a week.

What still makes the fix relevant is the context. Ripple is building the ledger into a platform for institutions with the RLUSD stablecoin and escrow functions, and a gap through which a delegate can mint tokens would be a deal-breaker for an issuer. If the fix arrives on Wednesday as planned, that risk disappears. Arguing against a quick continuation of the breakout is that the broader market remains weak on US election day and XRP is still clearly down over 30 days. We do not derive a price target from this.

Token issuers, RLUSD and trustlines: who is affected by the fix

If you keep XRP in your own wallet, you do not need to do anything because of the fix. Things are different if you hold issued tokens via a trustline, such as a stablecoin on the XRP Ledger. A trustline is a trust relationship between your account and the issuer that you must set up before you can receive its tokens. Here the risk lies with the issuer: if it has delegated PaymentBurn to another account, it should revoke that by Wednesday.

For your own custody, the following applies regardless: the fewer rights your account transfers to third parties, the smaller the attack surface. Any ledger explorer shows whether your account carries delegations when you look up your address there. If you hold larger amounts, keep them on a hardware wallet; our hardware wallet comparison shows which devices are suitable for XRP.

Holding period and buying XRP under MiCA

For investors in Germany the fix changes nothing for tax purposes. Gains from XRP are tax-free after a holding period of one year; before that they count as a private sale transaction with an exemption limit of €1,000 a year. We track the state of the planned reform of the holding period on our page on the crypto holding period reform. If you bought at higher prices in October, you may be sitting on losses after the 14.2 percent drop over 30 days, and these can be offset against gains from other coins in the same year.

If you want to buy now, it is best to purchase XRP from a provider licensed under the EU's MiCA regulation, which has applied to all crypto service providers in Germany since the end of the transition period. Our comparison of the best crypto exchanges shows which platforms hold such a licence and what buying there costs.

XRP Ledger fix: from Wednesday 15:46 the $1.2646 level counts

1. Note the date: from Wednesday at 15:46, fixCleanup3_4_0 can go live, provided at least 29 of 35 validators keep their vote. If you want to buy or sell, use a regulated platform from the exchange comparison so that withdrawals do not depend on a service that misses the update.
2. Watch the level: if XRP holds above $1.2646 on a pullback, the breakout remains intact; a close below it leads back into the old range. Keep holdings you hold for longer safely on a device from the hardware wallet comparison.
3. Record purchase data: each purchase counts separately for the holding period. A tool from our comparison of crypto tax tools records the purchase date and cost basis so you can prove a tax-free sale after twelve months.

(As of November 3, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)

Binance has weathered the first rush after reopening withdrawals. In the first nine and a half hours or so from 6 a.m. UTC (7 a.m. German time) on Sunday, November 1, customers withdrew $4.65 billion and deposited $1.01 billion, according to the exchange. On balance, $3.64 billion left the platform. Measured against the $171 billion that Binance reported in its proof of reserves of October 28, that is 2.1 percent, as CNBC reported, citing Binance.

For you as a Binance customer in Germany, this means for now: the exchange is paying out on the networks that have been reopened, and on the figures known so far an outflow of this size does not put it under pressure. The full proof of reserves is still outstanding. Binance has announced it for Tuesday, November 3. Only then can it be checked whether balances are in fact backed one to one after the attack of October 29.

Binance net outflow: $4.65 billion out, $1.01 billion in

A net outflow is the difference between all withdrawals and all deposits at an exchange over a given period. It shows how much customer money has left on balance and is therefore more telling than the sum of withdrawals alone. At Binance the ratio in the first window was a little over four to one: for every dollar deposited, about $4.60 went out.

According to CNBC, the window runs from 6 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. UTC on November 1. Binance said, according to the report, that withdrawals had declined and stabilised after an initial spike, while deposits had remained "substantial". Binance founder Changpeng Zhao wrote on X that most of the net outflows had occurred in the first few hours after the reopening. He added the line "98% choose to stay!" The figure is his own reading of the 2.1 percent and not a separately measured value.

The context helps. Withdrawals had been frozen for about 45 hours after the hack. Some of those who could not get at their money during that time wanted to see it straight away. An outflow in the first hours is therefore to be expected and is not in itself a verdict on trust. More telling is whether it ebbs or persists over the following days.

Outflow figures compared: Binance, DefiLlama and CoinDesk count differently

Anyone following the Binance news is currently seeing three very different numbers. They do not contradict each other; they measure different things:

• $3.64 billion: the net outflow according to Binance's own books, over about nine and a half hours.
• $4.05 billion: the net outflow over 24 hours according to the data service DefiLlama, as of 11:37 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday, as The Block reports. DefiLlama tracks $131.1 billion in known Binance wallets.
• More than $6 billion: the total of all tokens that, according to CoinDesk, left wallets attributed to Binance within 24 hours. This includes transfers between the exchange's own wallets, so it is a gross figure. CoinDesk puts it at about 3.6 percent of the $171 billion.

The reliable range for actual customer outflows on day one is therefore between $3.64 billion and just over $4 billion. The $6 billion figure makes for headlines but says the least about customer behaviour.

Part of the money ended up with competitors. According to The Block, DefiLlama counted combined net inflows of about $368 million at the ten next-largest exchanges it tracks, of which $316.8 million went to OKX. CoinDesk puts the figure for OKX at about $450 million and for Bybit at about $134 million. Here too, the aggregate data does not show how much came directly from Binance customers. Most of the billions withdrawn apparently went to customers' own wallets or to providers that DefiLlama does not track.

Bitcoin holdings at Binance: down 19,289 BTC in 24 hours

The movement is clearest in the largest coin. According to CoinGlass data cited by The Block, the bitcoin balance on Binance addresses fell by about 19,289 BTC within 24 hours. Coinbase recorded an increase of about 984 BTC over the same period, Kraken about 1,422 BTC. A large share of the bitcoin withdrawn therefore did not go to another major exchange.

That fits a pattern seen after every major exchange incident: some customers move their coins into self-custody. Self-custody means holding the private keys to your coins yourself, for example on a hardware wallet, rather than entrusting them to an exchange. Our hardware wallet comparison shows which devices are suitable and what they cost. For investors who hold their bitcoin for the long term, this is the safest form of storage regardless of Binance, because a hack at the exchange does not touch coins in your own wallet.

Phase one of Binance withdrawals: 15 networks open, hundreds of coins still blocked

The reopening is happening in phases. From 6 a.m. UTC Binance first opened 15 networks, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, the XRP Ledger and the main networks for the stablecoins USDT and USDC. By 12:36 p.m. UTC all 15 networks in this first phase were available again, according to the exchange. The individual networks are listed in our overview of the reopening.

For many customers the matter is not yet settled. According to The Block, Binance's status page at 11:22 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday still showed withdrawals blocked for 531 of 552 listed coins, with 14 partially reopened. Binance is still testing the remaining networks, among them Cardano, Chainlink, Hyperliquid, Litecoin and NEAR. The exchange has not yet published a date for the next phase.

If you hold coins outside the first phase, you have two options. You can wait for your network to reopen, or you can swap on Binance into a coin that can already be withdrawn. The second route has a catch that German investors often overlook: swapping one crypto asset for another counts as a disposal for tax purposes. If you bought less than a year ago, any gain is taxable, and the holding period starts again for the new coin.

Reimbursing the hack loot: 95 percent replaced, Circle freezes $1.1 billion in USDC

The rush stems from the attack of October 29, in which about $6.3 billion flowed out of the hot wallets, according to the exchange. Hot wallets are an exchange's permanently internet-connected wallets through which it processes withdrawals. The FBI attributes the theft to the North Korean group TraderTraitor.

Binance says it had replaced about 95 percent of the affected amount by November 1, up from 90 percent in the previous update. The remainder concerns less liquid tokens that can only be bought slowly in sufficient quantity on the market. According to CNBC, the exchange is bearing the losses itself and not passing them on to customers.

Part of the loot has also been frozen. Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has blocked more than $1.1 billion in USDC linked to the incident, according to CNBC. On Friday Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire had still spoken of more than $800 million. The attacker can no longer move frozen stablecoins.

Proof of reserves with a zero-knowledge proof: Binance names Tuesday as the date

Binance has yet to deliver the real test. In its announcement on the recovery, the exchange says the full proof of reserves is expected by Tuesday, November 3 (UTC). It is based on a snapshot of holdings at midnight UTC on October 31. Co-CEO Richard Teng had originally named Monday. Binance attributes the delay to the computing effort: generating the proof takes about 40 to 50 hours.

A zero-knowledge proof is a cryptographic method that can verify a statement without disclosing the underlying data. For a proof of reserves this means Binance can show that the sum of all customer balances is covered by its own holdings without publishing individual account balances. Each customer can also check whether their own balance is included in the calculation.

One point matters for context: such a proof applies to a reference date. It shows whether there was enough on October 31 and says nothing about liabilities beyond customer balances. We explain in detail how to find your own balance in the proof and where its limits lie in Binance proof of reserves.

Prices after the Binance outflow: bitcoin at $77,714, BNB at $703.60

The outflow has left barely a mark on the market. Bitcoin traded at $77,714 on the afternoon of Monday, November 2, 0.16 percent below its level 24 hours earlier. BNB, the exchange's token, stood at $703.60, down 1.31 percent. All prices according to CoinGecko data.

BNB is the asset in which confidence in Binance can be read most directly. Many investors read a decline of 1.31 percent after an outflow of several billion dollars as a sign that the market considers the numbers manageable. That is no guarantee for the coming days: if Tuesday's proof of reserves brings a surprise, many traders expect it to show up first in the BNB price.

Withdrawing to your own wallet: network, test amount and tax

If you want to pull balances off Binance now, keep three points in mind. First, the network: many coins can be withdrawn over several blockchains, USDT for example over Ethereum, Tron or BNB Smart Chain. The receiving address must match the chosen network, or the payment is usually lost. A small test amount is worthwhile for the first withdrawal to a new address.

Second, authenticity: after major incidents, fake emails and websites circulate that lure users with a quick withdrawal or supposed compensation. Check the status of the networks only in the app or directly on binance.com, never via a link in a message.

Finally, tax, and here the situation for German investors is relaxed. Transferring coins to your own wallet is not a sale. No tax is due, and the one-year holding period keeps running. What matters is that you can document the coins' path later. So download your full transaction history from Binance before moving. A crypto tax tool then merges exchange and wallet and records the purchase dates for the holding period.

MiCA licence and switching exchanges: what matters when you move

Some customers will take the incident as a reason to switch exchanges. For investors in Germany, a licence under the EU's MiCA regulation is the most important criterion. MiCA stands for Markets in Crypto-Assets and has governed since the end of 2024 which providers may offer crypto services in the EU. Whether a provider is licensed is shown in the public register of the European Securities and Markets Authority, ESMA, where you can check before opening any account.

A MiCA licence does not protect against a hack. It does, however, oblige the provider to keep customer funds segregated, to meet capital requirements and to be subject to a supervisor you can turn to in a dispute. Our comparison of regulated crypto exchanges shows which exchanges operate in Germany with a licence and what they cost.

If you switch, your holding periods come with you as long as you transfer coins rather than sell them. If instead you sell on Binance and reinvest the money on the new exchange, the period restarts and any gain is taxed. Especially for bitcoin that has been in the portfolio for almost a year, this difference can amount to a lot of money.

Binance outflow: Tuesday's proof of reserves will show whether the backing holds

The weekend's figures so far point to an exchange that can absorb a rush. $3.64 billion in net outflows is a lot of money, but it is 2.1 percent of the most recently reported reserves. Nothing has been decided yet. The full proof of reserves on Tuesday will be decisive, and until then three steps make sense:

1. Review self-custody: coins you hold for the long term belong in your own wallet. Our comparison of hardware wallets gives an overview of suitable devices.
2. Check the licence before switching: if you want to change exchanges, choose a provider with a MiCA licence. The comparison of regulated crypto exchanges shows fees and offering.
3. Secure your records: export your Binance history before you move and merge it with a crypto tax tool so the holding period remains provable.

(As of November 2, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)

More than $133 million in crypto has allegedly flowed out of an as yet unnamed entity in the European Union. That is the finding of blockchain investigator ZachXBT, and the exchanges Kraken and Crypto.com have since restricted accounts and blocked funds connected to the incident. Who the victim is remains unclear. So far neither an authority nor a company has confirmed that an attack took place at all. According to the exchanges named, their customers face no risk. This article sets out what is established, what remains speculation and how you can secure your own exchange account against the usual follow-up attacks.

Crypto theft in the EU: ZachXBT traces $133 million

ZachXBT is a pseudonymous on-chain investigator who has spent years publicly tracing money flows after hacks and frauds. On-chain analysis means reading the publicly visible transactions on a blockchain and linking addresses, amounts and timestamps into a picture. On Monday, November 2, 2026, he flagged suspicious outflows of about $106 million, according to Cointelegraph. The source, he said, was an entity in the European Union that he did not name.

On Tuesday he followed up. He found further withdrawals from centralised exchanges worth about $27 million, part of which left only after his first report. That puts the alleged loss at roughly $133 million. The public does not know the victim's name: ZachXBT does not disclose it, and the exchanges involved are also silent on the point.

From $106 million to $133 million: how the total grew

ZachXBT gives the total and follows the wallets linked to the funds. The analytics firm Bitquery has recalculated the movements on these addresses:

• $62.98 million in stablecoins was swapped into 27,553 ether within about four hours.
• On Monday afternoon, according to Bitquery, about $78.3 million still sat in wallets attributed to the alleged attacker.
• About $30.5 million had already been moved out of the observed addresses by then.

The total is therefore growing because investigators are finding further outflows from the same source, and not because new victims are emerging. The figures are as of early afternoon on Tuesday, November 3, 2026. New findings may change the number again.

Kraken, Crypto.com and OKX: the exchanges on the trail

According to Bitquery, the stolen funds were withdrawn via accounts at Kraken, Crypto.com and OKX. All three exchanges also serve customers in Germany, so the question of whether retail customers were affected came up quickly. The exchanges' statements, as reported by Cointelegraph, suggest they were not:

• Kraken has restricted accounts linked to the theft and is working with law enforcement on recovery. The incident did not originate on the Kraken platform, its security systems were not compromised, no customer account was taken over and there is no ongoing risk to customers, the exchange said.
• Crypto.com says it has blocked funds connected to the incident. The platform is fully operational and user balances are safe.
• OKX acknowledged the press enquiry and said it was looking into the matter.

In practice, the account freezes at Kraken concern accounts tied to the suspected perpetrator or to the flow of funds. An ordinary customer account is not restricted as a result. We described how such freezes work technically when covering the dust attack on Kraken in August.

Stablecoins frozen: why Circle and Tether could stop only $4.84 million

Stablecoins are tokens whose value is pegged to a government currency, usually the US dollar. The large issuers Circle (USDC) and Tether (USDT) can block individual addresses and freeze the tokens held there. After hacks this is often the quickest lever for holding on to the loot. In this case it barely worked: according to Cointelegraph, Circle was able to freeze only about $3.74 million in USDC, while Tether had blocked $1.1 million in USDT. Together that is about $4.84 million, or less than 4 percent of the alleged total.

The reason is speed. Anyone who swaps stablecoins into ether within hours puts them beyond the issuer's reach. Ether itself cannot be frozen centrally by anyone. Attackers exploit this gap regularly, and it shows why exchanges and issuers depend on fast tip-offs after an incident.

Laundering via ether and Monero: the path of the funds according to ZachXBT

After the swap into ether, the funds are said to have moved on. ZachXBT describes how the suspected perpetrator switched into ether and Monero via instant swap services and bridges between blockchains. A bridge is a service that transfers value from one blockchain to another. Monero is a cryptocurrency in which the sender, recipient and amount of a transaction are obscured. Moving funds there makes the trail much harder for investigators to read.

Another assessment by the investigator stands out: in his view, the patterns do not match those of North Korea's Lazarus Group. The case would therefore stand on its own and would not be a further part of the wave of attacks surrounding the Binance hack of October 29. Exactly who is behind the new case is unclear. You can find an overview of the attacks of recent days in our situation report crypto hack news.

Cover-up allegation against an unnamed institution: no evidence so far

The most pointed part of the report is a supposition. According to Cointelegraph, ZachXBT's working hypothesis is that a large financial institution in Western Europe was attacked and that the incident is currently being covered up. Because the incident was not properly disclosed, more than $30 million could be laundered, he argues. European law enforcement might otherwise have been able to freeze the funds.

These statements are the investigator's assessment, not established fact. No institution has been named, and there is no statement from an EU authority or a victim. ZachXBT has not yet publicly presented solid evidence of an attack on a financial institution or of a cover-up, and the identity of the victim is unconfirmed. The line can therefore be drawn cleanly: the outflows on the blockchain can be traced and the exchanges' account freezes are confirmed, while the reading as a theft from a financial institution and the cover-up allegation remain open.

Reporting duty under DORA: financial institutions must report serious IT incidents to supervisors

The disclosure question has a legal background. Since January 17, 2025 the EU has applied the Digital Operational Resilience Act, or DORA (Regulation (EU) 2022/2554). DORA is a regulation that obliges banks, insurers, investment firms and also crypto service providers licensed under MiCA to meet minimum standards for IT security. This includes reporting major ICT incidents to the competent supervisor, which in Germany is usually BaFin.

The limit of this obligation matters: reports go to the supervisor, not to the public. Whether an affected institution has reported its incident cannot be verified from the outside. The fact that nothing is publicly known therefore proves neither a cover-up nor the opposite. Financial firms must inform customers mainly when their financial interests are affected.

How to protect yourself from phishing and account takeover after an exchange incident

What happened: Between November 1 and 3, 2026, more than $133 million allegedly flowed out of accounts belonging to an unnamed entity in the EU, according to ZachXBT and Bitquery, including via Kraken, Crypto.com and OKX. The funds were quickly swapped into ether and Monero; about $4.84 million has been frozen so far (as of November 3, 2026, source Cointelegraph).

Are you affected? According to Kraken and Crypto.com, no customer account was taken over and the platforms are running normally. If you hold an ordinary account at one of the three exchanges, you are not affected on current information. The risk for retail investors lies elsewhere: big headlines attract fraudsters who send emails, texts or calls in the exchanges' name and demand supposed security checks.

1. Official channel: Open messages about this case only in the app or via your exchange's address typed in by hand, never through a link in an email or text.
2. App-based two-factor: Switch logins and withdrawals to an authenticator app or a security key, since SMS codes can be intercepted via someone else's SIM card.
3. Withdrawal whitelist: Turn on the address list for withdrawals if your exchange offers one, so crypto withdrawals go only to addresses you have approved in advance.
4. Check API keys: Delete API keys you created for trading bots or tax tools and no longer use, and remove withdrawal rights from the rest.
5. No recovery services: Ignore offers to recover lost or frozen crypto for a fee, and never hand over your recovery phrase; no exchange asks for it.

Our guide how to store crypto safely explains the basics of secure custody, and the hardware wallet comparison compares suitable devices.

Hot wallet and exchange account: where crypto sits during an incident

The case shows once again how fast crypto can be moved as soon as someone has access to an account. On an exchange account, the exchange holds your coins in its own wallets. Part of them sits in so-called hot wallets, which are connected to the internet and ready for fast withdrawals. With reputable providers the larger part is kept offline in cold wallets. What matters most for you is whether your provider is supervised and how it segregates client funds.

In the EU this has been governed since the end of 2024 by the MiCA regulation. Crypto service providers licensed under MiCA must hold client assets separately from their own and are subject to supervision. Our comparison of regulated crypto exchanges shows which exchanges hold this licence. If you hold coins for longer and do not trade, you are better off moving them to your own wallet whose keys only you control. With a hardware wallet, the private key stays on a device that is never directly connected to the internet.

Client funds at Kraken and Crypto.com: the platforms report normal operations

On current information, the incident changes little in the day-to-day life of German investors. Kraken and Crypto.com report normal operations, and deposits and withdrawals are working. The frozen accounts are part of the investigation and not a sign of a disruption. The case was different at the Brazilian exchange Mercado Bitcoin, which halted all withdrawals on November 2 after an attack; the details are in our report Mercado Bitcoin halts withdrawals.

Three points remain open and should become clearer in the coming days: who the victim is, whether a supervisor confirms the case and whether further funds are frozen. As long as there is no statement from a victim or an authority, the reading as a theft from a Western European financial institution remains a supposition.

EU crypto theft: only $4.84 million of $133 million is frozen

From everything known, the alleged theft does not directly affect retail customers. It is still a reason to review your own setup, because the follow-up phishing attacks target exactly them. Three steps help:

1. Check whether your exchange holds a MiCA licence and keeps client funds segregated. The comparison of regulated crypto exchanges gives an overview.
2. Move holdings you do not actively trade to your own hardware wallet. The hardware wallet comparison shows which devices are suitable.
3. Use a separate app wallet with a small amount for DeFi and experiments. You can find suitable apps in the software wallet comparison.

(As of November 3, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)

A bitcoin miner in Germany makes no profit in November 2026 as long as it runs on grid electricity. At the difficulty of November 3, 2026, Bitmain's air-cooled Antminer S21 XP mines bitcoin worth €7.91 a day and uses 87.5 kilowatt hours to do so. It only turns a profit up to an electricity price of 9.04 cents per kilowatt hour. Household electricity in Germany cost 36.18 cents in the first half of 2026, according to Eurostat, so the device loses €23.74 a day. Our mining calculator shows these figures for five current devices and three electricity prices, plus the formula to work it out yourself.

Bitcoin mining calculator 2026 at a glance: the key figures

• At the difficulty of 148.36 trillion on November 3, 2026, one terahash per second earns €0.0293 a day, one petahash $32.79.
• In the week to November 3, each block paid an average of 3.1432 bitcoin: 3.125 from the block reward and 0.0182 from fees.
• The five devices in our calculator only turn a profit up to an electricity price of between 7.63 and 13.72 cents per kilowatt hour.
• An Antminer S21 XP needs 23.8 years on average to mine a whole bitcoin.
• For the cost of one day's electricity you get four times as much bitcoin on the market as the device mines in the same time.
• The next halving at block 1,050,000 is expected to cut the reward to 1.5625 bitcoin in April 2028.

How bitcoin mining works technically, from proof of work to pools, is explained in our guide What is bitcoin mining?. This article is about the numbers.

Bitcoin mining calculator: revenue, power and break-even per device

For the calculator we ran the numbers for devices from Bitmain's shop using the difficulty of November 3, 2026 and a bitcoin price of €68,761. Revenue is the expected value before pool fees: it holds on average over many blocks, while on individual days it fluctuates with the pool's luck.

Bitmain quotes its prices in US dollars; we converted them to euros at the day's exchange rate, with customs, shipping and import VAT on top. The break-even point is the electricity price at which revenue and power costs are equal. Water-cooled and immersion devices need a cooling circuit or an oil bath and are built for data centres. Only the air-cooled model is an option for a socket at home, and even that draws 3.6 kilowatts around the clock, just under 32,000 kilowatt hours a year.

That is the basic problem: every device sits far below German household electricity prices and also below the commercial rate of 23.66 cents net that Eurostat reports for businesses using 20 to 499 megawatt hours a year. Bitcoin mining therefore only pays in places with very cheap power: at hydroelectric plants, at gas fields with surplus gas and at solar parks with peak power.

How to calculate bitcoin mining revenue yourself

A miner's revenue follows from three numbers: its hashrate, the network difficulty and the reward per block. The formula for expected blocks per day is: hashrate in hashes per second times 86,400 seconds, divided by difficulty times 2 to the power of 32. Multiply the result by the reward per block, currently a little over 3.14 bitcoin.

The current difficulty and the date of the next adjustment are shown by mempool.space. The service expects the next adjustment at block 975,744, currently with a drop of 2.19 percent. From your result you still deduct your pool's fee, which is usually charged as a percentage of the payout.

Mining calculator for Germany: 30 days on household, commercial and solar power

Bitcoin mining on grid power does not pay in Germany, either for households or for typical businesses. Only those who use their own solar power, giving up the feed-in tariff in return, end up slightly in the black. The example shows the Antminer S21 XP, the most efficient air-cooled device, over 30 days.

For solar power we use as the price what you forgo: the feed-in tariff of 7.70 cents that the Federal Network Agency lists for rooftop systems up to 10 kilowatts commissioned from August 2026. Even then, an S21 XP needs around 9.5 years to earn back its purchase price, and only if difficulty and price stay the same. There is also a practical problem: the device needs 87.5 kilowatt hours a day, around the clock. A solar system on a detached house only delivers that much power in the bright hours of a summer day; at night the miner runs on grid power.

What tips the balance is therefore your own electricity bill: if your unit price is above the break-even point from our mining calculator, you lose money with every hour of operation. Add noise and waste heat, because air-cooled miners are built for warehouses. The basics of photovoltaics and mining are covered in our article on bitcoin mining with solar power. How mined coins are taxed is explained in our guide to crypto mining and tax.

How long does it take to mine one bitcoin? The numbers for solo mining and pools

An Antminer S21 XP mines an average of 0.0001151 bitcoin a day. It therefore needs 23.8 years for a whole bitcoin, and the water-cooled S23 XP Hyd. still 10.7 years. The time lengthens with every upward difficulty adjustment and with every halving.

In solo mining, a device computes on its own and only receives something if it finds a block itself. At 270 terahash, the chance of that is 1 in 3.9 million per block. On average it succeeds once in 75 years, but then with the full reward of a little over 3.1 bitcoin. Solo mining is therefore a lottery with a very high electricity stake.

That is why almost all miners join a mining pool. The pool combines the computing power of many devices, finds blocks regularly and distributes the reward according to each member's share of computing power. Revenue thus becomes predictable and matches the expected value from our calculator, minus the pool fee.

What hashrate and the 2028 halving mean for the mining maths

Computing power in the bitcoin network has more than doubled in three years. On a seven-day moving average it rose, according to mempool.space, from 452 exahash per second in November 2023 to 1,069 exahash in early November 2026. Derived from the difficulty, it is currently around 1,062 exahash. Because the number of blocks is fixed, the same reward is shared across ever more computing power.

On top of that, the reward halves every 210,000 blocks. At the halving on April 20, 2024, it fell at block 840,000 from 6.25 to 3.125 bitcoin. The next bitcoin halving comes at block 1,050,000. On November 3, 2026, 75,676 blocks remained until then; at ten minutes per block that point is reached in April 2028. From then on, transaction fees matter more for miners; they currently account for only 0.6 percent of revenue per block.

For any mining calculation this means: without a rising price, revenue per terahash falls over time. A device that barely pays its way today will make a loss after the next halving unless bitcoin has become significantly more expensive by then. We track how the difficulty has jumped this autumn on an ongoing basis, most recently in our bitcoin price prediction on mining difficulty.

Dogecoin mining, Litecoin and Monero in the mining calculator

Besides bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies are mined by proof of work, each with its own algorithm and hardware. That changes little in the basic calculation: here too, the electricity price decides.

Dogecoin mining and Litecoin: both coins use the Scrypt algorithm and are mined together, so one miner works for both networks at once. According to network data from Blockchair, an Antminer L9 with 16 gigahash per second and 3,360 watts produced an average of 61.7 dogecoin and 0.0204 litecoin a day on November 3, 2026, worth €5.08 in total. 81 percent of that comes from dogecoin, whose block reward is fixed at 10,000 DOGE. The L9's break-even point is 6.30 cents per kilowatt hour; on German household electricity it loses €24.10 a day. How the budget splits between the two coins is shown in our analysis of dogecoin mining and Litecoin's share.

Monero: with its RandomX algorithm, Monero deliberately relies on ordinary processors rather than specialist devices and pays out a permanent 0.6 XMR per block. Per 10 kilohash per second, at the difficulty of November 3 and a price of €540.38, that yields €0.36 a day. On German household electricity this only pays if the computer needs less than 41 extra watts for those 10 kilohash.

Kaspa and Ethereum Classic: Kaspa is now mined with dedicated ASIC devices, and Bitmain lists the coin as a separate category in its shop. For Ethereum Classic, Bitmain sells the Antminer E11 with 9.5 gigahash per second and 2,470 watts. Ethereum itself can no longer be mined since the Merge in September 2022. If you would rather rent computing power, you will find the maths and the typical contract traps in our guide to cloud mining without your own hardware.

Buying bitcoin instead of mining: what the same power costs get you on the market

For the electricity an Antminer S21 XP uses in one day on household power, you pay €31.65. For the same amount you get 0.00046 bitcoin on November 3, 2026, four times as much as the device mines in that time. With no device, no noise and no maintenance.

Advertisement: Bitpanda and Coinbase are licensed in the EU under the MiCA crypto regulation, Bitpanda by the Austrian Financial Market Authority and Coinbase by Luxembourg's CSSF. With both you can buy bitcoin by bank transfer or card and set up a savings plan. All providers with their licences, fees and security features are listed in our comparison of regulated crypto exchanges.

Whether bought or mined: larger holdings belong in your own wallet, whose keys only you know. We compare devices for secure storage in our hardware wallet comparison.

Our view: when bitcoin mining pays in 2026

Bitcoin mining has become an industry. It pays where electricity flows at a fraction of the German household price and thousands of devices are cooled together. For private individuals in Germany, a miner is an expensive lesson: fascinating for understanding how the network is secured, but as an investment clearly worse than buying directly.

Our recommendation: before any purchase, run the numbers with your own electricity price, the current difficulty and the next halving; the formula is above. If your electricity price is above the break-even point, buying bitcoin directly is cheaper. Mining remains interesting as a way to use your own surplus power when the feed-in tariff is low and the device is already there.

Cryptocurrencies and mining involve high risks, and price and difficulty can change quickly. This guide is not investment advice. The links to Bitpanda and Coinbase are partner links; they cost you nothing extra.

(As of November 3, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)

The National Cyber Security Centre said AI will expose security flaws "tolerated for far too long," and called time on "tech on the cheap."

The “Tierra” upgrade resolves a critical bug from the prior version, adds formal verification, and an AI-powered testing harness.

Meanwhile, both the BTC ETFs and ETH ETFs bleed outflows in the Binance hack aftermath, dragging down prices.

LUNC holders are waiting for Binance’s November burn, but it hasn’t arrived as the exchange recovers from a record $6.3 billion hack.

Blockstream CEO Adam Back said the sidechain's defenses have been hardened, and warned developers not to trust AI-suggested fixes blindly.

South Korea is considering requiring cryptocurrency exchanges to keep 99% of customer assets in cold wallets.

HYPE surges after the CFTC approves the first-ever regulated US stock perpetuals, validating Hyperliquid’s core trading architecture.

Zcash futures flows drop 859% as Whales Reposition Amid Long Liquidations.

Michael Saylor's Strategy now boasts over $1 billion in unrealized profit as Bitcoin maintains stamina above its cost basis despite ongoing volatility.

Over 131 million ADA tied to retired pools as Cardano stakers face reward loss.

TLDR

• Palantir stock dropped nearly 8% in Tuesday’s premarket trading despite stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings.
• Palantir reported $2.313 billion in quarterly revenue, representing 96% annual growth.
• Total contract value rose just 6% year over year to $2.918 billion, compared with 49% growth in the previous quarter.
• U.S. commercial contract value growth slowed to 11% from 153% in the second quarter.
• Long-term remaining performance obligations declined $70 million to $2.74 billion.

Palantir (PLTR) stock fell nearly 8% in Tuesday’s premarket trading after it reported slower third-quarter contract growth. Shares traded around $164.15 at 8 a.m. ET, compared with Monday’s $178.34 close.

Palantir Technologies Inc., PLTR

Palantir reported $2.313 billion in revenue, up 96% from a year earlier. Adjusted earnings reached $0.44 per share. Both results exceeded analyst forecasts, but contract figures grew more slowly than during the previous quarter.

Palantir Stock Faces Slower Contract Growth

Palantir signed contracts worth $2.918 billion, up 6% year over year. That followed 49% annual growth in the second quarter, when new contract value reached $3.373 billion.

U.S. commercial contracts totaled $1.463 billion, up 11% from a year earlier. The previous quarter recorded 153% annual growth and $2.132 billion in contracts. Palantir also closed 212 deals worth at least $1 million, versus 220 previously.

These figures measure contracted business, including customer options, rather than completed sales. The drop arrived amid broader selling of AI stocks, with Goldman Sachs data showing hedge funds reduced related holdings during October.

Long-Term Contracted Revenue Declines

Palantir reported $2.74 billion in long-term remaining performance obligations, down from $2.81 billion in the second quarter. The $70 million decline came as shorter-term obligations rose from $2.09 billion to $2.14 billion.

Total obligations fell slightly to $4.88 billion from $4.90 billion. They still stood 88% above the year-earlier level. The measure covers contracted revenue not yet recorded but excludes contracts lasting 12 months or less.

Finance chief David Glazer said termination rights also limit the measure’s coverage of government work. Separately, U.S. commercial remaining deal value reached $6.517 billion, rising 79% annually.

Other technology companies faced questions about rising AI infrastructure spending. Amazon recently reported a $42.4 billion trailing annual free cash flow outflow as it increased data-center investment.

Palantir Raises Its Revenue Outlook

Palantir projected fourth-quarter revenue of $2.649 billion to $2.653 billion, above analysts’ $2.46 billion estimate. It also increased its 2026 revenue forecast to $8.530 billion through $8.534 billion.

Glazer said customers signed several shorter Sovereign AI contracts worth tens of millions of dollars. He expects their size and duration to grow, although Palantir did not link them to the decline in long-term obligations.

Palantir-linked token PLTRB traded near $164.14, down 12% over 24 hours. Its trading differs from Nasdaq shares. The wider market is debating tokenized stock trading plans after several companies objected to one proposed system.

Palantir shares had already declined for five straight sessions through Monday. The stock lost about 10.3% during that period and closed 16.2% below its 52-week high of $212.94.

The post Palantir (PLTR) Stock Falls Nearly 8% Despite Earnings Beat appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Apple stock fell 4.46% to $323.23 in Tuesday’s premarket trading following its quarterly earnings report.
• Apple’s manufacturing purchase commitments increased by $33 billion to $89.7 billion during the September quarter.
• The company reported quarterly revenue of $114.5 billion, exceeding analysts’ expectations of $113.4 billion.
• Apple expects its December-quarter gross margin to fall to between 45% and 46% as memory costs rise.
• Apple reported $14.54 billion in inventory, representing a 31% increase from the June quarter.

Apple (AAPL) stock fell 4.46% to $323.23 in premarket trading Tuesday at 8:21 a.m. ET. The decline followed Apple’s warning about higher memory costs and a $33 billion rise in manufacturing purchase commitments, despite stronger quarterly earnings.

Apple Inc., AAPL

Apple Stock Drops After Earnings Beat

Apple reported fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $114.5 billion, up 12% from a year earlier. Revenue exceeded the $113.4 billion analysts expected. Earnings reached $2.10 per share, above estimates of $1.99, including five cents from tariff refunds.

Shares closed Monday at $338.32 after two losing sessions. The report arrived during a busy week for technology earnings, with other major companies also reporting results. Apple expects December-quarter revenue to increase between 7% and 10% from a year earlier.

Manufacturing Orders Rise to $89.7 Billion

Chief Executive John Ternus said supplier commitments increased by $33 billion between June and September. Apple’s annual filing, released Tuesday, put September manufacturing purchase obligations at $89.7 billion, compared with $57 billion in June. Of the September total, $82.7 billion falls due within 12 months.

The commitments cover planned purchases from suppliers and contract manufacturers, rather than existing debt. Apple did not disclose how much involved memory chips. Chief Operating Officer Sabih Khan said memory shortages could restrict Mac and iPad supplies during the holiday quarter. Inventory rose 31% to $14.54 billion. Earlier stockpiles offer temporary relief from recent memory price increases.

Rising Memory Costs Pressure Holiday Margins

Apple forecast a gross margin of 45% to 46% for December, down from September’s 47.9%. Analysts had expected about 47%. September’s result included roughly one percentage point from tariff refunds, placing its adjusted margin near 46.9%. This followed recent heavy selling of AI-linked shares.

Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh identified memory prices as the main reason for the expected decline. Siri AI cloud costs also feature in the forecast. Ternus called current memory prices “unprecedented” and expects further increases after December. Apple raised prices on several iPhone, Mac and iPad products during 2026.

Analysts Revise Targets as Tokenized Shares Fall

Apple-linked token AAPLB traded at $325.64, down 5.22% over 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap figures cited Tuesday. Separately, the New York Stock Exchange expanded its tokenized stock plans this week. Its proposed service remains separate from AAPLB and has no announced launch date.

Goldman Sachs analyst Michael Ng cut his Apple target from $390 to $380 but kept a Buy rating. Morgan Stanley’s Erik Woodring reduced his target from $355 to $350 while maintaining an Overweight rating.

The post Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Stock Falls as Supply Commitments Surge appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• New Jersey has withdrawn its 2023 Coinbase staking order and the associated $5 million penalty.
• The state regulator rescinded the order on October 30 without deciding whether Coinbase violated securities law.
• Coinbase estimates New Jersey residents missed more than $15 million in staking rewards during the restrictions.
• Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said staking access would return soon, although the exchange has not announced a reopening date.
• Existing Coinbase customers in New Jersey could continue earning staking rewards but could not add new funds.

New Jersey has withdrawn its 2023 order against Coinbase staking, clearing a path for residents to add crypto to the service after more than three years. The state also rescinded a $5 million penalty.

The October 30 notice, signed by Acting Bureau Chief Keith A. Alt, made no finding on whether the staking program broke securities law. Coinbase estimates New Jersey residents missed over $15 million in rewards.

New Jersey Withdraws Coinbase Staking Order

Coinbase said in its third-quarter filing that the state notified it on October 29 of plans to rescind the order. Chief Executive Brian Armstrong said access would return “very soon.”

However, Coinbase’s eligibility page still lists New Jersey among states where customers cannot stake new funds. The exchange has not announced a reopening date. Existing stakers can keep earning rewards.

How the 2023 Restrictions Worked

New Jersey joined nine other states on June 6, 2023, in alleging that Coinbase offered unregistered securities through staking. Coinbase disputed the claim. Staking is among the ways crypto exchanges earn revenue through service fees.

That July, Coinbase agreed to restrict new staking in California, New Jersey, South Carolina and Wisconsin. Maryland reached a similar agreement in October. Those restrictions remained while the state cases continued.

Customers with existing staked assets could keep earning rewards but could not add more funds or reinvest their earnings. Users could also withdraw their crypto, although they could not stake it again.

Other States Continue Staking Cases

A recent study found staking and mining income fell 37% across the wider blockchain industry in the first half of 2026. The figure did not refer specifically to Coinbase.

Alabama, Kentucky, Illinois, South Carolina and Vermont ended their cases in 2025. California, Maryland and Wisconsin still restrict new staking. Washington allows staking but continues to pursue a $4 million penalty. Coinbase also estimates California residents have missed over $89 million in potential rewards since the restrictions began.

No Final Ruling on Staking Law

New Jersey withdrew its order “without prejudice.” That means the bureau can bring another action later. The notice did not decide whether Coinbase staking falls under state securities rules.

The SEC dismissed its separate Coinbase lawsuit in February 2025. Congress has not passed the CLARITY market structure bill. A fresh debate over the CLARITY Act this week centered on crypto oversight following the Binance hack. Coinbase warned in its filing that adverse rulings in remaining state cases could affect its business.

The post New Jersey Clears Coinbase Staking Hurdle, Questions Remain appeared first on Blockonomi.

Getting involved in cryptocurrency was once thought to be a niche activity. Now, millions of investors around the world have at least dabbled in the industry. As it continues to grow, more people are attempting to bridge their traditional financial methods with digital options.

For that reason, a crypto Visa card may be the best way to go. While there are definitely conveniences to these cards, there is a lot more than meets the eye. Read on and you will find out the answers to important questions and determine whether a crypto debit card is right for you.

How Do Crypto Debit Cards Work?

Using a crypto debit card is a lot different from simply monitoring Bitcoin’s price. With a crypto debit card, you do have to pay attention to the current market value but just having a general idea of how much is in your exchange account should be enough.

When you swipe the card, the transaction is either paid for directly with crypto – depending on the merchant – or the requisite amount of crypto is sold and then converted into fiat currency. In any event, these transactions take place in the span of seconds, allowing you to make greater use of your crypto holdings.

Prepaid vs. Linked Wallet Cards

Though there is a litany of different crypto debit cards to choose from, there are generally two types to know about: prepaid vs. linked wallet. The former is only good for the amount you put on the card. It’s a fantastic way to reduce potential losses or to control how much you spend.

Linked wallets, however, take out the required money right from your wallet or exchange account immediately. The money is converted to fiat currency to make transactions happen in real-time. This is great for users who tend to be trading on an active basis and don’t want to convert their crypto holdings into fiat currency manually.

Rewards and Incentives

Much as you would use it to choose a traditional credit card, rewards and incentives should be one of the driving factors when choosing a crypto debit card of your own. After all, why not get the best rewards possible for something that you were going to sign up for anyway?

Rewards can vary widely. For the most part, crypto debit cards will offer anywhere from 1% to 8% back, on average. There may be requirements involved – maintaining a minimum balance or requirements for staking, for example. Higher rewards tend to come with certain requirements, like having a minimum balance or locking some of your tokens into place on the issuer platform for a certain period of time.

Restrictions and Spending Limits

This is where the fine print comes into the equation. Just about every crypto debit card will come with some limitations depending on the issuer. You may have ATM withdrawal limits, transaction ceilings, daily spend caps, and more.

For instance, you may be limited in terms of high-dollar transactions – something like one six-figure payment per payment cycle, for example – so be aware before signing up. Compare the different restrictions and limits and gauge what kind of impact that could potentially have on your card usage.

Expanding Your Wallet

If a crypto debit card sounds like the right option, now is the time to act. The more comfortable you get with your digital assets, the more convenient it becomes to be able to utilize them as an everyday payment method. Before long, you will have total autonomy over your spending and merge your crypto and fiat assets effortlessly.

The post Choosing the Right Crypto Debit Card appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• The CFTC cleared stock perpetual futures for trading on regulated US exchanges on November 3, 2026.
• The new contracts have no fixed expiration date and allow traders to maintain positions while meeting margin requirements.
• The CFTC and SEC will jointly oversee the contracts under existing security futures regulations.
• Kalshi’s filing covers 58 contracts linked to major US stocks and exchange-traded funds.
• Kalshi requires traders to maintain collateral equal to at least 15.5% of their contract’s market value.
• Perpetual futures provide stock price exposure without granting shareholders’ voting rights or direct dividends.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) cleared perpetual futures tied to individual US stocks for trading on regulated exchanges Tuesday. The move brings contracts without expiry dates into domestic markets.

Unlike regular futures, these contracts remain open while traders maintain collateral. They track share prices without transferring ownership of the underlying stocks.

CFTC Clears Perpetual Futures Under Shared Oversight

Chairman Michael Selig said the contracts were deemed approved under Regulation 40.3 following a 45-day review. Their classification as security futures places them under both CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission oversight.

Eligible exchanges need CFTC registration and SEC authorization for security futures. Selig said the move could reduce reliance on “offshore, and often unregulated, venues.” The agency approved Kalshi’s bitcoin perpetual contract in May.

Stock Contracts Offer Price Exposure Without Ownership

Kalshi’s September filing covers 58 contracts linked to stocks and exchange-traded funds, including Apple, Tesla, Nvidia, Microsoft, Alibaba and funds tracking major US indexes. Trading runs Sunday evening through Friday afternoon, Eastern time.

Holders receive no voting rights or direct dividends. Other products, including Kraken’s tokenized stock offerings, also differ from direct stock ownership.

Periodic payments keep contract prices near underlying stock prices. When futures trade above share prices, buyers pay sellers. Coinbase Derivatives proposed hourly funding payments capped at 0.10%.

Positions can stay open indefinitely if traders maintain the required margin. Extended trading hours also allow prices to change when ordinary stock exchanges remain closed.

Separately, Chainlink’s weekend stock pricing service uses perpetual futures quotes to value tokenized collateral when stock markets close. Aave Horizon is adopting the service.

Leverage Rules Raise Concerns About Losses

Kalshi requires traders to maintain collateral worth at least 15.5% of a contract’s market value. Traders can therefore control positions worth several times their deposit.

Better Markets warned November 2 that leverage increases losses during sharp declines. Securities policy director Benjamin Schiffrin said automatic liquidations can close positions before customers add funds.

The group said a 20% stock decline could erase a position using fivefold leverage. It also questioned whether perpetual contracts meet the definition of futures.

More Exchanges Plan Around-the-Clock Trading

Coinbase Derivatives and Bitnomial also submitted stock perpetual plans in September. The filings add additional US competitors seeking traders previously served by offshore platforms.

Meanwhile, ICE’s proposed Hyperliquid perpetual futures venture with TradeXYZ would cover stocks and other assets. The New York Stock Exchange parent announced the partnership on October 29, pending regulatory approval.

The post CFTC Clears Stock Perpetuals as Leverage Concerns Grow appeared first on Blockonomi.

The cryptocurrency market was hit hard by the recent $6.3 billion Binance hack, yet Hyperliquid’s native token defied the broader pullback and posted a nearly 10% gain over the past week.

However, one popular analyst warned that the asset could soon nosedive by double digits, while a key factor supports the bearish scenario.

Drop Below $60 Incoming?

As of press time, HYPE is changing hands just below $85, down from the local peak of about $96 recorded before the Binance incident. Nonetheless, it remains firmly in the green on both the weekly and fortnightly timeframes.

According to Ali Martinez, though, the asset is forming a potential head-and-shoulders top on the 12-hour chart, pointing to a possible 22% correction. He went even further, suggesting that a sustained close below the $76-$78 neckline could be followed by a crash toward a 10-week low of $59.

The analyst believes a recovery above the right shoulder’s high of the structure, at near $90, would weaken the bearish setup. “The pattern isn’t confirmed until Hyperliquid breaks support. A bounce from $76–$78 could keep the formation from playing out,” he added.

FOUR | Crypto Spaces also presented a pessimistic view. The analyst warned that the recent weakness has tilted the balance in favor of the bears, arguing that a drop below $77 could trigger a collapse toward $60.

Token Talk, for their part, claimed HYPE has reached a critical juncture, identifying the $76-$77 range as a key support zone bulls need to defend.

“If we keep bouncing between these levels, cool. But if support finally gives up, I don’t think the downside is going to be pretty,” they stated.

The Red Signal

According to CoinGlass, HYPE has recorded positive exchange netflows for six consecutive days, indicating that more tokens have been moved to centralized platforms than withdrawn to self-custody wallets. This development is typically interpreted as bearish since it increases immediate selling pressure.

Exchange netflows have been a hot topic lately. Somewhat expected, the $6.3 billion Binance hack undermined the credibility of the world’s leading crypto exchange and led to massive outflows. Once withdrawals were restored, users pulled nearly $4.65 billion from the platform in under 10 hours, far exceeding the roughly $1 billion in deposits recorded over the same period.

Latest data shows that Binance’s netflows for the last seven days have reached almost -$12 billion, while some of its competitors saw significant inflows and increased their market share. OKX, for instance, attracted roughly $360 million in net flows over the past week, while Bybit recorded approximately $140 million.

The post Hyperliquid (HYPE) Risks a 30% Price Crash: What Can Prevent the Collapse? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

The world’s second-largest crypto asset by market cap has had a rough couple of weeks. But its exchange reserves have dropped to around 14.5 million ETH as of November 2, levels last seen in 2016.

That’s a sharp decline from the 2020 peak of roughly 35 million, meaning about 20.5 million Ethereum, or 58.6%, has left tracked exchanges, according to CryptoQuant.

Supply Shock?

Binance is seeing a similar trend, as its reserves fell to 3.08 million ETH, approaching levels last recorded in late 2020. Compared with its 2025 peak of 4.9 million, the exchange has lost around 1.82 million, a 37.1% drop. Binance now holds approximately 21.2% of total exchange reserves, while the remaining 11.42 million ETH sits across other tracked platforms.

The decline means there is considerably less ETH readily available for spot selling. Lower exchange reserves don’t guarantee a price increase, but they could ease selling pressure and create more favorable conditions for price appreciation if buying demand picks up. With fewer coins sitting on exchanges, renewed buying could also have a stronger impact on ETH’s price.

Crypto Patel said that Ethereum, currently around $2,245, is approaching an important decision zone. The analyst believes current levels offer a good entry opportunity, but the preferred accumulation range is between $1,800 and $1,900, where a Bullish Order Block and Fair Value Gap overlap. The analyst wants to see a liquidity sweep and bullish confirmation before entering. If the setup plays out as expected, their long-term price targets are $2,700, $3,200, $4,400, $6,000, and $10,000.

Persistent ETF Outflows

But the institutional side of things continues to be gloomy. US spot Ethereum ETFs recorded their worst month since launch, with investors pulling out $1.61 billion in October, according to SoSoValue data. This surpassed the previous record of $1.42 billion in outflows set last November. October was particularly rough, as the funds saw just three days of net inflows. These were October 13, 21, and 23, bringing in only $24.84 million, $14.96 million, and $4.35 million, respectively.

The selling pressure also carried into November, with another $139.8 million withdrawn on the 2nd.

The post Ethereum Supply on Exchanges Hits a Decade Low: Is ETH Preparing for a Major Move? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

As lucrative as the crypto market is, many individuals and businesses remain hesitant to enter the ecosystem. The reason? For many, it is the fear of falling victim to security exploits. Others worry about privacy, especially because blockchain transactions are publicly accessible.

What if there were tools that could make crypto investing more secure and private? This article highlights seven tools designed to help crypto investors protect their assets and privacy. It also outlines best practices every crypto investor should follow to stay safe in the crypto market. But first, let’s discuss why privacy and security tools are essential for crypto users.

Why Do You Need Privacy and Security Crypto Tools?

In traditional finance (TradFi), users can often rely on their financial institutions or customer support teams to secure their accounts and help recover funds from fraudulent transactions. But this is not always the case with crypto. Confirmed transactions on most blockchains are generally irreversible. This stresses the need for security tools that help crypto investors move assets from one place to another while reducing the risk of losing them to malicious actors.

Why use privacy tools? Privacy tools focus on providing privacy to user accounts. The blockchain in itself is a public ledger, and most crypto tokens exist on these networks. Hackers use this as a tool to identify wallets with massive crypto holdings. Afterward, they can determine where these users keep their assets (exchanges, wallets, etc.) and launch targeted attacks. So a user using privacy tools is already a step ahead of these malicious actors. They get access to tools that help to mask their identity, on-chain activities, and metadata.

The good thing is, when investors have their privacy sorted, they are only steps away from achieving significant account security.

Why use security tools? Even if a crypto investor becomes a target of malicious actors, security tools can help protect their accounts and funds. Some tools simulate transactions before execution to identify potentially malicious interactions and warn users about associated risks.

Top 6 Privacy and Security Tools for Crypto Investors

Here’s a list of seven privacy and security tools crypto investors can use to help protect their accounts, assets, and personal information.

Proton Mail

Proton Mail is an email service provider that offers enhanced privacy and security to users. Today, most crypto platforms require users to link an email address to their accounts during registration. The concern is that conventional email services like Gmail and Outlook do not offer end-to-end encryption by default, meaning providers may have access to users’ email contents. Proton Mail addresses this concern through its privacy-focused features.

The platform’s goal is to give users greater control over their data. Through its zero-access encryption, not even Proton can read the contents of emails stored in users’ inboxes. This helps crypto investors because even if Proton’s servers are breached, the encryption helps prevent attackers from reading stored emails containing sensitive information, such as verification codes and password reset links. In this sense, this privacy feature adds another layer of protection to crypto users’ accounts.

Another feature Proton Mail offers that adds a layer of security and privacy is its hide-my-email aliases. This feature allows users to create unique email aliases for particular exchanges or platforms. This way, if an exchange’s database gets compromised, the user’s primary email address remains hidden, reducing their exposure to spam and targeted phishing attacks. This feature is available through Proton Mail’s paid plans.

Phishing attacks are among the most common ways hackers target crypto investors. Proton Mail helps users counter this with phishing protection features that detect suspicious emails, block known phishing attempts, and warn users about potentially malicious links.

Those already using conventional email service providers like Gmail can also migrate their existing emails and contacts to Proton Mail using its Easy Switch feature. After that, they can continue receiving new emails in their Proton Mail inbox by setting up forwarding from their previous provider.

Beyond security, Proton Mail is also easy to use for everyday communication. It works like any modern email service, with web and mobile apps, an integrated calendar, and access to secure video conferencing through the Proton ecosystem.

The free plan includes 1 GB of storage and one email address. For users who need more, Mail Plus offers 15 GB of storage, up to 10 email addresses, 10 hide-my-email aliases, and support for a custom email domain.

For investors looking to protect more of their digital lives, Proton Unlimited bundles Proton Mail with Proton VPN, Proton Drive, and Proton Pass under a single subscription plan.

Pros

• Easy to use for everyday email
• Free plans available.
• Custom email domain on paid plans
• Over 100 million Proton accounts globally.

Cons

• Some advanced features, such as custom domains and aliases are part of paid plans.

Best for: Private email communication and protection against phishing and email-related data exposure.

Check out the latest Proton Mail deals here.

The section is sponsored by Proton Mail. 

GoPlus Security

As its name implies, GoPlus Security is a platform that prioritizes security for Web3 users and AI agents.

GoPlus Security aims to detect and alert users to potential security risks before transactions are executed. This matters because confirmed blockchain transactions are generally irreversible. When users interact with decentralized applications (dApps), smart contracts, wallet addresses, or websites, GoPlus Security offers tools to assess potential risks and help users avoid losses. The platform can identify warning signs associated with rug pulls, malicious wallet addresses, and honeypot cryptocurrencies (tokens that allow users to buy but prevent them from selling).

For AI agents, GoPlus Security offers AgentGuard, a tool that scans AI agent skills for potential security threats, including malicious instructions and suspicious code.

The firm’s services are accessible through a browser extension and mobile app. Notable crypto platforms like OKX Wallet and DEX Screener have also integrated GoPlus Security’s services.

Pros

• Mobile app.
• Browser extension.
• Over 28 million wallet users reported in 2025.
• Security tools for AI agents.

Cons

• Primarily focused on security, not privacy.

Best for: Web3 Transaction Security and AI Agent Protection.​

Blockaid

Blockaid is a Web3 security platform that helps detect and prevent scams and exploits before they happen.

Crypto wallets, decentralized applications (dApps), and on-chain marketplaces can integrate Blockaid’s security solutions to protect their users. Before a crypto investor signs a transaction, Blockaid can simulate its execution to identify potential risks. It then warns users if the transaction could drain the wallet or enable other malicious activity.

Since many crypto scams originate from Web2 platforms, Blockaid also scans online sources for threats before they move on-chain. The security platform employs machine learning and AI to monitor blockchain activity, identify suspicious patterns, and detect potential exploits.

Popular blockchain platforms, such as Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask, and OpenSea, have integrated Blockaid to strengthen their security. According to the company’s website, its technology has helped prevent approximately $13.1 billion in theft across supported platforms and wallets.

Pros

• Established track record.
• Integration with major wallets and marketplaces.
• Pre-execution transaction simulation.

Cons

• Primarily available through integrated platforms rather than as a standalone consumer tool.

Best for: Web3 scam detection and transaction security.

Web3 Antivirus

Web3 Antivirus (W3A) is a blockchain security service that protects users when they interact with Web3 applications and helps businesses manage security and compliance risks. Instead of operating like conventional computer antivirus software that scans for malware, Web3 Antivirus focuses on identifying threats associated with crypto wallets, smart contracts, and blockchain transactions.

The platform serves individuals and businesses. Individuals can access W3A through browser extensions available for Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and other supported Chromium-based browsers. These extensions help detect phishing websites, honeypot tokens, malicious transactions, and other potential threats. The platform also includes a security dashboard with features for assessing wallet risks, reviewing transaction history, and revoking high-risk token approvals.

Businesses can integrate the Web3 Antivirus API into their applications to strengthen security, assess wallet addresses, and support compliance checks. The platform also offers transaction simulation, which allows users to identify potential risks before approving blockchain transactions.

Pros

• Easy-to-use security tools.
• Browser extensions for major browsers.
• Supports pre-execution transaction simulation.
• Security solutions for individuals and businesses.

Cons

• Individual users primarily access its protection through browser-based tools.

Best for: Detecting Web3 scams and protecting browser-based wallet interactions.

The Onion Router (TOR)

The Onion Router (Tor) is a privacy-focused network that helps conceal users’ IP addresses, locations, and online activities from surveillance and tracking. Crypto investors can use Tor to access websites and crypto-related services with greater network privacy, although it does not make blockchain transactions themselves anonymous.

The network achieves this through onion routing, a process that wraps users’ internet traffic in multiple layers of encryption, like the layers of an onion. It further obscures internet activity by routing connections through three different nodes. When users initiate a connection, it first passes through the entry node (Guard), which knows the user’s IP address but not their final destination. The intermediate node (Middle) receives the connection next but cannot identify both the user and the destination. Finally, the exit node removes the final layer of Tor encryption and forwards the traffic to its destination without revealing the user’s original IP address.

There is also the Tor Browser, which allows users to browse the internet while reducing third-party tracking and surveillance. Although internet service providers (ISPs) generally cannot see which websites users visit through Tor, they may still detect that users are using Tor. Tor also does not conceal information that users voluntarily disclose to websites or crypto platforms.

Pros

• Greater online anonymity and privacy.
• Free and open-source.
• Helps circumvent internet censorship and tracking.

Cons

• Slower browsing speeds because traffic routes through multiple relays.
• Does not conceal publicly visible blockchain transactions.

Best for: Online anonymity and network privacy.

CoinJoin

CoinJoin is a Bitcoin privacy service that helps obscure transaction histories. Bitcoin runs on a public network, so anyone can view users’ transactions and wallet balances. CoinJoin improves privacy by combining multiple users’ transactions into a single transaction. This makes it more difficult to link individual senders and receivers on the blockchain.

The technique makes CoinJoin a suitable option for investors or businesses that want to reduce the traceability of their Bitcoin transactions. Unlike conventional mixing services, CoinJoin allows participants to retain control of their funds throughout the process. However, it does not guarantee complete anonymity, as transactions remain publicly visible and can still be analyzed.

CoinJoin is not a standalone application. Users access the feature through compatible Bitcoin wallets, such as Wasabi Wallet. Its availability, fees, and ease of use depend on the wallet and coordination service involved.

Pros

• Privacy-focused.
• Non-custodial transaction mixing.
• Reduces the traceability of Bitcoin transactions.

Cons

• Primarily focused on Bitcoin.
• Privacy is not guaranteed.
• Some exchanges may flag or restrict CoinJoin-related transactions.

Best for: Bitcoin investors seeking greater transaction privacy.

Best Practices for Crypto Security and Privacy

Even with the best tools, crypto investors can fall prey to exploits if they don’t take precautions to protect their security and privacy. Here are some best practices to help users navigate the crypto industry safely:

Use Encrypted Emails

Most crypto platforms require users to provide an email address, which often serves as an account recovery method when resetting passwords. Some platforms also use email to authorize withdrawals. Since email accounts hold such important responsibilities, it is essential that investors use secure email services like Proton Mail and consider using aliases to protect their primary addresses and reduce exposure to phishing attacks. Encrypted email services also help protect the contents of messages from unauthorized access.

Verify URLs Manually

Investors lose substantial amounts of money to phishing attacks involving malicious websites. Hackers have used this tactic for years, deceiving unsuspecting users with website URLs that closely resemble legitimate ones. If users enter sensitive information or approve malicious wallet transactions on these websites, attackers may steal their credentials or crypto assets. A simple but important way to stay safe is to verify URLs before visiting websites or connecting wallets. Whenever possible, access crypto platforms through trusted bookmarks or manually entered official addresses.

Use Authenticator Apps

Many traditional financial platforms use SMS as a form of two-factor authentication (2FA) to protect accounts. However, this method is vulnerable to SIM-swapping and social engineering attacks. Crypto users should therefore consider authenticator apps like Authy,  Google Authenticator, or Yubico Authenticator instead of relying solely on SMS verification. Where supported, passkeys or hardware security keys offer stronger phishing protection.

Enable Anti-Phishing Codes

Scammers often send malicious emails disguised as official messages from crypto platforms to lure unsuspecting users. An anti-phishing code is a custom combination of letters or numbers that participating crypto platforms include in their legitimate emails. This helps users identify suspicious messages when the expected code is missing or incorrect. However, a matching code should not be treated as an absolute guarantee that an email is genuine.

Split Assets Between Hot and Cold Wallets

Crypto investors should split their holdings between hot and cold wallets. A hot wallet, which connects to the internet, is best for performing daily transactions and frequent crypto trades. Investors should consider keeping only the amount needed for regular transactions in hot wallets.

On the other hand, cold wallets, which keep private keys offline, are generally better suited for long-term crypto storage. Investors can allocate a larger portion of their holdings to cold wallets, depending on their trading needs and ability to manage them securely.

Another important practice is keeping wallet software up to date. This is because updates may fix security vulnerabilities that hackers could otherwise exploit.

Conclusion

As more people invest in crypto, the need for privacy and security remains essential as they explore the space. This article has highlighted various tools that can help users protect their assets and personal information. While these tools can provide valuable protection, they do not eliminate the need for users to exercise due diligence as they navigate the vast crypto market.

The post Essential Privacy and Security Tools for Crypto Investors appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Wall Street’s internal damage is getting harder to ignore. Just days after data showed that more than 60% of S&P 500 stocks were already in bear-market territory, another wave of selling has hit major tech names, with Intel extending a historic collapse and Apple now joining the ride south.

Wall Street Situation Worsens

CryptoPotato reported over the weekend that the percentage of S&P 500 companies down by over 20% from their respective highs has risen past 60%, even as the headline index remained relatively close to record territory. At that point, AppLovin, Coinbase, CoreWeave, Intel, Oracle, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon were already among the large-cap entities deep in what the analysts at the Kobeissi Letter consider bear-market territory.

The latest damage has been particularly brutal in semiconductors and AI-related stocks, as Kobeissi updated. They highlighted Intel’s continued collapse on November 2, with its stock tumbling nearly 10% during the session after plunging almost 30% on Friday. That left INTC down by 37% in just three trading days, and around 57% below its recent record high.

There’s more, though, as Intel is hardly alone. Oracle fell roughly 9% after announcing plans to raise $20 billion through debt and equity to fund AI expansion, while Marvell dumped by almost 13%. The Nasdaq 100 consequently slipped into correction territory, more than 10% below its record close, as investors continue questioning whether Big Tech’s enormous AI investment plans can generate adequate returns.

Apple Is No Longer Immune

Until this point, Apple had held up considerably better than many of its mega-cap peers during the sell-off, but that resilience is now being tested. Its shares fell almost 5% in pre-market trading on November 3 after the company warned that rising memory-chip costs would pressure its holiday-quarter margins.

The firm expects gross margin to fall to roughly 45%-46%, compared with 48% in the previous quarter. This nosedive took place despite the impressive latest revenue, which exceeded Wall Street expectations.

This matters because the market’s resilience has depended heavily on a relatively small group of mega-cap stocks holding up while large portions of the S&P 500 weakened underneath.

Alphabet already suffered a double-digit post-earnings decline last week and lost nearly 19% during October. At the same time, Meta, Amazon, Oracle, Intel, and numerous semiconductor names have sustained major nosedives as well.

There’s an important nuance, though. Monday’s selling was still heavily concentrated in technology. Nearly 70% of S&P 500 companies actually finished higher, even as losses in several heavyweight names dragged the headline index lower. So this is not yet a synchronized collapse across every sector.

Uncertainty around today’s midterm elections could also take some of the blame. Current expectations suggest there’s a near-80% chance of a Democrat “sweep,” and US President Trump has vowed to become “Mr. Veto” if that’s the case. As such, the Kobeissi Letter concluded:

“A change in the political landscape always comes with uncertainty; markets hate uncertainty. Objectively, the market is in the process of pricing in two years of political gridlock.”

The post Wall Street’s Bear Market Is No Longer So Stealthy appeared first on CryptoPotato.

The cross-border token has compressed into one of its tightest short-term ranges in months, a setup that previously preceded a 71% rally.

This time, though, analysts are not so convinced of the asset’s direction, warning that the breakout could go either way – with $1.27 opening the bullish case and a loss of $1.23 potentially leading to much more painful declines.

XRP Coiling for a Big Move?

According to popular analyst Ali Martinez, the Bollinger Bands on XRP’s 4-hour chart have compressed to their tightest levels since August. The last time they were so narrow, Ripple’s token exploded by 71% in three days during the mid-August breakout rally that drove it from $1.00 to a multi-month peak of $1.70.

However, Martinez warned that a Bollinger Band squeeze signals rising volatility potential rather than direction, and, as we know, historical performance does not guarantee a repeat. Consequently, the analyst outlined two key levels to watch.

A 4-hour close above $1.27 would be bullish in his view, while a close below $1.23 would favor sellers. XRP continues to trade at $1.25 even as most of the market has declined over the past 24 hours, which could be considered a positive sign for now. Until it finally moves decisively out of its current range, traders should approach each minor move with caution.

XRP: A BIG MOVE IS COMING

The Bollinger Bands on the 4-hour chart have squeezed to their narrowest levels since August.

The last time they were this compressed, $XRP rallied 71% in just three days.

But a squeeze doesn’t predict direction.

That’s why I’m watching:

• 4H close above $1.27 = Bullish
• 4H close below $1.23 = Bearish

Until then, $1.23–$1.27 is the no-trade zone.

— Ali Charts (@alicharts) November 2, 2026

A Big Drop on its Way?

Fellow analyst CasiTrades is considerably more concerned about the downside potential. She highlighted XRP’s repeated consolidation beneath the $1.26 Fibonacci level, which previously acted as support before breaking down. In her view, building resistance directly underneath a lost support level can precede an aggressive move lower.

Her downside targets are $1.10 and $0.90 if the broader market’s landscape deteriorates further. Moreover, she warned that the move could happen quickly once momentum accelerates.

The next few days are likely to be quite crucial for XRP, especially given today’s midterm elections in the US and the expected volatility. However, if the asset fails to decisively overcome the $1.27 barrier, its next move would likely be to the downside.

The post XRP Is About to Make a Big Move: These Levels Could Decide the Direction appeared first on CryptoPotato.