Crypto rules finalized, Bitcoin retreats, Solana upgrades

In this week’s edition of the weekly recap, US regulators finalized stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act, Bitcoin lost ground after a sharp reversal in ETF flows, and Solana activated Alpenglow. Corporate Bitcoin financing, institutional custody deals, and Ethereum’s postponed testnet upgrade also shaped crypto.news coverage for Oct. 18–24.

GENIUS Act rules set January start date

• The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finalized stablecoin regulations on Oct. 21, establishing standards for reserve assets, redemptions, risk management, custody and issuer supervision. The rules take effect Jan. 18, 2027, and cover issuers and related activities under the agency’s jurisdiction.
• Existing issuers with substantially complete applications pending by the deadline may seek temporary compliance waivers while their submissions undergo review. Anti-money laundering and sanctions provisions remain subject to a separate rulemaking with the Treasury Department. The framework also addresses foreign issuers and transitions from state to federal oversight.

Bitcoin ETF withdrawals interrupt the recovery

• US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $635.49 million in net outflows on Oct. 22, reversing three consecutive sessions that brought in approximately $1.08 billion. SoSoValue’s figures showed the largest daily withdrawal since June 25, with October’s cumulative flows turning negative by about $174.5 million.
• Bitcoin traded near $81,450 in crypto.news’ Oct. 23 market report after failing to sustain its recovery toward $85,000. The retreat returned attention to the $80,000 area. CoinGlass separately recorded roughly $406 million in liquidations across the broader cryptocurrency market over 24 hours, rather than Bitcoin alone.

Solana activates Alpenglow consensus

• Solana Foundation’s activation record confirmed Alpenglow’s deployment on mainnet during epoch 1064 on Oct. 21. The Votor consensus system targets roughly 150-millisecond finality, compared with 12.8 seconds under TowerBFT. Transaction execution, program behavior, and fee mechanics remain unchanged.
• Alpenglow consensus began at slot 459,653,000 after a genesis block received certification from 446 of 654 validators. Rotor, the proposed data-distribution component, remains reserved for a later release. Solana also promoted Quantumglow research, but the proposed post-quantum adaptation has no announced deployment date and is separate from the completed consensus migration.

Strategy adds Bitcoin and expands buybacks

• Strategy acquired another 267 Bitcoin, bringing its holdings to 848,517 BTC as of Oct. 18. Michael Saylor’s Oct. 19 disclosure also reported $193 million in STRC preferred stock repurchases and approximately $5.3 billion in dollar assets. The company increased its digital credit securities repurchase authorization from $2 billion to $3 billion.

Strive closes $630 million preferred offering

• Strive closed its upsized offering on Oct. 20, selling 7 million SATS preferred shares for $90 each. The shares carry a fixed annual dividend of 15% against their $100 stated value. The Bitcoin treasury company outlined an 18-month dividend reserve equivalent to $157.5 million at the final offering size; payments remain subject to board approval and legally available funds.

BlackRock proposes Bitcoin protection ETF

• BlackRock filed for a fund called the iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF, with proposed ticker PBIT. Its options strategy would seek partial downside protection while limiting potential gains. The proposed fund would hold cash, fixed-income instruments, and Bitcoin-linked options rather than Bitcoin directly. Its filing did not establish a confirmed launch date or guarantee investors a maximum loss.

JPMorgan expands tokenized funds to Solana

• J.P. Morgan Asset Management brought two funds to Solana through Morgan Money, offering MONY and JLTXX to qualified US investors. Investors can subscribe and redeem through the platform and receive token balances at their blockchain addresses. Existing fund documents describe onboarding controls, approved-wallet requirements and $1 million opening minimums, with waivers available under JLTXX’s terms.

Standard Chartered signs Zodia acquisition agreement

• Standard Chartered signed definitive agreements to acquire full ownership of Zodia Custody and integrate its regulated custody operations into Securities Services. The Oct. 21 announcement left completion subject to regulatory approvals and customary conditions. Financial terms were undisclosed. Zodia’s software and professional services operations will operate separately as Zodia Solutions under SC Ventures.

Fireblocks denies reported Visa acquisition talks

• Fireblocks denied acquisition reports after Axios reported that Visa was negotiating a purchase worth approximately $2.5 billion. A spokesperson said the reported transaction was news to the company and untrue at the time. Visa declined to comment on the reported negotiations. Neither company announced a definitive agreement, leaving the proposed deal disputed.

Tether joins Tenstorrent’s $1.5 billion raise

• Tether joined Tenstorrent’s financing at a $6.2 billion post-money valuation, extending its investments in AI infrastructure. Tether announced its participation on Oct. 20 after the chipmaker disclosed the completed Series E. Tenstorrent plans to fund server deployment, chip development and commercial expansion. The $1.5 billion represents the whole round; Tether’s individual contribution was undisclosed.

Ethereum postpones Glamsterdam testnet activation

• Ethereum developers postponed the Hoodi upgrade scheduled for Oct. 26 while investigating EIP-8037’s interaction with existing smart contracts. ChainSecurity identified risks involving failed calls and retry mechanisms under proposed gas changes. The decision also removed a planned increase to a 200 million gas limit. Developers had not announced replacement Hoodi or mainnet activation dates.

Phantom opens Kalshi markets to US users

• Phantom opened Kalshi market access for eligible US wallet users, with combined platform and exchange fees of $0.02 per contract. Customers must create or link a Kalshi account and complete identity checks. Trading funds move to Kalshi, while available proceeds return to Phantom’s Cash account. The integration uses conditional CFTC staff no-action relief for specified software activities.

Initia halts its blockchain after security incident

• Initia halted its layer-1 network and rollups on Oct. 23 while investigating a security incident with researchers, validators, and exchanges. Security researcher Spreek alleged unauthorized token minting and estimated that an attacker had cashed out approximately $2.6 million. Initia confirmed the suspension but did not establish a final loss figure in its initial statement.

OKXICE encounters issuer objections to stock tokens

• OKXICE’s proposed stock-token venue faced nine documented objections, including Broadcom, CoreWeave, Verizon and UnitedHealth, according to its Oct. 15 notice covered on Oct. 18. The SEC’s exemption lets issuers block unaffiliated tokenization on the notifying venue. The proposed platform would use Uniswap v4 pools on XLayer, with no confirmed public launch date.