Today's headlines:
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash releases new version
NEAR Intents publishes security incident post-mortem report, all $3.8 million in funds recovered
Solana Accelerate China Shenzhen event postponed
Sui developer Mysten Labs establishes AI business unit, President Kevin Boon to succeed as CEO
Tesla's new Roadster to offer three versions; rocket version supports flight, invitation-only purchase
Charles Schwab announces all clients can directly buy Bitcoin
Circle reports approximately $1.4 billion in revenue for the first half of 2026, of which $819 million paid to distribution partners
HKEX plans to shorten Hong Kong stock settlement cycle to T+1 by September 2028
Regulation & Macro
HKEX plans to shorten Hong Kong stock settlement cycle to T+1 by September 2028
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) has published a consultation conclusions paper proposing to shorten the settlement cycle for the Hong Kong cash market from T+2 to T+1. Based on market feedback, the implementation timetable has been revised to the second half of 2028, with a target date of September 2028. The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) welcomed the move. Leung Chung-yin, Executive Director of the Market Supervision Division, said this is an important step to maintain Hong Kong's competitiveness as an international financial center and align with global markets, and called on the industry to assess the impact of the change early. The SFC will work with HKEX to amend the relevant rules and procedures.
France proposes 31.4% capital gains tax on Bitcoin-to-stablecoin conversions, and requires declaration of self-custody wallets above €100,000
According to Bitcoin News, French lawmakers have proposed several digital asset tax amendments during the 2027 budget discussions: first, extending the existing 31.4% capital gains tax to Bitcoin-to-stablecoin transactions, limited to stablecoins that meet the MiCA e-money token definition (such as USDC); second, imposing an exit tax on those holding more than €800,000 in digital assets and relocating their tax residence out of France; third, requiring declaration of self-custodied holdings worth at least €100,000, with a maximum fine of €10,000 for non-compliance; fourth, allowing losses to be carried forward for 10 years. The National Assembly Finance Committee rejected the revenue portion of the budget on October 9 by a vote of 31 to 3, and the relevant amendments need to be resubmitted. The revenue portion was originally scheduled for a vote on October 20, and none of it has yet become law.
BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda: Monetary policy has entered a new phase, will continue raising rates
Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said Japan's underlying inflation is close to 2%, marking a policy shift, and the central bank's policy has entered a new phase; inflation must not be allowed to rise further. With underlying inflation near 2% and financial conditions still accommodative, the BOJ will continue raising rates and adjusting monetary easing. The central bank will discuss at its upcoming meeting whether to adjust its assessment that "underlying inflation is close to 2%." The Middle East situation, AI demand, and exchange rates will affect the timing of rate hikes. Ueda said it is difficult to make a clear statement on Japan's neutral rate, and the central bank will focus on consolidating the 2% inflation target. He said the main takeaway from this week's meeting was exchanging views with other policymakers on the impact of the Middle East conflict and AI demand, and that he had exchanged views with Fed Chair Warsh.
Project Updates
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash releases new version
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash has been updated to version V4.1-Flash-1017, and the official web, APP, and API models have been simultaneously switched to the new model. Compared with the previous version, the new model has achieved improvements in benchmarks across various aspects, with optimization focused on platform frameworks such as DeepSeek Harness, Tencent CodeBuddy, and WorkBuddy.
Quant giant Jump Trading to provide market-making services for compute futures on CME and other exchanges
According to Bloomberg, Jump Trading and DRW are investing trading teams and proprietary capital to position themselves in the emerging AI compute derivatives market. Jump has formed a dedicated team and plans to use its own balance sheet to bear trading risk, providing market-making services for compute futures that CME and Silicon Data plan to launch, as well as competing contracts launched by ICE and Ornn. DRW also plans to conduct compute trading through three teams using different strategies and plans to trade Silicon Data's products, but has not yet decided which other compute contracts to participate in. Analysts believe the market still faces challenges such as insufficient price transparency, large price differences for GPUs across regions and configurations, and the inability to store compute.
NEAR Intents publishes security incident post-mortem report, all $3.8 million in funds recovered
NEAR Intents has released a report on the October 1 security incident: its smart contract had a vulnerability related to interaction with third-party contracts. The attacker exploited the refund mechanism after a failed call, causing funds to be returned while deposits were still recorded, generating approximately $3.8 million in false balances through 23 failed deposit transactions, which were then withdrawn via Omni cross-chain infrastructure. This was a vulnerability in the NEAR Intents contract itself, not an issue with Omni. All funds were fully recovered within 36 hours of discovering the vulnerability. The team has removed the relevant deposit notification feature, introduced balance anomaly monitoring and automatic pause mechanisms, and paid a $300,000 bounty to the researcher who reported another critical vulnerability on October 7. The system has now returned to normal.
Mastercard and BVNK launch Global Money Platform, integrating fiat and stablecoin payments
Mastercard and BVNK announced the launch of the Mastercard Global Money Platform, integrating Mastercard's global payment capabilities with BVNK's stablecoin infrastructure through a single API. This is the first major integration between the two parties since Mastercard completed its acquisition of BVNK in August. Banks, fintech companies, and enterprises can embed fiat and stablecoin multi-currency accounts, real-time conversion, stablecoin-linked cards, and local bank payouts via Mastercard Move into their own products. Stablecoin balances can be spent at Mastercard's hundreds of millions of merchant locations, with card issuance covering more than 130 countries. Nuvei, Marqeta, and others will be among the first to integrate. The platform is now live through BVNK.
Solana Accelerate China Shenzhen event postponed
The Solana Accelerate China team said that because registrations exceeded expectations, and to comply with local event-related guidance requirements, the Solana Accelerate Shenzhen event originally scheduled for October 20 will be postponed. Registration information will be retained, and a new event date will be announced as soon as it is determined.
Sui developer Mysten Labs establishes AI business unit, President Kevin Boon to succeed as CEO
Evan Cheng, co-founder of Sui developer Mysten Labs, announced that the company has established an AI business unit dedicated to developing "agent trust" products and AI-native infrastructure. The unit covers engineering, product development, and other functions and is highly independent. Company President Kevin Boon will serve as Chief Executive Officer, while Evan Cheng will continue as CTO and also oversee the AI business unit.
Cobo Wallet App to shut down on December 1, 2% monthly management fee on assets not transferred out by deadline
According to an official Cobo announcement, due to business strategy adjustments, the Cobo Wallet App will shut down its services on December 1, 2026, and users must transfer out all assets before 23:59 on November 30. Cobo's other businesses will continue to operate as usual. If accounts still hold assets after the shutdown, Cobo will charge a monthly management fee of 2% of the remaining assets, deducted in the original currency, with a minimum equivalent of $100 per month; if the total asset value is less than $100, the entire balance will be deducted in a one-time charge. The first charge will be on January 1, 2027. Cobo reminds users to update the Cobo Wallet receiving addresses set on exchanges, mining pools, and other platforms.
Tesla's new Roadster to offer three versions; rocket version supports flight, invitation-only purchaseAccording to Tesla's official website, the new Roadster is offered in a Performance version, a Thrust version, and a Rocket version. The Performance version features a two-seat layout and is legal for road use, with a US deposit of $50,000; Tesla's China website has opened pre-orders only for this version, with a deposit of RMB 332,000. The Thrust version is a limited release for track use only, equipped with cold-gas thrusters at the rear; Tesla claims a 0-100 km/h time of under 1 second, a deposit of $250,000, and a limit of one vehicle per customer. The Rocket version features a single-seat layout and is equipped with cold-gas thrusters that enable forward and upward acceleration as well as lateral steering; Tesla says it is capable of flight but cannot be used on public roads, and it is sold by invitation only and does not support online reservations.
US court approves settlement between Movement Labs and related parties of its former founder and the foundation
According to Order No. 212 of the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, a settlement agreement has been approved among MVMT Labs (Movement Labs), related parties of former founder Rushikesh Manche, and foundation-related parties including the Movement Network Foundation. The order relates to MVMT Labs' Chapter 11 bankruptcy case; the specific settlement terms and the scope of the dispute waiver remain to be confirmed in the full documents.
Charles Schwab announces all clients can buy Bitcoin directly
Charles Schwab, which manages about $13 trillion in assets, announced that all clients can now buy Bitcoin directly within their accounts, covering more than 40 million US users. In April, Schwab announced the launch of its spot crypto trading service Schwab Crypto, rolled out in phases, supporting BTC and ETH trading with a 0.75% fee per transaction, with Paxos providing sub-custody and trade execution. The service is currently unavailable to residents of New York and Louisiana.
9 crypto companies form Quantum Alliance, say public keys for 30.2% of Bitcoin's total supply are exposed
According to CoinDesk, 9 crypto companies have formed the Quantum Alliance, which will develop common post-quantum security standards for Bitcoin, Ethereum and others and publish testing and migration guidelines. Members include Hacken, Midnight Foundation, Quantus and Postquant Labs. The alliance estimates that the public keys for about 6.4 million BTC (30.2% of total supply) are exposed, including about 1.1 million held by Satoshi Nakamoto, though existing quantum computers cannot yet crack them. Postquant Labs' CTO believes the threat could emerge by 2028; The Vault's CRO said whether to freeze the funds should be decided by Bitcoin network governance.
ChangXin Technology: plans to repurchase RMB 1 billion to RMB 2 billion of its shares
ChangXin Technology announced that on October 16, 2026, its board received a letter from Chairman Zhu Yiming proposing a share repurchase, to be conducted through centralized bidding, with total funds of no less than RMB 1 billion (inclusive) and no more than RMB 2 billion (inclusive), at a price no higher than 150% of the average trading price of the company's shares over the 30 trading days preceding the board resolution approving the repurchase plan. The repurchased shares are intended for employee equity incentives, employee stock ownership plans, or reduction of the company's registered capital; the plan still requires approval by the board or the shareholders' meeting.
OKX responds to secondary identity verification reminder: it is a periodic KYC update, not an account anomaly
OKX founder Star posted that OKX periodically verifies and updates user identity information based on specific account circumstances. Users may need to complete identity verification again when an account reaches 1, 3, or 5 years, or when identity documents expire. Star said this is a routine operation for global financial institutions fulfilling KYC obligations and does not mean the account is anomalous. Previously, some users registered in mainland China said on X that they had received OKX secondary verification reminders, questioned whether it was related to tax requirements, and reported that their accounts could not be closed.
Strategy conditionally announces daily dividends for STRC in November, annualized dividend rate maintained at 12%
Strategy conditionally announced daily dividends for its preferred stock STRC from November 1 to November 30, 2026, with the annualized dividend rate maintained at 12.00%. The arrangement will take effect only after shareholders vote on October 28 to approve the "daily dividend" amendment. Once the amendment is passed, every calendar day (including weekends and holidays) will become a dividend record date for STRC. Strategy said that with daily dividends it will hold about 93% of the market share and called on MSTR shareholders to vote.
Upbit to suspend digital asset deposits and withdrawals of KRW 1 million or more with BitMEX
According to an official Upbit announcement, because BitMEX has terminated its access to the Travel Rule solution VerifyVASP, Upbit will suspend digital asset deposits and withdrawals of KRW 1 million (about $750) or more with BitMEX starting October 16; deposits below KRW 1 million remain supported as usual. Upbit's withdrawals to BitMEX were suspended on September 23, and withdrawals via OpenAPI are not supported. BitMEX's manual deposits to Upbit of KRW 1 million or more will stop from 14:00 on December 18, and similar assets credited thereafter will enter a return process.
Sky: quarterly operating expenses fall to $6.8 million, down from over $20 million a year ago
Sky released a video in which founder Rune Christensen said Sky's operating expenses this quarter have fallen to $6.8 million, compared with over $20 million a year ago. Sky's treasury management mechanism makes operating expenses more predictable and keeps them within a defined range while continuing to support protocol security, maintenance and development work.
Views & Analysis
Analyst: UNI exchange inflows hit a yearly high, price under pressure and entering distribution phase
Crypto analyst Darkfost noted that Uniswap's UNI token has performed strongly since the start of the year, with TVL hitting a yearly high in September (over $4 billion), DEX trading volume peaking at $93.6 billion, and the price rising as much as 370% from its June low. However, amid increased exchange inflows, UNI is in a distribution phase. UNI inflows on Binance have reached their highest level of the year, with the Z-score exceeding 4 multiple times in late September and single-day inflows exceeding $40 million. If inflows continue to decline, UNI may bottom out and end its more than 30% correction from the recent high of $10.9.
Analyst: selling pressure from BTC buyers who bought at highs has weakened significantly
Analyst IT Tech noted that over the past 30 days, only 4.4% of BTC held for 6-12 months flowed into exchanges, compared with as high as 40.4% in mid-June. This BTC mainly comes from holders who bought near or after the 2025 top. The ratio changes: 40.4% in mid-June, 30.9% in mid-July, 9.8% in mid-August, 3.7% in mid-September, and 4.4% in mid-October. The analysis suggests high-level buyers have largely stopped selling, easing resistance to price increases, but the market still needs new buying to drive prices higher, and such new buying has not yet clearly emerged.
Vitalik: computing power spending and electricity costs each account for about half of BTC mining costs, while AI inference costs are mainly computing investment
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted that in Bitcoin mining costs, capital expenditure on computing equipment and electricity costs each account for about half; while AI inference costs are almost entirely dominated by capital expenditure on computing equipment.
Key Data
Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a net outflow of $82.3893 million yesterday, with Fidelity's FBTC leading with a net outflow of $10.6090 million
According to SoSoValue data, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw total net outflows of $82.3893 million yesterday (US Eastern Time, October 16). The largest single-day net outflow was BlackRock's IBIT, with a net outflow of $71.7803 million and cumulative historical net inflows of $65.568 billion; next was Fidelity's FBTC, with a net outflow of $10.6090 million and cumulative historical net inflows of $10.455 billion. As of press time, Bitcoin spot ETFs had total net assets of $104.290 billion, a net asset ratio of 6.35%, and cumulative historical net inflows of $56.878 billion.
iPhone Duo sold out immediately upon launch, with the highest resale premium on Dewu reaching RMB 7,143Apple's foldable iPhone Duo opened for pre-order at 8 PM on the 16th on Apple's official website, Tmall, JD.com and other channels, after which multiple platforms showed it was sold out. The device is offered in four versions from 256GB to 2TB, priced from 15,999 yuan to 26,499 yuan. Half an hour before pre-orders opened, JD.com reservations reached 3.095 million. Dewu data shows the 1TB black version traded at an average price of 28,642 yuan, 7,143 yuan above the launch price; the 256GB black version rose about 38.0%. Xianyu proxy-ordering services are listed at prices ranging from 398 yuan to 1,988 yuan. The iPhone Duo supports eSIM only and requires identity verification at a carrier business hall before activation.
Strategy (MSTR) shares fell as much as 10.05% intraday and last traded at $135.93
Report: Stablecoin remittance costs 84% less than traditional methods
According to Borderless.xyz's third-quarter report, the median cost of sending a $200 remittance through stablecoin channels is only 1% (about $2), versus 6.36% (about $12.72) for traditional remittances, making stablecoin solutions about 84% cheaper. Savings are more pronounced in emerging markets: stablecoin remittance costs 2.9% in sub-Saharan Africa versus 8.46% for traditional methods; in Latin America they are 1.25% and 5.64%, respectively. On the enterprise payments side, for a $10,000 transfer to the euro area, the lowest stablecoin cost is only $26, while a traditional bank wire requires $135-150. Stablecoin payments settle faster, with a median time of just 2 minutes on Brazil's PIX and 3 minutes on Mexico's SPEI, while traditional SWIFT usually takes until the next business day.
Bitcoin mining difficulty raised 5.92% to 140.58T
According to mempool.space data, at 20:37:31 Beijing time today, Bitcoin completed its latest mining difficulty adjustment at block height 971712, raising difficulty by 5.92% to 140.58T. The previous adjustment was a slight 0.03% reduction to 132.72T.
Circle's revenue in the first half of 2026 was about $1.4 billion. Of that, $819 million was paid to distribution partners
According to Circle's official blog, Chief Business Officer Kash Razzaghi disclosed that Circle's revenue in the first half of 2026 was about $1.4 billion. Of that, $819 million (about 59%) was paid to USDC distribution partners and for transaction costs, and $473 million (about 34%) was invested in infrastructure such as licenses and liquidity, with a net profit margin of about 7%. Circle also announced that customers using the Circle Payments Network (CPN) or the Circle platform can now redeem USDC around the clock, free of charge and near-instantly. USDC on-chain settlement volume exceeded $36 trillion in the first half, accounting for about 77% of global stablecoin transaction volume in June. The post responded to claims by new issuers that "issuers withhold yields and redemption costs are high."
MARA shares fell as much as 10.12% intraday and last traded at $7.48
Riot Platforms (RIOT) shares fell as much as 10.00% intraday and last traded at $13.92
ChangXin Technology: Net profit for the first three quarters of 2026 expected at 131.0 billion yuan to 132.5 billion yuan, turning profitable year on year
ChangXin Technology announced that it expects revenue of about 265.0 billion yuan to 270.0 billion yuan for the first three quarters of 2026, an increase of 232.916 billion yuan to 237.916 billion yuan from the same period last year; it expects net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company of about 131.0 billion yuan to 132.5 billion yuan, compared with a loss of 5.28 billion yuan in the same period last year, turning profitable year on year. The company said that driven by growth in AI computing demand and improving DRAM industry conditions, its products are in short supply and prices have risen sharply.
Allium: Stablecoin payment volume up 45% to $482 billion in the first three quarters, while supply grew only 0.4%
An Allium report shows stablecoin payment volume rose 45% to $482 billion from January to September this year. Payment count rose 71% to 1.04 billion, while the average transaction size fell from $544 to $462. Stablecoin supply grew only 0.4% over the same period, to $305 billion. Third-quarter payment volume rose 51% year on year, and September payment volume reached $72 billion, a monthly record. On the supply side, the supply of Tether, Circle and Ethena all declined this year, while other issuers collectively added a net $6.9 billion. In the third quarter, AI agent payment count doubled to 68.3 million, and stablecoin card spending grew 10x to $3.9 billion.
Coreweave plunged 7.7% at the open, Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down nearly 2%
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell nearly 2%, its eighth consecutive decline, on track for its longest losing streak since May 2006. Binance market data shows Coreweave (CRWV.O) plunged 7.7% at the open.