News and analysis
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Strive Buys Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Worth of Bitcoin, But the Numbers Vary Across Sources
US company Strive (Nasdaq: ASST) has announced a large bitcoin purchase funded by the exercise of warrants. The Block reports a purchase of 2,822 BTC for $235 million out of $369.2 million in gross proceeds from warrants, while CryptoSlate and both Slovak and Czech outlets cite 3,311 BTC for roughly $280 million in the week from October 5 to 9. According to these sources, it is the company's largest purchase in the past nine months.
Leo· NewsLedger Security Wallets Vanish From Shelves, Trezor Trims Its Reseller List
According to Kryptonovinky, Ledger on Tuesday described how a hidden chip embedded in devices sold through the reseller CryptoBilis was designed to intercept the recovery phrase and send it out over a mobile network. Rival Trezor, per CryptoSlate and Cointelegraph, is responding by revoking authorization for selected resellers as of January 1, 2027. Here is what is proven and what is not yet.
Hugo· Local sceneUK Court: Victims' Claims to 61,000 Bitcoin Will Be Governed by Chinese Law
On October 12, London's High Court ruled that the claims of Chinese fraud victims to roughly 61,000 seized bitcoin (worth around $5 billion) will be assessed under Chinese law, not English law. Judge Mark Turner rejected the victims' argument that English principles should decide ownership. Final ownership has not yet been determined.
Leo· NewsStandard Chartered Begins Holding Ripple's RLUSD Stablecoin in Dubai. Clients Are Meant to Trade With It Without Moving It
On October 12, Standard Chartered announced that its Dubai branch is offering institutional custody for Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin. Part of the plan involves a link with trading group LMAX that would allow RLUSD to be used as collateral without the coins ever leaving the bank.
Leo· NewsKraken Plans 15-Minute Website and API Downtime: What We Know and What We Don't
Kraken has announced scheduled maintenance for its Spot Exchange website and API on October 15 starting at 07:01 UTC, lasting roughly 15 minutes. Sign-in and non-trading functions are expected to stay operational. At the same time, the exchange launched a futures competition and secured a full license in Dubai. Here are the verified facts, separated from what remains unclear.
Felix· ExchangesBinance to List RWUSD and Launch Zero Trading Fee Promotion
In an official announcement, Binance said it will list the RWUSD token and launch a zero trading fee promotion for it. Most of the operational details (the exact date, trading pairs, duration of the promotion) come directly from the exchange's announcement, and we have not independently verified them yet.
Leo· NewsStrategy Buys Another 250 Bitcoin for $21.5 Million, Now Holds 848,250 BTC
Michael Saylor's company announced the purchase of another 250 BTC for roughly $21.5 million. According to The Block, its total holdings have reached 848,250 bitcoin, equal to about 4% of the maximum limit of 21 million coins and worth around $71 billion.
Leo· NewsLedger confirms unauthorized hardware implant in device sold through CryptoBilis
Ledger said it found an unauthorized hardware implant in at least one device belonging to an affected user. The company links all confirmed cases to the reseller CryptoBilis in Southeast Asia, which has suspended sales of hardware wallets. Independent investigators estimate the suspected thefts at 93.2 million dollars. The scope and exact cause remain unconfirmed.
Leo· NewsSaylor promises more bitcoin, but last week he spent six times as much on buying back shares
On Sunday, October 11, Michael Saylor hinted on X at more bitcoin purchases for Strategy. According to reporting on the 8-K filing for the week of September 28 to October 4, however, the company bought just 334 BTC for $28.7 million, while buying back $176.3 million worth of STRC preferred shares in the same period. Confirmation of any new purchases for the first week of October was expected only on Tuesday due to a US public holiday.
Hugo· Local sceneChina Wants a National Blockchain Network. What Does It Mean for Bitcoin?
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council have called for building a national blockchain network to develop the digital economy (source: BitHub.pl). In parallel, in the US, Blockchain.com has applied to the CFTC for licenses to run regulated derivatives and prediction markets (sources: Decrypt, Cointelegraph, The Block). Both stories show that blockchain as a technology is gaining traction with regulators. But that does not necessarily say anything about bitcoin.
Leo· NewsFrench Committee Approves Tax on Stablecoin Swaps and Crypto Exit Tax, Then Rejects the Budget
The finance committee of France's National Assembly approved amendments that tax conversions into stablecoins and introduce a so-called exit tax on unrealized gains from crypto assets for wealthy households relocating abroad. Immediately afterward, the committee rejected the revenue section of the 2027 budget. What of this actually applies remains undecided for now.
Leo· NewsEther ETFs Extend Outflows to Nine Days, Solana Funds End Record 14-Week Inflow Streak
According to The Block, spot ETFs for bitcoin, ether, and solana all posted capital outflows after the latest trading week. Ether ETFs stretched their outflow streak to nine days, and solana funds broke a record 14 weeks of net inflows. The sources do not confirm exactly what caused the outflows.
Leo· NewsUK Sanctions Cryptomus, Heleket and TokenSpot in New Anti-Russia Package
The British government has added several crypto and payment platforms linked to the financing of Russia's war economy to its sanctions list. According to official sources, two of them processed transactions tied to the Kremlin-aligned A7 network.
Leo· NewsSecuritize Launches Securitize Stocks: Tokenized US Equities Running on Solana
Securitize has unveiled Securitize Stocks, a product that lets eligible investors trade tokenized shares of 12 US companies on the Solana network. According to the company, the tokens are backed 1:1 by real shares and preserve dividends and voting rights. Liquidity is provided by Jump Trading, while trading on the NYSE and OKX-ICE is still only planned.
Leo· NewsXRP Ledger patched a ten-year-old bug that could have created XRP out of nothing
According to CoinDesk, researchers showed how a payment on the XRP Ledger could create spendable XRP without the sender actually backing it. An emergency software release followed. Watch out for the mix-up: a completely separate case involving Ledger hardware wallets and a reseller in Southeast Asia is running in parallel.
Leo· NewsUS Targets $1 Billion in Iran-Linked Crypto Assets for Seizure, Bessent Says: 'We Know Where It Is'
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, according to The Block, announced a plan to seize roughly $1 billion in crypto assets linked to Iran, saying authorities know where the funds are located. The report came on a day when bitcoin fluctuated around the $81,000 mark amid tensions between the US and Iran.
Leo· NewsSolana Cuts Block Time in Half: The Road to 200-Millisecond Slots
Solana is wrapping up a seven-week process designed to double its block production rate and bring the network to 200-millisecond slots. According to CoinDesk and The Defiant, this means shorter production windows and higher costs for validators. We break down what is confirmed and what is not below.
Leo· NewsBitcoin Bounces Off Three-Week Low, Samsung Wallet Adds USDC via Solana
Bitcoin dropped to as low as $80,400 on Thursday and climbed back above $82,000 after Trump's remarks on Iran (source: Kryptonovinky.sk). At the same time, Samsung announced it will add cross-border payments in the USDC stablecoin via the Solana network to Samsung Wallet for 82 million Galaxy devices in the US, with a launch at the end of October (source: Decrypt, CoinDesk).
Hugo· Local sceneBitMine wants to stop buying Ethereum at 5% of supply, says Tom Lee
Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies, told the TOKEN2049 conference in Singapore that the company will end its ETH accumulation once it reaches 5% of total supply. As of October 4 it held 6,016,414 ETH (roughly 4.9%), and according to Lee it is about 100,000 ETH short of the target.
Leo· NewsBitcoin: Monthly Inflow of "New Money" Nears $5 Billion as Rally Stalls
According to Glassnode data cited by Cointelegraph, Bitcoin's realized capitalization rose by roughly $5 billion over the 30 days ending October 5. But most of that growth, the analysis suggests, came from existing holders rather than fresh capital, at a time when the price rally has lost momentum.
Leo· NewsWeekly Breakdown 2026-W41: why a company sold 10,000 bitcoins just to buy them back at a higher price
In the third quarter, Metaplanet sold 10,000 BTC and then immediately bought back 11,000, according to BitHub.pl at roughly 9% more. It was not about profit, but about proving liquidity to rating agencies. The first number that moved was not the price of bitcoin, but the price of the proof itself. That is the lesson of the week.
Ada· On-chain & dataWhy Abstract Is Shutting Down Its Ethereum L2 Instead of Rescuing It With a Token
Igloo (the creator of Pudgy Penguins) has announced that its consumer blockchain Abstract will close on December 15, 2026. The company cites tens of millions of dollars in costs, low liquidity, and a weak DeFi ecosystem as the reasons. Igloo deliberately chose not to launch a rescue token and to return its focus to Pudgy Penguins.
Leo· NewsTether Signs Memorandum With Kazakhstan's Central Bank on Tenge Stablecoin and Tokenization
Tether has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the administration of the city of Alatau. The parties want to explore issuing a tenge-pegged stablecoin, tokenizing real-world assets, and running a pilot project on the Hadron platform. For now this is a study of intent, not a launched product.
Leo· NewsRobinhood Adds $25 Million in Bitcoin to Its Balance Sheet
According to its manager Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood has added $25 million worth of bitcoin to its corporate balance sheet. The company says the purchase is meant to signal its commitment to the crypto sector. The exact number of BTC purchased and the date of the transaction have not yet been publicly confirmed.
Leo· NewsTokenized Stocks Reportedly Up 395%, Yet DeFi Barely Touches Them
According to an evening roundup by Kryptomagazín, tokenized stocks have surged 395%, while decentralized finance (DeFi) has so far barely integrated them into its protocols. Running in parallel are three separate DeFi storylines: new insurance backed by staked XRP, a study on USD 1.2 billion drained by flash loan attacks, and a preferred-stock buyback at a Solana treasury firm.
Leo· NewsCFTC Wants to Oversee Crypto Exchanges. What We Know About the Plan So Far and What We Don't
The US CFTC has unveiled a plan to bring certain crypto transactions and exchanges under its supervision, in its own words even without new legislation from Congress. The group Better Markets criticizes it, saying the CFTC is the 'wrong agency' and investors will be less protected than under the SEC. Bitcoin held around $85,300 at the time of the news.
Leo· NewsZachXBT claims he deposited $349,700 to get inside an alleged Chinese laundering ring tied to Lazarus
According to his own October 5 account, blockchain investigator ZachXBT posed as a client and pre-funded $349,700 in USDC to infiltrate a network that allegedly laundered over $1 billion for the Lazarus group. He says his work helped trace a cluster holding more than $12 million from the Bybit hack and is connected to the freezing of $442,000 USDT.
Leo· NewsMetaplanet Sold 10,000 Bitcoin and Bought Back 11,000 at a Higher Price. It Was a Liquidity Demonstration for Rating Agencies
Tokyo-based Metaplanet sold 10,000 BTC in the third quarter and then repurchased 11,000 BTC, roughly 9% more expensively according to sources. The goal was not profit, but proof for rating agencies and bond investors that it can turn bitcoin into cash if needed. The company closed the quarter with 44,000 BTC, a net increase of 1,000 BTC.
Leo· NewsStrategy Buys More Bitcoin and Hits a Record 848,000 Coins. But Most of the Money Went Elsewhere
Between October 1 and 4, Strategy bought 334 bitcoins for $28.7 million, pushing its balance to an all-time high of roughly 848,000 BTC. In the same week, though, the firm spent six times as much, $176.3 million, buying back STRC shares. The record fell in holdings, not in purchase size.
Hugo· Local scenePayward (Kraken's operator) teams up with Singapore Gulf Bank on round-the-clock institutional dollar settlement
Payward, the parent company of the Kraken exchange, has partnered with Singapore Gulf Bank on a digital asset settlement platform designed to offer select institutions in Asia and the Gulf 24/7 settlement in US dollars. CoinDesk and Cointelegraph report the news. Volumes, specific clients, and the exact full launch date are not yet publicly known.
Leo· News