• USD₮ reached 500MM total users this month, up from just 3.1MM in January 2020 - highlighting the scale of Tether’s global adoption over the last five years

• Onchain activity is growing fastest in developing countries, where mobile wallet penetration is leading global usage - signaling crypto’s increasing role in emerging market financial systems

• Monthly active crypto users are now estimated at 40MM–70MM globally (per a16z), with total global crypto ownership over 700MM

BitcoinOS – Bitcoin DeFi Infrastructure
BitcoinOS raised $10MM in a funding round led by Castle Island Ventures and Franklin Templeton to scale institutional-grade Bitcoin DeFi and BTC-backed lending.
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Beam – Stablecoin Payments Platform
Beam was acquired by Modern Treasury in an all-stock deal valued at $40MM, integrating stablecoin settlement and onchain payment capabilities into Modern Treasury’s enterprise platform.
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Cybrid – Stablecoin Infrastructure for Financial Institutions
Cybrid raised $10MM in a funding round led by Golden Ventures and Harvest Ventures to expand stablecoin issuance and compliance infrastructure for banks and fintechs.
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Pave Bank – Programmable Banking Platform
Pave Bank raised $39MM in a round joined by Tether, plus participation from Valar Ventures and Kingsway Capital, to expand programmable banking and tokenized deposit infrastructure.
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Sign – Sovereign Blockchain Infrastructure
Sign raised $25MM in a Series B led by YZI Labs, with participation from Framework Ventures, CMCC Global, and Variant Fund, to expand its stablecoin payment network across emerging markets.
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Internal debate at the Ethereum Foundation surfaced over governance and leadership direction following public comments from Vitalik Buterin.
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Solana’s Saga smartphone will stop receiving security updates as Solana Mobile shifts focus to the new Seeker device rollout.
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Kadena’s token dropped sharply after the company behind the network said it will cease operations, citing unsustainable costs and limited adoption.
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Blockchain.com has held preliminary talks to go public through a SPAC merger, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
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TRM Labs reported that global stablecoin transaction volume rose 83% year-over-year, reaching $12T across public blockchains.
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Kyrgyzstan announced plans to launch a national stablecoin on BNB Chain and develop a CBDC in partnership with adviser CZ.
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Revolut secured a MiCA license in Cyprus, allowing it to expand regulated crypto services across the EU.
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Custodia Bank launched the Vantage pilot, a tokenized deposit network enabling U.S. banks to settle payments onchain using tokenized dollar deposits.
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Aave completed an acqui-hire of the Stable Finance team to accelerate development of consumer-facing DeFi applications.
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Aave DAO approved a token buyback program using protocol revenue, marking its first coordinated capital return to token holders.
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Crypto.com filed an application with the OCC for a federal trust charter, joining Coinbase, Ripple, and others pursuing national licensing.
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Fireblocks acquired Dynamic, a web3 identity and wallet onboarding platform, to expand its authentication and user management capabilities for enterprise clients.
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Jupiter launched a Kalshi-powered prediction market for the F1 Mexico Grand Prix, marking its first integration of event-based trading.
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• Oct. 26 - 28: Money 20/20 (Vegas)

• Oct. 28: Bloomberg Volatility Conference (NYC)

📄 Research Piece of the Week: Nic Carter

Bitcoin and the Quantum Problem

📌 Post of the Week: Dan Tapiero

Middle East DAE Boom

🎤Podcast of the Week: Zr Talks

Episode 8: Chris Newhouse