Weekly: Market Drawdowns, an Investigation Into Binance, a New Wallet From Ledger, and Witt’s Departure

The Incrypted editorial team has prepared a new edition of our weekly digest covering the key events in Web3 and AI over the past week. In it, we will tell you about the U.S. Department of Justice investigation into Binance, the market correction, a new wallet from Ledger, the departure of White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt, and much more. 

Top News

Bitcoin

• How did the asset’s price change?

This week, from October 12 to October 18, 2026, was negative for the market. On the night of October 13, bitcoin fell to $81,033, after which it recovered some of its losses. Daily liquidations exceeded $820 million, mostly driven by longs. 

Later, when fresh U.S. inflation data came out, the leading cryptocurrency sold off again, testing levels below $82,000. The annual CPI accelerated to 3.7% versus 3.4% in August. Daily liquidations totaled more than $977 million. 

The asset then traded sideways. At the time of writing, the price is $82,043:

• Expert opinions

CryptoQuant analysts flagged signs that bitcoin may be forming a local bottom, but said confirmation requires a rebound in demand and steady inflows into ETFs. Willy Woo believes the market’s long-term structure remains bullish despite the current consolidation. At the same time, analyst Darkfost warned that selling pressure could intensify after the price recovers above $85,000.

Market maker Wintermute reported a worsening crypto market backdrop amid ETF outflows and expectations of tighter Federal Reserve policy. Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $679 million in outflows, while Ethereum-based funds saw $542 million. For a sustainable recovery, analysts say U.S. bond yields need to fall and net capital inflows into ETFs need to return.

• A Bitcoin whale moved $378 million in bitcoin after six years of inactivity

A major holder of the leading cryptocurrency moved 4,582 BTC worth about $377.6 million to five addresses after a long period of inactivity. The coins arrived in the original wallet in March 2020, when they were worth about $40.8 million. At the time of publication, the funds remained at the recipient addresses, with no signs of selling recorded.

• A UK court issued a ruling in the case of 61,000 confiscated BTC

The High Court in London ruled that claims by victims of an investment fraud in China to the confiscated 61,000 BTC worth about $5 billion must be considered under Chinese law. The decision could complicate the return of assets to investors and increase the likelihood that the cryptocurrency remains under UK control. The ultimate owner of the bitcoins has not yet been determined, and representatives of the victims intend to appeal the ruling.

• Saylor spoke about the state of the bitcoin market, competition with AI, and Strategy sales

Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor said the company is entitled to buy and sell bitcoins depending on shareholders’ interests, and that the negative reaction to the first sales was excessive. He believes bitcoin is at the beginning of a bull market and forecasts 20%–30% annual growth over the next 20 years. Saylor also noted that cryptocurrencies are competing with the AI sector for capital, which could ultimately work in bitcoin’s favor.

• Coinbase urged starting preparations for bitcoin against quantum threats

Crypto exchange Coinbase presented technical recommendations to protect bitcoin from potential quantum computer attacks. The company proposes gradually implementing quantum-resistant digital signatures, upgrading infrastructure, and ensuring compatibility with existing wallets. Special attention is given to protecting legacy addresses whose owners may not have time to migrate to new standards.

• An economist explained why fixed supply is bitcoin’s main advantage

Economist Saifedean Ammous challenged the view that Bitcoin’s limited issuance prevents it from being used as money due to high volatility. According to him, a fixed supply provides predictability for the monetary system, while growing market capitalization and liquidity should gradually reduce price swings. The economist expects that, in the long run, bitcoin will become a global monetary asset.

Ethereum and Other Altcoins

• How did prices change?

Overall, the market followed the same pattern as with bitcoin. For example, Ethereum’s price chart also shows two significant drawdowns — October 13 and October 14–15, 2026. On the weekly chart, most altcoins are trading with a slight dip. 

• Santiment recorded FOMO around Ethereum amid fear over bitcoin and XRP

Santiment analysts reported a predominance of bullish comments about Ethereum on social media — for every bearish one, there are 2.05 bullish ones. For bitcoin and XRP, these ratios are 0.82 and 0.92, respectively, pointing to negative sentiment. CryptoQuant also noted that Binance’s share of Ethereum open interest rose to nearly 49%, the highest level since 2023.

• About $10 trillion by 2030: Morgan Stanley revealed plans for the tokenized assets market

Morgan Stanley plans to begin supporting tokenized equities on its own alternative trading system in the first quarter of 2027, pushing the timeline back from the second half of 2026. Head of digital assets strategy Amy Oldenburg estimated the potential size of the tokenized real-world assets market by 2030 at $3 trillion–$10 trillion. The bank is also developing wallet infrastructure and testing blockchain technologies.

• Analysts recorded STRK accumulation by the largest wallets after a 330% rally

Santiment analysts reported STRK accumulation by the largest holders after the Starknet token’s price rose by about 330% over four weeks. In a single day, the network created a record 1,166 new wallets, while the top 10 addresses hold around 7.09 billion STRK — the highest combined total since April. StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson also suggested considering Starknet’s move to L1 in the context of preparing for quantum threats.

• A consortium of 37 European banks received a license to issue a euro stablecoin

The Dutch central bank granted Qivalis an electronic money institution license as it prepares to launch a stablecoin pegged to the euro. The consortium brings together 37 European banks, including BBVA, BNP Paribas, ING, and DZ Bank. Before the token goes live, the company must meet the remaining MiCA requirements, including publishing a white paper.

• The USDC stablecoin received special status under MiCA

The European Banking Authority (EBA) classified Circle’s USDC as the first significant electronic money token under the MiCA framework in the EU. Starting November 12, 2026, the asset will move under joint supervision by the EBA and France’s ACPR regulator. The new status implies tighter oversight of reserves, liquidity, and the issuer’s financial resilience.

Various Projects

• NFT marketplace Blur announced it will shut down its web interface

NFT marketplace Blur announced it will shut down its web interface on November 12, 2026, while its smart contracts will continue operating on Ethereum. Users were advised to repay loans via Blend before that date to avoid default. On the news, the BLUR token fell from $0.018 to $0.012.

• Solana will activate the biggest mainnet upgrade in the network’s history on October 21

The Anza team announced the rollout of the Alpenglow upgrade on Solana mainnet on October 21, 2026. The new consensus mechanism will replace TowerBFT and is expected to cut block finality time from 12.8 seconds to 150 milliseconds. The upgrade also aims to increase throughput and improve the network’s resilience to outages.

• Most blockchains will disappear: expert highlights key metrics for network survival

Raoul Pal, founder of Global Macro Investor, said that most blockchains will not withstand competition, and that the bulk of economic activity will concentrate in a few networks. When assessing project prospects, he pointed to capital retention, the resilience of user activity, growth in stablecoin supply, and developer inflows. In his view, Ethereum, Solana, and Sui are among the L1 networks with the most resilient economies.

• Crypto project Bima launches onchain asset-backed loans with a zero cash rate

Crypto project Bima launched crypto-collateralized lending on Ethereum, Base, and BNB Chain, allowing users to borrow up to 50% of the collateral value without recurring interest payments. The mechanism is based on a collar options strategy, in which the borrower caps potential upside from collateral appreciation. Loans are available for one month or one year, while fees and repayment obligations still apply.

Regulation

• South Korea to block 27 unregistered crypto exchanges, including KuCoin and MEXC

South Korean regulators decided to block the websites of 27 unregistered crypto platforms, including KuCoin, MEXC, and BingX. The FIU provided law enforcement with information on 44 operators and instructed registered exchanges to restrict transfers to their addresses. Operating without registration carries penalties of up to 50 million won or up to five years in prison.

• Ukraine imposes sanctions on five crypto platforms

Ukraine imposed sanctions on RAPIRA, ABCEX, Aifory Pro, WhiteBird, and MarketCoin.io under a presidential decree dated October 11, 2026. The restrictions are set for ten years and include blocking websites and related Telegram channels, but no separate measure to freeze these platforms’ assets has been established.

• Media: White House chief crypto adviser Patrick Witt steps down

Journalist Eleanor Terrett reported that Patrick Witt has stepped down as executive director of the US President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets. The White House said his temporary appointment term had expired, and a successor has not yet been named. Witt was involved in advancing the CLARITY Act and work on the US strategic bitcoin reserve initiative.

• Former Trump adviser Bo Hines received $6.3 million from Tether while working on crypto legislation — WSJ

The WSJ reported that Nxum, a company co-owned by former Trump adviser Bo Hines, received $6.3 million under an arrangement linked to Tether while he was involved in work on the GENIUS Act. Hines advocated extending the compliance transition period from 18 to 36 months, and his correspondence with Nxum partners concerned promoting the bill. An Nxum representative denies that Hines knew about the business relationship with Tether or received money from it while working at the White House.

• Hyperliquid founder proposed a US regulatory model for the platform

Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan proposed placing regulatory obligations on companies that operate blockchain-based trading services, rather than on the network itself. He believes this approach would allow traditional financial institutions to use Hyperliquid as infrastructure for their own products. The platform is not yet available to US clients, but Payward plans to offer US investors derivatives built on its technology via a regulated exchange.

AI sector

• Media: OpenAI and Anthropic began preparing for a potential AI catastrophe and its aftermath

Executives at OpenAI, Anthropic, and other AI companies began holding closed-door drills on how to respond to a potential large-scale artificial intelligence incident. They are considering cyberattack scenarios that could disrupt banks, the internet, and critical infrastructure, and are also discussing how to engage with the US Congress after a potential crisis.

• Sui Foundation to invest $30 million in DATA Network to develop AI infrastructure

Sui Foundation announced a $30 million investment in DATA Network to develop AI training infrastructure. The project will fully migrate to the Sui blockchain and integrate with Walrus storage, and the DATA token will be moved to the new network at a 1:1 ratio. The partnership aims to provide AI developers with data that has verified provenance and usage rights.

• Former FTX mining assets to be repurposed for AI infrastructure

SWI Group decided to retrofit Genesis Digital Assets data centers, which had previously received investment from Alameda Research, an FTX-affiliated company, to serve AI compute providers. The company raised €800 million (about $900 million) to upgrade and expand infrastructure in the US and Sweden. SWI’s head said he is not interested in continuing bitcoin mining.

• Meta unveiled Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full AI models for autonomous execution of complex tasks

Meta unveiled Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full models with a context window of up to 1 million tokens, designed for long-running, multi-step tasks. The systems use Active Memory and Active Focus to retain context, search for solutions, and correct errors. In the Artificial Analysis ranking, the models scored 52 and 56 points, respectively.

• Scientists called for an international body to oversee advanced AI

About 400 scientists from 34 countries called for the creation of an international body to oversee advanced AI systems, which would set model isolation standards and maintain a registry of significant security incidents. The signatories, including Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, proposed isolating models with dangerous cyber capabilities from external networks and ensuring independent oversight.

• An OpenAI employee was accused of installing a hidden voice recorder to capture confidential talks

In the US, OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan was arrested and accused of attempting to illegally intercept conversations using a hidden recording device. Investigators say he planted a voice recorder in a conference room used by the company’s leadership in San Francisco, where confidential matters were discussed. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

• AI startup Character.AI valued at up to $1 billion filed for bankruptcy

AI chatbot developer Character.AI announced it has begun Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the US and intends to sell the business under court supervision. The company expects to complete the sale by late November or early December 2026, and the platform will continue operating until then. In 2023, the startup raised $150 million at a $1 billion valuation.

• NVIDIA to provide the UK with $250 million for AI safety research

NVIDIA committed to provide the UK with $250 million worth of compute resources over five years for artificial intelligence safety research. They will be used to test agentic systems, develop safeguards, and support research projects at the University of Oxford, Imperial College London, and University College London.

• Tether unveiled an AI model for speech recognition on smartphones, smart glasses, and robots

Tether unveiled the QVAC TranscribePsy model for on-device speech recognition on smartphones, smart glasses, and robots without sending audio to the cloud. The system has 254 million parameters and, according to the company, can transcribe a 10-minute recording in 1.65 seconds on an iPhone 17 Pro Max. The model is available in multiple versions for different devices.

• OpenAI’s AI used someone else’s crypto wallet to deploy smart contracts

An OpenAI research model used funds from someone else’s crypto wallet to deploy smart contracts on the Ethereum Sepolia testnet without the owner’s permission. It checked 362 addresses using public mnemonic phrases and paid fees from a discovered wallet, without disclosing this in the final report. OpenAI announced additional safeguards and monitoring to prevent similar actions.

US Justice Department launched a review of Binance for potential breach of the $4.3 billion agreement

The US Department of Justice is reviewing whether Binance complied with the terms of its $4.3 billion agreement with US authorities signed in 2023. The review comes amid an investigation into a possible violation of sanctions against Iran. If the agency finds that the exchange failed to meet its obligations, Binance could face renewed criminal prosecution and new multibillion-dollar penalties.

CZ named the key rules for safe crypto storage

Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao outlined key principles for protecting crypto assets, including preventing theft, maintaining access to wallets, and planning for inheritance. For self-custody, he recommends securing private keys and creating backups in different locations. For exchange users, Zhao advises using unique passwords, two-factor authentication, hardware security keys, and withdrawal address allowlists.

HEX founder Richard Heart detained in Turkey

Turkish media reported the detention of HEX founder Richard Heart and his wife in Istanbul on October 14, 2026. The entrepreneur was on an international wanted list at Finland’s request in connection with an investigation into alleged tax fraud and assault. During a search, law enforcement seized cash, electronic devices, weapons, and jewelry.

Ukrainians changed their investment approach in 2026 with a focus on crypto assets — study

An Ipsos study commissioned by WhiteBIT found that 44% of Ukrainians with savings and investments view cryptocurrencies as a potential capital allocation tool. In popularity, digital assets are ahead of owning a business (32%) and government securities (27%), and are on par with residential real estate. At the same time, 59% of respondents believe that working with cryptocurrencies requires specialized knowledge.

Ledger Unveils Atom Crypto Wallet on Android

Ledger unveiled the Android-based Atom device, combining the functionality of a hardware crypto wallet and a smartphone. The new product features a separate secure environment for signing transactions, a 6.77-inch OLED display, and physical tamper-detection mechanisms. Pricing starts at $849, with shipments scheduled for summer 2027.

Other News

The following events also took place this week:

• Kalshi launched an investigation into suspicious bets on the appointment of Trump’s press secretary
• “I felt sick,” former FTX COO criticized Netflix over its series about the exchange’s collapse
• Media: OpenAI is in talks to acquire an auditor for Uniswap and Aave
• Kraken’s parent company is buying a bank in Lithuania to expand financial services — FT
• Kalshi’s CEO warned that prediction markets could leave the US due to regulatory issues.

What’s New at Incrypted?

Articles and Interviews

At the TOKEN2049 conference, the Incrypted team spoke with Mert Mumtaz about Solana’s technical strengths and weaknesses, the future of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies, and financial freedom. They also discussed the prospects of AI in the crypto industry and the entrepreneur’s views on popular tech trends.

On Solana’s Weaknesses, Private Money, and AI Hype — An Interview with Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz

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DeepSeek Harness: How to Launch an AI Agent That Creates Its Own Plugins

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After the MiCA transition period ended, crypto companies in the European Union moved to unified authorization requirements. The piece analyzed how licenses are distributed across countries, how former crypto hubs have shifted positions, and how banks are entering the digital asset market. It also paid special attention to what the new rules mean for businesses.

From Thousands of Companies to a Mere Few Hundred: How MiCA reshaped the EU Crypto Market

14.10.2026

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Google unveiled Gemini 4 Argon — a model designed for complex, multi-step tasks in programming, science, finance, and other fields. The article reviewed its benchmark results, capabilities, pricing, and availability, and compared it with competitors. In addition, the editorial team tested the model in practice by tasking it with creating an interactive black hole visualization.

Gemini 4 Argon: What Google’s New Flagship Can Do

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Bitcoin has evolved from the idea of independent electronic money into an investment instrument used by the largest financial companies. The piece explored why the first cryptocurrency did not become a mass payment method, how perceptions of it have changed, and what contradictions emerged between the original concept and institutional adoption.

Bitcoin’s Identity Crisis: From Cypherpunk Dream to Wall Street Asset

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CoinW’s CEO for the CIS, Chingiz Nasirov, spoke about how crypto exchanges are transforming under the influence of artificial intelligence, tokenization of traditional assets, and institutional capital. The author also examined the role of sports partnerships, regulation, and security in attracting users and strengthening trust in trading platforms.

How Artificial Intelligence, Asset Tokenization, and Major Sports are Changing Crypto Exchanges

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As competition intensifies, crypto projects are tightening retrodrop participant selection criteria and more actively filtering out artificial activity. The piece compiled ten approaches that can increase the chances of receiving tokens, including joining new ecosystems, using analytics, and building a high-quality on-chain interaction history with protocols.

10 Effective Ways to Increase Your Chances of Getting a Retrodrop in 2026

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Sharding makes it possible to split data and transaction processing across separate parts of a blockchain network to improve performance. The article explained how the technology works, provided examples of its use, and covered its advantages, technical limitations, and scaling prospects for decentralized systems.

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In this review, we looked at the capabilities of the CoinW crypto exchange, including spot and futures trading, buying digital assets, and additional platform tools. We also broke down fees, account security mechanisms, and the registration process, and prepared a step-by-step guide for beginners.

CoinW Crypto Exchange Review: Tools, Fees, Security, and a Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

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In addition:

• We put together a single roundup of the key investments in blockchain, crypto assets, and AI for September.
• We regularly update the Incrypted crypto calendar, where you will find plenty of interesting events and announcements.

Сообщение Weekly: Market Drawdowns, an Investigation Into Binance, a New Wallet From Ledger, and Witt’s Departure появились сначала на INCRYPTED.