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Coinbase said it will suspend BLAST trading at 2:00 p.m. UTC on Oct. 20 after Ethereum layer-two network Blast officially announced a full shutdown of chain operations amid worsening profitability.

More than 220,000 Russian digital ruble accounts were opened in the first month after launch, four times the central bank’s forecast, Reuters reported. Reuters said Russia had previously accelerated development of the digital ruble after sanctions tied to the war in Ukraine left it isolated from parts of the global financial system and made payments with key trading partners including China and India more complicated. The outlet added the digital ruble is becoming an early test of whether a central bank digital currency can move beyond pilot programs and achieve broad real-world adoption.

The three major U.S. stock indices closed higher today. - S&P 500: +0.58% - Nasdaq: +0.45% - Dow Jones: +0.49%

Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Abstract said it will cease operations on Dec. 15, according to The Block. The project cited stalled growth, low liquidity, a limited DeFi ecosystem and weak participation from institutional investors as reasons for the shutdown. It advised users to move assets to other networks before that date, warning in English, "asset migration to another network is recommended before the date. Otherwise, there is a risk of losing access to funds."

South Africa’s First National Bank has launched cryptocurrency trading for retail clients, according to Crypto Briefing. The bank’s roughly 9 million retail customers can now buy crypto directly through its existing stock trading platform, with support for five assets: BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL and USDT. FNB partnered with VALR, Africa’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, in October last year, and the new service is part of that partnership.

The U.S. government transferred 568 BTC to Coinbase Prime about an hour ago, worth roughly $48.7 million. The government’s total transfers today came to 833.6 BTC, or about $71 million, based on Oct. 6 local time.

Prediction market platform Kalshi has launched perpetual futures contracts tied to the U.S. stock market. The contracts track Kalshi’s US 500 index, which includes 500 of the largest U.S. companies. Traders can use leverage to take long or short positions without a fixed expiration date. Kalshi had submitted a related filing to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in August to launch the product.

U.S.-based bank State Street said in a crypto research report that 51% of institutional executives expect cryptocurrencies to become mainstream within five years. According to the report, that was up sharply from 42% in its 2025 report and 11% in 2024. Respondents said they currently allocate an average of about 11% to crypto and expect that share to rise to 17% within the next three years. The report also showed 35% already manage and distribute digital assets, while 28% said they have built the infrastructure needed to meet client demand. In addition, 52% identified fund issuance and tokenization as strategic priorities, and 53% chose cost reduction and efficiency gains as the most anticipated benefits. State Street conducted the survey of 300 executives in global asset servicing and asset management from July 20 to Aug. 19.

Crypto bank Anchorage Digital has acquired payment orchestration platform Routable and plans to use the deal to support transfers of stablecoins and tokenized deposits, according to Crypto Briefing. The company said it plans to roll out stablecoin and tokenized deposit payment capabilities over the next few quarters. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Fintech startup Navra has raised $19 million in Series A funding, The Block reported. The round was led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from Baseline, DCM, Jump Crypto, and Figure Technology Solutions. Navra plans a limited launch for retail and institutional clients in late October, with Figure serving as its first blockchain partner.

Bitcoin is facing strong selling pressure around $87,000, with the 21-day moving average at $83,500 serving as a key support level, CoinDesk said. CoinDesk said liquidity is currently concentrated around $87,000, with sell orders building from $86,500 and limiting BTC’s short-term upside. To preserve the uptrend, BTC needs to hold the 21-day simple moving average at $83,500, the outlet said. On the upside, if BTC breaks above $87,375, then reclaims $87,496 and flips that level into support, the likelihood of further gains could increase. In that scenario, BTC would be more likely to break firmly above $91,540, which CoinDesk said would provide an additional signal supporting confirmation of a bull market.

Founders Fund, led by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, has bought about $5 million worth of ANVL, the governance token of Anvil, a decentralized finance protocol focused on crypto-backed lending, CoinDesk reported. Anvil is also launching new tools aimed at expanding technology use by companies and financial institutions. Pantera Capital, Theta Blockchain Ventures, Bullish, and Protoscale Capital also took part in the transaction, while specific deal terms and the valuation were not disclosed.

Starknet has carried out an upgrade centered on expanding processing capacity, Crypto Briefing reported. The upgrade also includes minor changes to gas price calculations and the removal of some legacy infrastructure. Node operators must update their software. Starknet also adjusted gas weightings so transaction fees more accurately reflect the costs actually borne by the sequencer and the network.

Stablecoin trading platform Conduit has sued Tether after the issuer froze 2.76 million USDT without explanation, The Block reported. Conduit argued the funds have remained frozen for more than a year even though Brazilian police confirmed the company’s wallet was never designated for a freeze.

A more favorable backdrop has emerged for BTC as the likelihood of a Federal Reserve rate hike has fallen, but stronger institutional inflows are still needed for the asset to climb to $90,000-$93,000, Bitget Wallet head of research Lacy Zhang said, according to Crypto Briefing. Zhang said the probability of an October rate hike fell from 51% a week earlier to around 19% on Oct. 6, citing U.S. local time, after September nonfarm payroll growth came in at just 29,000. Zhang added that further declines in U.S. Treasury yields and inflation pressure could support Bitcoin. Even so, current ETF demand alone is not enough to ensure a breakout to $90,000-$93,000, Zhang said, pointing to Bitcoin's repeated inability to hold above $87,000. Institutional money is entering the market, Zhang said, but profit-taking and existing sell-side supply are absorbing those flows and capping price gains. To confirm whether BTC can extend its rally above $90,000, concerns over rate hikes need to keep easing alongside sustained net institutional inflows, Zhang added.

Wall Street could capture significant economic value from the growth of the crypto market as blockchain technology spreads into traditional finance, Morgan Stanley said, according to CoinDesk. The firm said crypto is more likely to develop through integration with existing financial infrastructure, including banks and capital markets, rather than by replacing the current financial system.

European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said the lack of a European digital payment instrument could increase the risk of fragmentation across tokenization platforms and weaken Europe’s monetary sovereignty, Cointelegraph reported. Cipollone said the ECB’s goal should be to create a digital euro that can be exchanged between banks and used for everyday transactions. He added the aim is not to replace the role of banks, but to provide infrastructure that banks need to compete in the digital era and help expand the reach and use cases of banks’ own payment solutions.

Taiwanese singer Jeffrey Huang, better known as Machi Big Brother, has been steadily reducing long positions in BTC and ETH, BlockBeats reported. Huang currently holds a 25x long position in 35,000 ETH, a 40x long position in 455 BTC, and a 10x long position in 145,000 HYPE, with unrealized gains of $948,000.

THORChain developer Chad Barraford said there were ways to restrict the movement of funds linked to the Bitget hack, but a practical response was difficult because validator consensus takes time. In an interview with Unchained, Barraford said THORChain currently does not have a function to immediately block specific wallets or transactions. Barraford said that even if a separate blocking mechanism were introduced, a hacker could move funds to other addresses while validators complete consensus. Barraford explained that reaching the two-thirds validator consensus needed to carry out certain measures takes about three days on average and as long as two weeks. Barraford added that shortening the response time would require changing the protocol structure to give some participants stronger control. If swaps are already under way, Barraford said, a response becomes even more difficult. Barraford said stopping transactions would require redistributing funds through a vault migration, which would also need approval from more than two-thirds of validators and could take one to two weeks. Barraford added that it is theoretically possible to preemptively block Ethereum addresses confirmed to be linked to a hack, but if the hacker moves funds to new addresses, trading can resume, making it difficult for that to serve as a fundamental solution.

Strike has launched a U.S. feature that pays interest generated on cash balances in Bitcoin, Crypto Briefing reported. The feature offers 3.6% annual interest on cash held in Strike accounts. Interest is calculated daily, but paid once a month in Bitcoin rather than dollars.

Winklevoss Asset Services has filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. SEC for a spot ZEC ETF, Unfolded reported.

Chinese-rooted crypto exchange OKX has raised new investment at a $25 billion valuation, and CEO Star Xu said the funding was driven by strategic alignment rather than a need for capital, Cointelegraph reported. The report added that the investment amount was not disclosed, while participants were said to include Circle, Ripple (XRP), Standard Chartered-backed SC Ventures, and hedge fund Qube Research & Technologies (QRT).

An address believed to be linked to the U.S. government transferred 264 BTC, worth about $22.87 million, to a new address. The funds were seized from the Bitfinex exchange hacker, BlockBeats reported.

Former UBS Asia head Joseph Chee said Bitcoin could enter a new major upcycle if China allows cryptocurrency trading again. Chee said the biggest variable shaping Bitcoin’s direction may lie in Beijing rather than Washington or Wall Street, while adding that the key condition would be effective risk management and that demand from China’s massive user base could be substantial if trading resumes.

AI-linked cryptocurrencies rose 54% through September, far outpacing the broader crypto market’s expected 24% gain over the same period, Zach Pandl, head of research at Grayscale, said in an analysis. Pandl said the segment is expected to be the most promising category among six crypto asset sectors.