BitcoinKE

Strategy spent more than six times as much on repurchasing its preferred STRC stock as it did buying Bitcoin last week underscoring how the company is increasingly focused on strengthening the securities it uses to finance its Bitcoin treasury.
The company bought 334 Bitcoin for about $28.7 million between September 29 2026 and October 5 2026 taking its holdings to 848,000 BTC. Over the same period, it spent $176.3 million to repurchase about 1.77 million STRC shares, according to a regulatory filing.

Latest @Strategy $BTC vs $STRC repurchases filings with @SECGov
#InstitutionalBitcoin https://t.co/60Ouc1uZKo
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) October 6, 2026
The shift matters because Strategy’s Bitcoin strategy increasingly depends not only on accumulating the cryptocurrency but also on maintaining demand for the preferred securities that help provide capital for that accumulation.
Strategy has been trying to make STRC more attractive and more stable after the preferred stock fell sharply below its $100 stated amount earlier this year. The company has since expanded its preferred-stock repurchase authorization to $2 billion and is seeking shareholder approval to move STRC and three other preferred securities to daily dividend payments.

INSTITUTIONAL | Leading Bitcoin Holder, Strategy, Proposes Daily Dividends to Restore Preferred Shares to $100

Under the proposal, dividends would accrue every calendar day and be paid on the next business day without changing the dividend rates or Strategy’s overall payment obligations. The company says the change could
reduce re-investment delays,
improve liquidity and price stability, and
increase demand for its preferred securities.
Shareholders are due to vote on October 28 2026.
The timing highlights a broader change in Strategy’s capital allocation. Its Bitcoin holdings grew only 0.2% in the Q3 2026, with 7,218 BTC purchased and 5,553 BTC sold. During the same quarter, the company spent about $1.38 billion repurchasing STRC.

MARKET ANALYSIS | Strategy Doubles STRC Stock Buyback Authorization to $2 Billion

The immediate objective is therefore not simply to buy as much Bitcoin as possible. Strategy is also trying to build a stronger preferred-stock market around its Bitcoin treasury where more liquidity and a more predictable income stream could make it easier to attract and retain investors.
That could ultimately support the company’s ability to raise capital through preferred securities and continue adding Bitcoin. Strategy itself has said that strengthening its preferred securities could create a competitive advantage and that increased demand could contribute to higher Bitcoin per share.
In other words, the STRC buybacks are less a departure from Strategy’s Bitcoin strategy than an investment in the financing machinery behind it.


CASE STUDY | Why the World’s Largest Bitcoin Institutional Holder Doubled Down on Stock Buyback Over BTC Purchases




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Bitcoin withdrawals from Binance reached their highest weekly level in more than three years in late September 2026 while large holders increased stablecoin deposits on the exchange according to on-chain analytics firm, CryptoQuant.
Binance recorded net Bitcoin outflows of 23,137 BTC in the seven days through September 27 2026, the largest weekly outflow since June 2023 when its Bitcoin balance fell by 44,942 BTC. The exchange’s Bitcoin reserves have declined by nearly 40,000 BTC since September 20 2026, the data showed.


CryptoQuant said the withdrawals could indicate accumulation, as Bitcoin held away from exchanges is generally less readily available for immediate sale. In June 2023, a similar decline in Binance’s reserves was followed by a rise in Bitcoin prices from about $26,300 to $30,500 over the following week.
At the same time, large holders have been moving more stablecoins onto Binance. CryptoQuant said whale entities increased their rolling 30-day stablecoin inflows to the exchange by 40% between August 15 2026 and the end of September 2026 from $21.7 billion to $30.5 billion.
Stablecoins held on exchanges can provide liquidity for purchases of crypto assets although the data does not establish that the funds will be used to buy Bitcoin.
Bitcoin has traded between about $82,500 and $87,500 since September 21 2026.


The Largest Ever Single-Day Outflow of Bitcoin on an Exchange Takes Place on Binance




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The failure of the U.S. Senate to advance the CLARITY Act has left retail cryptocurrency markets without the comprehensive federal framework lawmakers had sought to establish putting greater pressure on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to fill the gap through existing authorities.

REGULATION | The CLARITY Act Fails to Advance

The CFTC proposed a framework for exchanges offering margined, leveraged, or financed crypto transactions to retail customers. The proposal would create a new category of federally regulated venues called ‘crypto asset markets,’ subjecting them to requirements including anti-manipulation controls and proof-of-reserves obligations. Registered futures commission merchants would also be required to intermediate customer trades.

REGULATION | CFTC Sends Crypto Market Rules to White House After CLARITY Act Stalls

But the proposal does not give the CFTC broad statutory authority over the spot crypto market. That authority was a central element of the failed CLARITY Act, leaving much of the retail spot market outside a dedicated federal regulatory regime.
The CFTC said its proposed rules rely on existing authority over certain retail commodity transactions while seeking public comment on how those rules should apply to crypto assets. The agency said the framework would provide a uniform national regulatory pathway rather than relying primarily on state-level licensing.
The SEC has also moved to establish rules within its existing authority. Last week, it proposed rules governing crypto-asset custody by investment advisers and funds saying they would provide a regulatory framework and a compliant pathway for investment professionals holding digital assets.

REGULATION | The Securities and Exchange Commission Updates Crypto Guidance After CLARITY Act Stalls

Those measures, however, do not amount to the comprehensive market-structure legislation that failed in the Senate. The SEC’s rules primarily address crypto assets falling within its securities jurisdiction while the CFTC’s latest initiative focuses on specific leveraged and margined retail transactions.
That division leaves a fundamental question unresolved for retail investors – which federal regulator has clear authority over the broader spot market and what protections apply when consumers buy and trade crypto assets directly?
Better Markets, a financial reform advocacy group, said the CFTC was the wrong agency to take the lead in regulating retail crypto arguing that the regulator lacks the SEC’s investor-protection mandate. It also questioned whether the CFTC’s existing statutory authority was intended by Congress to cover crypto transactions.

REGULATION | Prediction Markets Fall Under Our Federal Mandate, Says Chairman, CFTC

The CFTC has said its rules are intended to provide clarity and consumer protection while SEC and CFTC officials have indicated they will continue developing crypto rules despite the legislative impasse. But without congressional action, the resulting framework remains dependent on the agencies’ existing powers and could face legal challenges or change with future administrations.
The post-CLARITY reality is therefore less a new U.S. crypto rulebook than a patchwork of agency actions with retail spot crypto still lacking the clear federal regulatory foundation Congress failed to deliver.


REGULATION | European Crypto Users Have More Trust in Regulated Platforms Under MiCA, Says Crypto Executive




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The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is withdrawing the following proposed rules:
a proposal that would have imposed recordkeeping, verification, and reporting requirements on certain transactions involving convertible virtual currencies and unhosted wallets, and
a proposal that would have imposed a special measure with regards to convertible virtual currency mixing.

The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has withdrawn a proposal that would have required banks and cryptocurrency businesses to report transactions of more than $10,000 involving customers’ self-hosted crypto wallets.

OPINION | Payments from Private Wallets Trigger a Cross-Border Flow Under Capital Controls Regulations in South Africa

The proposal, introduced in December 2020, would have required financial institutions and money services businesses, including crypto exchanges, to report transfers above the $10,000 threshold to or from unhosted wallets. The threshold would also have applied to transactions that exceeded $10,000 in aggregate over a 24-hour period. Firms would have been required to collect information about the customer and the wallet involved.
FinCEN also withdrew a separate 2023 proposal that would have imposed additional reporting requirements on transactions involving cryptocurrency mixers.

REGULATION | Popular Cryptocurrency Mixer, Tornado Cash, Removed from U.S. Sanctions List Following Court Ruling

Neither proposal had taken effect.

FinCEN said the withdrawals were part of the Trump administration’s broader de-regulatory agenda and efforts to establish digital-asset rules that are “fit-for-purpose.”
The withdrawal ends nearly six years of uncertainty around the proposed reporting requirements which attracted thousands of public comments from the cryptocurrency industry and other stakeholders.


REGULATION | United States Leading Financial Regulators Sign MoU to Coordinate Oversight of Crypto and Financial Markets




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Crypto companies are shifting their focus from building on-chain financial products to getting customers to use them regularly as the industry seeks to move closer to mainstream finance.
Asset managers have launched tokenized funds,
exchanges are expanding into lending and payments, and
blockchain networks are seeking institutional customers.
The challenge is increasingly to demonstrate sustained usage rather than simply prove that the technology works.

REALITY CHECK | The Crypto Startup is Dying. Regulation Didn’t Kill it Alone

For Coinbase, the focus is on making crypto products useful for everyday financial needs rather than emphasizing the technology underneath them, said Ben Shen, the company’s head of financial services and loyalty products.
Customers want to grow, hold, send, spend, or borrow money while the underlying blockchain is often less important to them, Shen said.
Coinbase is seeking what Shen described as “magic moments” that immediately demonstrate a product’s usefulness. The company views adoption as a cycle in which customers
bring money onto its platform,
have reasons to keep it there, and then
find ways to spend, trade, or make payments with those assets.
Rewards and other incentives can help persuade customers to move money onto a platform, Shen said, but the goal is to turn that initial incentive into longer-term use.

“If you create the right magic moments across these three parts of the flywheel, then that’ll get people to increasingly bring more and more money onto the platform,” he said.

OPINION | Own the Customer, Rent the Coin

The same challenge applies to blockchain networks seeking institutional customers.

Kevin O’Leary, chairman of O’Leary Ventures, said networks need to demonstrate that companies are using their infrastructure rather than merely testing it.
“The challenge you have is ‘show me, show me adoption,'” O’Leary said at the Avalanche Summit in New York in September 2026.

INSTITUTIONAL | The World’s Largest Stock Exchange has Spent a Year Testing Avalanche for Tokenization Plans

He said institutional customers want to see actual deals and adoption rather than tests of blockchain technology.
For asset manager, WisdomTree, which oversees about $150 billion, expanding distribution is another route to adoption.

CASE STUDY | How This Wall Street Bank is Leveraging its Brand, Pricing, Distribution Network for its Bitcoin ETF

The company has built tokenized funds including WTGXX, a tokenized money market fund with about $1.2 billion in assets, according to Will Peck, WisdomTree’s head of digital assets.
WisdomTree is working to make its funds available through platforms beyond its own. A recent collaboration with MoonPay allows eligible U.S. retail customers to access WTGXX through MoonPay and buy the fund using stablecoins without separately onboarding with WisdomTree, Peck said.
Coinbase is also exploring distribution through third-party platforms, including artificial intelligence tools. Shen said AI agents could eventually become another route through which customers access financial services.
As crypto firms increasingly compete with traditional financial companies, the focus is moving beyond whether products can be built to whether customers find enough value in them to keep using them.


CASE STUDY | Why Circulation, Not Velocity, is What Currently Drives Stablecoins Revenue





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Egyptian fintech MNT-Halan has raised more than $82 million through three bond sales providing additional funding for its lending business as the company prepares for a planned stock market listing.
The funds were raised through two subsidiaries,
Halan Consumer Finance and
Tasheel Finance.
Tasheel Finance, MNT-Halan’s microfinance arm, raised $24.6 million and $46.8 million through two separate bond sales, while Halan Consumer Finance raised a further $10.8 million.

Egyptian Fintech, MNT Halan, Now Africa’s 9th Unicorn Valued at Over $1 Billion After $400 Million in Funding

The bond sales allow MNT-Halan to borrow from investors and repay the funds over time with interest providing capital that can be deployed into new loans to customers.
Founded in 2018, MNT-Halan has grown into one of Egypt’s largest fintech companies and is the country’s biggest non-bank microfinance lender, according to estimates. The company has about 24.3% of Egypt’s non-bank microfinance market by outstanding loan value.
MNT-Halan’s outstanding loans are worth nearly $1 billion while the company says it has extended more than $6 billion in credit since its founding. Lending has been its fastest-growing business with nearly 2 million customers.

FUNDING | Egyptian Fintech Unicorn, MNT-Halan, Raises a Further $157 Million After Achieving Over 20x Customer Growth

The fundraising comes as MNT-Halan prepares to list 20% of its shares on the Egyptian Exchange. The company, Egypt’s first unicorn, said in June 2026 that it had reached a valuation of $1.4 billion and plans to offer 320 million shares.
The listing is expected in October 2026 and would give MNT-Halan another source of capital as it expands its lending operations while potentially attracting more foreign investment into Egypt’s stock market.


STATISTICS | Only 3 African Countries Host Companies Worth Over $1 Billion – Here is Why




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European crypto users are placing greater trust in regulated platforms following the rollout of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, according to Bitpanda co-CEO, Christian Trummer.
Speaking on a podcast, Trummer said users have “more faith” in regulated market participants contrasting this with the focus on self-custody among parts of the crypto community. He said most retail users prefer regulated providers rather than managing their own private keys.
Trummer also called for stricter enforcement of MiCA saying some companies continue to serve European customers without the required authorization putting compliant firms at a competitive disadvantage.

“The problem there definitely is that it’s not strictly enforced by the regulators,” Trummer said, referring to firms offering services to European customers without a MiCA license.

REGULATION | BitPanda Fined €70,000 in Austria’s First Published MiCA Penalty

MiCA’s transition period for existing crypto service providers ended no later than July 1 2026 requiring unauthorized firms to wind down their EU operations. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has urged national regulators to act against firms continuing to provide crypto services without authorization.
The comments come as EU regulators scrutinize how some offshore crypto firms continue serving European customers including through the narrowly defined “reverse solicitation” exemption.


REGULATION | EU Regulators Reportedly Question Binance Over Continued European Operations Despite Wind-Down Order




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OKXICE, a joint venture between cryptocurrency exchange, OKX, and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), has filed with U.S. regulators to launch a platform for trading tokenized U.S. stocks around the clock.
The filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) comes as financial firms and crypto companies race to extend stock market access beyond traditional trading hours.
OKXICE plans to initially offer tokenized shares of 63 companies listed on U.S. exchanges, according to reports.

STATISTICS | Tokenized Stock Transfer Volume Jump by Over 400% in August 2026

The proposed platform would use on-chain versions of shares allowing them to trade 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and potentially settle more quickly than conventional equities. The tokenized securities would retain the same economic and governance rights as the underlying shares including dividends and voting rights.

INTRODUCING | The London Stock Exchange Partners with xStocks Parent Company to Bring U.K Stocks On-Chain

The initiative makes OKXICE the latest effort to bring round-the-clock trading to U.S. stocks. Online brokerage, Robinhood, said it plans to offer 24-hour weekend trading in a selection of U.S. stocks building on its existing week-day overnight trading service.

REALITY CHECK | ‘~25% of Daily Trading Volume on Busy Days Comes from Outside Regular Hours,’ Says Robinhood

The OKXICE proposal follows an SEC decision in September 2026 to provide a 5-year exemption for qualifying platforms trading tokenized securities. Under the framework, platforms must notify companies before listing tokenized versions of their shares while issuers can object during a 30-day period.
OKX and ICE formed the 50-50 OKXICE venture in June 2026 as part of a broader partnership to combine OKX’s blockchain infrastructure with ICE’s traditional market technology. ICE invested in OKX in March 2026 in a deal that valued the crypto exchange at $25 billion.
Tokenized stocks have emerged as a growing bridge between digital assets and traditional financial markets with blockchain infrastructure allowing assets to be traded outside conventional exchange hours.
The OKXICE launch remains subject to regulatory requirements including the 30-day period during which companies can object to the tokenization of their shares.


INSTITUTIONAL | The World’s Largest Stock Exchange has Spent a Year Testing Avalanche for Tokenization Plans




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El Salvador has secured an immediate $138 million disbursement from the International Monetary Fund after the lender granted waivers for missed performance criteria linked to the country’s Bitcoin accumulation.
The IMF Executive Board completed the second and third reviews of El Salvador’s 40-month Extended Fund Facility on Thursday, allowing the funds to be released under the country’s $1.4 billion financing programme.
The Fund said some performance criteria had not been met, including those relating to Bitcoin accumulation, but granted waivers based on what it described as “strong corrective measures and renewed commitments.”
El Salvador has been required under the IMF programme to limit the state’s exposure to Bitcoin and prevent public resources from being used to accumulate the cryptocurrency.

REGULATION | El Salvador Slows Down Bitcoin Regulations Following Pressure from IMF

The IMF said documentation provided by Salvadoran authorities showed that Bitcoin accumulated since the programme’s first review came from private donations and did not involve public resources.

No further Bitcoin accumulation is expected beyond documented donations.

The Fund said El Salvador had also made progress on financial-sector reforms, fiscal transparency, and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures.
A key development was the transfer of majority ownership and operational control of the government’s Chivo e-wallet to a private operator. The government retains a minority stake and custodial responsibilities for customer assets.
The IMF said the programme would continue to focus on
reducing the state’s involvement in Bitcoin-related activities,
strengthening crypto-asset regulation and governance, and
improving transparency around public-sector crypto holdings.

“The state’s involvement in Bitcoin-related activities is being unwound while related regulations are enhanced,” the IMF said.

El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021 under President Nayib Bukele. Its Bitcoin policy has remained a key issue in negotiations with the IMF which approved the country’s current financing programme in February 2025.

[WATCH] I Want to Make Bitcoin a Legal Tender, Announces President, El Salvador

The latest review also cited stronger-than-expected economic activity, progress on fiscal consolidation and improved liquidity, and reserve buffers. The IMF said continued implementation of reforms would be necessary to strengthen fiscal sustainability, financial resilience, and governance.


CASE STUDY | When Payment Systems Function Well, Legal Status Does Not Increase Bitcoin Payments – The El Salvador Case




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Russia’s Finance Ministry has paid some employees their wages in digital rubles for the first time moving the central bank digital currency into government payroll as the country expands its use.
The salary payments began on October 1 2026 and were voluntary with participating employees required to open digital Ruble accounts on the Bank of Russia’s platform, the Finance Ministry said.
The ministry did not disclose the number of employees who received their wages in digital rubles or the total value of the payments.
The roll-out follows a 2025 pilot in which about 16 million digital rubles, worth roughly $192,245 at the time, were used for federal budget spending. The ministry said the infrastructure tested during that exercise was subsequently applied to salary payments.
The Bank of Russia and the Finance Ministry are working together to integrate the digital ruble into Russia’s budget system.

Bank of Russia Starts Testing Digital Ruble

The digital ruble is issued by the Bank of Russia and is designed to operate alongside cash and conventional non-cash rubles as a third form of the national currency.
Russia began a broader rollout of the digital ruble on September 1 2026 when major banks and large retailers started providing customers with access to digital-ruble transactions.
The Bank of Russia has said individuals will decide whether to use the digital currency with accounts opened on its platform only with the user’s consent.
The latest move marks a shift from testing the digital ruble in government payments to using it for routine public-sector payroll adding another use case as Russia seeks to expand adoption of its central bank digital currency.


BRICS | BRICS Countries Declare to Enhance Trade Settlement Using Local Currencies




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India has ordered Apple and Google to remove Bitchat, an offline messaging application developed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, from their Indian app stores under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, citing concerns over its ability to enable anonymous communications outside conventional telecom networks.

REGULATION | Apple Removes Jack Dorsey’s BitChat from India App Store After Government Demand

Apple’s App Review team told Dorsey in an email on Saturday that Bitchat “will be removed from the India App Store” following a demand from India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), according to a copy posted by Dorsey on X.
By the same day, the application was no longer available on Google Play in India, while Bitchat’s website was reportedly inaccessible on several Indian networks.
Neither MeitY, Apple nor Google has publicly commented on the removal.
Bitchat uses Bluetooth to allow nearby phones to communicate directly, with messages relayed from one device to another across a mesh network. The application does not require a SIM card, phone number or internet connection, while private messages are encrypted end to end.
The technology attracted heightened attention in India after mobile internet access was suspended around a student protest in central Delhi in July.
Indian downloads of Bitchat increased 32-fold on July 19 2026, while India accounted for about 85% of the application’s global downloads between July 17 and July 23, compared with roughly 1% in the preceding month.
On July 23 2026, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), part of the Home Ministry, issued a notice to GitHub naming three repositories associated with the application and giving the platform three hours to act.

REGULATION | India Orders Github Takedown of Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat Following Protests

The notice cited Bitchat’s ability to facilitate anonymous communication without registration or phone-number verification and without central logs, saying this impeded lawful interception and allowed the application to continue operating during internet shutdowns.
The application’s code was subsequently copied to other locations while daily users in India exceeded 330,000 the following day.
The government later invoked Section 69A, which allows authorities to order the blocking of public access to information on grounds including the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence and security of the state, public order and prevention of incitement to cognizable offences.
The provision was upheld by India’s Supreme Court in the 2015 Shreya Singhal v. Union of India judgment, which also established procedural safeguards around blocking orders.
The Bitchat case highlights a challenge for Indian authorities because conventional lawful interception measures generally rely on identifiable telecom operators, subscriber information, and centralised communications records.
Bitchat’s decentralised design removes many of those points of control allowing devices to communicate directly over Bluetooth and relay messages between nearby phones.
The application’s reach, however, remains geographically limited by the range of Bluetooth communications and the density of participating devices.
Bitchat was previously removed from Apple’s App Store in China after authorities there ordered its removal under rules covering services capable of “social mobilisation.”

REGULATION | BitChat Removed from the China Apple App Store Due to ‘Illegal Content’

India is also seeking to establish greater control over communications technologies that operate outside traditional telecom infrastructure.
The removal of Bitchat comes as India continues to regulate Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Starlink has agreed to requirements including
establishing gateways in India,
keeping user data in the country, and
providing interception capabilities,
but its final security clearance remained pending as of June 2026.
For iPhone users, removing Bitchat from the App Store effectively prevents normal installation of the application. Android users can potentially install the publicly available software from outside Google Play.
Android devices accounted for roughly three-quarters of Bitchat downloads in India in July 2026, according to the figures cited in the analysis.
The episode also raises questions about the use of internet shutdowns in India. Bitchat’s share of global downloads rose from about 1% before the July shutdowns to 85% during the week when internet access was disrupted around the Delhi protest.
Bitchat’s underlying mesh technology could also have applications beyond protest communications, including disaster response in areas where mobile networks have been disrupted by floods, cyclones or other emergencies.
The case therefore places India’s security concerns against a broader question over how governments regulate decentralised communication tools that can operate without conventional telecom infrastructure.


How BitChat is Used to Keep Everyone Connected During Internet Blackouts




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Apple has removed the offline messaging application, BitChat, from its India App Store following a demand from the country’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Jack Dorsey said in an X post.

“Government of India officially removes BitChat from the App Store,” the app’s developer and Twitter (now X) Co-Founder, Jack Dorsey, wrote in his post, alongside a screenshot of what appeared to be a notice from Apple’s App Review team.

government of India officially removes bitchat from the App Store https://t.co/9oHHiwquec
— jack (@jack) October 3, 2026
BitChat, built by Dorsey, had come under government scrutiny in July 2026 as well, when the Home Ministry’s cybercrime arm, the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, had ordered GitHub to remove the Bluetooth-based messaging application.

REGULATION | India Orders Github Takedown of Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat Following Protests

Dorsey tagged Apple’s latest notice in his post. In the notice, Apple said the app would be removed “per demand from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)” and because “it includes content that is illegal in India”.

“We are writing to notify you that your application, per demand from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), will be removed from the India App Store because it includes content that is illegal in India, which is not in compliance with the App Review Guidelines,” the attached notice said.

REGULATION | BitChat Removed from the China Apple App Store Due to ‘Illegal Content’

The relevant section of Apple’s guidelines requires applications to comply with all legal requirements in the locations where they are offered. Developers are responsible for understanding and complying with local laws in addition to Apple’s own guidelines.
According to the notice shared by Dorsey, MeitY issued the takedown demand under Section 69(A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Apple said the developer could contact the ministry directly for more information about the removal or Indian laws and requirements.
The app remains available in the App Stores of other territories selected by the developer in App Store Connect, Apple said.

“The TestFlight version of this app will also be unavailable for external and internal testing in India, and all public TestFlight links will no longer be functional,” it said.

BitChat had previously drawn government action in July 2026 when the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre ordered Microsoft subsidiary, GitHub, to remove the application during protests by the Cockroach Janta Party over alleged exam paper leaks.

“The Government of India does not like technologies like BitChat and wants it taken down,” Dorsey had said in an X post at the time while tagging a copy of the July 23 notice.

REGULATION | Uganda Communications Commission Director Says Its ‘Very Easy’ for Government to Switch Off BitChat

In that notice, I4C said BitChat enables communication even during network restrictions and creates a substantial risk of misuse by anti-national elements, terrorist organisations, organised criminal groups, and cybercriminals seeking to evade lawful detection and continue communication despite legally imposed restrictions.

Protests in Madagascar Trigger Surge in Downloads for BitChat, a Decentralized Messaging App

The July 2026 notice followed the use of Bluetooth-based messaging applications by several protesters at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi despite temporary government-imposed restrictions on internet services around the protest site.
According to I4C, because communications occur directly between nearby devices through a decentralised mesh network, BitChat could be used to evade lawful surveillance, facilitate anonymous coordination, and circumvent restrictions imposed by authorities during situations involving public disorder, riots, terrorism, organised crime, or internet shutdowns.

“Intelligence inputs indicate that such decentralised communication platforms are capable of being exploited for coordinating unlawful assemblies, violent protests, dissemination of misinformation, radicalisation, criminal conspiracies, and other activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State, public order, and for facilitating the commission of cognizable offences,” the earlier notice had said.

The notice also said the absence of a centralised service provider limits law enforcement agencies’ ability to obtain subscriber information, communication records, or timely assistance during investigations.
The application’s design, which enables communication even during network restrictions, creates a substantial risk of misuse by anti-national elements, terrorist organisations, organised criminal groups, and cybercriminals seeking to evade lawful detection and continue communication despite legally imposed restrictions, the notice said, citing violations of Sections 43, 84B and 84C of the IT Act and Section 61 read with 196 and 197.


GEOPOLITICS | Global Instability a Key Catalyst in Driving Decentralized Communications



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A dispute between cross-chain protocols THORChain and NEAR Intents over the handling of funds stolen in the $387.7 million BitGet hack has highlighted a growing divide in the crypto industry over how far permissionless systems should go in preventing illicit transactions.

MILESTONE | BitGet Says Stolen Funds Nearing $400 Million as Security Breach Unfolds

About $387.5 million of stolen assets began moving across blockchains after the September 24 2026 BitGet breach, with some funds routed through THORChain. BitGet CEO, Gracy Chen, urged THORChain to block addresses linked to the attacker but the protocol declined arguing that selectively blocking transactions would conflict with its permissionless design.

REALITY CHECK | Why BitGet Hacker Used THORChain to Move Stolen Funds

THORChain developer, Boone Wheeler, said a truly permissionless protocol cannot intervene based on the provenance of funds because doing so would make it permissioned. The protocol had previously faced criticism after funds linked to the $1.2 billion ByBit hack were moved through its network.

CRYPTO CRIME | ByBit Sues North Korea Over the $1.5 Billion Hack in 2025, Secures Asset Freeze

NEAR Intents took a different approach.

Its automated SHIELD security system identified more than $50 million in attempted flows linked to the BitGet hack and blocked about $503,000 during execution, while $166,000 passed through, according to the report. NEAR said its system uses onchain data, internal anti-money-laundering signals and third-party intelligence to identify suspicious flows.
NEAR General Manager, Alex Shevchenko, said the underlying NEAR blockchain remains permissionless but individual applications built on it do not necessarily have to process every transaction. The approach has drawn criticism from advocates of strict censorship resistance who argue that intervention undermines the meaning of a permissionless system.

The debate also exposes a practical distinction between decentralised infrastructure and applications operating on top of it.

CASE STUDY | How This Hack Set a Precedent for Freezing Stolen Stablecoins Without Legal Request

THORChain maintains that it has no mechanism to screen individual addresses or transactions while acknowledging that its network can halt activity during protocol-level emergencies.
NEAR, meanwhile, argues that automated controls can protect users and the wider ecosystem without relying on manual intervention by a compliance team.
The dispute reflects a broader question for the crypto industry as decentralised financial infrastructure handles increasingly large sums, whether neutrality should remain absolute when protocols can identify stolen funds, or whether protecting users and preventing money laundering justifies targeted intervention.
The answer could shape how cross-chain protocols balance censorship resistance, security, and regulatory expectations as their role in the digital-asset economy grows.


CRYPTO CRIME | Why BitGet Hacker Was Able to Move Over $80 Million in Stolen XRP




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Ethereum layer-2 network, Blast, will shut down after more than two years of operations saying the cost of maintaining the blockchain has exceeded the revenue it generates.
Blast said that it saw no credible path to making the network economically sustainable and would wind down operations. Its total value locked (TVL) has fallen to about $32 million from a peak of more than $2.2 billion in June 2024, a decline of about 98%, according to DeFiLlama data.


The network’s revenue from usage fell to about $1,793 in September 2026 from a peak of roughly $3.5 million in June 2024, according to DeFiLlama data. Its BLAST token dropped by almost 50% following the shutdown announcement and is down about 98% from its launch.

The $BLAST token tanks following the @blast #Ethereum L2 shutdown announcement. pic.twitter.com/u99EScb0sv
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) October 3, 2026
Blast attracted more than $1.1 billion in deposits even before its mainnet launched in February 2024, helped by its native-yield offering and expectations of a token airdrop. The network’s TVL later surpassed $2 billion, with nearly 200,000 early-access users.

MILESTONE | Newly Launched Ethereum Layer 2, Blast, Draws Over $500 Million in Deposits in a Few Days

The shutdown comes as competition among Ethereum layer-2 networks increases and major crypto platforms including Coinbase and Robinhood develop their own blockchain networks adding pressure on smaller networks to generate sufficient activity and revenue to cover operating and security costs.

MILESTONE | Robinhood Chain Overtakes Ethereum in Daily Revenue 2 Months After Launch

Blast has asked users to withdraw their assets to Ethereum’s mainnet. Withdrawals will temporarily pause while the network unwinds assets held through Lido, a process expected to take about a week.
Users will be able to withdraw through Blast’s interface until October 26 2026. After that, assets will remain accessible but users will need to interact directly with Blast’s bridge contracts on Ethereum.


REALITY CHECK | Former Leading Web3 Gaming Studio Shuts Down After Onchain Gaming Bet Fails




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A trade group representing U.S. community banks has sued the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) arguing that the regulator exceeded its authority by allowing cryptocurrency firms to obtain national trust bank charters.
The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), which represents banks typically holding less than $10 billion in assets, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It is seeking to overturn an OCC rule and related guidance that facilitate applications for national trust charters by crypto firms.

REGULATION | The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Clears National Banks to Act as Intermediaries in Crypto Transactions

The ICBA said the charters give crypto companies the credibility associated with a federal bank charter without subjecting them to the same regulatory requirements as traditional banks including
capital and liquidity standards,
consolidated supervision,
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insurance, and
Community Reinvestment Act obligations.

“American consumers reasonably expect a federally chartered bank to carry federal protections,” ICBA President and CEO, Rebeca Romero Rainey, said in a statement.

REGULATION | Minnesota State Signs Law Permitting Banks, Credit Unions to Offer Crypto Custody Services

The lawsuite comes 7 months after the Bank Policy Institute (BOI), a lobbying group representing some of the largest U.S. banks, said it was considering legal action against the OCC over the regulator’s move to grant national trust bank charters to crypto and fintech firms.
The BPI similarly argued that the OCC has reinterpreted federal licensing rules in a way that could allow crypto companies to enter the U.S. banking system without the same level of oversight applied to traditional banks.

REGULATION | U.S. Banking Lobby Weighs Lawsuit Against OCC Over Crypto Trust Charters

National trust bank charters allow companies to hold and manage assets for customers and facilitate payment settlement but do not permit them to accept traditional cash deposits or make loans.
The OCC said in February 2026 that its rule clarified the longstanding authority of national banks limited to trust-company operations to conduct certain non-fiduciary activities. The rule took effect on April 1 2026.
The regulator has since approved or conditionally approved several applications from crypto and fintech firms.

PRESS RELEASE | Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Announces Conditional Approvals for Five National Trust Bank Charter Applications

OCC Comptroller, Jonathan Gould, said in August 2026 that the agency had received 40 applications for new bank charters since President Donald Trump took office with 23 business plans involving some form of digital-asset activity.
The ICBA argues that expanding national trust charters to crypto firms creates an uneven regulatory environment between traditional community banks and companies offering banking-related services without equivalent safeguards.
The OCC declined to comment on the lawsuit.


CLARITY ACT | American Banks Need Regulatory Clarity More Than Crypto Companies, Says Former CFTC Chairman




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Lloyds Banking Group has published a survey showing that tokenisation could reshape financial services as institutions increase investment on on-chain infrastructure and digital assets.
71% of senior decision-makers at the UK’s largest financial institutions expect tokenisation to reshape the future of financial services, according to Lloyds’ annual Financial Institutions Sentiment Survey. The survey covered 100 senior executives across
banks,
insurers,
financial sponsors, and
asset and wealth managers.

TOKENIZATION | CEO of America’s Largest Bank Urges Acceleration Towards Tokenization to Avoid Falling Behind

Tokenisation allows assets such as cash, bonds, and funds to be represented digitally on-chain potentially enabling faster settlement, automated transactions, and more efficient management of collateral and liquidity.
Faster payments and settlement were identified as the biggest potential benefit cited by 60% of respondents, followed by
collateral and liquidity management at 41%.

EXPERT OPINION | Tokenization Works Best When Applied to Assets People Already Use at Scale

Lloyds said these efficiencies could release capital and liquidity currently tied up in financial transactions for other uses.
Investment in emerging technology is also accelerating.
77% of institutions surveyed said such investment is now a growth priority, up from 41% in 2025, while
64% expect to increase capital expenditure over the next 12 months.
Lloyds said modernising financial and market infrastructure was also viewed by respondents as one of the UK’s biggest economic opportunities over the coming year.

“Financial institutions have spent years modernising how customers interact with financial services.
Increasingly, attention is turning to the infrastructure behind those experiences. Tokenisation is a key part of that shift, with organisations exploring how it can help them transact in a safe, trusted environment, improve efficiency, make better use of capital and enable new products and services.
Those that can turn that potential into real-world solutions stand to gain the greatest advantage,” said Lisa Francis, Global Head of CIB Coverage at Lloyds.

FUNDING | Leading Crypto Brokerage Infrastructure Provider Raises Over $100 Million to Expand On-Chain Stocks

The bank has been testing tokenisation in live financial markets. In early 2026, Lloyds completed the UK’s first public-blockchain transaction using tokenised deposits to purchase a tokenised gilt working with Archax and the Canton Network.
The findings come as Lloyds expands its work on tokenised deposits and digital securities including 3 live tokenised deposit transactions under Project Agorá covering sterling, euros and Swiss francs, including a cross-currency transaction linking FX conversion, payment, and settlement in a single flow.

EXPERT OPINION | Tokenization Alone Will Not Fix Illiquid Assets, Say Industry Experts

“The real opportunity is to make financial markets work faster, more efficiently and with greater flexibility for clients.
Faster settlement, more efficient use of collateral and better movement of liquidity are tangible benefits that boost balance sheets.
The next phase is about turning those individual use cases into infrastructure that works at scale, with the interoperability and common standards needed to connect digital and traditional markets,” said Rob Hale, Co-Head of Global Markets at Lloyds.


TOKENIZATION | Robinhood Chain’s Tokenized Assets Surge 5x as OnChain Stock Trading Accelerates




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BNB Chain has become the first blockchain to surpass $1 billion in tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as demand for on-chain versions of traditional financial assets continues to grow.
Tokenized stocks and ETFs on BNB Chain reached about $1.1 billion representing roughly 30% of a broader market worth $3.7 billion, according to data from Token Terminal.
The broader market capitalization of tokenized stocks and ETFs rose about 17% in September 2026 to $3.35 billion, from $2.87 billion in August 2026, Token Terminal data showed. Binance Research, using RWA.xyz data, put the tokenized-stock market above $3 billion in late September 2026.


Ethereum ranked second with about $828 million, or 22% of the market, while Solana held about $738 million, or 20%, according to public data.
BNB Chain also led by the number of addresses holding tokenized stocks with about 1.8 million addresses, representing 45% of the total, according to Binance Research. The network hosts products including Binance bStocks and tokenized securities from Ondo Global Markets.


The growth marks a sharp shift from the start of 2026.
Tokenized stocks and ETFs have expanded more than 5x from about $719 million in January 2026 when BNB Chain accounted for roughly 13% of the market, according to Token Terminal data.
The rise comes as tokenized equities become a larger part of onchain trading.
Binance Research said tokenized-stock transfers exceeded $100 billion in the Q3 2026 compared with about $6 billion in the Q1 2026 while their share of decentralized exchange activity averaged 11% in September 2026.


The trend is also developing alongside regulatory changes.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in September 2026 introduced a 5-year exemption for certain platforms trading tokenized stocks while requiring eligible tokenized securities to provide the same shareholder rights as traditional shares.


STATISTICS | Tokenized Stock Transfer Volume Jump by Over 400% in August 2026




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Anchorage Digital, the federally chartered U.S. digital-asset bank and crypto custodian, has cut 17% of its workforce as a prolonged downturn in cryptocurrency markets puts pressure on the industry.
Chief Executive, Nathan McCauley, informed employees of the layoffs this week, according to The Information, which cited people familiar with the matter. Anchorage had about 400 employees globally as of February 2026 meaning the reduction would amount to roughly 68 positions if its headcount had remained at that level.
The cuts after the company undertook a similar workforce reduction 4 years ago that saw 20% of its staff laid off despite securing $350 million in Series D funding in 2021. At that time, Anchorage Digital was the sole federally-chartered crypto bank in the United States.

Anchorage Digital, the Sole Federally Chartered Crypto Bank in the United States, Cuts Workforce by 20% as Pressure Piles

The cuts come despite Anchorage continuing to expand its institutional digital-asset business.

The company was the first crypto firm to receive a national trust charter from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in 2021 and has since developed a major custody operation serving institutional clients.
Anchorage was valued at about $4.2 billion in early 2026 (up from $3 billion in 2021) after Tether invested $100 million in the company. It has also expanded into stablecoin infrastructure including serving as the issuer of Tether’s U.S.-focused USAT stablecoin.

INSTITUTIONAL | Anchorage Brings Tokenized Uranium into Institutional Custody

The workforce reduction highlights the pressure facing crypto companies even as institutional adoption and regulated digital-asset infrastructure continue to expand.

REALITY CHECK | Crypto Leverage and Perpetuals Pioneer, BitMEX, to Wind Down Operations After 11 Years in Operation

Anchorage has not publicly disclosed the exact number of employees affected.


Silvergate, a Key Crypto Bank in the United States, to Shut Down and Liquidate




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ABSA Group has become the first African bank to offer institutional digital-asset custody moving into a market that is gaining traction as traditional financial institutions expand into cryptocurrencies and tokenised assets.
The Johannesburg-based lender said its ABSA Digital Asset Custody service is initially available to institutional clients in South Africa, including
asset managers,
non-bank financial institutions, and
corporates.
The service provides the
safekeeping,
administration, and
transfer
of digital assets within a regulated banking environment.
The new service comes exactly one year after Ripple announced a strategic partnership with ABSA bank to provide digital asset custody to the bank’s customers in South Africa.

PRESS RELEASE | Ripple Brings Institutional Digital Asset Custody to South Africa in Partnership with One of Africa’s Leading Financial Institutions

The platform currently supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP Ledger and USDC, with ABSA planning to add other assets as demand develops. Bitcoin is currently the pre-dominant asset held in custody, said Rob Downes, Head of Digital Assets at ABSA’s Corporate and Investment Banking Unit.


ABSA said it received regulatory approval in South Africa for the service and plans to extend it to additional client segments and other African markets subject to regulatory approvals.

The bank’s custody infrastructure was developed with digital-asset technology provider, Ripple.

ABSA said the service uses secure hardware environments, layered authorisation, and governance controls to protect digital-asset private keys and provide recovery mechanisms.
The move comes as the value of crypto assets held by South Africa’s 3 largest licensed crypto service providers:
LUNO,
VALR, and
OVEX
more than doubled to 25.3 billion Rand ($1.5 billion) by the end of 2024 from less than 10 billion Rand at the start of 2023, according to the South African Reserve Bank.

According to @SAReserveBank, due to their exclusively digital borderless nature, crypto assets can be used to circumvent Exchange Control Regulations.
On-chain analysis confirms since January 2019, the top 10 domestically-hosted $BTC wallets have processed ~R63 billion. pic.twitter.com/GgArRVE8wd
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) November 26, 2025
The worldwide custody market is valued at roughly $953.5 billion by 2026, and is projected to grow to as much as $4.38 trillion by 2033.

REGULATION | Europe Now Has Over 300 MiCA-Approved Crypto Firms – Custody Services Dominate at ~70%

ABSA’s move also gives the bank infrastructure that could support wider digital-asset services, including
tokenisation,
digital securities,
stablecoins, and
digital payments,
although the current offering is focused on institutional custody rather than retail cryptocurrency services.
The development marks a shift in the African digital-asset market with regulated banks beginning to provide infrastructure traditionally supplied by specialist crypto firms.


INSTITUTIONAL | South African Stablecoin, ZARU, Adds ABSA as Second Major Banking Partner




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Singapore’s crypto economy grew 55.4% to $284 billion in the year ended June 2026 making it the largest measured crypto market in Central and Southeast Asia and Oceania despite a broader regional contraction, blockchain analytics firm, Chainalysis, has said.
The growth was led by institutional platforms where activity rose 94% to $60 billion. The activity was concentrated among market makers, over-the-counter trading firms, and institutional brokerages, Chainalysis said.
The broader Central and Southeast Asia and Oceania region contracted 6.8% during the period. Singapore, however, recorded growth across major areas of crypto activity, including
a 30% increase in flows through centralized exchanges, and
a 69% rise in decentralized exchange activity.

REPORT | The 2026 Global Crypto Adoption Index by Chainalysis

Chainalysis said the increase in institutional activity was largely driven by high-volume trading on existing platforms rather than a rapid expansion in the number of new services.
Institutional platforms across the wider region processed $152.3 billion during the period, up 40% from a year earlier. Singapore accounted for the largest share of that activity with institutional growth significantly outpacing the 19% increase recorded across the rest of the region.


The shift comes as Singapore combines tighter digital-asset regulation with efforts to develop tokenisation, stablecoins, and on-chain settlement infrastructure. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has also supported trials involving regulated stablecoins and tokenised bank money.
Chainalysis said stablecoins are increasingly being used for cross-border transactions across the region. Cross-border stablecoin activity was 3.2 times larger than domestic activity across the markets studied reflecting demand for faster and potentially lower-cost international settlement.
The data points to a market increasingly divided between institutional financial activity in Singapore and more payment-oriented crypto use elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
The Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam recorded 5.4 million small-value peer-to-peer transfers of less than $10,000 during the period representing 14.4% of the global total despite the three countries accounting for only 2.5% of global crypto activity.


More than 4 in 5 domestic transfers were below $1,000.
Singapore’s figures therefore show a different pattern of crypto adoption with institutional trading, market infrastructure, and cross-border financial applications playing a growing role alongside retail activity.


REPORT | P2P Activity in Africa Led Crypto Adoption in H1 2026, Says Chainalysis




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