Finance and Business News page 8

Blockchain analytics firm reports the three countries dominate a market that has grown 125% over the past year Chainalysis has identified a sharp geographic concentration in the market for tokenized US Treasuries. The blockchain analytics firm found that Italy, Portugal and Singapore together account for 66.9% of all such holdings.

The Ethereum co-founder’s new project is drawing institutional attention to the intersection of AI and blockchain security. Vitalik Buterin has built a new AI-focused tool that reporting describes as almost untraceable. The project has been referred to as 'Paranoid Mode' across coverage of the development.

The collaboration aims to give institutional traders more privacy around order flow and position sizing on digital asset markets. Shield Swap has announced a partnership with Flowdesk to broaden access to confidential trading services for institutional clients.

Officials say police seized $7.15 million in assets and six cold wallets during the operation. Turkey's Justice Minister has publicly confirmed that Richard Heart, the founder of the HEX cryptocurrency, was arrested in Istanbul. The confirmation came after reports of the arrest first circulated among crypto news outlets.

Two legacy financial giants are expanding digital asset efforts as traditional finance warms further to Bitcoin. Deutsche Bank and Charles Schwab are stepping up their cryptocurrency efforts, according to a report from AMBCrypto. The outlet links the renewed push to Bitcoin's growing acceptance among traditional finance firms, often shorthanded as TradFi.

The asset manager's analysis finds Solana holding up structurally but points to stake, hosting, and client concentration as ongoing concerns. Fidelity has issued a report evaluating the health of the Solana network, according to Cointelegraph and CryptoBriefing. The asset manager concluded that Solana has demonstrated resilience across key operational measures.

The lender plans to fold digital assets, stocks and gold into its mobile banking app as traditional banks widen crypto access. Postbank, ranked as Bulgaria's fourth-largest bank by assets, intends to add cryptocurrency trading to its mobile banking application. The feature is expected to launch alongside access to exchange-traded funds, individual stocks and gold investing.

A new study from the Bank for International Settlements suggests higher savings rates could keep money in traditional banks rather than stablecoins. The Bank for International Settlements has published a paper examining why stablecoins have grown so quickly in recent years. Researchers point to a simple explanation.

US-listed Ether exchange-traded funds posted heavier weekly withdrawals than their Bitcoin counterparts, even as BlackRock led a separate Friday pullback from Bitcoin products. Spot Ether exchange-traded funds listed in the United States saw net outflows of about $320 million over the past week, according to CryptoBriefing.

The memecoin launchpad has partnered with Hyperliquid to let traders open leveraged positions, including on Bitcoin. Pump.fun, the platform best known for launching memecoins on Solana, has added perpetual futures to its offering. The feature went live through an integration with Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange built specifically for derivatives trading.

A brief rebound in Bitcoin ETF demand reversed within 24 hours as broader crypto funds shed over $600 million. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds listed in the United States recorded $5.06 million in net inflows on October 16, according to data reported by Coinfomania.

The AI company is reportedly pushing Congress to consider federal rules for the most advanced AI systems. Anthropic has brought a draft frontier AI safety bill to US lawmakers, Politico reported. The outlet's account was relayed by CryptoBriefing on October 16, 2026. Details of the bill's exact text have not been made public in full.

The new platform lets institutional clients trade stocks, metals and currencies as perpetual swaps across roughly 100 markets at any hour. Ripple Prime has opened a continuous trading venue for institutional investors, offering swaps on real-world assets around the clock.

New Ripple Prime offering aims to bring round-the-clock trading of tokenized real-world assets to over 100 markets. Ripple is pushing further into institutional finance with a new offering built around real-world asset (RWA) swaps. The product, branded Ripple Prime, is designed to let institutional clients trade tokenized versions of traditional assets around the clock.

A hawkish signal from a Federal Reserve official has added pressure to bitcoin as it tests a closely watched support level. Bitcoin's price action has come under renewed scrutiny after Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack signaled the central bank may need to act more forcefully against inflation.

New regulations reportedly set to close the country's informal P2P crypto markets, pushing trading toward regulated channels. Russia plans to end peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading under new rules taking effect in July 2027, according to reports from UNLOCK Blockchain and AMBCrypto.

Buyers stepped in quickly as the drop coincided with a rebound in Asian equity markets. Bitcoin slipped below the $80,000 mark in trading on October 16, 2026, before quickly recovering. Buyers absorbed the dip, and the price climbed back above $82,000 within hours, according to CoinDesk and crypto.news.

The former Coinbase executive's pitch for a tightly governed 'Singapore of social media' has coincided with a round of account suspensions on Farcaster. Balaji Srinivasan, the former Coinbase chief technology officer, has set out a new direction for the Farcaster social protocol.