Top 10 stories of the week
WuBlockchain’s weekly selection centered on exchange security, U.S. derivatives and tokenization policy, cyber intrusions at Korean financial firms, and fresh disclosures from listed companies and crypto-linked businesses.
1. Binance says attack may have involved multiple intrusion points; stablecoins tied to the incident were frozen
Binance said in a security update released on Oct. 30 that its initial investigation suggested the attack may have involved a compromised laptop used by a DevOps engineer. That breach may have given the attacker access to service containers and allowed unauthorized withdrawal transactions to be submitted. The exchange said it had found no evidence that wallet private keys were exposed, and that the root cause remained under investigation.
Binance said the incident was expected to involve about $6.3 billion in assets. It added that roughly $3 billion in on-chain assets had been frozen with blockchain partners. The platform temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals, revoked authorizations tied to affected addresses, and said it was working with law enforcement and on-chain analytics firms to trace the funds.
The exchange said all losses would be covered through its SAFU fund and company capital, and that user assets would remain protected. Binance also said it would update its proof of reserves after remediation work is completed and publish a detailed technical post-mortem.
In a later update, Binance said the first working theory focused on a compromised employee laptop, but subsequent findings identified other intrusion points, indicating a more complex attack. It said abnormal outflows stopped after withdrawals were paused, deposits were not affected, and withdrawals were still expected to resume in about 45 hours as previously planned. Binance repeated that around $3 billion in related assets had been frozen with partners and that it would absorb the full loss.
2. ICE plans to work with Trade xyz on a U.S. perpetual futures market
Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, is working with Trade xyz on plans to launch perpetual futures products in a regulated U.S. market. The two sides plan to build a new trading venue on Hyperliquid infrastructure, with separate clearing, know-your-customer checks, and anti-money-laundering systems. The products would be tied to stocks, equity indexes, commodities, and foreign exchange. The business is still awaiting regulatory approval.
As part of the arrangement, ICE plans to make an equity investment in Trade xyz, though the size of that investment was not disclosed. Trade xyz had previously listed several on-chain perpetual products on Hyperliquid, including crude oil and traditional equity indexes.
Elon Musk reposted a message from investor Stan Druckenmiller disclosing his investment in Trade xyz and wrote, 「Interesting」. Earlier, Druckenmiller said in his first post on the platform that he had invested in Trade xyz and supported its work with ICE to bring 24/7 perpetual contract trading to the U.S. market.
3. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says digital-asset leadership can reinforce dollar dominance
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at Ripple Swell that the force behind reserve currencies is shifting from military protection to what he called a “technology umbrella.” He said U.S. leadership in digital assets would be a key tool in reinforcing the dollar’s global dominance.
Bessent said more than 90% of stablecoins are pegged to the U.S. dollar and hold U.S. Treasuries as reserve assets. Wider stablecoin adoption in emerging markets, he said, would expand demand for both dollars and Treasuries and become an important funding source for the Treasury Department. After the Clarity Act failed to pass Congress, Bessent said the Treasury would use its convening authority to coordinate the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on administrative regulation to fill the legislative gap, while setting industry rules to prevent a repeat of debanking against crypto firms.
4. CFTC chair says AI and crypto could push trading toward autonomous agents
Mike Selig, chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said at an artificial intelligence forum that the combination of AI, crypto assets, and modern financial infrastructure could push trading systems toward deeper automation and broaden the use of financial instruments.
The CFTC has already started using AI in market oversight, he said, but autonomous trading agents raise new questions. Those include whether developers of such agents should register, who bears responsibility if an agent goes out of control, and how regulators can identify the real user behind an agent. Selig said regulators may need a framework similar to know-your-customer rules, but for agents — a “Know Your Agent,” or KYA, approach.
He added that the CFTC could draw on regulatory experience from crypto markets when setting clearer rules. The agency is also scheduled to hold a roundtable on 24/7 trading on Dec. 15.
5. CFTC again reviews whether Polymarket violated its 2022 settlement
Reuters, citing two people familiar with the matter, reported that the CFTC is investigating whether Polymarket violated its 2022 settlement by failing to effectively block U.S. users from accessing its offshore platform.
The review is focused on Polymarket’s earlier geolocation and access-control measures, its advertising activity in the U.S., and the onboarding process and customer protections tied to the U.S. platform it began rolling out late last year.
The CFTC and the U.S. Department of Justice ended a similar investigation in 2025 into whether Polymarket had breached that agreement, and brought no charges. The latest review is part of a broader investigation launched by the CFTC this year. Both the CFTC and Polymarket declined to comment, and no violation has been determined.
6. Bithumb confirms data leak as Korean authorities probe wider cyber intrusions
Bithumb, South Korea’s second-largest crypto exchange, Mirae Asset Global Investments, and Daishin Securities all confirmed cyber intrusions, and the Financial Supervisory Service has stepped in to investigate.
Bithumb said it detected unauthorized abnormal access on its internal mobile groupware platform the previous day and that personal information had been exposed. The exchange is still checking whether member data was affected and how broad the leak may be. Daishin Securities said personal and credit information belonging to 38,490 customers had been stolen.
South Korean police have opened a pre-indictment investigation into the hacking cases involving Daishin Securities, Mirae Asset Global Investments, Bithumb, and others. Investigators will examine whether the incidents are linked to an earlier hacking case involving 16 financial institutions, including KB Kookmin Bank, and about 100,000 leaked personal records. Authorities have not ruled out the possibility that the same person carried out the attacks.
7. Robinhood posts $1.424 billion in Q3 revenue as crypto trading revenue falls 55%
Robinhood reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $1.424 billion, up 12% from a year earlier and broadly in line with market expectations of $1.42 billion. Net income was $476 million, down 14% year over year. Diluted earnings per share came in at $0.51, below the expected $0.56, including an unrealized loss tied to fair-value changes in Robinhood Ventures Fund I that reduced EPS by about $0.07. Adjusted EBITDA was $808 million, up 9%.
Revenue from event contracts in prediction markets rose more than sixfold to $173 million, while cryptocurrency trading revenue fell 55% to $120 million. Quarterly crypto notional trading volume dropped 38% to $50 billion, while event-contract volume rose more than sevenfold to 16.4 billion contracts.
Robinhood also said that in the first quarter after Robinhood Chain mainnet went live, DEX trading volume topped $80 billion and generated more than $50 million in on-chain fees. The company narrowed its 2026 outlook for adjusted operating expenses and share-based compensation from $2.675 billion-$2.775 billion to $2.675 billion-$2.75 billion.
8. More companies object to OKX stock tokenization plan, bringing total to 38
According to crypto reporter Eleanor Terrett, IBM, Oracle, Intel, and quantum computing company IonQ have newly objected to plans by OKX and ICE to tokenize their shares, bringing the total number of opposing companies to 26 at that stage. Microsoft, Alphabet, Goldman Sachs, McDonald’s, and Wells Fargo had already raised objections earlier.
The OKXICE joint platform, formed by OKX and ICE, had planned to offer 24/7 tokenized trading in more than 60 U.S. stocks under a new innovation exemption framework introduced by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
On Thursday, Walmart, Eli Lilly, Carnival, Arcos Dorados, and Cigna also joined the list of companies opposing the tokenized stock trading plan. An updated notice showed that the number of companies with disclosed objections had risen to 38.
9. Strive bought 6,182 BTC last week, lifting holdings to 43,000 BTC
Strive said it bought 6,182 BTC between Oct. 17 and Oct. 23 at an average price of about $82,732, including fees and expenses. As of Oct. 23, the company held 43,000 BTC in total. It also reported $504.4 million in cash and cash equivalents, up $186.9 million from Oct. 16, and 505,000 shares of Strategy STRC preferred stock with a fair value of about $50.18 million.
On Oct. 26, Strive signed a sales agreement with seven institutions including Cantor Fitzgerald and Barclays. Under the arrangement, it may sell up to $1 billion of Series A perpetual preferred stock, listed on Nasdaq under SATS, from time to time through an at-the-market program.
The preferred shares completed their initial public offering on Oct. 20. Net proceeds are intended for general corporate purposes, including buying bitcoin and related products, supporting working capital, investing in income-generating assets, and repurchasing common stock or other preferred shares.
10. Latvia targets first-half 2027 for RWA tokenization rules
Latvian Economy Minister Viktors Valainis said the country plans to introduce rules for real-world asset tokenization in the first half of 2027. Commercial real estate may be among the first use cases, and government bonds are also on the priority list.
The Economy Ministry is working with the central bank, the Finance Ministry, and industry representatives on the framework, with the stated aim of attracting investment and advancing asset tokenization. A legal assessment that had been scheduled for completion on Oct. 1 is still underway, and the implementation timeline has not been finalized.
Notable funding deals
- Kalshi completed a $1 billion Series G round at a $40 billion valuation and has discussed an IPO.
- Payment operating system PhotonPay raised $40 million in a Series C round led by Blockchain Capital.
- Cancore raised $7.2 million in seed funding at a $60 million valuation.
- Predicate raised $8 million in a Series A round led by Blockchain Capital.
- Bitcoin mining services provider Luxor raised $16 million in a round led by CMT Digital.
- Mochatrade has raised a cumulative $5.56 million and supports leveraged trading in U.S. stocks for users in India.
- XRP treasury company Evernorth reached an equity financing agreement with Cantor and plans to raise up to $80.7 million.
- BUZZ HPC, a unit of HIVE, secured about $129 million in fixed-rate financing to expand sovereign AI infrastructure.
- Spicenet raised $5 million in a Series A round led by dao5.
- Birch Hill raised $4 million in seed funding led by Multicoin.
More industry fundraising events are available at crypto-fundraising.info.
