The Incrypted editorial team presents this week’s Web3 digest, summarizing key events, market developments, and technological updates across the cryptocurrency ecosystem. This edition covers allegations of manipulated liquidation data on centralized exchanges (CEX), heightened market FUD, a mistaken issuance of 300 trillion PYUSD, ethical concerns regarding the e-Hryvnia rollout, and more.
Market Overview: Bitcoin and Ethereum Recovery
Following a massive wave of liquidations exceeding $19 billion, Bitcoin rebounded above $115,000 early in the week, while Ethereum climbed back to $4,100, stabilizing market conditions. However, on the night of October 17, Bitcoin briefly dropped to $105,000, triggering $1.2 billion in liquidations and pushing the Fear & Greed Index down to 22. As of the report, Bitcoin trades slightly below $108,000.
Gold reached a historical peak of $4,380 per ounce with a market capitalization over $30 trillion, reaffirming its “safe haven” status amid market volatility.
Investor Behavior, Analytics, and Forecasts
CryptoQuant indicates that Bitcoin has entered the late stage of the bull cycle, with open interest declining by $12 billion, reflecting reduced speculative activity. Citigroup notes a tight correlation between Bitcoin and traditional equities while maintaining a year-end forecast of $133,000. Analysts at 10X Research estimate retail investors lost $17 billion due to overvaluation in Bitcoin-related stocks like Metaplanet and Strategy.
Corporate Moves and Technology Adoption
- MARA expanded its Bitcoin holdings to 53,250 BTC during the market dip.
- Metaplanet saw its market cap fall below the value of its Bitcoin assets.
- $75 million in Bitcoin moved through wallets linked to U.S. authorities, suggesting portfolio rebalancing.
Technical advancements continue: Bitcoin Core released update v30.0, and Square tested Lightning Network payments at Compass Coffee.
In mining, Canaan partnered with Canadian Aurora AZ Energy Ltd to launch a 2.5 MW pilot mining center in Alberta using stranded natural gas.
Ethereum Developments
Citizens Bank forecasts over 200% growth in SharpLink shares, identifying it as a major Ethereum infrastructure operator. Ethereum is projected to reach $7,000 by 2026, supporting SharpLink’s network expansion.
Bhutan’s national digital identity system (NDI) will migrate from Polygon to Ethereum by early 2026, enhancing reliability, security, and decentralization. The system will include passwordless login, built-in digital IDs, and electronic signature functionality.
Stablecoins and Market Anomalies
Paxos accidentally issued 300 trillion PYUSD on Ethereum during an internal transfer. The excess tokens were promptly burned, and the incident has sparked widespread discussion online.
BlackRock restructured a fund to include stablecoin issuers, investing in short-term bonds and overnight REPO. Stripe added subscription payments in USDC on Polygon and Base, while Tether launched a Wallet Development Kit for easier crypto wallet creation.
Bernstein predicts USDC and Circle will dominate the U.S. stablecoin market, with capitalization growing to $220 billion by 2027 and reaching $4 trillion globally by 2035.
The Bank of England’s Andrew Bailey urges G20 nations to strengthen regulatory oversight of stablecoins to mitigate private financing risks and regulatory arbitrage.
Corporate Investments and Tokenized Assets
- Securitize is preparing a SPAC merger to go public, with a valuation near $1 billion.
- Ripple Labs plans a $1 billion SPAC raise for XRP reserves.
- Coinbase invested in CoinDCX ($2.45B valuation).
- Kraken acquired Small Exchange for $100M.
- DL Holdings and Antalpha invested $200M in tokenized gold and mining.
Blockchain updates include new mainnets, token claims, and proposals (HIP-3) from Enso Network, Monad, and Hyperliquid. Brevis launched The Proving Grounds for ZK tech demonstrations, and Uniswap added Solana support. Backpack integrated Superstate for trading SEC-registered tokenized U.S. equities.
Regulatory and Policy Developments
- Trump-associated projects reportedly generated over $1 billion in crypto ventures.
- New York City established the first municipal office for crypto and blockchain oversight in the U.S.
- China Renaissance is preparing a $600M investment product in BNB.
- Arthur Hayes launched a $250M fund to acquire mid-tier crypto services.
Cybersecurity and Fraud
- Ukrainian cyber police uncovered a group from Khmelnytskyi creating a fake cryptocurrency, defrauding investors in Europe and the Middle East.
- Dota 2’s official YouTube channel was briefly hacked to promote a meme coin, which reached $9,000 in market cap before restoration.
- Analyst ZachXBT identified a hacker who stole $28M from Bittensor using de-anonymization techniques on Railgun mixer transactions.
Telegram warned French users about the Chat Control law, which threatens message privacy across the EU.
Artificial Intelligence and Science
- Google DeepMind discovered a potential new cancer treatment, enhancing tumor immune visibility.
- Anthropic projects $26B in revenue by 2026 from enterprise clients and global scaling.
- Global AI infrastructure investments:
- Google: $24B in US and India data centers.
- BlackRock, Nvidia, Microsoft: $40B in Aligned data centers.
- Oracle & AMD: 50,000 MI450 GPUs (200 MW).
- Black Forest Labs: $300M fundraising at $3.25B valuation.
Microsoft faces lawsuits over alleged AI price inflation affecting ChatGPT.
Market Manipulations and FUD
Following $19B liquidations, Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan accused CEXs of data manipulation, claiming underreporting by hundreds of times. Crypto.com CEO Chris Marzalek urged regulators to increase transparency requirements.
Analysts suspect a White House leak enabled traders on Hyperliquid to open $150M-$160M short positions, fueling insider trading concerns.
Despite FUD surges following Trump’s China tariffs, historical trends suggest Bitcoin rallies amid such uncertainty. October 11 crypto market collapse generated over $20M in protocol fees, while Bank of America reports peak investor optimism despite AI sector bubble fears.
