A New York settlement has imposed a lifetime ban on Alex Mashinsky from the cryptocurrency, securities and commodities sectors, contingent on up to $35 million in conditional payments. The agreement, announced by Attorney General Letitia James on October 9, resolves a 2023 civil lawsuit that alleged the former Celsius chief marketed the platform as a safe haven for investors while misleading them about its financial practices. The settlement ties $35 million in potential payments to two conditions: forfeiture of an additional $10 million to the federal government and compliance with a prison sentence that requires serving the full term imposed in a separate criminal case. If Mashinsky fails to meet either condition, he must pay New York $25 million. The settlement also includes a separate $10 million payment to the state should he not serve his complete prison term.

The criminal case stems from a 12‑year sentence handed down after Mashinsky pleaded guilty to fraud charges. Federal authorities have ordered him to forfeit more than $48 million, a figure that exceeds the amounts referenced in the state agreement. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission entered an order that permanently bars him from offering or facilitating asset‑related services, a restriction that extends to any activity involving deposits, exchanges, investments or withdrawals. The FTC judgment includes a $4.72 billion penalty, most of which is suspended pending payment and disclosure requirements.

The state’s investigation found that Mashinsky repeatedly described Celsius as safer than a traditional bank, despite the company’s lack of the regulatory safeguards that banks must meet. He promoted the platform through interviews, social‑media posts and public appearances, asserting that it made low‑risk investments and lent only to credible borrowers. Internal reviews, however, revealed that customer funds were used to finance high‑risk strategies, and that losses amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars were concealed from investors.

One New York resident, who mortgaged two properties to invest with Celsius, lost nearly $36,000 that had been saved over a decade. Another investor, a disabled veteran, saw a similar depletion of long‑term savings. The attorney general’s office cited these cases as examples of the broader impact on roughly 26,000 New Yorkers who had deposited money with the firm.

Federal regulators also questioned how Celsius generated the high returns it advertised. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission alleged that the lender pooled customer cryptocurrency to fund investments and weekly interest payments, increasingly relying on unsecured loans and decentralized‑finance transactions while assuring users that their assets were protected. During the period covered by that investigation, the platform attracted about $20 billion in deposits. Celsius halted withdrawals in June 2022 and filed for bankruptcy the following month, a process that by August 2026 had distributed more than $3.4 billion to creditors.

In addition to the New York settlement, a separate Federal Trade Commission agreement restricts Mashinsky’s ability to promote or provide asset‑related services. That order, issued by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, includes a suspended $4.72 billion judgment and requires a $10 million payment that can be satisfied through the criminal forfeiture arrangement. The FTC may reinstate the suspended judgment if the agency finds that Mashinsky misstated asset values, concealed holdings or omitted material financial information.

Other co‑founders of Celsius have also reached settlements with the FTC. Shlomi Daniel Leon and Hanoch “Nuke” Goldstein together will pay $6.5 million, with Leon responsible for $4.1 million and Goldstein for $2.4 million. Their agreements likewise bar them from future asset‑related businesses and prohibit false statements about products or services.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s civil case against Mashinsky was dismissed without prejudice after the parties indicated a settlement in principle. The dismissal is subject to a 90‑day window for the parties to finalize the agreement and have it entered into the public record.

Meanwhile, Mashinsky continues to represent himself in efforts to vacate his federal conviction and sentence. Federal prosecutors have labeled those arguments as without merit, and recent rulings have denied discovery requests while preserving the government’s opposition filings. A deadline of December 11 has been set for his response to those filings, with a possible extension granted if needed.

The case underscores the legal and financial fallout faced by executives who misrepresent the safety and stability of cryptocurrency platforms, and it highlights the coordinated regulatory response that spans state attorneys general, federal trade agencies and securities regulators.

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a permanent ban on Alex Mashinsky from the cryptocurrency, securities and commodities sectors as part of a settlement that could require up to $35 million in payments. The agreement resolves a 2023 civil lawsuit that alleged Mashinsky misled investors about the stability of Celsius before its 2022 collapse. Under the settlement, Mashinsky must pay $25 million if he fails to surrender an additional $10 million in illicit gains to federal authorities beyond assets already forfeited, and an extra $10 million if he does not serve his full prison term. He is currently serving a 12‑year federal sentence for fraud and has been ordered to forfeit more than $48 million in total. The federal case stems from a December 2024 guilty plea to securities and commodities fraud. James stated that Mashinsky promised New Yorkers a secure investment platform while concealing risky ventures that left them without their savings. The settlement follows earlier actions by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which barred Mashinsky from trading and registering with the agency in June, and a separate Federal Trade Commission settlement in April that prohibited him from working in crypto and finance and imposed a $10 million payment, largely suspended under a $4.72 billion judgment. The Securities and Exchange Commission reached an agreement in principle in September, though a federal judge dismissed its case without prejudice pending final settlement terms. Mashinsky has been attempting to overturn his conviction and sentence while representing himself; federal prosecutors have labeled his arguments without merit, and a recent court order denied his request for discovery. He has until December 11 to respond to the government’s opposition. More than $3.4 billion has been distributed to Celsius creditors through bankruptcy proceedings as of August 2026, according to the attorney general’s office.

Robinhood Chain is evaluating a new mechanism that would let users pay fees to gain priority in transaction ordering, according to a source familiar with the matter. The proposal involves technology originally created by Arbitrum, the developer behind the Layer-2 network that underpins Robinhood Chain. Arbitrum recently replaced its earlier Timeboost system with a model called Priority Gas Auctions, which lets traders bid higher fees to move their transactions ahead of others. Robinhood Chain, which currently processes trades on a first-come, first-served basis, has not yet adopted the older Timeboost version. The chain, launched in July, has quickly risen to become one of the top ten blockchains by total value locked. Its growth reflects broader interest in tokenized real-world assets on Ethereum-compatible platforms. Robinhood’s traditional brokerage operations have long relied on payment for order flow, where market makers compensate brokers for routing client trades. In contrast, fee-based transaction priority on a blockchain would allow faster processing of trades, potentially benefiting professional firms that need split-second advantages. Proponents argue that such a system could reduce certain forms of front-running, known as maximum extracted value, and create a more level playing field for entities seeking quicker onchain access. The move comes as Robinhood integrates its brokerage business with a 24/7 onchain model for distributing tokenized stocks. Neither Robinhood nor Off-Chain Labs, the team behind Arbitrum, provided comment when approached for clarification.

Zcash developers have set a January target to integrate quantum-resistant signature support into the privacy coin’s protocol, though no network activation date has been confirmed. The planned upgrade would initially shield transparent transactions, which represent roughly 70% of all issued ZEC, while shielded payments would require additional safeguards.

The effort, led by the Zakura program that operates the Zcash network, includes a private lookup tool that enables wallets to verify balances without exposing linked addresses to servers. An experimental version of this tool is already accessible through the "Private queries" feature in the Vizor wallet.

Roman Akhtariev, a developer working on the project, outlined the timeline in an engineering post, stating that post-quantum signature opcodes are expected to be merged in January. These opcodes would allow the network to validate hash-based signatures, a cryptographic method designed to resist quantum computing attacks. The change aims to prevent adversaries from reversing public keys to forge transaction approvals.

Quantum-resistant signatures rely on hash functions that are computationally infeasible to invert, meaning that even if quantum computers break current cryptographic assumptions, they would not automatically compromise the new system. Fresh addresses are used to keep spending keys hidden until transactions occur, and the proposed signatures would protect payments once approval becomes public.

The announcement follows warnings from Ethereum researcher Justin Drake, who recently urged cryptocurrency holders to prepare for a potential "bunker mode" scenario in which artificial intelligence could accelerate attacks on wallet security. Drake suggested that AI might uncover vulnerabilities in Bitcoin and Ethereum wallet protections within months under worst-case conditions. Ethereum’s broader migration to quantum-resistant cryptography is targeted for completion by December 2029, though no practical attacks on wallet keys have been observed to date.

ZEC traded near $1,185 on Thursday, down approximately 11% over the prior week, reflecting broader market declines triggered by heightened scrutiny of AI-driven cryptographic threats. The price movement coincided with increased visibility of Drake’s warning across social platforms.

Zcash distinguishes between two transaction types: transparent payments, which function similarly to Bitcoin and expose addresses and amounts on the blockchain, and shielded payments, which conceal sender, recipient, and amount. As of the latest data, about 11.96 million of the 16.98 million ZEC in circulation were held in transparent addresses, according to CoinDesk’s analysis of ZecStats.

In transparent transactions, a secret key authorizes spending, while a public key allows network verification. Current security models assume reversing the public key to derive the secret is computationally impractical. The new hash-based signatures would shift to a different verification mechanism that does not rely on the same mathematical assumptions, potentially offering greater resilience.

However, shielded transactions introduce new considerations. Zcash’s design warns that if a recipient’s address is exposed, encrypted payment records could be harvested now and decrypted later if quantum capabilities advance. This forward-looking risk necessitates separate protections for shielded payment streams.

Zakura’s private lookup tool employs private information retrieval, a technique that allows databases to return specific records without revealing which record was requested. This enables wallets to check balances without disclosing address lists to servers, preserving anonymity while maintaining public transaction visibility.

An experimental implementation of this functionality is already available in Vizor, allowing users to test private balance queries. The development marks a step toward mitigating metadata leakage in wallet operations, though broader deployment will depend on further testing and community review.

The timeline and technical approach reflect ongoing efforts across the cryptocurrency industry to future-proof digital asset security against emerging computational threats. While quantum computing capabilities remain constrained, the proactive planning underscores growing awareness of long-term cryptographic risks.

Sui, a layer-1 blockchain developed by Mysten Labs, is preparing to launch Hashi, an institutional protocol that enables Bitcoin holders to use their holdings as collateral for lending without transferring the assets off the Bitcoin network. The project has secured $500 million in capital commitments from more than 20 industry partners ahead of its mainnet rollout, which is scheduled to begin later this month. These commitments, while not yet deposited, are intended to provide deep liquidity from the outset. The initiative targets a pool of approximately $1 trillion in Bitcoin that Sui estimates is currently idle among institutional and corporate balance sheets.

Hashi allows users to lock Bitcoin in a vault address on the Bitcoin blockchain using a 2-of-2 multisig arrangement, requiring cryptographic approval from both Hashi validators and an independent guardian layer that monitors for suspicious activity. In return, the system mints hBTC, a token on Sui backed one-to-one by the locked Bitcoin. This token can then be used across Sui-based applications for lending, borrowing, and trading real-world assets. When users wish to retrieve their Bitcoin, the hBTC token is burned, triggering the release of the original assets to the user’s address.

The protocol’s design aims to address longstanding constraints in Bitcoin-based finance by avoiding cross-chain bridges and instead relying on on-chain verification and multi-party computation for security. Independent firms Certora and CommonPrefix have reviewed Hashi’s smart contracts and cryptographic protocols, respectively, as part of its compliance and security vetting process.

Nathan McCauley, CEO of Anchorage Digital, a launch partner involved in supplying stablecoin liquidity to the network, described the development as a paradigm shift for institutional Bitcoin usage. "Public companies and institutions hold enormous amounts of Bitcoin, but their ability to use that capital has been constrained by the technology available to them," he said. "Connecting our institutional clients with Hashi represents a complete paradigm shift."

The launch comes amid growing interest in Bitcoin-backed financial infrastructure beyond speculative trading. According to Sui’s analysis, the ability to deploy Bitcoin as collateral without relinquishing custody could enable use cases such as financing university tuition, real estate purchases, and corporate working capital. While the project has attracted commitments from a coalition of industry participants, the extent to which it will achieve widespread institutional adoption remains subject to future market response and regulatory scrutiny.

Ethereum's transaction fees burned enough ETH to offset just 2.07% of the new coins issued in 2026, according to a supply ledger published on Oct. 9. After accounting for fee burns, validator penalties and other destruction, the network added approximately 778,413 ETH, increasing total supply by about 0.64% from the starting point of the observation window. The data, maintained by ethsupply.fyi, covers the period from Jan. 1 at 00:00:11 UTC through Oct. 9 at 15:44:23 UTC. During that time, the ledger recorded 796,623.377 ETH of gross issuance and 16,524.553 ETH destroyed through execution and blob transaction fees. An additional 1,685.919 ETH was removed via consensus penalties, with 0.059 ETH destroyed through other execution mechanisms. Subtracting these components yields a net addition of 778,412.846 ETH. This results in a 2.074% offset when measured against gross issuance, while the broader destruction metric — including penalties — shows a 2.286% offset. The distinction matters, as penalties do not reflect user-driven fee spending. Ethereum's supply dynamics reflect a complex interplay between issuance and destruction. New ETH is created through validator rewards, while destruction occurs when base fees are burned under EIP-1559. Blob fees and MEV payments also contribute to burning, though only execution base fees and blob base fees are automatically removed from circulation. Transfers, staking deposits and withdrawals do not alter net supply, merely shifting ETH between accounts. The network's effective stake, currently around 122.116 million ETH across 853,325 active validators, influences issuance rates. A recent snapshot at slot 15,394,656 recorded a base fee of 0.335 gwei and a 60 million gas limit. Under EIP-1559 rules, the base fee is multiplied by gas consumed to determine the amount burned. With an assumed elasticity multiplier of two, a 60 million gas cap corresponds to a 30 million target. If the target were raised to 200 million, the corresponding threshold would be 100 million. At current consumption levels, burning enough ETH to offset issuance would require a daily burn of roughly 2,992 ETH. This threshold is sensitive to assumptions about gas usage and target levels. A hypothetical day modeled on a 32-slot epoch showed that even with zero penalties and blob burns, the execution base fee needed to neutralize gross issuance remains around 13.85 gwei under a 60 million gas limit, or 4.16 gwei if the limit were doubled. These figures suggest that simply increasing capacity does not automatically increase burn volume unless actual gas consumption rises. More available space could allow for higher activity, but only if users pay sufficient fees to generate meaningful destruction. Layer-2 growth and staking participation also affect supply, as staked ETH enters circulation through rewards while withdrawals reduce it. However, these movements do not constitute new issuance or destruction. The recent upgrade path, including the Glamsterdam capacity scenario, aims to support greater throughput through changes in gas accounting and block construction. Whether this leads to sustained net-negative issuance depends on sustained high burn rates relative to rewards. For now, the October ledger shows supply growing, with fee burns covering only a small fraction of new coins. The gap between destruction and issuance remains significant, and achieving balance will require either higher fee volumes, longer periods of full utilization, or structural changes to issuance mechanics. Until then, the network's supply trajectory will reflect ongoing tension between scalability goals and monetary tightening through burn.

GRAM’s price rose 9% to $1.56, pushing its market capitalization to $4.12 billion and 24‑hour trading volume to $132.4 million, according to a market report. The move follows Telegram’s decision to broaden access to Money, a non‑custodial wallet embedded in its messaging platform. Money appears automatically when a user receives a transfer, allowing recipients to store GRAM, send funds, and purchase gifts or collectible usernames with a few taps. The company described the transfers as instant and fee‑free. Telegram said the wallet will now be available to a larger portion of its more than one‑billion‑user base, expanding beyond the limited group that previously could use it. Walt, the rebranded service formerly known as Wallet in Telegram, said the updated Money feature lets users hold and send the TON blockchain’s native token, as well as acquire Telegram gifts and collectible usernames. Walt identified itself as Telegram’s own non‑custodial wallet, while noting that a separate app handles trading and investing activities. The platform also supports over 300 digital assets across multiple blockchains, offering trading of more than 200 cryptocurrencies, tokenized stocks, exchange‑traded funds and metals, as well as perpetual futures for over 70 commodities. In a September announcement, Walt’s founder Andrew Rogozov said the service had evolved from a basic purchasing tool into a broader crypto platform within Telegram, with plans for crypto cards and conversational trading tools slated for future launches. The rebranding retained existing balances, wallet addresses and GRAM Earn holdings, and the renamed service no longer appears in Telegram settings but can be launched through search. Earlier in the year, Telegram founder Pavel Durov had outlined plans for a native wallet that would enable fee‑free, instant transfers directly inside the messaging app, giving users full control of their cryptocurrency without relying on third‑party custody. Durov had previously indicated that validators had approved the wallet’s smart contract, and that the design would allow upgrades without moving assets to a new contract. The rollout began with a phased release in late August, targeting selected accounts before a gradual expansion. For U.S. token holders, the Internal Revenue Service classifies cryptocurrency as property, meaning exchanges for goods, services or other crypto can trigger capital gains or losses based on the asset’s adjusted cost basis. Transfers between wallets owned by the same individual are considered non‑taxable events, though taxable transactions must be reported regardless of whether a platform issues a return.

Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, challenged Vitalik Buterin's recent warnings about artificial intelligence accelerating breakthroughs in cryptographic attacks. In a public statement on October 9, Hoskinson argued that Buterin's skepticism toward lattice-based cryptography undermines decades of established security research. He emphasized that lattice-based systems, including those standardized by NIST in 2024, have undergone rigorous analysis addressing known vulnerabilities. The critique follows Buterin's suggestion that AI-assisted mathematical discoveries could expose weaknesses in post-quantum cryptographic designs, particularly those relying on lattice structures.

Hoskinson rejected the notion that AI could rapidly advance cryptanalysis capabilities against lattice problems, noting that no comparable mechanism to the general number field sieve exists for these systems. He referenced over 40 years of research in lattice reduction and sieving algorithms, which have incrementally improved attack methods without achieving a decisive breakthrough. The Cardano founder also dismissed Buterin's proposal to increase key sizes by tenfold as 'numerology,' asserting that security parameters must reflect measurable improvements in attack efficiency rather than speculative scenarios.

The dispute centers on post-quantum cryptographic strategies. While Ethereum's roadmap incorporates hash-based signatures and hash functions like Poseidon for zero-knowledge applications, Hoskinson questioned their resilience against unforeseen mathematical advances. He pointed to historical vulnerabilities in MD5 and SHA-1 as evidence that hash functions can contain structural weaknesses, though he acknowledged these failures do not invalidate modern constructions like SHA-256. The Ethereum Foundation's funding of Poseidon research, including analyses using Gröbner bases, was cited as an example of ongoing scrutiny applicable to multiple cryptographic approaches.

Hoskinson warned that abandoning lattice research in favor of alternative methods could limit cryptographic options for developers building privacy-preserving systems and secure communications infrastructure. He maintained that NIST-standardized lattice-based algorithms, such as ML-KEM for encryption and ML-DSA for signatures, already incorporate security margins accounting for known attack vectors. The critique underscores broader tensions in the cryptocurrency industry regarding the path toward quantum-resistant cryptography, with implications for blockchain security and cross-chain interoperability.

Morgan Stanley raised its price target for Coinbase shares to $258 from $250, keeping its Equal Weight rating, the firm said on Oct. 9. The adjustment places the forecast about 50% above the $172 closing price before the update. The bank had initiated coverage of Coinbase in September with a $250 target and an Equal Weight recommendation, according to MarketBeat. The move comes as the cryptocurrency exchange prepares to report second-quarter earnings. On the same day, Citizens JMP trimmed its own target to $280 from $325 while maintaining a Market Outperform rating. That projection implies roughly 62.8% upside from the prior $172 price, though it remains $22 below Morgan Stanley’s new figure. Citizens cited ongoing execution risks tied to Coinbase’s expansion beyond crypto trading, noting that more than 40% of revenue already stems from non-trading activities. Analysts have offered a range of expectations. MarketBeat’s October 9 roundup noted that Goldman Sachs reaffirmed a Buy rating with a $244 target, while Cantor Fitzgerald held an Overweight stance with a $212 target as of August 31. Across tracked analysts, 20 firms issued Buy ratings, 13 held neutral positions and three recommended selling, yielding an overall Hold classification and an average price target of $224.29. Coinbase’s financial results for the quarter showed revenue of $1.22 billion, a decline of 18.5% from the same period a year earlier. The company recorded a net loss of $359.5 million, though adjusted EBITDA remained positive at $207.8 million, marking its 14th consecutive quarter of profitability under that measure. In its earnings release, Coinbase highlighted a record 10.3% share of global cryptocurrency trading volume, up from 9.1% in the prior quarter, which it described as its third straight quarterly gain in market share despite subdued market conditions. The firm also reported $599 million in transaction revenue and $452 million from consumer trading, with the latter down 30.5% year over year. Within subscription and services, revenue reached $555 million, including $292 million from stablecoin-related activity. Stablecoins and other platform features accounted for 48% of total net revenue. CFO Alesia Haas stated that the company’s “Everything Exchange” strategy was generating tangible diversification, with expenses coming in below the midpoint of guidance across major categories. Beyond its core exchange, Coinbase has broadened its offerings to include equities, derivatives and event contracts. In July, the firm launched commission-free stock and ETF trading for eligible U.S. customers, available during extended hours on weekdays. It also announced plans to introduce single-stock perpetual contracts for American users, filing necessary documentation with the SEC and CFTC in early September. These filings pertain to security futures products, which fall under joint regulatory oversight. Separately, a U.S. district court denied Coinbase’s request for preliminary relief in its lawsuit against Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, rejecting claims that federal rules preempt state enforcement of sports betting regulations. The ruling leaves the company without temporary protection from state-level actions related to its prediction-market operations. Analysts continue to monitor Coinbase’s progress toward diversifying revenue streams and navigating regulatory challenges as it expands its financial infrastructure.

HSBC and Ant Digital Technologies announced a technical test that lets artificial intelligence agents initiate payments for digital services using tokenized bank deposits settled in real time on a blockchain testnet. The demonstration combined HSBC’s Tokenised Deposit Service with Ant Digital’s Anvita Flow network, which routes service requests and payments, and the Jovay Testnet layer‑2 environment. HSBC contributed settlement functions and real‑time risk checks, while Ant Digital coordinated access to services and the movement of funds. The trial showed an AI agent selecting a service and completing a payment, which the companies described as a micropayment, typically under $2. They emphasized that the exercise was limited to technical verification and did not constitute a commercial launch or live customer offering.

The test forms part of a broader effort by several banks to explore how AI agents might autonomously conduct financial transactions on behalf of users. In March, Santander executed an AI‑initiated payment using Mastercard’s Agent Pay infrastructure within a controlled environment that involved the bank’s live payment systems. In May, Sygnum, a Swiss digital‑asset bank, ran a similar test on a blockchain mainnet, requiring customer approval and digital signatures for each transaction. CaixaBank also reported an AI‑driven card transaction using Visa Intelligent Commerce and existing merchant payment platforms.

Despite these experiments, some industry observers question whether legacy banking infrastructure can keep pace with AI‑driven finance. In a May interview with Cointelegraph, Augustus Bank chief executive Ferdinand Dabitz argued that traditional clearing banks rely on systems built for human‑centric operations rather than the continuous, automated transactions that AI agents would require. Augustus is developing a U.S. bank centered on stablecoins and AI‑oriented operations, betting that purpose‑built infrastructure could eventually supplant portions of conventional banking.

Analysts have noted that programmable financial infrastructure could become more relevant as AI agents handle transactions across multiple applications. Citrini Research, in an October 8 report titled “Breaking The Wall,” suggested that blockchain networks may provide the always‑on environment needed for AI‑driven money movements. The report stated that AI agents operate programmatically around the clock, and it is logical that financial assets will eventually follow suit.

The companies involved have not indicated any immediate rollout plans, and the tests remain confined to technical validation rather than public deployment.

A CoinShares survey of 2,230 investors with at least $500,000 in assets across the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland found that most affluent investors already own digital assets and intend to expand their exposure this year. Ownership rates varied from 54% in Sweden to roughly 70% in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland, with crypto representing about 10% of their portfolios on average. In five of the seven countries, at least 85% of current crypto investors said they planned to increase their holdings in 2026. About four in ten respondents in Switzerland, France, the United States and Germany who worked with a financial adviser described their adviser as overly cautious about digital assets.

The survey comes as capital continues to flow into crypto despite a challenging market environment. Bitcoin is attempting to build on its best quarter since 2017, while Treasury yields remain above 5%, creating headwinds for risk assets. Bitcoin briefly rose above $87,000 last week before slipping below $83,000 on Wednesday. Analysts note that elevated Treasury yields, driven by multi‑decade high rates, pose a real obstacle for further price gains, even as some argue that a "debasement trade" favoring scarce assets such as Bitcoin and gold does not rely on low interest rates.

At the same time, crypto‑focused firms are expanding their financial footprints. OKX announced an extension of its funding round at a $25 billion valuation, adding undisclosed capital from existing partners including Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures, Qube Research & Technologies, Ripple and Circle. The extension follows a $200 million investment from Intercontinental Exchange earlier in the year. OKX is also pursuing a joint venture with ICE to launch a tokenized stock trading platform under the agency’s new innovation exemption, a move that could bring traditional securities into the crypto ecosystem.

Strategy, the corporate treasury of the software firm formerly known as MicroStrategy, allocated more than six times as much capital to repurchasing its preferred stock (STRC) as it did to buying Bitcoin in the most recent week. The company spent $176.3 million to acquire 1.77 million STRC shares, compared with $28.7 million spent on 334 Bitcoin, bringing its total Bitcoin holdings to exactly 848,000 BTC. Strategy also filed a proxy proposal to pay dividends daily on four of its preferred‑stock classes, a change that would alter dividend timing but not the overall payment obligations.

Views on the appropriate size of crypto allocations differ. Ric Edelman, founder of the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals, questioned the survey’s figure that crypto accounts for 10% of the average portfolio, citing his own research that suggests typical allocations range from 2% to 5%. He recommends larger allocations of 10% to 40% depending on an investor’s risk tolerance. The survey’s findings highlight a growing gap between the investment behavior of wealthy individuals and the more conservative stance of many financial advisers.