crypto

The prediction market operator Underdog has partnered with the cryptocurrency infrastructure provider zerohash, planning to support cryptocurrency and stablecoin deposits later this year. Eligible users can directly deposit supported digital assets through the Underdog app, with services supporting near-instant transfers around the clock. Underdog has not yet announced the specific cryptocurrencies or stablecoins that will be supported.The new deposit method will complement debit cards, credit cards, Apple Pay, and bank transfers, allowing users to avoid managing wallet addresses or selecting blockchain networks. Underdog was established in 2020 and currently has over 11 million registered accounts. IG Group has agreed to acquire the company for up to $1.3 billion, with the transaction expected to be completed by the end of 2026 or early 2027. As of October 21, Underdog's trading volume over the past 30 days was $1.4 billion, an increase of 133% compared to the previous period.

On October 23, a16z General Partner Chris Dixon announced that a16z crypto would be renamed a16z Frontier. The investment scope has expanded from crypto startups to a broader category of frontier technology startups, which are companies that create new technologies, open new markets, and may take years to mature. Dixon emphasized that this adjustment is an expansion of scope rather than a shift in direction, and the team will continue to invest in crypto and related businesses while advocating for reasonable crypto regulation.Dixon stated that as blockchain becomes more widely adopted, Wall Street and fintech companies have normalized the launch of on-chain products, and the importance of the "crypto company" label has diminished; companies should be defined by their business rather than the technology they use. His explanation also pointed to the AI wave, which not only focuses on using AI to perform existing tasks faster and better but also emphasizes the emergence of new native use cases, full-stack entrepreneurship that integrates software and hardware with services, and new networks that connect people with intelligent agents.Dixon believes that blockchain will continue to play an important role, providing the internet with a fast, cheap, global, and programmable funding track. Stablecoins are becoming standard tools for fintech and institutions, and they can also support machine-to-machine transactions and the cold start of new networks. The fund will be co-led by Dixon along with a16z founders Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and General Partners Eddy Lazzarin and Guy Wuollet, while the operating team will continue to serve existing and future portfolio companies in areas such as regulation, market entry, talent, marketing, and technology development.

Recently, Sun Yuchen discussed his lawsuit against the Trump family's cryptocurrency project WLFI in a conversation with Jin Ming. He clearly stated that he remains firmly supportive of President Trump's cryptocurrency policy and AI strategy, believing it to be very successful.The reason for suing World Liberty Financial is entirely a normal action for commercial investors to protect their rights. The cause stems from the project's lack of investment transparency and insufficient information disclosure, even involving allegations of fraud. The case has been formally submitted to the federal court in California and is to be decided by a federal judge, which fully complies with the operation of the rule of law in the United States.Sun Yuchen further clarified that this lawsuit will not affect his judgment of the macro trends in the United States. He continues to hold a significant position in U.S. technology stocks and is optimistic about TRX being approved for a spot ETF in the U.S., the on-chain business of U.S. stocks, as well as expectations for a stronger dollar and the continued strength of the AI industry.Sun Yuchen believes that public opinion has exaggerated and complicated this lawsuit; in fact, it is simply a "business-to-business" lawsuit. Even if the agreement's subject matter involves 400 to 500 million dollars, it does not significantly impact his overall asset portfolio.Sun Yuchen also stated that he invests with the patience of an old hunter. Once he is thoroughly optimistic and makes a significant decision, he will invest at least 4 to 5 billion dollars or more in a single transaction.

According to a report by Politico, Joel Greenberg, a shareholder of Circle Internet Group and a former software engineer at the company, filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court on Thursday, accusing U.S. President Donald Trump and his family of benefiting from two transactions involving the United Arab Emirates through the cryptocurrency company World Liberty Financial (WLFI), allegedly violating the U.S. Constitution's Foreign Emoluments Clause. This clause restricts the president from accepting money or other benefits from foreign governments without congressional approval.The lawsuit states that the first transaction occurred before Trump's second term began, in which he sold 49% of WLFI for $500 million, with the related funds reportedly coming from the UAE. After Trump took office, he reportedly earned millions from this transaction. The second transaction involved an investment fund established by the UAE government purchasing $2 billion worth of digital currency from the Trump family. The plaintiff alleges that this transaction inflated the value of the cryptocurrency assets held by Trump and generated millions in interest income for him, while significantly expanding the circulation of his stablecoin.

DFINITY founder Dom posted on X that after further investigation, it was found that the key components used by NEAR Intents involve DFINITY's proprietary technology, and he accused NEAR of unauthorized use of technology results that are only authorized for Internet Computer.Dom stated that the relevant technology involves a threshold ECDSA algorithm used for cross-chain asset custody and transaction signing, which can increase the signing speed to about 3 times that of other solutions; he also claimed that NEAR deployed the relevant technology on 8 servers, failing to achieve the decentralization and security it advertised. Dom further indicated that GitHub records show that NEAR is recently attempting to downgrade the relevant algorithm to a solution that is about 3 times slower, and he believes this move may be related to concerns about its use of the relevant technology.He stated that this matter involves potential legal liability, believing that DFINITY and the ICP community have been harmed as a result, and hopes that both parties can resolve the dispute. The above content currently represents a unilateral accusation from the DFINITY founder, and whether the use of the relevant technology constitutes infringement, as well as whether NEAR has the security and decentralization issues it claims, still needs further verification.

According to a post by Ki Young Ju, founder and CEO of CryptoQuant, on the X platform, the continuous recovery of Bitcoin's hash rate is an "indirect bullish signal" from institutional investors. He pointed out that a higher hash rate means stronger security and better value storage fundamentals, and most publicly listed mining companies are supported by traditional financial institutions (TradFi). Therefore, the rise in hash rate can be seen as institutional recognition of Bitcoin's security and long-term value. Hash rate is an indicator of the computational power of a blockchain network, representing the number of hash calculations that can be completed per second.CryptoQuant data shows that Bitcoin's hash rate has rebounded by about 45% from its summer low, rising from approximately 726 EH/s in July to about 1,050 EH/s on Wednesday. However, the global hash rate is still below the peak of 1,305 EH/s set in October 2025, when Bitcoin's price was above $111,000. On Thursday, when the U.S. stock market opened, Bitcoin's price was approximately $81,843.Publicly listed mining companies are still expanding their production capacity. Nasdaq-listed NIP Group (NIPG) announced a third batch of asset purchase agreements, which will acquire approximately 4.47 EH/s of deployed Bitcoin mining machines. After the transaction is completed, the total hash rate from the three batches is expected to reach 13.85 EH/s. The company currently ranks 16th among publicly listed mining companies with an operational hash rate of 3.11 EH/s, while Bitdeer leads with 79.9 EH/s. On Wednesday, NIPG's stock price fell 6.8% to $6.1, down 86% over the past year; affected by higher-than-expected inflation data, U.S. stocks experienced the most severe sell-off since July, with TeraWulf, Core Scientific, Cipher Mining, and IREN all seeing stock prices drop by about 12%.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC) stated to Cointelegraph that several asset management companies have consulted with them regarding the launch of cryptocurrency ETFs, but no asset management company has submitted an application for the establishment of a crypto ETF. The SEC did not disclose the names of the relevant companies.The Thai SEC also mentioned that it is still too early to determine whether the first batch of products can be approved by the end of 2026; the timeline depends on the preparedness of the applying institutions, the progress of regulatory review, and investor protection requirements. The new regulations for crypto ETFs in Thailand took effect last Friday, allowing asset management companies to establish and list spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs locally.Previously, some companies provided Bitcoin exposure to Thai investors through products linked to overseas ETFs. ONE Asset Management became the first Thai asset management company approved for a Bitcoin ETF-linked fund in 2024, followed by MFC Asset Management, which launched a fund investing through BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT).

Zhao Changpeng stated that no cryptocurrency wallet can achieve absolute security, and there is no software without vulnerabilities or technology that is 100% secure.He pointed out that any action carries risks, and so does inaction; it is inevitable to encounter problems, setbacks, and challenges that need to be addressed during the process. Zhao Changpeng advised users to stay informed about the latest developments, manage risks effectively, and actively solve problems.

According to Axios, Visa is in talks to acquire the cryptocurrency asset custody infrastructure company Fireblocks, with a deal valuation of approximately $2.5 billion. If the deal is finalized, it will further expand Visa's presence in the digital asset custody and blockchain payment infrastructure sectors.Currently, this news is pending further confirmation, and the specific terms and progress of the acquisition negotiations have not been disclosed.

According to French media reports, three masked individuals broke into the home of a couple in their sixties in Mont-de-Marsan, Landes, France, threatening the two to hand over their cryptocurrency. The 63-year-old husband sustained a head injury, and the assailants subsequently took a laptop and a mobile phone.After the two victims managed to escape, they called the police and were sent to the hospital for examination. Preliminary police investigations suggest that the case may be related to the couple's son, who works in the cryptocurrency industry. Following the incident, their son has been placed under police protection. Currently, the three suspects are still at large, and the case is being investigated by the Bayonne judicial police.

On October 22, a16z announced the removal of "Crypto" from the name of its flagship blockchain fund, renaming it to a16z Frontier, and long-time general partner Ali Yahya is stepping down. The announcement stated that this move does not signify a withdrawal from investing in the cryptocurrency space, but rather aims to further broaden the investment scope.The fund has previously raised nearly $10 billion, including $4.5 billion in 2022 and $2.2 billion for Fund 5 this year, making it one of the largest institutional players in the industry. When raising Fund 5 this year, a16z stated that the industry is shifting from a price cycle to a usage cycle, focusing on the infrastructure of stablecoins, on-chain finance, prediction markets, and asset tokenization, rather than merely chasing market trends.Chris Dixon, founder and managing partner of a16z crypto, will remain in his position. Investments related to crypto assets and blockchain remain one of the core directions, but the overall label and strategic focus have been adjusted to cover a broader range of frontier technology fields.

According to The Information, a16z will remove "Crypto" from the name of its flagship blockchain fund, renaming it to "a16z Frontier," and will shift its focus to other investment areas; the fund's first founding member will also be leaving.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that Colombian cryptocurrency broker Leonardo de Jesus Zuluaga Duque was sentenced to 160 months in prison for assisting in the laundering of drug trafficking proceeds through Tether's USDT and participating in a scheme to import cocaine into the United States.Zuluaga Duque, along with five others, assisted in laundering approximately $14.5 million in USDT through a network of cryptocurrency accounts, shell companies, and fund transfers between the U.S. and Colombia from May to November 2023. The court also ordered the forfeiture of $14.75 million and the cryptocurrency held in four addresses under his control.

According to Coinglass data, the cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index is currently at 67, up 3 points from yesterday. The average over the past 7 days is 59, and the average over the past 30 days is 65.

Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini co-founders Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss stated in an interview that Bitcoin is a public, auditable blockchain where anyone can see transaction records, and this openness makes it unsuitable for privacy needs. Privacy coin Zcash is used for private transactions and payments, so the two can coexist. They mentioned that ideally, privacy should be built into Bitcoin, but currently, it is a practical model of Bitcoin storage and Zcash transactions. Bitcoin remains important, but the privacy exposure risk of public chains is greater in the face of artificial intelligence.The Winklevoss brothers stated that Zcash complements the missing privacy features of Bitcoin, serving as a privacy-focused Bitcoin, and the privacy value of ZEC has yet to be fully realized. If it reaches 10% of Bitcoin's market value, ZEC could rise fivefold, easily surpassing $5,000. They are optimistic about ZEC's price performance in the next 5 to 10 years, especially as privacy demand increases, and they described Zcash as a financial privacy protection tool in the era of artificial intelligence, an antidote against AI-driven surveillance and tyranny, and a hedge against artificial intelligence or quantum threats in the cryptocurrency space.

Dragonfly Managing Partner Haseeb Qureshi stated that there is a wave of attacks in the cybersecurity field that is "similar to the COVID-19 pandemic." He believes that on-chain hacking incidents are the "canary in the coal mine" for cybersecurity, as on-chain is the easiest place for cyber attacks to be monetized.He cited data from DefiLlama Research indicating that the number of on-chain hacking incidents has surged, but the annualized scale of stolen amounts is roughly equivalent to that of 2025, with losses per incident decreasing. He noted that most small protocols have been compromised, while large protocols are strengthening their defenses with AI tools. He anticipates that similar situations will also arise in the broader internet space.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that his office has reached a $500,000 settlement agreement with Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association (the successor entity of Fidelity Digital Asset Services), regarding the company's previous practice of restricting California retail customers from transferring cryptocurrency to external wallets.Regulators believe that this practice may violate the California Commodity Act of 1990; this law restricts certain speculative commodity contracts unless the buyer obtains physical delivery within a specified time, and the California government views the ability to withdraw cryptocurrency as a functional equivalent of delivery. From November 2022 to April 2025, California customers could buy and sell cryptocurrency on the Fidelity platform but were unable to send assets directly to external wallets. Fidelity stated that this restriction stemmed from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) not approving the relevant functionality at that time; the license was approved in April 2025, and the transfer feature will be extended to all California retail customers in June 2025.