This Week in Crypto Law (October 18, 2026)2026-10-18 22:35:30
Law and Ledger is a news segment focusing on crypto legal news, brought to you by Kelman Law – A law firm focused on digital asset commerce. The opinion editorial below was written by Michael Handelsman for Kelman.Law. This Week in Crypto Law This week’s developments show courts and regulators addressing crypto through several distinct […]
Cardano Stablecoin Market Tops $70 Million As USDC Dominates Supply2026-10-18 22:00:30
TL;DR: Stablecoins issued or circulating on Cardano reached roughly $70.2 million in DefiLlama’s October 18 snapshot, up about 31% over 30 days. USDC represents nearly two-thirds of that total. Cardano’s stablecoin market has crossed another small but notable threshold. DefiLlama’s October 18 figures put the network’s dollar-pegged token supply at approximately $70.2 million, with 30-day […]
Thai Police Bust Chinese Boss Behind $74M Crypto Laundering Ring2026-10-18 21:34:30
Thai Immigration Police arrested Wu Chaoshuai, a Chinese national who had entered the country on a tourist visa back in 2019, and had taken action to evade arrest. Chaoshuai allegedly led a cryptocurrency laundering ring that moved over $74 million for a transnational criminal organization. Chinese Crypto Money Laundering Kingpin Arrested in Thailand Thai authorities […]
Aptos Burns 174,000 APT In A Month, Yet Token Supply Keeps Rising2026-10-18 21:00:30
TL;DR: Aptos reports roughly 174,570 APT burned in the past 30 days, but gross staking issuance is about 1.5 million APT a month. Fee burns reduce issuance; they have not made the token deflationary. Burning tokens sounds attractive to investors until the other side of the supply equation comes into view. Aptos provides a useful […]
A Missouri Woman Felt Jealous When She Heard About a $228,000 Jackpot. Then She Checked Her Own Ticket2026-10-18 20:27:30
A Missouri Lottery player in Arnold matched all five numbers in the Aug. 10, 2026 Show Me Cash drawing to win a $228,000 jackpot on a ticket bought at the Circle K on Jeffco Blvd. Before realizing it was her, she saw a sign touting a local winner and felt a twinge of jealousy, then […]
Zcash Shielded Pools Draw Fresh Scrutiny After Stolen Crypto Transfers2026-10-18 20:00:30
TL;DR: Investigators have raised new concerns about stolen crypto flowing into Zcash, following earlier tracing of roughly 2,746 ZEC linked to the Bitget breach. Shielded transactions obscure details after entry, but do not prove that the underlying network has been compromised. Privacy is a legitimate feature of cryptocurrency. It is also what makes Zcash a […]
A $98 Million Bitcoin Long Bet on Hyperliquid Hangs by a Thin Thread2026-10-18 19:13:30
A bitcoin trader is staring down a potential $98 million liquidation after a punishing week wiped nearly $9.8 million from a Hyperliquid account. With 40x leverage and bitcoin’s price slipping toward $81,000, another sharp decline could finish the job. Hyperliquid Trader Risks $98 Million Bitcoin Liquidation A massive bitcoin long position on Hyperliquid is teetering […]
Cross River Bank Adds Ripple’s RLUSD To Its Payment Infrastructure2026-10-18 19:00:30
TL;DR: Cross River Bank announced an integration of Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin into its Core Operating System on October 15. The bank aims to give fintech customers access to blockchain settlement alongside conventional payment rails. A US bank is adding a stablecoin to the machinery it uses to move money for fintech customers. Cross River Bank […]
Bitcoin Price Faces 10 Big Tests as 5 Catalysts Keep $100K Alive2026-10-18 18:28:30
Bitcoin’s bulls are still talking six figures while the market struggles to hold $81,000. With ten potential market movers approaching and five catalysts capable of reviving momentum, the coming week could settle some arguments. Bitcoin’s price enters Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026, in a peculiar predicament. The cryptocurrency has spent another week fighting to preserve its […]
Sui’s Hashi Bitcoin Lending Project Prepares For Mainnet With $500 Million Pledged2026-10-18 18:00:30
TL;DR: Sui’s Hashi project is preparing for a phased October mainnet rollout with more than $500 million in partner capital commitments. Anchorage Digital is joining as a launch partner, but pledged funding is not the same as value already deployed on-chain. The next battleground for Bitcoin lending is not necessarily a Bitcoin-native blockchain. Sui is […]
Qubic Loses $1.3 Million in Wallet Raid Before Network Halts2026-10-18 17:52:00
An overnight cryptocurrency theft emptied 1,404 Qubic wallets of approximately 2.94 trillion QU, worth $1.3 million, before validators halted the network. The apparent culprit wasn’t a blockchain vulnerability but predictable wallet seeds generated by older Apple devices and browsers. With most stolen tokens trapped on the paused network and another portion frozen by MEXC, the […]
Crypto PAC Spending Against Sherrod Brown Passes $52 Million In Ohio2026-10-18 17:00:30
TL;DR: Crypto-aligned political committees have reported more than $52 million in spending against former Senator Sherrod Brown’s bid to return to Congress. The campaign is one of the clearest examples of the industry’s willingness to spend heavily on a single Senate seat. The cryptocurrency industry’s election spending is no longer an abstract national number. In […]
Saylor Teases ‘More Orange’ After His $100 Trillion Bitcoin Vision Speech2026-10-18 16:15:00
Strategy founder Michael Saylor delivered an ambitious vision for bitcoin at ParaFi Investor Day 2026, arguing that bank lending, tokenized securities, and bitcoin-backed credit could eventually support a $100 trillion financial system. Speaking alongside ParaFi Capital partner Jeff Park, Saylor discussed Strategy’s multibillion-dollar bitcoin treasury, its 12% preferred stock, artificial intelligence (AI), and the financial […]
Ledger Unveils $849 Atom Device To Secure Crypto, Apps And AI Activity2026-10-18 16:00:30
TL;DR: Ledger has introduced Atom, a new device intended to run everyday apps while keeping sensitive approvals inside its secure operating system. The Founders Edition has a $849 reservation price, with shipping estimated for 2027. Ledger wants to move beyond the familiar USB-shaped hardware wallet. Its new Atom looks much closer to a smartphone, but […]
Beyond the Casino – Week In Review2026-10-18 15:25:00
This editorial is from this week’s edition of the newsletter Week in Review, sent to subscribers on Friday. Subscribe to the newsletter to get this weekly editorial the second it’s finished. The newsletter also includes the biggest stories of the week, with a comment on each story. Bitcoin is roughly flat in the past seven […]
South Korea Names Gopax Operator In Cyberattack Wave Affecting 16 Firms2026-10-18 15:00:30
TL;DR: South Korea’s Financial Services Commission identified Gopax operator Streami among 16 financial firms affected by recent hacking incidents. Authorities said around 100,000 data-leak cases had been identified across the broader group, not specifically at Gopax. A South Korean cryptocurrency exchange has been caught up in a cybersecurity investigation stretching across the country’s financial sector. […]
Russia Sets July 2027 Deadline to Halt P2P Crypto Transactions2026-10-18 14:43:00
The Central Bank of Russia clarified that transactions between Russian citizens using self-custody wallets or from a regulated broker to a self-custody wallet will be banned starting July 1, 2027. The institution stressed that these transactions can only be made using regulated brokers. Bank of Russia Bans Transactions Going to Self-Custody Wallets The Russian government […]
Polygon Completes Coinme Deal And Gains US Payments Licences Across 48 States2026-10-18 14:00:30
TL;DR: Polygon Labs has closed its acquisition of Coinme, gaining access to 37 state money-transmitter licences and 11 applicable exemptions. The move is designed to connect its on-chain payment technology with regulated US money movement. Polygon has spent years making it easier to move assets on blockchains. Its latest acquisition is about the far less […]
French Lawmakers Back Stablecoin Tax Change By A Single Vote2026-10-18 13:00:30
TL;DR: French lawmakers approved an amendment to the 2027 budget by 38 votes to 37 that would change how gains are taxed when cryptocurrencies are converted into stablecoins. The proposal is not yet final law. For French crypto investors, moving from Bitcoin into a stablecoin could become a taxable event before any euros reach a […]
XRP Price Battles $1.30 as $2.77B Futures Market Loses Momentum2026-10-18 12:41:30
XRP’s price is fighting to hold $1.29 as its $2.77 billion futures market loses momentum and sellers maintain control. Technical indicators favor further weakness, yet oversold readings suggest a recovery isn’t entirely off the table. Meanwhile, Polymarket traders assign a 50% probability to XRP touching $1.20 before November, while Kalshi’s October contracts reflect fading expectations […]
Bitcoin’s Old Guard Stirs as 13-Year-Old Wallets Move Millions2026-10-18 10:51:30
Two bitcoin addresses dating to 2013 collectively moved approximately $34 million in bitcoin within five seconds on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, with both transactions appearing at block height 971894. Two 2013 Bitcoin Wallets Wake Up in the Same Block After a flurry of dormant BTC activity in August following the Coldcard breach and another busy […]
China Built a Battery Out of Iron That Could Last 16 Years, and Iron Costs 80 Times Less Than Lithium2026-10-18 08:26:30
Researchers at the Institute of Metal Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a redesigned electrolyte for an alkaline all-iron flow battery that ran for more than 6,000 charge-discharge cycles with no measurable capacity loss, roughly 16 years of daily use. The 2026 Advanced Energy Materials paper points to grid-scale stationary storage, with […]
OKXICE Faces 9 Formal Objections to Tokenized Share Trading2026-10-18 06:04:30
Nine U.S.-listed companies, including Broadcom, Coreweave, Verizon, and Unitedhealth, have formally objected to tokenized versions of their shares trading on OKXICE, throwing an unexpected roadblock into the crypto exchange venture’s ambitious plans for round-the-clock stock trading. Nine Companies Object to Tokenized Shares The objections appear in an Oct. 15 public notice from OKXICE, the joint […]
EU Joins 8 Nations to Sign Warsaw Protocol on Crypto Crime2026-10-18 04:49:30
The new treaty modernizes the Warsaw Convention treaty, adding crypto assets to its scope and expanding the attributions of financial intelligence units over these assets, highlighting the importance of international cooperation and reducing response times for information requests between countries. EU Signs Warsaw Convention Crypto Modernization Additional Protocol The European Union and a group of […]
Pump.fun Brings Hyperliquid Perps to Its Meme Coin Empire2026-10-18 02:08:30
Pump.fun has expanded beyond its Solana meme coin business, introducing perpetual futures trading powered by Hyperliquid. The new interface offers leveraged cryptocurrency trading while charging builder fees of up to 0.10% per order and bridge fees reaching 0.25%. However, traders in the United States and Ontario are barred from using the feature, according to terms […]
Goldman Sachs CEO Sees Tokenization as Wall Street’s Next Act2026-10-18 01:08:30
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon sees tokenization reshaping financial markets, potentially opening new revenue opportunities rather than simply threatening traditional finance (TradFi) and Wall Street businesses. During the bank’s Oct. 13 earnings call, Solomon detailed tokenized bonds, money market funds, real estate, and participation in DTCC’s tokenization service. The discussion also touched on decentralized finance […]
Ledger Faces Fresh Scrutiny After Researcher Says Hardware Wallet Warning Came Months Earlier2026-10-18 01:00:43
TL;DR: Security researcher Joe Grand says he warned Ledger about signs of physically modified devices months before a wider hardware-wallet supply-chain attack came to light. The dispute concerns communications and product distribution, not proof that Ledger’s core cryptography was defeated. Ledger is facing questions about how it handled earlier warnings after reports of cryptocurrency thefts […]
Why Stablecoins May Never Escape Traditional Banking Risks: Frgmnt CEO2026-10-18 00:16:00
As stablecoins transition from decentralized finance tools to essential infrastructure for accessing U.S. dollars, an expert says their next phase of adoption depends on making blockchain technology invisible to the end user. From Speculative Tools to Digital Dollar Access When the first wave of decentralized finance (DeFi) swept through the global economy, stablecoins were primarily […]
HEX Founder Richard Heart Detained In Istanbul As Finnish Tax Investigation Continues2026-10-18 00:00:43
TL;DR: HEX and PulseChain founder Richard Heart was reportedly detained in Istanbul in connection with a Finnish tax investigation. The reported legal proceedings are separate from his earlier US securities dispute, and no conviction is established by the detention. Richard Heart, the prominent and controversial founder of HEX and PulseChain, has reportedly been detained by […]