Vitalik highly praised Polygon and Sandeep's contributions to the Ethereum ecosystem
Vitalik Buterin posted on the X platform, expressing his high appreciation for Sandeep Nailwal and Polygon's crucial role in the Ethereum ecosystem, particularly their early investment in ZK-EVM, support for highly scalable applications (such as Polymarket), and advancement of research projects to combat the pandemic. He also revealed that Sandeep had returned a $190 million SHIB donation, providing critical funding for the Balvi project. Vitalik encouraged Polygon to adopt existing ZK technology in the future for even greater security.
DoodiPals, a mini-entertainment project within the Solana ecosystem centered around the "DOODI" IP, announced a relaunch following a security review. Users holding DOODI before the hack will receive a 1:1 reissue. The project advises users to suspend purchases of DOODI pending further announcements, stating that the situation is under control and will return to normal after the relaunch. Security researcher Cos previously reported that $DOODi in dozens of addresses was stolen and converted to SOL due to a private key leak, resulting in the hacker profiting approximately 917 SOL.
Coinbase systems have recovered from AWS outage
According to Coinbase Support, Coinbase systems have recovered from today's AWS outage. While further instability is not expected, the platform is continuing to monitor system performance. Earlier today, Coinbase's Base App (beta) displayed abnormalities due to an AWS outage.
According to Sky Protocol's official announcement, the project used $680,000 in USDS to repurchase 11.25 million SKY tokens last week. To date, the total amount of USDS used for repurchases has exceeded $79 million.
According to Onchain Lens, three newly created wallets withdrew a total of 63,539 ETH from Bitgo and Kraken, which is approximately $253 million at current prices and is suspected to belong to Bitmine.
Solana Company opens PIPE investor sales early, sending its stock price plummeting 60%
According to CoinDesk, Pantera-backed Solana Company (HSDT, formerly Helius), the SOL digital asset treasury, announced it will allow investors in its $500 million PIPE round to resell shares early, describing it as "ripping the band-aid." The company's private placement in September was priced at $6.881 per share. Its current share price has fallen to approximately $6.50, a roughly 60% drop over the past three days, including a further 17% drop on Monday. The company stated that the early unlocking will clear out "weak hands" and strengthen its long-term shareholder base. The share prices of several digital asset treasuries have come under pressure since the PIPEs took effect, raising questions about the sustainability of this model.
Coinbase submitted a 30-page opinion to the U.S. Treasury Department, stating that the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and related regulations are outdated, inefficient, and increase data exposure. The company proposed establishing a "safe harbor" for compliance tools that use AI and API monitoring, recognizing decentralized IDs and zero-knowledge proofs as customer verification methods, and promoting "know your transaction" (KYT) on-chain analysis over traditional suspicious reporting. Coinbase proposed strengthening public-private collaboration through a regulatory sandbox, with a results-oriented approach to reducing low-value reporting. This proposal contrasts with a recent Senate Democratic draft targeting DeFi, which has been criticized as "effectively banning" DeFi and wallet development.
Coinbase acquires Cobie’s Up Only podcast NFT for $25 million, triggering a reboot obligation
According to The Block, Coinbase purchased the "Up Only" NFT from Cobie (Jordan Fish) for $25 million in USDC, triggering the NFT's terms: Cobie and Brian Krogsgard (aka Ledger) must produce eight new episodes. Brian Armstrong confirmed that "Up Only TV" will return. Cobie previously stated that the podcast would restart once the NFT was bought or burned, and set the price to a sky-high level to prevent it from being bought. The podcast was discontinued in December 2022 following the FTX crash.
Coinbase to Launch Nomina (NOM) Perpetual Futures Trading
Coinbase Markets announced on its X platform that trading in Nomina (NOM) perpetual futures will launch on October 21, 2025. Subject to liquidity conditions, the NOM-PERP market will open at or after 9:30 AM UTC in supported regions. Retail traders in select jurisdictions can access perpetual futures trading through Coinbase Advanced. Institutional traders in select jurisdictions can also access perpetual futures trading directly through Coinbase International Exchange.
Solana co-founder Toly responded to the "New Perp Dex" on X, saying, "I now understand Andre Cronje's pain. I was just messing around with Claude (Anthropic's AI) to see if it could generate a prototype and then test it on surfpool. Please copy this idea - I want to see if the competition caused by spot proprietary market makers can be repeated in the perpetual contract field: develop a perpetual contract DEX program that integrates all functions into the memory segment of a single account, with its own LP/risk/matching engine; or create a routing coordinator that can automatically adjust positions between any number of DEXs. Really, I just accidentally open-sourced a code base, and the world went crazy."
Base Co-founder published an article mentioning "Base Life"
Jesse Pollak, creator and protocol director of Base, posted on the X platform: "'Base Life' is the first popular project on the Base App. I look forward to seeing more content from China appear on the Base network."
Guy Young, founder of Ethena Labs, posted on the X platform: "For the past two years, the number of contributors to Ethena has remained roughly stable at around 20-25 people. Today, we are making our first significant team expansion with the creation of 10 new engineering and product positions for two new business lines and a product that will be launching in the next three months or so. Both of these initiatives have the potential to grow to a scale comparable to USDe."
Solana announces its Chinese name “Solala” on the X platform
Solana officially announced its Chinese name, "Solala," on social media platform X. User @easytopredict proposed "Suolala" in a Solana Chinese naming contest and won, saying it symbolizes the energetic creative spirit that continues to build on Solana.
Aria announces airdrop plan, 10% of tokens will be distributed to the community
Aria, the IPRWA protocol within the Story ecosystem, has announced an airdrop plan for its native token, $ARIAIP, allocating 10% of the total token supply to the community. 5% will be used to reward early supporters (Season 1), and another 5% will be allocated to incentivize future ecosystem growth (Season 2). In the initial Season 1 distribution, 3% will go to the Aria community and 2% to the Story $IP community. This airdrop will be fully unlocked at the TGE. Multiple official snapshots will be taken between October 21st and two days before the TGE. Participation details and the rewards mechanism for Season 2 will be announced soon.
According to on-chain analyst Ember, another address recently pledged 200 million USDC on Aave and then borrowed 22,000 ETH ($89 million) to transfer to Binance. Both addresses withdrew USDC from Binance a week ago and then borrowed ETH tonight. They are likely the same whale or institution. This means this suspected short-selling whale/institution has now pledged 390 million USDC and borrowed 42,000 ETH ($169 million) to transfer to Binance.
Sources: Blockchain.com has been in talks to go public through a SPAC transaction
According to CoinDesk, sources familiar with the matter revealed that Blockchain.com, a crypto exchange and wallet provider, has recently entered into discussions about a US public listing via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The company has appointed Cohen & Company Capital Markets to advise on a potential SPAC transaction, though it is unclear whether such discussions are still ongoing. While the valuation of the potential transaction is unknown, the company has raised funds at various valuations over the years due to market volatility. In March 2021, the company raised $300 million at a post-money valuation of $5.2 billion.
Prediction market Limitless completes $10 million seed round of financing, led by 1confirmation
According to official news, prediction market Limitless has announced the completion of a $10 million seed round of funding, led by 1confirmation, with participation from Collider Ventures, DCG, Node Capital, Arrington Capital, Coinbase Ventures, F-Prime, Flyer One Ventures, and SID Venture Partners. Limitless is built on the Base chain and is the largest prediction market on the platform.
An address pledged 190 million USDC on Aave and borrowed 20,000 ETH to transfer to Binance
According to on-chain analyst Ember's monitoring, an address pledged 190 million USDC on Aave, and then borrowed 20,000 ETH (US$80.62 million) and transferred it to Binance 15 minutes ago.
A "Bitcoin OG" increased his BTC short position by 200 BTC
According to Onchain Lens, a "Bitcoin OG" increased his BTC short position (10x leverage) by 200 BTC (worth $22.1 million). The trader currently holds 900 BTC, valued at $99.6 million, with a floating loss of $1.1 million. The average entry price was $109,521, and the liquidation price was $141,072.
According to on-chain analyst Ember, an investor/institution that received a 1 million SOL investment allocation sold some of it at the end of last year and invested in 2.52 million HYPE. Ten months after holding it, they took their first profit, selling some of their HYPE (worth $15.68 million) and then repurchased their SOL. Their profit on HYPE reached $26.7 million. A Solana investor/institution received a 1 million SOL investment allocation in June 2020. They sold some of their SOL to invest in HYPE. In December 2024, shortly after HYPE launched, they sold 375,000 SOL at approximately $191 for approximately 70 million USDC. They then transferred this USDC to the Arbitrum chain and into Hyperliquid, ultimately purchasing 2.52 million HYPE at an average price of $27.7. He began selling HYPE to take profits and repurchasing SOL: In October 2025, 10 months after holding HYPE, he sold 408,900 HYPE at $38.3 for 15.68 million USDC, then repurchased 81,100 SOL at $193 via Solana. He now holds 1,073,000 SOL (worth $206 million) and 2,152,000 HYPE (worth $82.63 million). His profit on HYPE exceeded $26.7 million, and his profit on SOL was even higher, as these SOL were invested at a very low cost, and he earned nearly 400,000 SOL in staking income over the past five years.
Ripple-backed Evernorth plans to raise over $1 billion in a US IPO to stockpile XRP tokens
According to Reuters, Evernorth, a crypto startup backed by Ripple, announced on Monday that it will go public on the Nasdaq through a merger with blank-check firm Armada Acquisition Corp II (AACI.O), raising over $1 billion. The transaction, expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, will create the largest publicly traded Ripple fund management company. Japan's SBI, previously associated with SoftBank, will invest $200 million in the financing in exchange for equity. Other participants in the transaction include Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, Pantera Capital, and Kraken.
Market News: Solana founders begin building a PERP DEX called Percolator
According to market news, Solana founder Anatoly began building a PERP DEX called Percolator on Solana.
According to PR Newswire, Nasdaq-listed Ethereum treasury firm BitMine has updated its cryptocurrency holdings, revealing that as of October 19th, EST, the company held 3,236,014 ETH and 192 BTC. The company also held $119 million worth of Eightco Holdings shares and $219 million in unsecured cash. BitMine's holdings increased by 203,826 ETH compared to last week's figures.
Greenlane Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNLN) announced the pricing and signing of a private equity-in-public-market (PIPE) transaction led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Blockchain.com, Kraken, North Rock Digital, CitizenX, and dao5. The company intends to use the net proceeds from the transaction to implement its digital asset treasury strategy and acquire BERA, the native cryptocurrency of the Berachain blockchain. BERA will serve as the company's primary treasury asset.
According to Forbes, Trump's youngest son, Barron, is worth just over $150 million through his family's cryptocurrency business. In September 2024, DT Marks Defi LLC, which holds a stake in the Trump family's World Liberty, acquired a total of 22.5 billion crypto tokens called $WLFI. According to financial disclosure documents filed by Trump as president, as of the beginning of this year, he held a 70% stake in DT Marks Defi LLC, with his family holding the remaining 30%. His sons Eric, Don Jr., and Barron are listed as co-founders, each receiving 10% if the 30% stake were split equally. According to company and client disclosures, World Liberty had sold approximately $675 million worth of tokens by August 2025. Barron's after-tax profit was approximately $38 million. In March of this year, World Liberty announced the launch of another product: USD1, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. USD1 has a market capitalization of approximately $2.6 billion, suggesting a valuation of approximately $880 million for the company behind it. An entity affiliated with the Trump family appears to hold approximately 38% of the project, with Barron's share estimated to be worth approximately $34 million. Subsequently, in August, World Liberty reached an agreement with Alt5 Sigma, a publicly traded medical company that is attempting to transform into a cryptocurrency treasury. Alt5 also used previously raised funds to purchase $717 million worth of World Liberty Financial tokens, of which over $500 million went to Trump family companies, leaving Barron with approximately $41 million after taxes. Furthermore, Barron holds approximately 2.25 billion World Liberty tokens, representing 10% of the 22.5 billion tokens initially allocated to Trump family-affiliated companies. Combined, Barron's 10% stake is currently valued at approximately $45 million. Taking all of these assets into account, Barron's net worth is slightly over $150 million.
Strategy disclosed that it spent about $18.8 million to increase its holdings of 168 bitcoins
According to official news, Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) disclosed that it had purchased 168 Bitcoins at a price of approximately $112,051 per coin, spending approximately $18.8 million. As of the year-to-date (YTD 2025), its Bitcoin holdings had achieved a 26.0% return. As of October 19, 2025, it held 640,418 Bitcoins, purchased at a price of approximately $74,010 per coin, for a total investment of approximately $47.4 billion.
Coinbase Hackathon Accused of Awarding Prizes to Fake Apps Linked to Employees
According to Cryptopolitan, Coinbase's Base network hackathon is under intense criticism. Community members have discovered that the winning projects may be linked to Coinbase employees. Last month, the platform held its "On-Chain Summer Awards" competition, with over 500 developer teams vying for a $200,000 prize. Organizers claimed winners were selected based on their applications' actual user engagement. However, when the results were announced on October 7th, developers noticed something amiss. Ogvio co-founder Alanas conducted an in-depth investigation and discovered that the second and third place winners, owatch and Opi Trade, appeared to be fake applications—AI-generated web pages with no actual functionality. Furthermore, these fake projects were linked to Coinbase employees. Legitimate teams with actual products lost out to the shell projects. Many developers with existing, practical applications were among the participants, and they angrily demanded on social media that the Base team explain why the fake projects won, but the organizers remained silent.
Bluwhale (BLUAI) to be listed on Binance Alpha and Binance Futures
According to the official announcement, Binance Alpha will list and open trading for Bluwhale (BLUAI) at 7:00 PM (GMT+8) on October 21, 2025. Additionally, Binance Futures will launch BLUAIUSDT perpetual contracts at 7:30 PM (GMT+8) on October 21, 2025, with a maximum leverage of 50x. All eligible Binance users will receive an exclusive Binance token airdrop. Eligible users can claim the airdrop using Binance Alpha Points between 7:00 PM (GMT+8) on October 21, 2025, and 7:00 PM (GMT+8) on October 22, 2025, through the Binance Alpha event page. Users can access the Binance Alpha event page through the search function in the Binance app. Click here for more information on how to claim the Alpha airdrop using Binance Alpha Points.
Péter Szilágyi, an Ethereum core developer and lead maintainer of the Geth client, publicly criticized the Ethereum Foundation (EF)'s internal compensation system and governance structure, expressing his "deep disappointment with the EF." Szilágyi stated that "working at the EF has been a poor financial decision" since joining, stating that his total compensation over six years at the Foundation was only $625,000 (pre-tax and without incentives), a period during which the total market capitalization of ETH grew from zero to approximately $450 billion. He noted that this low salary structure forces members truly committed to protocol development to seek external compensation, thereby creating a risk of "protocol capture by interest groups." Szilágyi also criticized the EF for issues such as unfair compensation, lack of transparency, and concentrated power, claiming that the Foundation relies too heavily on "people who stay motivated by ideals" and maintains an internal culture of opacity by concealing compensation information. He also noted that the Ethereum ecosystem has become a small circle centered around Vitalik Buterin, with a small number of opinion leaders and venture capital firms controlling major projects and decision-making. Szilágyi bluntly stated that Ethereum has moved from idealism to realism, and its governance and incentive structure "has made the protocol designed as a system that can be captured", and said that "it is difficult to see a bright future."
An independent miner successfully mined block 919923 and received a block reward of 3.126 BTC.
According to mempool data, at 16:19:16 today, an independent Bitcoin miner successfully mined block 919923 and received a block reward of 3.126 BTC, worth approximately US$347,700.
CoinShares: Digital asset investment products saw a net outflow of $513 million last week
According to CoinShares' latest weekly data, digital asset investment products saw a total outflow of $513 million last week, as the digital asset market experienced significant volatility following the Binance liquidity event on October 10, 2025. Net outflows since the event have now reached $668 million, indicating that investors in the ETP space have been largely unaffected by the incident, while on-chain investors are more pessimistic. ETP trading volume remained high at $51 billion this week, nearly double the weekly average for the year. Outflows were almost entirely concentrated in the United States, reaching $621 million, while investors in Germany, Switzerland, and Canada saw inflows of $54.2 million, $48 million, and $42.4 million, respectively, as they saw price weakness as a buying opportunity. Bitcoin was the primary focus, the only major asset to experience outflows, totaling $946 million last week. Year-to-date inflows have stood at $29.3 billion, down from $41.7 billion in 2024. Investors saw Ethereum's price weakness as a buying opportunity, with inflows reaching $205 million. The largest weekly inflow came from 2x leveraged ETPs, totaling $457 million, highlighting investor confidence. The hype surrounding the Solana and XRP ETP launches brought in $156 million and $73.9 million, respectively.
