Geopolitics

Brent crude oil fell approximately $3 from a five-month high of $111.99 to a $108.79 settlement on Tuesday after an unconfirmed report suggested mediation between Iran and Pakistan. By Wednesday afternoon the benchmark had recovered to $111.32 before settling at $108.19, down 0.55%. A diplomat

According to K33 analysts cited by The Block, Bitcoin's 28-day volatility has dropped to 1.2% on October 21, approaching 2026 lows as the Federal Reserve rate decision and November 3 U.S. midterm elections near. Analysts expect volatility may rise in the coming weeks as these key events

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino posted on X on Oct. 20, refuting the report “Entangled with Terrorism” from Democratic staff members of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The report examined 846 crypto wallets linked to Iran and its proxies and found that 84% used almost exclusively USDT. Ardoino explained, however, that in 99% of cases, the wallets had been frozen before being flagged. Senate PSI report: 34 of 39 Hezbollah addresses not frozen until March 2024 According to a rep

Thai immigration police arrested a 37-year-old Chinese man surnamed Wu, who was wanted in China, at a luxury residence in Ramkhamhaeng, in Bangkok’s Saphan Sung district, on October 16, 2026. Police accused Wu of being involved in a transnational money-laundering network that processed more than 500 million Yuan (approximately $75 million) in transactions through over 133 bank accounts, and of allegedly providing cryptocurrency and foreign-exchange services to transnational criminal groups. Arre

Sumit Gupta, co-founder of CoinDCX, has called for Crypto Tax in India reform, highlighting that India risks losing ₹57,147 crore in potential revenue due to traders migrating to offshore exchanges. According to the TIOL Knowledge Foundation report shared by Gupta, the high 1% TDS (Tax Deducted at S

Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at approximately $81,590 on Oct. 20, giving back its overnight gains. Wallets linked to MARA Holdings (MARA) transferred a total of 1,000 Bitcoin to exchanges through multiple transactions, worth approximately $82.8 million. A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Trump's overall approval rating falling to 31%, the lowest level of his two presidential terms and down 1 percentage point from two weeks earlier. Technical Analysts: Focus on Bitcoin Resistance Levels at $83,400 to $85,0

According to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino on October 20, Tether's compliance actions reduced Iran-related stablecoin transactions by 94% since 2023. Ardoino stated on X that Tether typically freezes addresses 4 weeks before the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Israel's

In October 2026, the Central Bank of Russia and commercial banks began actively countering an arbitrage scheme involving the purchase of USDT on crypto platforms in CIS countries, followed by its sale for cash rubles in Russia. According to RBC, the scheme became widespread in the market in 2026. The Central Bank sees a high risk that funds of undetermined origin are being laundered. How the arbitrage scheme works An individual transfers funds from a Russian bank to a Belarusian bank or deposits

Latvia is advancing plans to allow individuals to pay taxes using virtual assets as early as next year, while parliament passed a bill on October 15 revising the tax framework for virtual-asset investments. Didzis Dejus, an adviser to the Latvian prime minister on strategic planning and the new

According to CoinDesk, Didzis Dejus, strategic planning adviser to the Prime Minister of Latvia, said on October 19 at the UN:BLOCK fintech conference in Riga that the country plans to allow residents to pay personal income taxes with cryptocurrency as early as 2027. Meanwhile, the Latvian Parliament has passed legislation changing the tax trigger for cryptocurrency investments from individual transactions to withdrawals from investment accounts that exceed the initial deposit amount. Cryptocurr

Bitcoin (BTC) staged a sharp short-term rebound at the start of the week, trading at around $82,520 on October 19. Japan’s three major financial groups jointly announced that they had successfully completed a proof-of-concept test for issuing a yen stablecoin and facilitating cross-border corporate payments. Strive increased its holdings by nearly 7,600 BTC over the past two weeks, bringing its total holdings to 35,595 BTC and prompting investment bank TD Cowen to raise its price target from $44

Bitcoin (BTC) continued its recovery toward $82,500 on Oct. 19, which was also the 39th anniversary of Black Monday in 1987. The S&P 500 closed down 1.09% at 7,659.44 points last Friday. During a phone call with Trump, Putin proposed holding a trilateral summit to discuss the Ukraine conflict, tentatively during the APEC summit in Shenzhen in November; the U.S. has not formally accepted the proposal. Bitcoin Rebounds from a Low of $80,750 According to TradingView charts, after breaking above $81

According to Evercore ISI analysts, the Texas gubernatorial race between Republican incumbent Governor Greg Abbott and Democratic State Senator Gina Hinojosa on October 15 emerged as the key political risk for AI data center development policy. The analysts noted that data center construction

According to ChainCatcher, Patrick Witt, executive director of the White House Presidential Digital Assets Advisory Council, announced his departure from government service last week to return to the private sector. The position remains unfilled, and the White House has not yet publicly named a

According to an FEC filing signed Oct. 15, Fairshake's Defend American Jobs affiliate disclosed additional spending to oppose Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio, bringing its total outlay against the former Senate Banking Committee chairman to $46.66 million—the crypto industry's most

According to Bloomberg, Hyperliquid Labs co-founder Jeff Yan is seeking U.S. regulatory rules that would protect the blockchain while placing compliance responsibility on financial institutions operating markets built on it, rather than the blockchain network itself. This approach would allow Hyperl