MeNews

U.S. stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with technology shares strengthening, Dell surging, and oil prices stabilizing. U.S. Treasury yields approached 5%, and global stock markets may face a 5%-8% correction. Trump said the strikes on Iran would end soon and that the Strait of Hormuz would be renamed the Trump Strait. The former British prime minister warned that failure to control debt would force emergency spending cuts. The Beige Book said the U.S. economy grew moderately, with AI and data centers serving as key supports. Tron’s USDT supply surpassed Ethereum’s for the first time. Broadcom’s Q3 results exceeded expectations, and its AI revenue guidance was raised. Robinhood Chain generated $3.75 million in daily fees, exceeding the combined total of Solana, ETH, and Base.

According to ME News, on October 21 (UTC+8), Elon Musk said during SpaceX’s third-quarter earnings call that SpaceX and Tesla had each formed a special committee to discuss a potential merger between the two companies. Musk said, “I think it’s a good idea, but it really depends on the special committees at both companies.” The two sides have not reached any agreement at this time. Previously, prediction market data showed that the probability of Tesla and SpaceX merging in early 2027 was over 50%. (Source: PANews)

NEAR HSP-029 proposes lowering the maximum annual issuance rate from 2.5% to 1.6% over a 24-month linear phase-down, while keeping the 90/10 staking/treasury allocation unchanged. If the vote passes, there will be a 90-day grace period before activation. The reduction would cut issuance by approximately 11.8 million tokens over two years and 66 million over six years, reducing supply by 4.36%. Staking yields would fall from 5.268% to 3.372%. The goal is to reduce dilution for non-stakers and address concerns about discretionary risk. The proposal must pass the House of Stake before validators can adopt it through an upgrade, following the example of Solana SGP-0002 (67.001% approval).

Utah’s attorney general has sued Kalshi and its affiliates, alleging they have facilitated illegal gambling in the state since 2024. The suit seeks the return of approximately $30 million to $60 million in profits and says Kalshi serves more than 32,000 users. The case also involves an August court ruling that federal CFTC law does not preempt state gambling laws, a September appeals court refusal to issue an injunction, and whether the Supreme Court will hear the New Jersey case—all involving regulatory authority.

According to ME News, Super League shareholders approved the transaction on Oct. 16. Metaplanet will contribute 2,100 BTC and $2.5 million to subscribe for 44.86 million shares at $3 per share. Once the transaction is completed, the company will be renamed Superplanet and its ticker will change to SUPA. Metaplanet will hold more than 90% of the shares, subject to a five-year lockup. Superplanet plans to buy more Bitcoin by issuing perpetual preferred shares, with the transaction expected to close in the fourth quarter.

ME News, October 21 (UTC+8) — Netflix’s third-quarter earnings beat Wall Street expectations, but the company expects revenue growth to slow for a fourth consecutive quarter. Fourth-quarter revenue is forecast at $13.4 billion, below analysts’ estimates. Netflix attributed the revenue shortfall to its advertising business, which is expected to generate $300 million less in revenue than the company had originally forecast. Netflix shares fell as much as 7% after the earnings report. (Source: ChainCatcher)

Against the backdrop of the stalled Clarity Act, U.S. regulators are accelerating digital asset market rulemaking under their existing authority. The CFTC is seeking comment on a framework for retail digital asset trading and adding a “crypto asset market” exchange category, with comments due December 14. The SEC’s comment period on “Regulation Crypto Assets” closes October 20. Rulemaking is moving faster than Congress, but the rules may face court challenges or be rescinded by a new commission. A durable framework will still require legislation.

ME News reports that Fidelity, which manages about $7.8 trillion in assets, says perpetual preferred stock issued by Bitcoin treasury companies is a catalyst for BTC demand. Over the past year, these preferred shares raised funds to buy about 135,000 BTC, roughly 0.5% of the total BTC supply. Fidelity says BTC is becoming increasingly scarce, making it a strong complement to preferred stock.

ME News, October 21 (UTC+8) — DeFi protocol Extended plans to migrate its settlement from Starknet to Arc on October 22. Users holding more than $1 in USDT or wBTC in their subaccounts must convert or withdraw their assets to avoid forced liquidation. However, the related notice it issued listed conflicting deadlines. (Source: ChainCatcher)

ME News cited a list by Stacy Muur naming 82 digital asset projects and protocols expected to shut down in 2026, spanning DeFi, blockchain infrastructure, and Web3 gaming. Most closures are driven by declining revenue, depleted funding, or security incidents. Weakness in Bitcoin has added to the pressure, with Blast, Step Finance, and Radiant Capital among those to cease operations. DeFiLlama says about 100 projects have shut down in 2026, including 40 in the past 90 days. They raised about $1 billion in funding and generated roughly $250 million in fees, with 9 having raised more than $50 million.

Nectar Group has completed a $5 million seed round led by Portal Ventures, with participation from Peer Venture Partners, Anchorage Digital Ventures, undisclosed family offices, and angel investors. The company is developing HoneyB, a Bitcoin yield platform that enables Bitcoin holders to borrow stablecoins against their holdings and invest in yield strategies involving U.S. Treasuries, fixed income, credit, gold, volatility, and options.

ME News reports that on October 21 (UTC+8), USDC Treasury minted two batches of 250 million USDC each on the Solana network at 03:47 and 03:49 Beijing time, totaling 500 million USDC, worth approximately $500 million. Both transactions were executed by the USDC mint authority address. (Source: ODAILY)

Abu Dhabi-listed esports company NIP Group announced the acquisition of Bitcoin mining equipment with approximately 4.47 EH/s of hashrate, increasing its total hashrate to approximately 13.85 EH/s. The transaction is valued at up to $27.3 million, with the seller eligible to receive up to 247.1 million Class A ordinary shares. Once deployed, the equipment is expected to produce approximately 195 bitcoins per month. It is already operating at hosted facilities, and production will increase upon completion of the transaction. The company has been expanding its mining operations since July 2025 and plans to use the additional hashrate for digital infrastructure while expanding into AI, HPC, and gaming.

ME News, October 21 (UTC+8) — The United States is deploying the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Middle East, with their arrival expected before the end of November. The deployment will add approximately 10,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel. The Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group has approximately 6,000 Navy personnel, while the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group typically include approximately 4,200 personnel. (Source: ChainCatcher)

Utah’s attorney general sued Kalshi and two Susquehanna-affiliated trading firms in Third District Court, alleging that they continued offering sports and event contracts to state residents after a federal court affirmed Utah’s authority to enforce its gambling ban, with market makers helping sustain trading. The lawsuit seeks to bar residents from accessing the contracts, recover damages and disgorge illicit profits, and have the platform declared a public nuisance. The state estimates that Kalshi collected approximately $30.6 million to $61.2 million in fees from accounts in Utah, with more than 32,000 registered accounts belonging to Utah residents.

Following extensive security reviews, Kamino has made Chainlink CCIP the risk assessment standard for cross-chain collateral. Assets secured by CCIP can access higher borrowing limits and loan-to-value ratios in Kamino markets. Kamino noted that expanding support for institutional-grade tokenized collateral will make cross-chain security central to market design, a point also confirmed by Chainlink.

Bitwise’s latest staking report shows that, at the end of the third quarter, 43.8 million ETH was staked, representing 35.90% of the total supply. Net inflows for the quarter totaled 1.99 million ETH, marking six consecutive quarters of net inflows. The gross staking yield fell from 2.81% in the previous quarter to 2.63%, while the number of active validators dropped from about 1.1 million to 881,000, as node operators consolidated validators following the Pectra upgrade.

NEAR Protocol has launched NEAR Business, a confidential multisig treasury platform for crypto-native teams and institutions. It handles payroll, vendor payments, cross-chain swaps, and treasury allocation across 35+ chains and more than 200 assets. Cross-chain transfers are powered by NEAR Intents and run on private sharding infrastructure, keeping transaction details confidential while remaining auditable. The platform is currently free, with a 0.35% swap fee, and is available by invitation only.

ME News, October 21 (UTC+8) — U.S. Director of National Intelligence and AI lead Jay Clayton said recommendations from the AI task force on responsible AI development would be released “soon.” Asked in an interview when the recommendations on AI would be issued, Clayton said, “We’ll roll them out over time,” adding that he could not commit to an exact date. (Source: PANews)

According to Israel’s Channel 12, a mediation proposal submitted by Pakistan’s army chief to a senior Iranian official received preliminary approval from the U.S., and Iran also tentatively agreed. The proposal addresses the return of frozen funds, stipulating that the interest generated by the $6 billion frozen in Qatari banks be transferred to Iran. Reports that the U.S. and Iran had tentatively reached an agreement on Pakistan’s mediation proposal sent oil prices lower, with WTI and Brent each falling about $0.8 to around $97.51/barrel and $105.76/barrel, respectively. Source: ChainCatcher.