Autor Cointelegraph By Andrew Fenton

AI agents message board set up to rescue Glamsterdam forkThe second and final testnet for Ethereum’s Glamsterdam hard fork was cancelled this week, after ChainSecurity found vulnerabilities in two gas scaling Ethereum Improvement Proposals that could have spelled big trouble for at least 13 DeFi contracts. The bugs were connected to EIP-8037/8038 and resulted in contracts that rely on the way gas currently behaves, breaking when a call runs out of gas. It’s all fairly technical and complicated, but the upshot is that an attacker may have been able to exploit the resulting vulnerabilities. The hard fork testnet dress rehearsal on Hoodi is not expected to be rescheduled until all the second order effects of the fork have been gamed out properly. In an article on X today, Derek Chiang from Eth Labs noted the vulnerability was found out at a few minutes to midnight, which is less than ideal, “causing everyone to scramble to deal with the fallout.”“In the future, protocol designers would do well to conduct much more thorough analysis of potential breakages that their update might introduce, and to do so much earlier in the process.”Chiang says two researchers from Eth Labs and the Ethereum Foundation had independently spun up a bunch of AI Agents to scan contracts for vulnerabilities. When they realized they were both employing the same strategy they “set up a message board for their agents in the form of a github repo” to coordinate the work. He noted the similarities to the OpenAI < > Hugging Face hack where rogue agents had set up a message board to coordinate the attacks. “Well, turns out the same pattern is useful for the good agents too,” he said. The exercise has been so successful at finding potential problems that a second board has been set up to examine the effects of EIP-8198, aka “Quick Slots”, which has been proposed for the subsequent Hegota hard fork.Steal My Bitcoin site aims to prove Bitcoin isn’t vulnerable to PHP2Shell scareA new website that hasn’t been patched for the PHP2Shell vulnerabilities hopes to prove that a Bitcoin wallet isn’t vulnerable to the biggest cybersecurity scare of the year. The ‘Steal My Bitcoin’ site has hidden the key to a Bitcoin wallet worth around $2000 which is accessible to the PHP user account through a binary called print-flag.Source: StealMyBitcoinAt the time of writing the site has been up for 25 hours without a successful hack, although it has periodically been offline due to heavy traffic and probing attempts. PHP is a programming language widely used to power websites and web applications, including content management systems. Government agencies and other organizations in the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, Finland and elsewhere took critical websites offline Wednesday as a precaution while emergency patches were developed for two related critical vulnerabilities. The flaws could allow unauthenticated attackers to execute code on affected servers without logging inSolana’s Alpenglow launches on mainnetSolana’s first major consensus upgrade, Alpenglow, went live on mainnet around 1:54 pm UTC on Wednesday, according to the Solana Foundation’s Alpenglow dashboard.Agave developer Anza said the time it takes a transaction to become final has now fallen from about 12.8 seconds to roughly 150 milliseconds. In the wake of the upgrade DeFi activity has been flat or fallen slightly — but it’s early days yet.The upgrade’s first phase, Votor, replaces the existing voting and finalization mechanism with direct validator voting and a certificate-based system, which is expected to result in the headline transaction count falling by around 60%. A later phase will introduce Rotor, a new block data-distribution protocol intended to replace Turbine.StarkNet votes to start work on becoming a post-quantum L1Starknet’s community has voted to support research into becoming an independent, post-quantum layer-1 blockchain.A governance vote that ran for seven days drew about 3,200 votes, with 93.52% of voting power in favor of the transition.The actual shift itself would require a separate, binding governance vote. For now, Starknet will continue operating as an Ethereum layer-2 network. “We’re beginning work on a whitepaper even before we start the weekend, and hope to release a draft for public scrutiny in November,” StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson told Cointelegraph. StarkNet saw the biggest fall of the top 100 coins this week, erasing one quarter of its value.Source: Made with Google AIUS senator probes Tether after reported deal with ex-Trump crypto adviserSenator Richard Blumenthal — the top Democrat on the Senate’s investigations subcommittee — has requested information from Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino after the Wall Street Journal reported the stablecoin firm had inked a $6.3 million deal with a marketing company co-founded by former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines.In a Thursday letter to Ardoino, the Connecticut lawmaker said that the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations demanded “records and information related to contracts, payments, communications, and lobbying” about the deal. The politician believes it may contravene rules around ethics, corruption and lobbying. Tether says an external investigation “found no evidence of wrongdoing.”Winners and LosersAt the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is down 1.2% to trade at $80,549, Ethereum (ETH) is down 1.9% to trade at $2,343 and XRP (XRP) is up 0.9% to $1.20. The total market cap is at $2.68 trillion according to CoinMarketCap.Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin winners of the week are MemeCore (M) with a 24.4% gain, Venice Token (VVV) on 14.8%, and Ethena (ENA) on 14.1%.The top three altcoin losers of the week are Starknet (STRK) which was down 24.9%, Aerodrome Finance (AERO) down 12.5% and Sei (SEI) down 12.5%.Prediction of the WeekJPMorgan projects Bitcoin to outperform US stocks and gold over next decadeJPMorgan Asset Management projects Bitcoin (BTC) will outperform stocks and gold over the next decade, but cautions that its volatility makes it unsuitable for diversifying portfolios for now.On Monday, JPMorgan published its 2027 Long-Term Capital Market Assumptions report, projecting a 10% annualized return for Bitcoin, compared with 7.5% for large-cap US stocks and 5.5% for gold.“At the moment, we do not make a case for Bitcoin as a diversifier in portfolios due to its unstable market correlations,” the report said. “We see Bitcoin as a speculative asset and a hedge against monetary easing.”Top FUD of the WeekNew York AG seeks $1.37B from NovaTech founders over Ponzi schemeNew York Attorney General Letitia James has asked a court to order defunct crypto and forex trading platform NovaTech’s founders, Cynthia and Eddy Petion, and related companies to pay $1.37 billion over its Ponzi scheme.More than 11,000 New Yorkers lost tens of millions of dollars through NovaTech and an earlier crypto mining scheme, AWS Mining, the AG’s office said. The complaint alleged that promoters targeted Haitian and other immigrant communities through prayer groups, social media and WhatsApp, promising high returns and recruitment bonuses.Bitcoin Core changes security policy as AI makes bugs easier to findBitcoin Core is changing how it handles security vulnerabilities, due to how fast large language models can uncover software flaws. Bitcoin Core developer Antoine Poinsot said that in the past, vulnerabilities were generally kept under lengthy disclosure embargoes to give users time to upgrade before details became public.However, Poinsot said LLMs have made some flaws so easy to rediscover that delaying fixes offers little protection.“The embargo period achieves little but it delays the availability of a fixed release,” said Poinsot. “We are therefore updating our policy disclosure to accommodate those.”Pentagon bans US forces from using military info to bet in prediction marketsUS Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has barred all Pentagon staff from using undisclosed information to place wagers on upcoming military action, including on prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. In a memo sent to senior Pentagon and defense agencies on Tuesday, Hegseth said all Department of War personnel are prohibited from engaging in financial transactions using nonpublic information. This involves both classified and unclassified information. Top Magazine Features of the WeekHardware wallets aren’t the only way to protect your crypto, but from ETFs and passkeys to multisig accounts, each alternative has its own risks and trade-offs.The Animoca Brands chairman explains that AI agents can make trades while you sleep, but users need to plan for the day they lose access to the bots.

CHINATreasury proposes blocks on US investments in AI and semiconductors in some foreign countriesThe US Treasury has proposed new rules that would block investment in artificial intelligence projects (sorry, ‘Super Intelligence’ projects) and certain high risk semiconductors in some foreign countries.The blocks have been mainly aimed at geopolitical rival China, but will now also encompass other adversaries including Russia, Iran, North Korea and Cuba. The rules would implement the COINS Act from December 2025 and expand the Outbound Investment Security Program that went into effect in January 2025.They rules build on previous restrictions on selling high powered AI chips to China. The US is backing up its threats too, having announced the first $200,000 penalty this month to Amidi, LLC. Treasury for failing to report an investment by its Chinese subsidiary into embodied AI and robotics company Shanghai Qiongche Intelligent Technology (AKA Noematrix.)US bans DeepSeek from civilian agency IT systemsThe US Department of Homeland Security has ordered the removal of DeepSeek products from federal civilian agency IT systems.The order, filed on Monday, also covers DeepSeek affiliates and third-party products and services developed using DeepSeek implementations while prohibiting affected agencies from making new purchases.DHS warned that use of DeepSeek by government employees and contractors could expose sensitive information to China, potentially revealing details about US citizens and federal programs.Solana’s Liu says Shanghai event postponed over registration surgeThe Solana Accelerate event in Shanghai was postponed after pre-registration exceeded the event cap set by local authorities, according to Lily Liu, president of the Solana Foundation.Event registration quadrupled overnight following publicity for the event, Liu wrote in a Friday X post, adding that organizers decided to postpone the event to “comply with local requirements.”Earlier on Friday, X users claimed that the event was “abruptly suspended” as law enforcement officers were stationed at the venue.Binance founder Changpeng Zhao posted he was impressed the Solana Foundation had been allowed to open a Shanghai office, noting than BNB Chain had been unable to do so. JAPANJapan-Korea tourist spending becomes a test case for yen stablecoinsSouth Korea’s Shinhan Card has signed an agreement with Japan’s SBI VC Trade and SBI XDC Network APAC to test yen stablecoin payments for travelers and cross-border trade settlement.Under the pact signed Tuesday, the companies will test stablecoin card payments, wallet-to-wallet payments and cross-border trade settlement. They will also assess anti-money-laundering and fraud-detection controls.Shinhan Card is one of South Korea’s biggest credit card companies. SBI is a Japanese financial heavyweight that runs banks, brokerages, insurers and crypto exchanges.Metaplanet to take 93.7% stake in Super League through 2,100 BTC dealShareholders of Super League, a Nasdaq-listed gaming and digital media company, approved a deal that would give Japanese Bitcoin treasury firm Metaplanet a 93.7% ownership stake, paving the way for its expansion into US capital markets through a publicly traded Bitcoin treasury company.Metaplanet has also announced a planned repurchase of about $160 million of its own shares. KOREASouth Korean finance officials met with crypto exchanges amid calls for tax delayFinance officials reportedly met major crypto exchanges this week, days after a lawmaker introduced legislation that could push the start date of a new crypto tax back two years.The meeting was a consultation on crypto taxation, with representatives from Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, DigitalX and Gopax, along with executives of the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance, known as DAXA.South Korean regulators have delayed the crypto tax three times, with the latest delay pushing the start date to 2027 amid political disagreement and industry pushback.Seoul at night. Source: Pexels, gijechoInjective, BDACS plan Korean won stablecoin settlement for tokenized assetsBlockchain network Injective has entered into a memorandum of understanding with South Korean digital asset custodian BDACS to bring a won-backed stablecoin to its tokenized asset markets, potentially allowing institutions to settle transactions without relying on US dollar stablecoins.Kakao plans KRW stablecoin payments ecosystemKakao, KakaoBank and KakaoPay have formed a new stablecoin task force to build the infrastructure required for won stablecoin issuance, custody and payments. The aim is to start with shopping and gifting.MALAYSIAMalaysia central bank launches DLT platform for tokenized bondsMalaysia’s central bank has launched a distributed ledger-based platform for issuing and holding tokenized bonds, connecting digital securities records with a payment system designed to operate around the clock. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said that its next-generation Scripless Securities Depository System (SSDS+) supports the issuance, depository and safekeeping of tokenized debt securities, including Islamic bonds known as sukuk.THAILANDBitget plans Thai crypto exchange acquisition weeks after $388M hackCrypto exchange Bitget has announced plans to acquire Thailand’s GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics, seeking to expand its Southeast Asia footprint weeks after a major hack impacting its hot and warm wallets. The proposed transaction involves BTGT Management (Thailand), a company in which Bitget says it holds an interest, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph.  The acquisition will allow Bitget to introduce its trading platform to Thai users.Chinese suspect in $75M international crime network arrested in BangkokThai police arrested a 37-year-old Chinese man wanted by authorities in China for alleged involvement in an international crime network and money laundering.Investigators said the network handled more than 500 million yuan ($75 million) in transactions, Thai media Khaosod English reported in a post on X on Saturday.Police alleged the suspect was involved in cryptocurrency and foreign-currency exchanges for criminal groups across more than 133 accounts. Investigators said he attempted to evade arrest by using forged documents to report his residence and changing vehicle registration plates before police found him in a luxury house in Bangkok.VIETNAMDa Nang crypto sandbox targets digital tourismThe fourth largest city in Vietnan, Da Nang, is using a controlled sandbox that enables businesses to employ crypto related applications in the tourism industry. Da Nang welcomed 15.9 million visitors in the first nine months of 2026.Vietnam-EFTA agreement includes Crypto Valley linksVietnam has signed a free-trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association countries of Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. Following a meeting with the Vietnamese PM, Swiss President Guy Parmelin proposed linking Switzerland’s Crypto Valley hub with Vietnam’s innovation ecosystem to further cooperation in blockchain, AI and quantum technology.SINGAPORESingapore Gulf Bank offers retail USD-stablecoin conversionSingapore Gulf Bank (which is actually licensed by Bahrain) announced that retail customers can convert between dollars for USDT or USDC via its mobile banking app.Singapore-backed manager launches Swiss bitcoin ETFThe Singapore backed BIT Asset Management has launched Switzerland’s first Bitcoin ETF. Formerly known as Matrixport, it’s Zurich arm has been approved by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority to launch the country’s first spot Bitcoin ETF and Europe’s only spot Bitcoin ETF.

HEX erases $246 million in market cap after founder detained in TurkeyThe HEX market cap fell from $561 million to $315 million this week after founder Richard Schueler — better known to the crypto community as Richard Heart — was detained by authorities in Istanbul on October 14. Police seized $7.15 million in cash along with firearms and ammunition during an early morning raid in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district, alongside searches of 15 related addresses according to Turkish Justice Minister Akın Gürlek.Police impounded nine luxury vehicles registered to Schueler’s wife according to news agency Anadolu. The haul reportedly included 28 watches, 300 bags and 19 graphics cards.Interpol issued a “Red Notice” for Schueler’s two years ago over allegations of tax fraud and assault, after Finnish authorities sought his arrest.A spokesperson for Finland’s National Bureau of Investigations declined to comment on the matter.Turkish media refer to Schueler as “Whale James” and have linked him to a $1 billion unregistered securities offering in the US. However that case was dismissed by a US judge in February 2025.Images circulating in Turkish media appear to show a surprised Heart with no trousers on, and the bottom half of his body blurred out, provoking much merriment on social media. Vocal Hex critic Eric Wall, who has debated Schueler on video and social media, said he initially thought the image was AI generated but now believes it is real: “i’m pretty much certain i died in a plane crash in 2015 and ever since that day i am still only alive in a fringe reality where everything is designed to be as funny as possible.”Hex supporters claim that authorities are yet to confirm if Schueler has been formally arrested or charged.Images circulating on Turkish media.Ledger’s answer to wallet tampering costs $849 and ships next yearLedger unveiled a new device on Thursday with stronger protections against tampering, days after confirming that wallets sold through a reseller in Asia contained malicious implants.The French hardware wallet maker introduced Atom, an $849 device that combines a crypto wallet with everyday apps through a smartphone-like design. Atom separates Android apps from sensitive wallet operations and includes protections Ledger says would block the implants used in the recent Asia incident. It claims to detect tampering even when switched off.Expected to become available in summer 2027, Atom will also support AI agent approvals, encrypted messaging and post-quantum cryptography.Meanwhile a war of words has broken out between former Mt Gox CEO Mark Karpeles, and Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier. Kapeles claims that at least two people notified Leger of spyware discovered inside tampered Ledgers as far back as December 2025 — and notes the company had even written about the issue on its website in March 2026. He says the company failed to act properly to secure its reseller supply chains, which have now been suspended across Asia after more than $90 million was stolen.Gauthier snarkily replied on X that Karpeles was “no white knight” and referred back to his failures in the lead up to the Mt Gox hack. Karpeles replied: “I was hoping you guys were better than that. I’ve been holding Ledger at a higher standard than what happened at MtGox, because I trusted you to do better by learning of my failure — to be better than me.”Source: Made with Google AIQDay gets even closer as Starknet votes on becoming post quantum L1Google has demonstrated a new process called “magic state cultivation” on its Willow quantum processor that reduces errors 40-fold. The technique achieved a record 99.99% accuracy rate for a specialized quantum state required to perform advanced calculations. Meanwhile Theta Labs has posted three news quantum circuits that could reduce the number of qubits required to break elliptic curve cryptography by 28% from Google’s current estimate of 1,175 logical qubits.With fears that AI is now getting so good at math that it may be able to break elliptic curve cryptography even before QDay arrives, Starknet has opened a vote to transform itself from an Ethereum L2 into a post quantum L1. StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson says that Ethereum’s post quantum roadmap may be too slow to meet the challenge from AI, meaning that Starknet needed to consider becoming a fully post quantum L1.“Quantum-proofing crypto is urgent, so we must move at lightning speed,” he told Cointelegraph. More than 99% of votes cast to date are in favor of the move. Starknet’s token has lost almost 50% in value this week, after a big surge last week.Standard Chartered pushes $2T stablecoin forecast to 2030 as EU embraces USDCStandard Chartered says stablecoin transaction activity continues to grow even as the market’s overall value has stalled, suggesting existing stablecoins are circulating more frequently rather than new supply driving growth.The bank said it now expects stablecoin market capitalization to reach $2 trillion by 2030, two years later than initially projected, after the market plateaued at roughly $309 billion this year.Meanwhile the European Banking Authority has classified Circle’s USDC stablecoin as a significant e-money token under the region’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework. The classification has only been granted to 45 projects. Binance.US seeks $1B valuation in potential $100M funding roundBinance.US reportedly seeks to raise up to $100 million in a funding round that could value the cryptocurrency exchange at $1 billion.According to a Thursday Bloomberg report, the US-based crypto exchange is pursuing private investment as it looks to expand its business. The potential $1 billion valuation would be well below the $4.5 billion pre-money valuation it secured in 2022, when it raised $200 million in seed funding.Winners and LosersAt the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is down 3.8% to trade at $81,484, Ethereum (ETH) is down 5.7% to trade at $2,386 and XRP (XRP) is down 8.3% to $1.28. The total market cap is at $2.72 trillion according to CoinMarketCap.Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin winners of the week are Monero (XMR) with a 9.7% gain, Injective (INJ) on 5.6%, and Celestia (TIA) on 5.1%.The top three altcoin losers of the week are Starknet (STRK) which was down 46.7%, Pump.fun (PUMP) down 27.1% and Raydium (RAY) down 26.5%.Prediction of the WeekBitwise’s Hougan says Q3 charts point to ‘crypto spring’Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan says Q3 may have been “one of the best quarters in crypto’s history,” arguing a sharp rebound in crypto prices and growing onchain markets point to the start of “crypto spring.”In its quarterly market review published Thursday, Bitwise reported a 46.4% quarterly gain in its large-cap crypto index, along with $6 billion in US spot Bitcoin ETF inflows that brought year-to-date net flows back into positive territory. “Page after page after page, it’s all the same: The most recent part of the chart is turning sharply upwards,” Hougan wrote. “That’s exactly what you want to see if you’re looking for the start of a crypto spring.”Top FUD of the WeekMSCI adopts index exclusion rules that could oust StrategyIndex provider MSCI has adopted new rules that could lead to Strategy, Metaplanet and Upexi being removed from its global indexes, while leaving several other crypto treasury companies facing potential exclusion. In August, Strategy opposed the changes but also played down the potential disruption, saying funds tracking MSCI’s Global Investable Market Indexes hold approximately 13 million shares, representing 3.1% of its basic shares outstanding. The company said those holdings amount to less than one day’s trading volume.Russia to ban direct peer-to-peer crypto trades starting July 2027Russia will ban direct peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency transactions between individuals starting next year, requiring individuals to use authorized intermediaries for such trades.The regulator said the ban would come into place on July 1, 2027.The regulator also clarified that individuals are not allowed to transfer crypto assets from their digital accounts to their own non-custodial, or self-custodial, wallets.Ex-Trump crypto adviser profited after helping pass stablecoin bill: WSJBo Hines, previously a crypto adviser to US President Donald Trump who later joined stablecoin issuer Tether, reportedly kept a stake in a company that profited from the passage of a stablecoin bill when he was still at the White House.According to The Wall Street Journal, Hines had a one-third stake in the investment company he co-founded, Nxum, while pushing US lawmakers to pass the GENIUS Act. Nxum reportedly received $6.3 million as part of a deal with stablecoin issuer Tether, with the first payment going through while Hines was still serving in government.Cointelegraph publishes long-form journalism, analysis and narrative reporting produced by Cointelegraph’s in-house editorial team with subject-matter expertise. All articles are edited and reviewed by Cointelegraph editors in line with our editorial standards. Some articles contain affiliate links, from which Cointelegraph may earn a commission. These relationships do not influence which products we review or our editorial conclusions. Content published in here does not constitute financial, legal or investment advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals where appropriate. Cointelegraph maintains full editorial independence.

HEX erases $246 million in market cap after founder detained in TurkeyThe HEX market cap fell from $561 million to $315 million this week after founder Richard Schueler — better known to the crypto community as Richard Heart — was detained by authorities in Istanbul on October 14. Police seized $7.15 million in cash along with firearms and ammunition during an early morning raid in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district, alongside searches of 15 related addresses according to Turkish Justice Minister Akın Gürlek.Police impounded nine luxury vehicles registered to Schueler’s wife according to news agency Anadolu. The haul reportedly included 28 watches, 300 bags and 19 graphics cards.Interpol issued a “Red Notice” for Schueler’s two years ago over allegations of tax fraud and assault, after Finnish authorities sought his arrest.A spokesperson for Finland’s National Bureau of Investigations declined to comment on the matter.Turkish media refer to Schueler as “Whale James” and have linked him to a $1 billion unregistered securities offering in the US. However that case was dismissed by a US judge in February 2025.Images circulating in Turkish media appear to show a surprised Heart with no trousers on, and the bottom half of his body blurred out, provoking much merriment on social media. Vocal Hex critic Eric Wall, who has debated Schueler on video and social media, said he initially thought the image was AI generated but now believes it is real: “i’m pretty much certain i died in a plane crash in 2015 and ever since that day i am still only alive in a fringe reality where everything is designed to be as funny as possible.”Hex supporters claim that authorities are yet to confirm if Schueler has been formally arrested or charged.Images circulating on Turkish media.Ledger’s answer to wallet tampering costs $849 and ships next yearLedger unveiled a new device on Thursday with stronger protections against tampering, days after confirming that wallets sold through a reseller in Asia contained malicious implants.The French hardware wallet maker introduced Atom, an $849 device that combines a crypto wallet with everyday apps through a smartphone-like design. Atom separates Android apps from sensitive wallet operations and includes protections Ledger says would block the implants used in the recent Asia incident. It claims to detect tampering even when switched off.Expected to become available in summer 2027, Atom will also support AI agent approvals, encrypted messaging and post-quantum cryptography.Meanwhile a war of words has broken out between former Mt Gox CEO Mark Karpeles, and Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier. Kapeles claims that at least two people notified Leger of spyware discovered inside tampered Ledgers as far back as December 2025 — and notes the company had even written about the issue on its website in March 2026. He says the company failed to act properly to secure its reseller supply chains, which have now been suspended across Asia after more than $90 million was stolen.Gauthier snarkily replied on X that Karpeles was “no white knight” and referred back to his failures in the lead up to the Mt Gox hack. Karpeles replied: “I was hoping you guys were better than that. I’ve been holding Ledger at a higher standard than what happened at MtGox, because I trusted you to do better by learning of my failure — to be better than me.”Source: Made with Google AIQDay gets even closer as Starknet votes on becoming post quantum L1Google has demonstrated a new process called “magic state cultivation” on its Willow quantum processor that reduces errors 40-fold. The technique achieved a record 99.99% accuracy rate for a specialized quantum state required to perform advanced calculations. Meanwhile Theta Labs has posted three news quantum circuits that could reduce the number of qubits required to break elliptic curve cryptography by 28% from Google’s current estimate of 1,175 logical qubits.With fears that AI is now getting so good at math that it may be able to break elliptic curve cryptography even before QDay arrives, Starknet has opened a vote to transform itself from an Ethereum L2 into a post quantum L1. StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson says that Ethereum’s post quantum roadmap may be too slow to meet the challenge from AI, meaning that Starknet needed to consider becoming a fully post quantum L1.“Quantum-proofing crypto is urgent, so we must move at lightning speed,” he told Cointelegraph. More than 99% of votes cast to date are in favor of the move. Starknet’s token has lost almost 50% in value this week, after a big surge last week.Standard Chartered pushes $2T stablecoin forecast to 2030 as EU embraces USDCStandard Chartered says stablecoin transaction activity continues to grow even as the market’s overall value has stalled, suggesting existing stablecoins are circulating more frequently rather than new supply driving growth.The bank said it now expects stablecoin market capitalization to reach $2 trillion by 2030, two years later than initially projected, after the market plateaued at roughly $309 billion this year.Meanwhile the European Banking Authority has classified Circle’s USDC stablecoin as a significant e-money token under the region’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework. The classification has only been granted to 45 projects. Binance.US seeks $1B valuation in potential $100M funding roundBinance.US reportedly seeks to raise up to $100 million in a funding round that could value the cryptocurrency exchange at $1 billion.According to a Thursday Bloomberg report, the US-based crypto exchange is pursuing private investment as it looks to expand its business. The potential $1 billion valuation would be well below the $4.5 billion pre-money valuation it secured in 2022, when it raised $200 million in seed funding.Winners and LosersAt the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is down 3.8% to trade at $81,484, Ethereum (ETH) is down 5.7% to trade at $2,386 and XRP (XRP) is down 8.3% to $1.28. The total market cap is at $2.72 trillion according to CoinMarketCap.Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin winners of the week are Monero (XMR) with a 9.7% gain, Injective (INJ) on 5.6%, and Celestia (TIA) on 5.1%.The top three altcoin losers of the week are Starknet (STRK) which was down 46.7%, Pump.fun (PUMP) down 27.1% and Raydium (RAY) down 26.5%.Prediction of the WeekBitwise’s Hougan says Q3 charts point to ‘crypto spring’Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan says Q3 may have been “one of the best quarters in crypto’s history,” arguing a sharp rebound in crypto prices and growing onchain markets point to the start of “crypto spring.”In its quarterly market review published Thursday, Bitwise reported a 46.4% quarterly gain in its large-cap crypto index, along with $6 billion in US spot Bitcoin ETF inflows that brought year-to-date net flows back into positive territory. “Page after page after page, it’s all the same: The most recent part of the chart is turning sharply upwards,” Hougan wrote. “That’s exactly what you want to see if you’re looking for the start of a crypto spring.”Top FUD of the WeekMSCI adopts index exclusion rules that could oust StrategyIndex provider MSCI has adopted new rules that could lead to Strategy, Metaplanet and Upexi being removed from its global indexes, while leaving several other crypto treasury companies facing potential exclusion. In August, Strategy opposed the changes but also played down the potential disruption, saying funds tracking MSCI’s Global Investable Market Indexes hold approximately 13 million shares, representing 3.1% of its basic shares outstanding. The company said those holdings amount to less than one day’s trading volume.Russia to ban direct peer-to-peer crypto trades starting July 2027Russia will ban direct peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency transactions between individuals starting next year, requiring individuals to use authorized intermediaries for such trades.The regulator said the ban would come into place on July 1, 2027.The regulator also clarified that individuals are not allowed to transfer crypto assets from their digital accounts to their own non-custodial, or self-custodial, wallets.Ex-Trump crypto adviser profited after helping pass stablecoin bill: WSJBo Hines, previously a crypto adviser to US President Donald Trump who later joined stablecoin issuer Tether, reportedly kept a stake in a company that profited from the passage of a stablecoin bill when he was still at the White House.According to The Wall Street Journal, Hines had a one-third stake in the investment company he co-founded, Nxum, while pushing US lawmakers to pass the GENIUS Act. Nxum reportedly received $6.3 million as part of a deal with stablecoin issuer Tether, with the first payment going through while Hines was still serving in government.Cointelegraph publishes long-form journalism, analysis and narrative reporting produced by Cointelegraph’s in-house editorial team with subject-matter expertise. All articles are edited and reviewed by Cointelegraph editors in line with our editorial standards. Some articles contain affiliate links, from which Cointelegraph may earn a commission. These relationships do not influence which products we review or our editorial conclusions. Content published in here does not constitute financial, legal or investment advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals where appropriate. Cointelegraph maintains full editorial independence.

Major irony alert as scammer falls victim to Ledger supply chain attackLedger was forced to suspend its reseller network across South East Asia this week, after thieves stole more than $103.4 million from 530 addresses via tampered Ledgers inserted into the supply chain. But in a small measure of poetic justice, one of the “victims” was a scammer themselves according to Chainalysis. The blockchain monitoring firm reports that the scammer lost 60 Bitcoin, worth about $4.8 million, from three newly purchased Ledgers containing spyware that records seed phrases. The Ledger thieves drained all three of their funds into the same wallet. In a further irony, the scammer had operated a “task scam” where people were paid to fake sales and reviews of real items. So depending on how much they knew, their victims in turn may not have been entirely honest either. “Then a “negative balance” appeared, and they were told to add their own money in order to get paid,” Chainalysis reports. So it’s possible that a scammer of scammers has just got scammed. In crypto it’s sometimes turtles all the way down. Despite reports of tampered Ledgers showing up in Europe forcing electronics retailer MediaMarkt to suspend sales, Ledger insists that all of the confirmed thefts to date are from Asia. It has asked resellers in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Hong Kong to remove Ledgers from sale. Trezor too, has decided to shutter some of the more far flung resellers in its network from Jan.1, as it can’t guarantee it can perform the same level of vigilance as it performs on resellers closer to home. There are no reports of tampered Trezors however.In the midst of the worst hardware wallet scandal since the Coldcard seed phrase debacle at the end of July, Ledger decided it was the ideal moment to launch its latest device. Called Atom, the $849 device combines a crypto wallet with Android apps, which are kept separated from sensitive wallet operations. The device includes protections Ledger says would block the implants used in the Asian thefts and claims it can detect tampering even when switched off.A first look at Ledger Atom. Source: LedgerSOUTH KOREASouth Korea moves to block 27 overseas crypto exchangesSouth Korean authorities have approved measures to block domestic access to 27 websites operated by unregistered crypto exchanges and other virtual asset service providers, including KuCoin, MEXC, Phemex and Bitrue. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) said in a statement: “With this decision, blocking measures against illegal virtual asset operators will also apply to internet websites, following apps such as those on Apple and Google,” the FIU said, according to a translation. The list also includes CoinW, BTCC, BitMart, BingX, DigiFinex and others. South Korea plans cybersecurity overhaul after attacks hit banks, crypto firmsSouth Korea will tighten cybersecurity requirements for financial institutions after an investigation into earlier security incidents involving 16 companies including crypto exchanges found some big holes. The Financial Services Commission said it would pursue improved threat monitoring, more frequent security assessments and stronger accountability for executives after an industry-wide review found cybersecurity deficiencies at 130 of 555 financial companies. South Korean bank launches Bitcoin-backed business loans: ReportJeonbuk Bank reportedly began offering Bitcoin-backed loans to corporate customers, with a third-party custodian holding the cryptocurrency used as collateral.THAILANDThailand’s Bitcoin, Ether ETFs launch tradingThailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission has finalized rules that go into effect Friday allowing crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to list on Thailand’s main stock exchange.Kicking off with Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, the products must list exclusively on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Products linked to foreign crypto ETFs will not be permitted initially, and Thai brokers are barred from facilitating investments in overseas crypto ETFs for anyone except institutions and ultra-high-net-worth individuals.However, James Butterfill, head of research at digital asset investment firm CoinShares, told Cointelegraph not to get too excited.“I would expect modest inflows initially, with tens of millions of US dollars across the first products a more realistic starting expectation than billions,” he said.AUSTRALIASource: CointelegraphAustralia seeks feedback on crypto platform rules ahead of 2027 rolloutAustralia’s securities regulator opened consultation Thursday on proposed capital, custody and trading requirements for crypto platforms, as it prepares to implement legislation passed in April that expands oversight of the industry. The proposals include three alternative capital models, restrictions on platforms trading for their own account and quarterly reporting of wallets holding customer assets. ASIC also proposes allowing offshore custody while seeking feedback on safeguards if an overseas parent or related company fails. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) also proposed expanding the rules for contracts for difference (CFDs) to crypto. CFDs let traders bet on price movements without owning the underlying asset.CHINAChinese fraud victims lose key court battle over 61,000 BitcoinChinese fraud victims seeking to recover 61,000 Bitcoin seized by the British government have lost a key legal battle after London’s High Court ruled that Chinese law, rather than English law, should govern claims to the assets.“The relevant damage occurred in China. The Applicants parted with their money in China,” Justice Mark Turner wrote. “The contractual relationships thereby induced were entered into in China.”The dispute stems from an investment fraud scheme orchestrated by Zhimin Qian between 2014 and 2017, with British authorities seizing the assets during a money-laundering investigation. The claimants will appeal the ruling in British courts. THE PHILIPPINESCoins.ph says it still has a Philippine central bank license intact despite reportsCoins.ph said it is still licensed by the country’s central bank despite reports that it could face license revocation over alleged transactions involving restricted offshore gambling operators. Coins.ph is one of the largest crypto exchanges in the Philippines, and the reported license risk follows restrictions imposed by the central bank on some incoming transfers involving DCPay Philippines which operates Coins.ph’s peso e-wallet services.“Coins.ph firmly denies any claim that it knowingly serves offshore gaming or gambling operators,” the company said. “Our users’ funds are safe; we continue to operate as a BSP-licensed institution,” it added.HONG KONGBinance may add Asian stocks to the platformBinance co-CEO Richard Teng said during Token2049 the exchange may add Hong Kong, Korean, Taiwanese and Brazilian equities to its platform.Second Solana ETF lists in Hong KongPando Finance’s Solana ETF has launched in Hong Kong’s HKEX under the ticker 2831.hk. It’s the second such fund and has a 0.6% fee, undercutting the first fund from ChinaAMC which charges 0.99% annually. SINGAPORESingapore crypto scam losses fall by 43%A crackdown by Singapore Police in partnership with local crypto exchanges helped contribute to a 43% fall in reported losses from crypto scams year over year. Revolut to open new Singapore officeRevolut has announced it will open a new Singapore office, invest S$350 million (US$273M) over the next five years, and expand its local workforce from 170 to 300Cointelegraph publishes long-form journalism, analysis and narrative reporting produced by Cointelegraph’s in-house editorial team with subject-matter expertise. All articles are edited and reviewed by Cointelegraph editors in line with our editorial standards. Some articles contain affiliate links, from which Cointelegraph may earn a commission. These relationships do not influence which products we review or our editorial conclusions. 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