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Protect Progress, an affiliate of the cryptocurrency-aligned Fairshake super political action committee (PAC), reported spending $362,000 on ads to support a Democrat in California’s 14th congressional district, just weeks after she won a special election against the same opponent. According to a Sunday filing with the US Federal Election Commission (FEC), Protect Progress reported spending $362,000 on media supporting incumbent Democrat Aisha Wahab in the Bay Area district against her fellow party member, Melissa Hernandez. Wahab defeated Hernandez in an Aug. 18 special election with more than 53% of the vote, raising questions about why the cryptocurrency industry-aligned PAC is supporting her in the 2026 midterms. Notably, both Wahab and Hernandez were ranked as “strongly supports crypto” after they went on the record with the digital asset organization Stand With Crypto to complete questionnaires ahead of the August special election. That election was used to determine who would replace Democrat Eric Swalwell for the remainder of his term, ending January 2027. Swalwell resigned in April amid sexual assault allegations. Fairshake launched in 2023, backed largely by contributions from Coinbase, Ripple Labs and Andreessen Horowitz. Since the 2024 US elections, the Super PAC has spent tens of millions of dollars on candidates the group considers “pro-crypto” in efforts to fill Congress with lawmakers more likely to support policies favorable to the digital asset industry.  Related: Ex-Trump crypto adviser profited after helping pass stablecoin bill: WSJIn an Oct. 7 debate, Wahab signaled that she opposed Hernandez for not denouncing expenditures from corporate PACs aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), adding that the spending “really deteriorated our democracy.” Cointelegraph reached out to both the Hernandez and Wahab campaigns, and Fairshake for comment on the spending but did not receive immediate responses.One notable change between the August special election and the November midterms will be the boundaries of California’s 14th district. The current boundaries, which include parts of San Francisco’s East Bay, will be expanded in accordance with the 2025 passage of the state’s Proposition 50, requiring new maps for the midterm elections.Fairstake steps up spending in Ohio and NebraskaThe crypto PAC reported in January that it had $193 million in cash on hand ahead of the elections, and it had already used tens of millions of dollars to support Democratic and Republican candidates in primaries and special elections. With just over two weeks until the 2026 election, Fairshake reported additional spending on media for Senate races in Ohio and Nebraska. Defend American Jobs, a Fairshake affiliate largely supporting Republican candidates, reported spending more than $6.7 million to oppose Independent candidate Dan Osborn in Nebraska’s Senate race. The PAC also reported $8 million on media in Ohio, supporting incumbent Republican Jon Husted against Democrat Sherrod Brown in a race where it has spent more than $46 million so far. Brown’s race could be another bellwether for how the crypto industry potentially impacts the 2026 midterms. The Democrat lost his seat to Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024 after Fairshake and other interest groups spent a combined hundreds of millions of dollars on ads opposing Brown.Magazine: Made an ‘honest’ mistake with crypto taxes? New bill offers way out

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.

Shareholders 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.According to a Monday announcement and filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), shareholders approved the issuance of as many as 435.9 million common shares under agreements involving Metaplanet and Evo Fund. Metaplanet will contribute 2,100 Bitcoin (BTC) and $2.5 million in cash in exchange for 44.86 million common shares, 100 shares of convertible perpetual preferred stock carrying governance rights and 10-year warrants for additional common stock.The transaction would give Metaplanet control over the company, including the ability to designate a majority of its board and approve major corporate decisions. Metaplanet’s common shares will be subject to a five-year lock-up.As part of the deal, Super League plans to rebrand as Superplanet and adopt the Nasdaq ticker SUPA, with a strategy focused on increasing its Bitcoin holdings per share.Rather than relying primarily on debt, Superplanet intends to finance additional Bitcoin purchases through senior, non-convertible perpetual preferred shares. Metaplanet will also have the option to invest up to $210 million in junior preferred stock to provide additional financial support.Source: Dylan LeClair, Metaplanet director of Bitcoin strategyThe deal comes as Metaplanet continues to expand its Bitcoin holdings. The company has accumulated 44,000 BTC, making it the second-largest publicly traded corporate Bitcoin holder behind Strategy, according to industry data.Related: Metaplanet to issue $329M convertible bonds to pay debt, fund share buybacksMetaplanet looks to US markets to finance Bitcoin purchasesThe deal would enable Metaplanet to raise capital in US dollars through preferred stock offerings, complementing its existing yen-denominated financing in Japan.In an Oct. 15 SEC filing, Super League said the US market for preferred securities issued by Bitcoin treasury companies has grown large enough to support new entrants. The proposed financing structure would provide another source of funding for Bitcoin purchases without relying primarily on conventional debt.The expansion comes as Metaplanet revises its broader investment strategy. Earlier this month, the company proposed allocating up to 15% of its total assets for strategic investments to help finance Bitcoin purchases and dividend payments.Related: Metaplanet CEO shuts down Bitcoin sale speculation after $322M transfer

Bitcoin treasury company Strive purchased 4,045 Bitcoin for approximately $335 million last week, bringing its total holdings to 36,818 BTC as it continues to expand its cryptocurrency reserves through equity financing.The company acquired the Bitcoin (BTC) between Oct. 12-16 at an average price of $82,803 per coin, including fees and expenses, according to a Monday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.Strive is now the fourth-largest publicly traded corporate BTC holder, ahead of MARA Holdings, with reserves valued at approximately $3 billion, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.net. MARA was reported to be selling some of its holdings, as Arkham tracked wallets linked to the miner depositing about $82 million worth of the crypto into Binance and Gate in recent days.Strive’s Bitcoin holdings reached 36,818 BTC. Source: BitcoinTreasuries.NETStrive also reported approximately $369 million in proceeds from warrant exercises on Oct. 12 and 13, resulting in the issuance of 13.7 million common shares. Its effective share count rose 12.4%, roughly matching the 12.3% increase in Bitcoin holdings and leaving BTC per share largely unchanged.The latest acquisition follows a series of large Bitcoin purchases by the company, including a 3,311 purchase the previous week, when its holdings grew 11.2%, outpacing a 9.4% increase in its effective common share count.Strive also announced the launch of SATS last week, a new preferred stock issue carrying a fixed 15% annual dividend, payable each business day beginning Nov. 9, subject to board approval. The company priced a $630 million offering of the new preferred shares last week, with proceeds potentially funding additional Bitcoin purchases.Strive (ASST) shares were up around 7.7% at $25.95 in late-morning trading Monday, according to Yahoo Finance data.Magazine: Made an ‘honest’ mistake with crypto taxes? New bill offers way outCointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Nine listed companies have formally objected to having their shares offered in tokenized form on the proposed tokenized stock platform backed by OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).The companies included Cerebras Systems, AppLovin, Applied Digital, Rocket Lab, CoreWeave, Verizon Communications, Applied Optoelectronics, Broadcom and UnitedHealth Group, according to a Thursday notice by OKX and ICE.The notice did not disclose the reason behind the objection. Under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Sept. 17 innovation exemption announcement, tokenized venues must give issuers written notice and an opportunity to object before listing third-party tokenized stocks.“Issuers aren’t objecting to the blockchain. They’re objecting to not knowing what happens to their price once it trades there,” Robin Nordnes, CEO of trading validation platform Raiku, told Cointelegraph. “On a public chain, the validator building the block sets the order. Until desks can measure their distance to that point, best execution is a promise, not a number.”The objections highlight a potential hurdle for tokenized stocks and test whether crypto platforms can create blockchain-based markets for public company shares without issuer cooperation. Cointelegraph has approached OKX for comment on the ramifications of the objection but had not received a response by the time of publication. Tokenized stock offerings need more real-world data to address pricing discrepancy concerns Companies need to see the “upside and a track record of efficient pricing,” Misha Putiatin, co-founder of collateral markets platform Symbiotic, told Cointelegraph, adding that more “real-world data would help everyone assess the benefits and risks.” He said that additional institutional tokenization initiatives, such as the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) tokenization services, could instill more confidence in tokenized offerings.Related: Nasdaq-listed Tron sets up $200M ATM share offering to fuel TRX acquisitionsCoinShares’ senior research associate, Luke Nolan, said the objection does not amount to a rejection of tokenization generally, but mostly against being tokenized without consent. He told Cointelegraph:“This veto also seems to be venue-specific, as in companies being able to say: no, I don’t want them offered on this venue, but I could permit/launch it somewhere else.” Nolan said the concerns are valid, adding that market participants have previously taken advantage of specific market mechanics to cause “squeezes” or “short-term swings” in the underlying asset’s price. Capital moving onchain during the past 30 days. Source: OnchainBenchmarkMore than $754 million in capital has moved onchain during the past 30 days, pushing the total across stablecoins and tokenized assets to $320 billion, according to OnchainBenchmark.Magazine: How Hong Kong is turning tokenized bonds into real market infrastructure

Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the world’s largest publicly traded corporate Bitcoin holder, continued buying Bitcoin last week while spending nearly nine times as much repurchasing its preferred stock.Strategy bought 267 Bitcoin for $22.1 million at an average price of $82,900 between Oct. 12 and Oct. 18, bringing its holdings to 848,517 BTC, according to a Monday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).The company also repurchased 1.94 million shares of its Stretch (STRC) preferred stock for $193.1 million and increased its digital credit securities buyback authorization to $3 billion from $2 billion.The latest transactions extend a trend of management spending more on preferred stock repurchases than Bitcoin purchases, even as Saylor expects a return to a Bitcoin bull market.Strategy’s STRC buybacks continue to outpace Bitcoin purchasesStrategy funded its latest Bitcoin purchase primarily through $22 million in proceeds from selling 140,872 shares of its common stock, MSTR, while using existing cash for the STRC repurchases.The company has spent $459.2 million repurchasing STRC shares so far in the fourth quarter, more than six times the $72.3 million it spent acquiring 851 Bitcoin over the same period.Related: Strategy conditionally declares daily dividends as STRC hovers below $100STRC is a variable-rate preferred stock designed to pay regular dividends. Strategy has previously said it intends to repurchase shares trading below their $100 stated value to help support the stock’s price.The company reported a $4.83 billion USD Reserve to support preferred stock dividends and debt interest payments, alongside $447.3 million in separate USD Cash holdings.Saylor sees Bitcoin returning to a bull marketThe heavier spending on STRC buybacks comes as Saylor expressed optimism about Bitcoin’s outlook during a discussion at ParaFi Investor Day on Saturday.“We’re moving back into a bull market,” Saylor said, pointing to Bitcoin’s recovery above its 200-day simple moving average, a widely followed indicator of longer-term price trends.Source: YouTubeSaylor identified restrictive trade, foreign and monetary policies as headwinds for BTC, while highlighting growing bank adoption and the tokenization of traditional financial assets as potential drivers.Ahead of Monday’s Nasdaq open, MSTR shares were trading more than 2.5% higher in premarket activity, according to Yahoo Finance. The shares closed Friday down about 9.6%, at $138.83 apiece. STRC shares also gained around 0.8% in premarket trading to $98.45, after falling 1.8% on Friday.Magazine: Richard Heart caught ‘off-guard,’ QDay gets even closer: Hodler’s Digest

World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin has shed over $400 million in market capitalization over the past two weeks, driven by large redemptions on Ethereum and BNB Chain. On Monday, CoinGecko data showed USD1’s market capitalization at about $4.02 billion, down from $4.43 billion on Oct. 6. That’s a decline of approximately $401 million, or 9.1%. World Liberty Financial’s proof-of-reserves dashboard separately showed approximately $4.01 billion in reserves.The decline extends a period of concentrated redemptions on Ethereum and BNB Chain, according to blockchain research firm Onchain Benchmark. The researchers found that nearly $200 million in BNB Chain redemptions originated from a single unidentified address, although they could not establish who controlled the funds or why they were redeemed.Despite the redemptions, USD1 maintained its dollar peg throughout the period examined by Onchain Benchmark, trading between $0.998 and $1.000. The researchers found no evidence of a sustained depegging event, indicating that the decline in circulating supply was not accompanied by a significant loss of the token’s dollar value.USD1’s 30-day market cap chart. Source: CoinGeckoUSD1 supply decline outpaces major stablecoins on Ethereum According to Onchain Benchmark, Ethereum accounted for $184.60 million in net USD1 redemptions across 63 token burns between Oct. 6 and Oct. 15. BNB Chain recorded $200.43 million across 12 burns. On Ethereum, more than 99% of tokens sent for redemption passed through a wallet labeled BitGo, USD1’s current issuer and custodian, while the BNB Chain transfers from the unidentified address were made in batches of $30 million to $50 million.Related: France advances stablecoin tax, eyes self-custodial wallets and exit tax proposalsThe reductions were not offset by new issuance on Solana, where USD1 supply remained unchanged at about $1.42 billion during the nine days reviewed by Onchain Benchmark.“The next tests come with the change of issuer. When World Liberty’s trust company opens, it will take on a token whose size depends on the decisions of a few large holders, under a charter whose legal footing is being argued in court,” Onchain Benchmark said. “Whether fresh mints on Solana, or anywhere else, rebuild the total, or October marks the size USD1 carries into its new issuer, is the question the next weeks of supply data will answer.”Transfers between Ethereum and BNB Chain totaled less than $1 million, according to the report, suggesting the missing supply wasn’t simply shifted between those networks. USD1’s supply contraction on Ethereum was steeper than that of several other US dollar-denominated stablecoins between Oct. 6 and Oct. 15. USD1 supply on the network fell 11.45%, compared with declines of 4.93% for USDe, 2.18% for USDC and 0.76% for circulating USDT. Magazine: Can the SEC and CFTC’s pro-crypto rules be overturned? Legal opinion

French lawmakers narrowly approved a new crypto tax amendment on Friday that could make crypto-to-stablecoin swaps taxable events starting in 2027.France’s National Assembly adopted Amendment I-3898 on Friday, with 38 votes in favor, 37 against and 25 abstentions. The measure was initially introduced as committee amendment I-CF1826 by French MP Nicolas Sansu and adopted on Oct. 7.The Assembly is scheduled to vote on the first part of the 2027 Finance Bill on Tuesday, according to its official schedule. Other crypto-related proposals remain under consideration, although it is unclear whether each will be debated or voted on that day.If enacted, the stablecoin amendment would tax certain crypto-to-stablecoin swaps and change how the country calculates crypto capital gains tax. French National Assembly advances Amendment I-3898 on crypto-to-stablecoin tax swaps. Source: assemblee-nationale.frUnder the proposal, investors converting their Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies into stablecoins would trigger a tax on the gains, even without converting gains into fiat. The calculation would use the acquisition cost of the sold crypto asset and the weighted average purchasing price.Related: Deutsche Bank prepares German crypto custody launch, eyes Asia: ReportFrench lawmakers to discuss crypto exit tax, self-custodial wallet reporting measuresSeparately, the Assembly rejected a proposal on Friday to carry forward realized crypto losses for 10 years, with 18 votes in favor, 75 against and 3 abstentions.French lawmakers are preparing to discuss other crypto-related proposals as part of next year’s budget. Amendment I-CF1822 proposes to extend France’s exit tax regime to cover unrealized gains when taxpayers with aggregate crypto portfolio values exceeding €800,000 ($895,000) transfer their residences abroad. Lawmakers are also weighing amendment I-2701, which would require individuals to declare the holdings of the self-custodial wallets if their total value exceeded €100,000 ($112,000) in the relevant tax year.As of Monday, both proposals remain under consideration for the 2027 Finance Bill.Magazine: How the EU’s crypto tax rules are expected to work for users and platformsCointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) register added nine crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), including BingX, bringing the total to 375 unique providers.The European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) Friday register update included crypto exchange BingX’s Austrian entity, MEGE zweite. It also listed the Italian subsidiary of YouHodler, a crypto lending platform offering yield products, with authorization for custody, crypto exchanges, order execution and transfers.Both BingX and YouHodler announced their authorizations last week. BingX EU CEO Daniel Lai said the approval would allow the company to operate under a clear regulatory framework as it prepares to launch regulated services across the European Economic Area.Other additions included Spain’s Prakma Markets, associated with the Goin crypto app, which operates a savings and investment platform.New CASPs listed in ESMA’s MiCA register update on Friday. Source: ESMAGermany’s additions included Openbank Deutschland, a subsidiary of Spanish banking group Banco Santander, alongside cooperative lenders VR-Bank Alb-Blau-Donau and VR Bank im südlichen Franken.Denmark’s Penning Financial Services is no longer listed, despite appearing in register updates dating back to July 3.The e-money token (EMT) register was unchanged at 50 entries representing 25 unique entities, while the asset-referenced token (ART) register remained empty. The register of non-compliant crypto-asset service providers (NCASPs) increased by five entries to 178.Related: Qivalis wins Dutch e-money license for euro stablecoinCointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.