Scott Park
Explains the day's blockchain stories for readers in the US, Europe and Singapore.
Fifty companies say no to OKX-ICE tokenized stocks as first opt-out window closes
Nvidia, Costco and Nike are among 50 issuers that have barred their shares from a planned 24/7 tokenized stock venue run by OKX and NYSE owner ICE. The first 30-day objection window under the SEC’s new exemption runs out around today.
Italy’s planned exit tax would bill departing crypto holders for paper gains
Article 17 of Italy’s draft 2027 budget would tax unrealized gains of long-term residents who move abroad with €800,000 or more in assets. The headline rate is 26%, but crypto media are reading it as 33% for tokens, and the government has not said which applies.
Crypto’s $176 million midterm bet meets voters as the Clarity Act waits on Tuesday
Crypto-funded political groups have put somewhere between $176 million and more than $200 million into the U.S. midterms, depending on who is counting. Tuesday’s results, led by an Ohio Senate race the industry has spent heavily to swing, will shape whether the stalled market structure bill gets another chance this year.
Binance hack hands Washington a fresh argument over exchange rules days before the vote
Two days after the $6.3 billion theft from Binance, the fight has moved to Washington. The CFTC chair is pitching his voluntary registration plan for offshore venues, an industry group wants Congress to act before it adjourns, and the two parties are reading the same hack in opposite ways, three days before the Nov. 3 election.
Binance sets aside $6.34 billion as analysts tie record hack to North Korea
A day after the largest theft in crypto’s history, Binance says it has ring-fenced more than $6.34 billion of its own money to restore customer balances, while two U.S. analytics firms name North Korea’s TraderTraitor unit as the likely culprit. Withdrawals stay shut, and the questions have moved from how much was taken to who pays and what rules change.
DTCC switches on tokenized stocks and Treasuries with 20 banks and brokers signed up
The firm that sits under almost every U.S. securities trade has opened a live service that turns stock, ETF and Treasury positions into blockchain tokens. The launch is narrow by design, and that is exactly what supporters and crypto-native critics are arguing about.
CFTC sues Utah, its tenth state, as prediction-market fight heads for the Supreme Court
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has taken Utah to federal court to stop the state from policing Kalshi and other event-contract exchanges. It is the agency’s tenth such suit, and it lands in a district where a judge has already sided with Utah.
Ripple wins final OCC nod for national trust bank as charter fight heads to court
Ripple now has a fully approved federal trust bank that will hold the reserves behind its RLUSD stablecoin. The approval lands as community bankers sue the OCC over the very charter model it relies on, and less than three months before the GENIUS Act takes effect.
Aviva tokenizes its £22 billion sterling fund as US, EU regulators eye the plumbing
Aviva Investors has added a blockchain-recorded share class to its largest money market fund, the latest sign that tokenized cash products are moving into mainstream asset management. The launch lands days after the SEC and ESMA both put tokenization on their supervisory agendas.
Bitcoin slips below $80,000 as ETF outflows and Fed week test holders’ cost basis
Two days of heavy U.S. spot ETF redemptions and a weekend wave of forced selling pushed bitcoin briefly under $80,000, the zone where on-chain data places the average ETF and corporate treasury buyer. The Federal Reserve’s Oct. 27–28 meeting now sets the tone for the week.