Visa in Talks to Acquire Fireblocks for ~$2.5 Billion to Expand Crypto Presence According to Axios, Visa is in talks to acquire crypto custody infrastructure firm Fireblocks in a deal that would value the company at around $2.5 billion. If finalized, the transaction would further expand Visa's footprint in digital asset custody and blockchain-based payment infrastructure. The reports remain subject to further confirmation, and the specific terms and progress of the acquisition negotiations have not been disclosed.

CoinDCX Faces Suspected $16 Million Hack After $44 Million Breach in 2025 India's CoinDCX, one of the country's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, may have suffered another security breach, according to on-chain investigator Darcy. On October 21, approximately 15.99 million USDT and 5,784 TRX were transferred from CoinDCX hot wallets and deposit addresses to a single TRON address, including one transfer of 15.82 million USDT. The funds were subsequently split and routed to deposit addresses at Binance, OKX and Gate. CoinDCX previously lost about $44 million in a July 2025 hack. The latest suspected theft has not been officially confirmed.

a16z, One of Crypto’s Largest VCs, Plans to Drop “Crypto” From Flagship Fund Name According to The Information, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one of the largest venture capital firms in the crypto industry, plans to remove “Crypto” from the name of its flagship blockchain fund and expand its investment focus beyond cryptocurrencies. One of the fund’s founding members is also reportedly departing. In May 2026, a16z Crypto closed its fifth crypto fund at $2.2 billion, roughly half the size of its $4.5 billion fourth fund raised in 2022.

Over 93.5% of Starknet Voting Power Backs Research into Transitioning to Independent Quantum-Resistant Layer 1 Starknet (STRK) tokenholders have approved a research proposal with over 93.5% of voting power supporting an exploration of transitioning Starknet from an Ethereum Layer 2 into an independent, quantum-resistant Layer 1 network. StarkWare plans to release a draft whitepaper in November. The vote strictly authorizes preliminary research and does not constitute formal approval of the transition, which will remain subject to a dedicated governance approval process moving forward.

Jeff Yan: Our Vision Is to Power Global Finance with Consumer-Grade Hardware On October 15, 2026, Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan @chameleon_jeff said on Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast @podcasts that his vision is to power the global financial system with consumer-grade hardware rather than massive data centers. He emphasized that running the network should remain affordable, regardless of how many applications are built on it. Nodes currently require 128GB of RAM, which he considers a reasonable balance between hardware requirements and the network’s needs.

U.S. Bitcoin ETFs Draw $528 Million, Ether ETFs Add $15 Million According to SoSoValue, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $528 million in net inflows on October 21, led by BlackRock's IBIT with $235 million. Spot Ethereum ETFs attracted $14.96 million, with Grayscale's Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH) posting the largest inflow at $28.07 million. BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, while Grayscale is a leading crypto-focused asset manager.

SSV Labs Proposes Major Development Cutbacks Amid DAO Funding Strains SSV Labs, a core developer of SSV Network, an Ethereum staking protocol built on distributed validator technology (DVT), submitted governance proposal DIP-59 on October 21, seeking to sharply scale back its development roadmap amid challenging market conditions and financial pressure on the DAO. The proposal shifts focus from new product development to network maintenance, security and compatibility with Ethereum upgrades, extending its engagement through June 2027. SSV Labs also disclosed that a previously approved payment of approximately 1.74 million SSV tokens under DIP-31 remains unpaid.

Tom Lee: BitMine Will Soon Stop Buying ETH Speaking at TOKEN2049 @token2049, Tom Lee @fundstrat said Bitmine has set a hard cap of 5% of Ethereum's total supply for its ETH holdings and will stop accumulating once it reaches that level. He said Vitalik had suggested that the company stop at 5%. At the time of the speech, Bitmine held approximately 6 million ETH, representing 4.9% of total supply, and needed roughly another 100,000 ETH to reach its target. Lee said the accumulation, originally expected to take five years, had taken just over a year and was completed entirely during a bear market. WuBlockchain notes that Tom Lee's market forecasts tend to be optimistic. His bullish targets may not materialize, and actual market performance may differ significantly from his predictions. Readers are encouraged to focus on his analytical reasoning rather than use specific price targets or timelines as a basis for investment decisions.