HEX founder Richard Schueler, known as Richard Heart, was detained in Istanbul on October 14. Authorities seized $7.15 million in cash, firearms, ammunition, 28 watches, 300 bags, 19 graphics cards, and nine luxury vehicles. The HEX market cap dropped from $561 million to $315 million following the event.
Ledger introduced the Atom hardware wallet, priced at $849, featuring enhanced anti-tampering protections. The device is expected to launch in summer 2027. This follows reports of malicious implants in wallets sold by an Asian reseller, resulting in over $90 million in losses and the suspension of regional supply chains.
Starknet is voting to transition from an Ethereum L2 to a post-quantum L1, with over 99% of votes currently in favor. The move follows concerns regarding AI-driven threats to elliptic curve cryptography. Meanwhile, Binance.US is reportedly seeking to raise up to $100 million at a potential valuation of $1 billion.
Standard Chartered projects the stablecoin market cap will reach $2 trillion by 2030, following a plateau at $309 billion this year. Additionally, the European Banking Authority classified Circle’s USDC as a significant e-money token under MiCA, a status held by only 45 projects.
Bitwise reported a 46.4% gain in its large-cap crypto index for Q3, citing $6 billion in US spot Bitcoin ETF inflows. CIO Matt Hougan suggests these indicators signal the start of a crypto spring. Meanwhile, Russia plans to ban direct P2P cryptocurrency transactions between individuals starting next year.
