Bitwise: Ethereum Staking Hits Record 43.8M ETH, Accounting for 35.9% of Total Supply, Up for Sixth Consecutive Quarter Bitwise's Q4 2026 Staking Report shows that Ethereum staking reached an all-time high of 43.8 million ETH, representing 35.9% of total supply and marking six consecutive quarters of growth. Ethereum's staking yield declined from 2.81% to 2.63%. Solana's staking ratio stood at 69%, with yields falling from 6.38% to 5.99%, while NEAR's staking ratio reached 46%, with a yield of 4.87%. The report also highlighted that tokenized stock trading volume on Solana rose 45% to $6.93 billion, while daily tokenized stock trading volume on Robinhood Chain increased 22-fold during the quarter.

ZachXBT: Over 87% of Inflows to FreedomXMR, a Laundering Service on Hyperliquid, Linked to Illicit Activity On-chain investigator ZachXBT reported that over 87% of inflows to FreedomXMR (FXMR), a centralized money laundering service that emerged on Hyperliquid Core in August 2026, are directly linked to illicit activity. A review of historical inflows exceeding $10,000 per transaction traced more than $20 million to ransomware, exploits, and social engineering attacks, including incidents involving DCENT Wallet, Fetch ai, Axelar, and Gamdom. The investigation also found that FXMR's administrator sourced XMR liquidity from KuCoin, with associated addresses making over 3,000 deposits to the exchange. ZachXBT has shared the supporting on-chain data with the Hyperliquid team.

Justin Sun: AI and Quantum Risks Make Me More Bearish on Bitcoin Than Before On October 16, 2026, Justin Sun @justinsuntron said in an interview with William Joy that advances in AI algorithms and quantum computing risks had made him more bearish on Bitcoin than before. He argued that the industry and investors holding Bitcoin through ETFs had not fully priced in these risks. He also suggested that AI progress in mathematics could potentially enable classical computing to break existing cryptography, even before a quantum computing breakthrough.

JPMorgan Sees Bitcoin Outperforming U.S. Stocks and Gold Over Next Decade J.P. Morgan Asset Management, the investment arm of U.S. banking giant JPMorgan Chase, included Bitcoin in its long-term return forecasts for the first time, projecting a 10% compound annual return over the next 10–15 years, ahead of U.S. large-cap stocks (7.5%), gold (5.5%) and U.S. REITs (8.2%). Its 2027 Long-Term Capital Market Assumptions also estimated Bitcoin's arithmetic annual return at 20.9%, with 55% annualized volatility. Bitwise CIO @Matt_Hougan said the figures positioned Bitcoin as the highest-returning asset over the next decade.

US spot Bitcoin ETFs see $527M inflows; BlackRock IBIT leads with $665M According to SoSoValue, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $527 million in net inflows on October 19, led by BlackRock's IBIT with $665 million. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw $103 million in net outflows, with BlackRock's ETHA accounting for $95.4 million. BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, and its IBIT and ETHA funds recorded the largest inflows and outflows in their respective categories.

Tom Lee: Many VC Friends Say They Wish They Had Just Bought BTC Speaking at TOKEN2049 @token2049, Tom Lee @fundstrat said he recently had dinner in Taiwan, China, with some VC friends he first met ten years ago, when he had just begun researching Bitcoin. He noted that Bitcoin had risen from under $1,000 to around $80,000 over that period, delivering roughly an 80x return. He had therefore expected these investors to have earned even higher returns from their venture investments. Instead, they told him their venture returns had been okay, but they wished they had simply bought Bitcoin. Lee said investors should maximize their exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and even Solana in this cycle, as he believes these Layer 1 blockchains will capture a substantial share of the value.

Multicoin Says HYPE Is Its Hedge Fund’s Largest Position as It Sticks With Crypto Over AI According to Bloomberg, Multicoin Capital, which manages about $2.7 billion, plans to remain focused on crypto even as peers including Paradigm, Framework Ventures and Haun Ventures expand into AI. General partner Spencer Applebaum said HYPE is currently the largest position in Multicoin’s hedge fund and was acquired through the public market, though he did not disclose the size of the holding. He added that the firm sees no reason to shift away from crypto simply to follow the AI investment boom.

Hyperliquid Policy Center Urges SEC to Refine Crypto Rules on Airdrops and Secondary Trading Hyperliquid Policy Center submitted comments on the SEC’s proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, calling for clearer treatment of free token airdrops, broader secondary trading for exempt tokens, expanded safe harbors and clearer rules for token buybacks. The SEC proposal includes exemptions for startup token offerings of up to $5 million over four years and qualifying fundraising of up to $75 million in any 12-month period.

BitMine Adds 12,535 ETH, Holdings Rise to 6.04M ETH BitMine said it acquired 12,535 ETH over the past week, bringing total holdings to 6,041,481 ETH, or about 4.9% of Ethereum’s 122.1 million supply. The company has 5.07 million ETH staked, while its total crypto, cash, marketable securities and other investments were valued at $15.1 billion as of October 18.