The big banks are coming for stablecoins. US regulators finalised the first rules under the GENIUS Act this week, while JPMorgan and HSBC both rolled out digital tokens of their own.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin posted its third weekly loss in a row as oil prices spiked and Big Tech’s AI spending came back under the microscope.
Here are the top stories you need to know:
Headlines of the week
- Bitcoin posted its third weekly loss in a row, falling about 2% to around $80,000 after failing near $85,000 on Wednesday and dipping to $79,258 on Monday morning.
- US spot Bitcoin ETFs finished the week $301.2m in the green, despite a $635.6m exit on 22nd October, the biggest single-day outflow since June. BlackRock’s IBIT took in $565.7m, while Ethereum ETFs lost $220.7m.
- Switzerland approved its first Bitcoin ETF for everyday investors, with regulator FINMA waiving its usual diversification rules for a fund that holds Bitcoin directly. No launch date has been set yet.
- Standard Chartered agreed to buy all of crypto custodian Zodia Custody, signing definitive agreements on 21st October, subject to regulatory approval.
- Franklin Templeton added around $150m of tokenised fund shares to the XRP Ledger, all of it sitting in a single wallet, leaving the XRP Army guessing who’s behind it.
The big banks move into stablecoins
Stablecoins took a big step into the mainstream this week. On 21st October, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) became the first US regulator to finalise rules under the GENIUS Act, setting out how banks and approved firms can issue dollar stablecoins. The rules cover reserves, redemptions, custody and capital, and take effect on 18th January 2027.
The banks aren’t waiting around. JPMorgan brought its JPM Coin deposit token to Ethereum’s main network on 19th October, giving approved institutional clients another way to move dollars around the clock. In Hong Kong, HSBC launched RedCoin, a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, for the 3.3 million users of its PayMe app, who can spend it at more than 100,000 merchants.
Stablecoins are moving out of crypto’s back office and into mainstream banking. With US rules in place and some of the world’s biggest banks issuing their own tokens, the gap between crypto and traditional finance keeps getting smaller. Comptroller Jonathan Gould called the rule “a clear, practical framework for payment stablecoin innovation”.
Oil and AI jitters drag Bitcoin lower
Bitcoin tried to break higher on Wednesday, but ran out of steam near $85,000. By Monday morning it had slipped to $79,258, its third straight weekly loss, closing below its 50-day moving average for the first time since August.
Two familiar culprits did the damage. Brent crude settled at $116.72 a barrel, its highest close since April, after Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia and a report that the US and Israel have drawn up plans to resume strikes on Iran after the 3rd November midterms. Then Meta fell 7% on Thursday after its results, reviving doubts about Big Tech’s AI spending and dragging the Nasdaq down 2.6%, its worst day since June.
Leverage paid the price again, with more than $400m of mostly long positions liquidated in just four hours on Saturday. Markets went into this week’s Fed meeting expecting rates to stay on hold, so the bigger question is what the Fed signals for December.
Solana speeds up as Ethereum stalls
It was a tale of two upgrades this week. On 21st October, Solana switched on Alpenglow, a major overhaul of how the network agrees on transactions, cutting the time it takes for a transaction to become final from about 12.8 seconds to roughly 150 milliseconds. That’s about the blink of an eye, with fees and existing programs left unchanged.
Ethereum wasn’t so lucky. Developers postponed Glamsterdam’s final test on the Hoodi testnet just four days before its 26th October launch, after security firm ChainSecurity found that planned gas price changes could break existing smart contracts in 13 real-world cases. No new date has been set.
Why does it matter? Glamsterdam was meant to reach Ethereum’s main network by the end of 2026, but one developer now expects it to slip into 2027. Solana, meanwhile, now has a headline speed figure to pitch as more banks and fund managers bring their tokens onchain.
Final takeaway: The big banks are moving into stablecoins, oil and AI jitters are weighing on Bitcoin, and Solana is speeding ahead while Ethereum waits.
Caleb for CoinJar
Bitcoin Tests Higher-Timeframe Support, Bounce?
Bitcoin is currently testing a higher-timeframe support zone aligned with the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement, making this a key area to monitor for the next directional move.
If buyers defend this confluence, price could rotate towards higher-timeframe resistance while remaining within its current trading range. A sustained rebound would also help preserve the existing bullish structure of higher highs and higher lows.
However, stronger buying volume and follow-through would be needed to support a sustained recovery. If price breaks below support and fails to reclaim it, the probability of a deeper correction could increase, potentially exposing lower areas of interest.
For now, the reaction around the 0.618 Fibonacci level remains key, with both a confirmation will help determine which scenario gains strength in the coming weeks.
Aziz for CoinJar
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