Crypto Pulse—Trending Topics

Overview The US Department of Labor published weekly unemployment insurance claims at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on October 22. Per the official release, seasonally adjusted initial claims for the week ending October 17 came in at 194,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the revised prior week, while seasonally adjusted continuing claims for the week ending October 10 reached 1,728,000, an increase of 25,000. The 194,000 figure is strong on its own terms. Per press reports it is the lowest in three months, belo

Overview Chainlink announced a strategic partnership with LG CNS at 04:00 Singapore time on October 23. Per the release, the two will strengthen the infrastructure behind South Korea's digital asset market, which the release describes as a $68 billion market, across three areas: providing oracle infrastructure for LG CNS's Digital Asset Platform Solution, jointly helping define next-generation technical standards for Korea's digital asset economy, and building solutions for Korean institutions t

Overview Aerodrome and Velodrome have merged and upgraded into Aero. Per the official upgrade page, migration began at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on October 21, which is 00:00 Coordinated Universal Time on October 22 and 08:00 Singapore time the same day, with emissions from both original protocols stopping at that moment. Holders need three things established first. First, what merged. The two protocols unified into Aero using a single AERO token, operating across seven chains: Base, Ethereum Mainnet, O

Overview For readers in Asian time zones, what makes this week unusual is that three events land on the same Singapore calendar day, and the order determines how markets react. Per the Federal Reserve's October calendar, the Federal Open Market Committee meets October 27 and 28, with the decision listed at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on October 28 and the press conference at 2:30 p.m. Per the Bureau of Economic Analysis release schedule, the advance estimate of third quarter 2026 gross domestic product an

Overview The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued its final rule implementing the GENIUS Act on October 21. Per the official news release, the rule sets requirements for permitted payment stablecoin issuers and foreign payment stablecoin issuers under OCC jurisdiction and covers certain custody activities conducted by OCC-supervised entities, taking effect on January 18, 2027, the same date the GENIUS Act itself takes effect. The detail with the most search value is not reserves or r

Overview Zcash's NU7 network upgrade sits at an unusual stage: the testnet has been running for two weeks, the mainnet target date is November 5, and the activation height has not been set. The official Zcash upgrade page currently states that the activation height for NU7 has not yet been set, and the Zcash Foundation's release notes for Zebra 7.0.0-rc.0 likewise state that no mainnet activation height has been set and that mainnet operators need take no action yet. That distinction matters for

Overview The Census Bureau released September new residential construction data on October 20. Per the official release, housing starts ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,221,000, down 5.2% from August and 7.4% from a year earlier, while building permits came in at 1,400,000, down 0.2% monthly and 3.0% annually. Single-family starts were 859,000, down 4.6%, and single-family permits were 845,000, down 4.0%. Before quoting any of those figures, one thing has to be established. The Cens

Overview BlackRock filed a Form 485APOS with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 19 to register a new fund called the iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF, with PBIT as the proposed ticker. It is the firm's third bitcoin ETF filing. The status needs stating first: this is a filing, not a listed product. In the document as filed, the ticker, management fee and expense examples are all blank, and no listing exchange or launch date is specified. Under the timing of Rule 485(a)(2), e

Overview Strive closed its upsized initial offering of SATS preferred stock on October 20, selling 7 million shares at $90 each for roughly $630 million, under the formal name 15% Series A Perpetual SATS Preferred Stock, with trading beginning the same day on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol SATS. One disambiguation first: the Strive SATS preferred stock discussed here is a US-listed perpetual preferred security, unrelated to the bitcoin denomination unit or any similarly named token. T

Overview On SpaceX's third quarter earnings call on October 20, Elon Musk confirmed that both companies have formed special committees of independent directors to discuss a potential merger with Tesla. Per Axios, Musk stated plainly that he is a conflicted party and cannot be in the discussions, while also saying he thinks it would be a good idea. The nature of this needs establishing at the outset: these are exploratory discussions, not an agreed transaction. Per Fortune, the committees were fo