Bitcoin

Ethereum

Solana

<h2 id="header-0">Market Overview 📉</h2>
<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/d5b5c1226bf74369887e8b1e0e1ebb01.png">
*Data as of 6:45 AM UTC on October 23, 2026.

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/">Bitcoin (BTC)</a> chopped across the week, dipping 0.44%, while <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/">Ethereum (ETH)</a> showed relative weakness, falling 1.02% in the same period. Total crypto market cap fell to $2.74T, down 0.72% from $2.76T the week prior.

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/liquidations/">Liquidations</a> remained relatively flat this week, amidst lowered volatility. Long liquidations made the majority of liquidations, with liquidated longs spiking to $360M on Thursday. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/funding-rates/">Funding rates</a> rise slightly across the week, perhaps reflecting the optimism of market participants as crypto holds on against the equity rout.

📌 Michael Saylor’s Strategy has acquired 267 BTC and repurchased $193M of STRC, bringing their total holdings to 848,517 BTC and $5.3B in USD assets. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/saylor/status/2112152618835558767">Link</a>

📌 Microsoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs, are the latest in a series of companies objecting to their stock being tokenized and traded on OKX-ICE, the joint venture between NYSE parent company, ICE, and crypto exchange, OKX. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.ledgerinsights.com/microsoft-alphabet-goldman-object-to-tokenized-stocks-traded-on-okxice-venue/">Link</a>

📌 JPMorgan deploys their deposit token, JPM Coin, on the Ethereum blockchain for institutional clients. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-19/jpmorgan-brings-deposit-token-jpm-coin-to-ethereum-for-institutional-clients">Link</a>

Why does it matter?
Equity markets were hit hard this week over concerns regarding the sustainability of the AI trade against a backdrop of rising oil prices and yield fears. Crypto majors held strong against the bearish sentiment, although altcoins did not enjoy the same strength. The S&amp;P 500 is down 1.06% this week, while the Nasdaq is down 2.81% in the same period.

Notable altcoin outperformers this week included <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/convex-finance/">Convex Finance (CVX)</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/memecore/">Memecore (M)</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/lighter/">Lighter (LIT)</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/pepe/">Pepe (PEPE)</a>, and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/funtoken/">FunToken (FUN)</a>.

View <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/gainers-losers/">CMC Gainers &amp; Losers board</a>
<h2 id="header-1">Narrative of the Week 📰</h2>
Regulatory action moves forward even as prices stall, setting the stage for increased clarity in the regulatory space for digital assets.

📌 The OCC announces a final rule for the implementation of the GENIUS Act, setting its effective date and official enforcement for 18 January 2027. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2026/nr-occ-2026-92.html">Link</a>

📌 The U.S. SEC’s Regulation Crypto Assets framework comment period comes to a close, with notable contributions from the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/HyperliquidPC/status/2112153231988031622">Hyperliquid Policy Center</a> and more. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/2112673075653165062">Link</a>

📌 The European Banking Authority (EBA) has named Circle’s USDC as the EU’s first significant stablecoin under MiCA. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/2110401335715652095">Link</a>

Why does it matter?
Regulatory developments across the US and EU continue to set the compliance foundation required for mainstream institutional adoption.&nbsp;
<h2 id="header-2">Major Project Updates 🗓️</h2>
📌 Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade goes live this week, bringing finality down to 150ms from 12.8s. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/solana/status/2112906742585512150">Link</a>

📌 DefiLlama partners up with Trueo to launch prediction markets based on DefiLlama data including revenue, exploits and other on-chain metrics. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/DefiLlama/status/2112611129809658093">Link</a>

📌 Qubic freezes their entire chain after an exploit of 1,404 wallets on the chain, totalling 2.94T QU tokens. The chain has since resumed with all stolen funds moved into a protected escrow. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/_Qubic_/status/2111796725677715474">Link</a>

📌 Kinetiq announces plans to launch the Elysium L2 mainnet on November 9th, after launching testnet last week. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/Enter_Elysium/status/2112145430339588407">Link</a>

📌 Sophon chain announces plans to wind down, with users to withdraw assets from the chain by 25 November 2026, with the final shutdown on 30 November. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/Sophon/status/2112253258030882831">Link</a>

📌 Defunct exchange, Mt. Gox, delays repayments for another year, pushing the deadline to 31 October 2027. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.mtgox.com/img/pdf/20261016_b3a13e0f-55f6-4653-913b-be80762390e8_announcement_en.pdf">Link</a>

Why does it matter?
Solana’s finality reduction by 98% opens the door to massive real-world applications including high-frequency trading and real-time payments on-chain.
<h2 id="header-3">DeFi Brief 🏦</h2>
<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/34ba57f2e94a4844b1e977f2feab38db.png">
*Data as of 6:45 AM UTC on October 23, 2026.
Source: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/chain-ranking/">https://coinmarketcap.com/chain-ranking/</a>&nbsp;

📌 Perpetual DEX, Lighter, launches Binary Options on Lighter Core, with plans to expand to a full suite of options eventually. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/Lighter_xyz/status/2112230899668644212">Link</a>

📌 Memecoin launchpad, Pump, enables PreStocks pairs, allowing users to launch new coins paired against pre-IPO tokenized stocks including OpenAI, Anthropic, Anduril, and more. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/Pumpfun/status/2112239830797287674">Link</a>

📌 On-chain decentralized central bank, Standard Reserve, introduces a new Uniswap V4 hook to combat malicious vampire pools. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/standard_rsv/status/2112221351759286660">Link</a>&nbsp;

Why does it matter?
Options form a burgeoning subsector of the leverage trading space in DeFi. With the recent surge in options interest, major perpetual DEXes including Lighter are now branching into options for a piece of the pie.
<h2 id="header-4">Fundraises 💰</h2>
📌 Tokenized financial product infrastructure, Fission, raises $10M in a Series A funding round led by Pantera Capital, with other investors including Circle Ventures, Borderless Capital, New Form, and more. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/FissionXYZ/status/2110697116335215041">Link</a>

📌 Financial infrastructure layer, Mural, raises $15M in a Series A funding round led by Tether, with participation from North Island Ventures. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/mural_pay/status/2112570982997311649">Link</a>

📌 Decentralized data network for AI agents, Dataline, raises $10.6M in a seed funding round led by Lattice Fund and Dispersion Capital, with support from Symbolic Capital, Anagram, and more. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/DatalineAI/status/2112968811859292243">Link</a>

📌 Crypto-focused nationally chartered bank, Erebor, raises $30M from Robinhood Ventures Fund I. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/ereborbank/status/2112905671649972265">Link</a>
<h2 id="header-5">Tweet of the Week 📝</h2>
<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/f02c93701d5d47a88223dc5740cea528.png">
Source: @AISafetyMemes

It’s over for the internet, folks. Wrap it up.

CMC Market Pulse: Crypto Relative Strength, or Simply Lagging?

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