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Walmart faces scrutiny over patent trail for AI-driven price manipulation
A new report from the Groundwork Collaborative challenges Walmart’s recent denials regarding predatory pricing, revealing a collection of patents aimed at monitoring consumer behavior. The findings suggest the retail giant is building a sophisticated infrastructure to track shoppers and potentially adjust prices based on individual habits and personal data.
Spiko Raises $90 Million as Tokenized Assets Reach $2.7 Billion
London and Paris-based Spiko has secured $90 million in a Series B funding round led by New Enterprise Associates. The capital infusion follows a period of rapid growth for the fintech, which now manages $2.7 billion in tokenized cash funds across more than 25 global jurisdictions.
Solana Unveils Open-Source Tool for Institutional Asset Settlement
The Solana Foundation has released an open-source delivery-versus-payment program designed to enable financial institutions to exchange tokenized assets and payments in a single atomic transaction. By automating the settlement process, the infrastructure aims to reduce timeframes from several days to mere seconds, potentially streamlining institutional operations on the blockchain.
Ondo Finance launches tokenized exposure to private AI firms
Ondo Finance has introduced Ondo Private Markets, a platform allowing eligible non-U.S. investors to trade tokenized notes linked to the valuation of private companies. The service debuts this week with a focus on an unnamed pre-IPO artificial intelligence firm, enabling 24/7 secondary market trading for token holders.
BitGo Pivots to Prime Brokerage to Drive Institutional Revenue
BitGo CEO Mike Belshe is steering the crypto custodian toward an ambitious future where prime brokerage services account for the company’s entire revenue stream. By bundling trading, lending, and settlement into a single platform, the firm aims to move past the era of charging clients solely for digital asset storage.
Trump Shifts Ad Funding to Super PAC Amid Legal Scrutiny
Facing mounting pressure over the misuse of public funds, Donald Trump announced Monday he would pivot from using taxpayer money to finance campaign advertisements, opting instead to rely on his super PAC, MAGA Inc.—a move that ethics watchdogs immediately flagged as a potential secondary violation of federal election law.
Samsung Patents Smart Contract Wallet to Simplify Crypto Transactions
Samsung Electronics has filed for a U.S. patent detailing a digital asset wallet system that offloads transaction authentication to smart contracts. By shifting this process away from individual devices, the proposed architecture allows smartphones, wearables, and home appliances to initiate transfers without directly storing or handling private keys.
Parataxis Ethereum Scraps Korea Merger Over Delisting Risks
Conflict defines the collapse of the proposed merger between Parataxis Ethereum and Parataxis Korea, as boards terminated the deal to escape the fallout of a bitter legal battle with the Korea Exchange. The decision effectively halts a complex consolidation intended to simplify the group’s corporate structure.
Rialo targets South Korean financial firms for onchain expansion
Rialo is moving to integrate blockchain infrastructure into traditional finance, initiating proof of concept discussions with South Korean institutions. The network aims to bridge the gap between legacy systems and decentralized applications by prioritizing native web connectivity and privacy tools over immediate token issuance.
Ethereum Economic Zone Completes First Atomic L1-to-L2 Transaction
The Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ) framework has successfully executed its first atomic transaction between the mainnet and a layer-2 network. By bundling operations across execution layers, the test demonstrated a potential path toward synchronous composability, allowing actions to either complete or revert collectively rather than remaining fragmented across disparate bridge infrastructures.
Bitget Hack Laundering Generates Over $760,000 in Protocol Fees
The massive $387.5 million theft from Bitget has inadvertently turned into a lucrative revenue stream for decentralized finance protocols. Independent researcher Andrey Sergeenkov found that various services collected $761,725 in transaction fees while processing the movement and exchange of assets stolen during the late September security breach.
Virtuals Protocol tests iOS app for AI-driven automated trading
Virtuals Protocol has launched a closed-beta iOS application that grants personal AI agents direct access to user wallets and market data. By utilizing natural language instructions, testers can now authorize autonomous systems to monitor market conditions and execute trades within predefined financial boundaries.
UHNW Institute Updates Framework for Integrated Family Advice
The UHNW Institute is standardizing how advisors approach ultra-high-net-worth clients through its updated Table Stakes framework. By visualizing client needs as a tabletop supported by firm, advisor, service, and process pillars, the think tank aims to bridge the gap between providing personalized intimacy and maintaining institutional scale.
The Strategic Rise of Defence and Space Tech Portfolios
Global wealth managers are recalibrating portfolios as the intersection of national security, aerospace engineering, and cybersecurity evolves into a core investment theme. With geopolitical tensions driving record procurement budgets, capital is flowing into specialized funds that treat space and defence as integrated, high-growth domains.
Weatherbys Private Bank Hires Coutts Veteran to Lead Entertainment Arm
Matt Wotton, a seasoned executive formerly responsible for the sports, media, and entertainment division at Coutts, has joined Weatherbys Private Bank to oversee the same sector. His transition to the horse-racing-linked institution arrives as wealth managers increasingly target the complex financial needs of high-profile industry figures.
Neil De Sousa Takes Helm at Schroders Wealth Management
Neil De Sousa has officially assumed his role as head of Schroders Wealth Management for Geneva and the Middle East. Formerly a senior leader at HSBC Private Bank, De Sousa joins the firm during a period of structural evolution following its integration with the US-based investment manager Nuveen.
DWS and Hawksford Expand European Footprint Through Acquisitions
DWS has moved to bolster its real estate platform by acquiring Peakside Capital Advisors, while Jersey-based Hawksford finalized the purchase of two Dutch firms. These deals signal an aggressive push by both wealth managers to scale their specialized services and geographic reach across Germany, the Netherlands, and Central Europe.
Polymarket Readies Protocol V2 for November Rollout
Polymarket has launched production testing for its Protocol V2, a significant infrastructure overhaul designed to replace the platform's aging 2019-era Gnosis framework. The transition, which begins with a canary release period, aims to standardize market creation through a unified ERC-1155 position system and modular oracle settlement.
Ethereum tests 200 million gas limit on Sepolia testnet
Ethereum developers are pushing network capacity to its limits, initiating a 200 million gas ceiling on the Sepolia testnet under the Glamsterdam upgrade. This public stress test aims to determine whether validators can maintain stability while processing more than triple the current 60 million gas block capacity.
Binance Refines On-Chain Stock Conversion Features
Binance is re-emphasizing its bStocks feature, allowing eligible users to convert traditional equity positions into tokenized versions at a 1:1 ratio. While the mechanism enables round-the-clock trading and wallet withdrawals, the tokens function as certificates rather than direct company shares, leaving legal ownership rights outside the hands of token holders.
Rain Seeks Federal Trust Charter Amid Looming Banking Lawsuit
Rain has formally applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national trust bank, positioning itself to custody digital assets and issue stablecoins. The move lands just days after community bankers launched a federal lawsuit challenging the very regulatory framework supporting such crypto-focused charters.
ZachXBT Infiltrates Laundering Ring Linked to $1.5B Bybit Hack
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT spent $349,700 of his own money to infiltrate a Chinese laundering network, eventually mapping the movement of funds from the 2025 Bybit heist. By posing as a client, the investigator gathered data linking the syndicate to North Korean state-backed hackers and facilitated key asset freezes.
Supreme Court Justices Question Industry Bid to Block Climate Lawsuits
The U.S. Supreme Court signaled skepticism Monday toward ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy’s attempts to preemptively kill a Colorado climate liability case. Justices across the ideological divide challenged the companies' arguments, potentially clearing a path for local governments to hold fossil fuel firms accountable for decades of alleged environmental deception.
Crypto PAC Fairshake Commits $6 Million to House Incumbents
The crypto-backed political action committee Fairshake is deploying an initial $6 million to bolster six congressional incumbents, marking the start of a broader strategy for the 2026 midterms. Supported by industry giants like Coinbase and Ripple, the organization is prioritizing candidates who backed the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
Bitcoin Eyes $93,000 Threshold Amid Shifting Fed Expectations
Bitcoin could climb toward $93,000 if Treasury yields retreat and inflation data confirms a softening labor market, according to Lacie Zhang, research lead at Bitget Wallet. While reduced odds of an October rate hike offer a tailwind, sustained spot buying remains the final hurdle for a breakout.
India's Supreme Court Challenges Government Over Voter Roll Purge
Warning that the country could face unrest, advocates urged India’s Supreme Court on Monday to halt what protesters describe as an illegal purge of the national voter rolls. In response, the court demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and the Election Commission provide a transparent account of the controversial process.
Aptos Labs Targets Frontrunning with Encrypted Mempool Proposal
Aptos Labs is pushing to neutralize frontrunning and MEV exploitation by introducing a native encrypted mempool. If the governance proposal clears, the layer-1 network would hide trade instructions from validators until the ordering phase concludes, potentially shielding users from predatory trading practices while maintaining on-chain transparency for finalized transactions.
Abdul El-Sayed Challenges Fox News on Iran Conflict and Economic Policy
During a tense exchange on Fox News, Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed confronted anchor Martha MacCallum over the U.S. military engagement with Iran. El-Sayed argued that the conflict, launched without congressional authorization in February, represents a failure of diplomacy that prioritizes aggressive posturing over national security and economic stability.
US Schools Record 12,000 Book Bans in Single Academic Year
A surge of 12,000 book bans across the United States during the 2025-2026 school year marks a record high in documented censorship, according to a report from PEN America. The data reveals that Texas and Florida lead the country in removing titles, often relying on automated tools to facilitate the process.
Hedera Tests Critical Support as Traders Weigh October Outlook
Hedera’s HBAR token is hovering near the $0.10 threshold, struggling to regain momentum after a sharp 23% retreat from its late-September peak of $0.131. As the asset navigates a cooling daily chart, market participants are closely watching whether this psychological support level can hold to facilitate a potential rebound.