David Schwartz, Ripple's CTO emeritus and one of the original architects of the XRP Ledger (XRPL), has argued that the network's growing adoption could eventually translate into stronger demand and higher prices for its native cryptocurrency, XRP.

In a recent discussion on X, the prominent blockchain developer expressed skepticism about the possibility of the XRP Ledger becoming a major financial infrastructure platform without its native token benefiting from that success.

"I think a world where XRPL is highly successful in financial applications but XRP does not have high demand and value is very unlikely," Schwartz wrote.

According to Schwartz, XRP possesses several unique advantages within the network that could help drive its long-term demand.

For starters, XRP is the only native, counterparty-free asset on the XRP Ledger, meaning that it does not depend on any third-party issuer.

Moreover, XRP is required to pay transaction fees and maintain account reserves on the network.

"All of those things can help drive value and demand," Schwartz explained.

His comments address a persistent debate within the XRP community about whether the growing adoption of the XRP Ledger necessarily translates into increased demand for XRP itself.

Schwartz also outlined a hypothetical scenario in which Bitcoin becomes the dominant settlement asset, arguing that XRP could still benefit from the XRP Ledger's success.

"About the only way that could happen would be if we wound up in a world with one totally dominant settlement asset. That seems unlikely to me," he wrote, referring to a scenario in which XRPL succeeds without generating substantial demand for XRP.

He went on to explain that even widespread Bitcoin adoption would not necessarily eliminate XRP's role in facilitating transactions.

"For example, even if you imagine a world where nearly all settlement is done using bitcoin, if XRPL is successful, you will still probably have several versions of wrapped/bridged bitcoin on XRPL and XRP will capture value bridging them."

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has made an emotional social media post to announce the death of his father, B. Kent Garlinghouse Sr. 

One of the leading crypto figures has paid an emotional tribute to the profound influence his father had on his life. 

"Death is abstract - until it is incredibly real," Garlinghouse wrote in a heartfelt social media post on X. 

"He was the wisest, most thoughtful, most generous person I've ever known," he added.  

Garlinghouse went on to explain how his father played various important roles in his life. 

Earlier this week I lost someone close to me. Death is abstract - until it is incredibly real. He was the wisest, most thoughtful, and most generous person I have known. I was incredibly fortunate to call him: - a friend - a mentor - a role model - an inspiration But most of all, I was fortunate to call him Dad. B. Kent Garlinghouse, Sr 1941 - 2026

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) October 23, 2026

B. Kent Garlinghouse Sr. (1941-2026) was a well-known Kansas businessman, philanthropist, and supporter of education with a long career in manufacturing, banking, and the nonprofit sector. 

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Born in New York City, B. Kent Garlinghouse Sr. spent his childhood in St. Louis. He received his degree from Wesleyan University in Connecticut before going on to earn a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Harvard Business School. 

He served as chairman of M-C Industries, Inc. (Polo Custom Products). This was a manufacturing company based in Topeka with locations in Iowa and Mississippi, and a presence in Asia. 

In June 2024, Topeka Collegiate School recognized Kent, Susan, and the Garlinghouse family for funding a new educational space - the Center for Curiosity, Awe, and Wonder. 

The center was part of a $7.3 million fundraising effort to expand the school's facilities. 

Following Brad Garlinghouse's post, several big names in the crypto space shared their condolences. 

President and chief operating officer of Coinbase, Emilie Choi, expressed her sympathy for the Ripple boss. 

"Beautiful tribute. So sorry to hear about your loss," Choi tweeted. 

Crypto pioneer Charles Hoskinson, Cardano's founder, also sent his sympathies. "Sorry to hear Brad. May he RIP," Hoskinson tweeted.

Franklin Templeton, one of the world's largest asset managers with $1.8tn in assets under management, has revealed that it has registered two funds that automatically reinvest their dividends earned from U.S. stocks into Bitcoin-related assets.

The two funds are named the Franklin US Equity Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF (FBEQ) and the Franklin US Innovation Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF (FIBT).

Rather than focusing on tracking the price of the flagship cryptocurrency like most spot Bitcoin ETFs, the new ETFs will offer a combination of U.S. stock market exposure with a strategy that seeks to slowly accumulate Bitcoin.

For starters, the two funds will hold 95% of their portfolio in U.S. equities, with the other 5% in Bitcoin-related assets.

A significant aspect of the two new funds revolves around their dividend reinvestment process, also known as DRIPs.

Traditional DRIPs automatically reinvest stock dividends to buy more shares of the respective companies.

In this case, the two new products from Franklin Templeton will reinvest those dividends into Bitcoin exposure.

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Specifically, both regular and special dividends will be reinvested in Bitcoin-related assets on the next trading day after the ex-dividend date.

The two funds aim to slowly grow their Bitcoin exposure without investors having to buy any cryptocurrency assets themselves.

The new development from Franklin Templeton is another step in its journey of expanding crypto investment opportunities.

Currently, the asset management giant offers the Franklin Bitcoin ETF (EZBC), a spot Bitcoin investment product. The spot Bitcoin ETF has seen cumulative net inflows of roughly $335mn.

However, the two new products represent a new way of integrating cryptocurrencies into traditional investment portfolios.

Fintech company Ascend Markets and the M1X Global platform announced on October 23, 2026, the completion of the first regulated short-term collateralized lending (repo) transaction on the Stellar (XLM) blockchain. The pilot transaction involved digitized U.S. Treasury bonds in interbank settlements, setting a precedent for direct collateral mobilization without the participation of centralized clearing systems.

A milestone for institutional capital markets on Stellar. @AscendFi and @M1XGlobal completed the network's first institutional repo transaction, using USDM1, a sovereign bond secured by U.S. Treasuries, as collateral. https://t.co/kdDOU9toyj

— Stellar | Meridian Oct 28-29 (@StellarOrg) October 23, 2026

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The traditional repo market is limited by the operating hours of settlement systems and requires significant back-office resources for manual collateral revaluation. The Ascend and M1X Global operation fully moved this cycle to smart contracts. The transaction ran continuously for three days, from October 16 to 19, including the weekend, when standard banking infrastructure suspends operations. 

Over 72 hours, the algorithm carried out 72 consecutive hourly rollovers (loan extensions) without manual intervention, independently handling collateral locking, interest calculation, and clearing. At the same time, the total network fees for all cycles amounted to less than one U.S. cent.

The transaction parameters were aligned with the standards of the American association SIFMA:

• Collateral and settlement: USDM1 bonds from M1X Global (backed 1:1 by U.S. Treasury bills, governed by New York law) against USDC stablecoins.
• Pricing and risks: The rate was fixed at SOFR + 10 bps (3.98% per annum), and the value of the collateral was monitored by Chainlink oracles with a 2% haircut and an LTV limit of 98%.
• Compliance: Counterparty identification and on-chain KYC/AML checks were performed automatically at the code level through the ERC-3643 / SEP-57 standard.

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The precedent changes the nature of capital use within the Stellar network itself. According to rwa.xyz, by the end of October 2026, the platform had accumulated an array of RWA assets worth $3.64 billion, divided mainly between money market funds from Spicet Asset Management ($2.4 billion), Oasis ($557.92 million), and Franklin Templeton ($411.90 million). 

The USDM1 instrument integrated an instant rehypothecation mechanism into this liquidity pool. As a result, the financial industry received working proof that resources from sovereign debt can be released and redistributed in 24/7/365 mode with near-zero operating costs.

As Shiba Inu continues to show mixed price actions, sitting in the red territory on most trading sessions, its key exchange activity has shown that demand is still on hold.

Latest data from crypto analytics platform CryptoQuant shows a positive balance in the Shiba Inu exchange netflow over the last 24 hours, which could mean sustained selling pressure for the asset.

According to the data, the Shiba Inu exchange netflow has increased to over 77 billion SHIB in the last 24 hours, following an increase of about 4% during the period.

This means that the amount of SHIB currently available for sale across all supported exchanges has surged modestly over the last day, suggesting that demand is currently on hold.

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With the SHIB exchange flow sitting at a net balance of 77,298,600,000 SHIB as of October 23, it appears that the amount of SHIB tokens being sent to exchanges for sale over the last day is substantially higher than the amount of tokens removed from the exchanges for buying purposes.

The positive balance in the Shiba Inu exchange netflow over the last 24 hours provides a bearish outlook for the asset, as it typically indicates that sellers are dominating the market.

However, the bearish exchange activity has come when Shiba Inu's price has suddenly flipped to the green territory, reclaiming a local high around $0.0000051.

This provides relief to market participants as the brief price recovery suggests that momentum may flip soon and bullish traders may reclaim dominance soon.

Hong Kong broker Futu Securities has launched direct deposits and withdrawals of BNB tokens via the BNB Smart Chain network, opening a legal gateway for the digital asset to its multimillion-user platform. 

Previously, users of the Futubull and moomoo brands could trade BNB only within the company's closed loop. Now qualified investors can directly move the real token between their external wallets and Futu brokerage accounts.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) promptly reacted to the integration by publishing an announcement on his official page on the social network X.

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The entire technical side of the operations is provided by the PantherTrade platform, a Futu subsidiary licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). Access to on-chain transactions is limited to professional investors with capital of at least 8 million Hong Kong dollars (~$1 million). 

To comply with AML standards, external wallet addresses undergo preliminary verification through "whitelists," and withdrawal processing takes up to three business days.

This step coincided with the large-scale digitalization of Hong Kong's financial sector in October 2026. Banking conglomerate HSBC officially launched the RedCoin (RCHKD) stablecoin, pegged to the local currency, inside the PayMe payment app for 3.3 million users, while the Anchorpoint Financial consortium led by Standard Chartered continues the rollout of the HKDAP stablecoin. 

At the same time, the region's government completed its fourth issuance of digital "green" bonds worth 20 billion Hong Kong dollars, settled in tokenized deposits. According to Secretary for Financial Services Christopher Hui, the volume of digitized capital on the region's bank balance sheets has already reached 29 billion Hong Kong dollars.

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The market is being accelerated by the authorities' tough stance: the new dedicated law, which will be submitted to the Legislative Council by the end of the year, provides for no transition periods — platforms without a VATP license will be required to cease operations in the region immediately. 

In this regulatory race, BNB's direct access to the audience of a NASDAQ-listed broker gives the ecosystem a sustainable positional advantage. Although competitors from Solana are also expanding their presence in the region — including the listing of a second spot Solana ETF by Pando — it is BNB, through Futu's channels, that has secured the most direct access to the capital of traditional Asian investors.

• U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs lost $635 million in one of the largest daily outflows in months, while over 82,000 traders were liquidated, mostly longs. 

• Grayscale’s Zcash ETF (ZCSH) posted a third straight day of inflows ($14.23 million) ahead of the NU7 hard fork on November 5. 

• Spot XRP ETFs added $3.55 million, with XRP outperforming the market ahead of Ripple Swell. 

• DFINITY founder Dominic Williams accused NEAR Protocol of building NEAR Intents on DFINITY’s proprietary technology; NEAR fell 1.29%.

The Friday morning session on the crypto market, October 23, 2026, is characterized by a large redistribution of institutional capital amid profit-taking in Bitcoin. The total capitalization of the crypto market stands at $2.75 trillion with a daily trading volume of $108.21 billion. Planned de-risking amid macroeconomic pressure triggered a wave of margin position closures.

The external factor is the correction of the U.S. stock market, where the S&P 500 index fell by 1.24%, and the price of gold was recorded at $4,029.80. A direct consequence of this dynamic was one of the largest daily outflows in recent months from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, amounting to $634.99 million.

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The trading structure points to an intra-market rotation of capital rather than its complete exit into fiat. While retail traders lock in losses, large limit orders absorb the drawdown in alternative assets. Liquidity is flowing into utility blockchain platforms of the banking sector and regulated exchange-traded products based on privacy coins. 

The key beneficiaries of the morning distribution of funds are XRP and Zcash.

According to the SoSoValue analytics dashboard, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $634.99 million. The trading session also ended in the red zone for Ethereum funds, which lost $26.13 million, and Solana ETFs, where the outflow amounted to $2.65 million.

Countertrend resilience is demonstrated by Grayscale's spot Zcash ETF (ZCSH), which absorbed a net daily inflow of $14.23 million. Accumulation has continued for the third consecutive day after injections of $23.16 million and $12.88 million in previous sessions, which raised the fund's total net assets under management to $681.39 million. 

Through this regulated instrument, institutional investors directly control 3.11% of Zcash's market capitalization, with a daily trading volume of $63.33 million and an underlying asset price of $1,236.83.

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In parallel, spot XRP funds recorded an inflow of $3.55 million, fully provided by the Franklin Templeton pool (FBIT). At the same time, issuers Bitwise, Canary, Grayscale, and 21Shares maintained a zero daily balance change. 

Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee notes that this cycle represents a healthy correction, not a bubble: the short on big tech has become excessively consensus-driven, and the debt market is tightly limiting the inflow of speculative capital. The cumulative historical inflow into XRP ETFs has surpassed the $1.8 billion mark, with net assets under management at $1.49 billion (1.01% of the token's capitalization) at an estimated underlying asset price of $1.31.

At the morning session, the focus of attention shifted from Bitcoin's price fluctuations to major corporate conflicts. In the U.S., a battle for control over privacy technologies is flaring up, accompanied by loud accusations of code plagiarism.

An open infrastructure war for Zcash has unfolded on the American market between Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Gemini) and DCG founder Barry Silbert. Demand for privacy has intensified due to AI tracking on public networks, so the miners they control, Cypherpunk Technologies and Fortitude Mining, each hold approximately 20% of the network hashrate. Big capital views the asset as a scarce alternative to Bitcoin with fixed issuance.

In parallel, a technology scandal is flaring up: DFINITY founder Dominic Williams publicly accused NEAR Protocol of patent theft. Williams claims that a key component of NEAR Intents is built on DFINITY's proprietary ECDSA threshold signature algorithm. 

@hosseeb @grok The algorithm NEAR has been running on for two and a half years is patented. They also took vetKeys, it looks like, but that's not. Obviously if you're mining the repos, research, and work of competitors, without talking to them, referencing them, etc, this is a risk you take.

— dom | icp (@dominic_w) October 23, 2026

According to him, NEAR's solution runs on only 8 servers, is completely devoid of decentralization, and an emergency rollback to slower algorithms was recorded on NEAR's GitHub due to legal and litigation risks in the U.S. Against this background, the NEAR token decreased in value by 1.29%, trading at $4.96.

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At the same time, a flow of capital toward regulated Asia is being recorded, where traditional financial giants and state regulators are massively introducing stablecoins into the real sector of the economy.

Briefly about other important events this morning:

• HSBC launches RedCoin in Hong Kong: Banking giant HSBC, with $3.4 trillion in assets, has officially deployed RedCoin (RCHKD), a stablecoin licensed by the HKMA and 100% backed by the Hong Kong dollar. It is instantly available to 3.3 million users of the PayMe app for payments across a network of 100,000 merchants.

• Legalization of stablecoins in South Korea: The South Korean government recognizes stablecoins as an official means of payment from December 3. For this purpose, LG Group's IT division (LG CNS) has entered into a strategic alliance with Chainlink to digitize the Korean won on the $68 billion local crypto market.

• Zcash anniversary and AI verification: The Zcash project celebrates a decade since its launch, and a $1,000 investment made five years ago is equivalent to $7,178 today. The developers used Anthropic's Claude AI tools for formal verification of code security before the Network Upgrade 7 (NU7) hard fork on November 5.

• Ripple liquidity based on RLUSD: Ripple announces a partnership with the Arf platform to provide cross-border liquidity for the RLUSD stablecoin on the XRP Ledger network. The project is preparing to launch Web3 lending features ahead of the Ripple Swell conference, while traders on Kalshi are pricing in a scenario of XRP rising to $1.80 by the end of the year.

Bitcoin quotes are holding at $81,657.29 (-0.07% over 24 hours) with a market dominance of 59.63%. The current decline is accompanied by a shakeout of margin positions. Over the past 24 hours, the positions of 82,246 traders totaling $332.09 million were liquidated on the futures market. The decline is directed against buyers: 82.6% of the total volume of forced closures fell on long positions ($274.37 million), according to CoinGlass.

The main blow was taken by Ethereum derivatives ($59.54 million in liquidations, 82.1% longs) and Bitcoin derivatives ($52.28 million in liquidations, 87.3% longs). Binance's share is 45.5%, and the largest order was recorded on Hyperliquid in the XYZ:SOXL-USD pair, worth $4.34 million. 

The correction is fully synchronized with the U.S. technology sector, where the SPDR index (XLK) fell by 3.6%, and semiconductors dropped almost 7% after Meta's reports on AI spending of up to $135 billion.

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Amid Ethereum's drop to $2,403.04 (dominance of 10.72%) and Solana's stagnation ($104.46), the outperforming dynamics of XRP ($1.3172, daily growth of +0.66%) and Zcash confirm the local rotation. The scandal around the centralization of NEAR Intents is accelerating the exit of capital into regulated U.S. exchange-traded products (ETFs) based on protected protocols.

Indicators to watch:

• Holding the BTC price corridor: Bitcoin's ability to lock in the $81,700 – $82,000 range will determine the speed of the market recovery.

• Zcash hard fork (November 5): The launch of the NU7 upgrade acts as the main fundamental trigger for retaining institutional demand for ZEC.

• Ripple Swell conference: Upcoming announcements on the RLUSD stablecoin could push XRP through local resistance at $1.32 – $1.50.

• Legal consequences of the ICP/NEAR dispute: The dynamics of NEAR Protocol's quotes will directly depend on official responses to DFINITY's accusations in U.S. courts.

The Shiba Inu community is seeking Elon Musk's attention after an alleged token identification issue on X reportedly caused the wrong asset to appear under the BONE Cashtag on older posts.

According to long-time SHIB community member Mazrael, X is showing the wrong token for BONE on old posts for reasons yet unknown. 

@elonmusk @grok @benjitaylor @dinkin_flickaa @TradingView @Coinbase @KrakenSupport @XDevelopers @XBusiness @Gemini @Wealthsimple

— Mazrael.shib (@Mazrael_shib) October 22, 2026

 Shiba Inu ecosystem token Bone ShibaSwap (BONE) is the gas token of the Shibarium network. According to Mazrael, the Smart Cashtag previews for BONE on X are showing the wrong token (unrelated contract/mismatched info) on older posts.

X (formerly Twitter) features Smart Cashtags, which display real-time price data, live charts, and curated posts when users tap or search a cryptocurrency ticker symbol; for BONE, this showed the wrong token.

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The real BONE token, Bone ShibaSwap (BONE), is on Ethereum and currently trades at $0.054, with Mazrael sharing the correct Ethereum contract for Bone ShibaSwap: 0x9813037ee2218799597d83d4a5b6f3b6778218d9.

The unrelated token also has the BONE ticker and trades lower at $0.0000000427. This has prompted a warning to users, who are urged not to rely solely on the token ticker displayed on the social media platform but should rather check the contract.

"Not whatever is appearing in cashtag. Check the contract," Mazrael warned.

The reported discrepancy has prompted calls for X to review how the BONE cashtag is displayed. Along these lines, Mazrael tagged X owner Elon Musk, Grok, and X platforms X Developers and X Business, as well as a few crypto exchanges and trading platforms including TradingView, Gemini, Coinbase, and Kraken.

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Mazrael also shared a screenshot indicating that his request regarding the issue has been received, with work currently ongoing to resolve it.

At the time of writing, SHIB was trading up 1.51% in the last 24 hours to $0.000005 as traders looked ahead to fresh economic data, with the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision due next week. Traders now look to the Fed's October 27 to 28, 2026 meeting as inflation concerns remain.

Bitcoin is trading at $81,615 after a small pullback from the $84,000 area. The price sits right at the 50-day moving average near $80,800, a level that has held through October. At the same time, futures open interest has climbed above $140 billion, which is near the highest level on the chart.

Open interest shows investors are returning. It measures the total value of open futures contracts, and when it rises, more money is entering the market. The chart shows a steady climb since mid-August, when Bitcoin jumped from about $64,000 to above $80,000. Since then, open interest has moved from around $110 billion to the current level of more than $140 billion.

Open interest in coins is near 100,000 BTC, up from the lows set in June and July. Volume bars are also holding steady, which means investors remain active and are not simply waiting on the sidelines.

This is important because rising open interest during a calm price range often builds fuel for a big move. The direction depends on which side is more crowded. Higher leverage also increases the risk of sharp liquidations if the price breaks the wrong way.

On the daily chart, Bitcoin trades above the major moving averages. The 100-day line sits near $77,500, and the 200-day line is near $76,200. Both are rising, which supports the trend. Since the August breakout, each dip has found buyers above those levels.

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The first obstacle is the $84,000 to $86,000 zone, where sellers pushed the price back twice in September and October. The all-year high near $87,500 is the next key point. A clean close above it would open the path to $90,000.

The Relative Strength Index is near 45, which is a neutral reading. It has cooled down from the overbought levels seen in August, so the market has had time to reset. This gives buyers room to push higher without the price looking stretched.

Support is clear at $80,000 and then at $77,500. If Bitcoin loses $80,000 while open interest remains this high, forced selling could drag the price toward the 100-day average. That would not break the bigger trend, but it could delay any move to $90,000.

For now, Bitcoin is holding above its key averages while leverage builds in the background. A break above $87,500 would likely confirm the next leg up. A drop below $80,000 would cool the setup.

Although the demand for XRP ETFs has slowed substantially in recent days following the recent crypto market volatility, they have remained persistent even in small quantities.

Amid the slow but steady demand for the XRP investment product, the latest onchain data shows that Franklin Templeton has just bought XRP, even as its price remains unstable.

As of October 23, data from SosoValue shows that Franklin Templeton's XRP ETF has recorded up to $3.55 million in net inflows during its last daily trading session on Thursday.

With the Franklin XRP ETF attracting up to 2.71 million XRP worth about $3.55 million in net inflows at a time like this, the fund has taken dominance for the day as other XRP ETFs saw zero capital flows for the day.

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Notably, the inflow recorded by the fund provides a bullish outlook for XRP as it signals sustained demand from investors seeking exposure to the asset without directly holding it.

However, XRP's price movement at the time of the purchase remains concerning to market participants as the broad market momentum continues to fade.

It is important to note that while Franklin Templeton's latest XRP purchase provides a positive signal for demand for its XRP investment product, it does not guarantee an immediate price recovery for the asset.

XRP's current price movement remains subject to broader market sentiment, which is currently bearish as other major crypto assets are also witnessing a price correction.

Nonetheless, market analysts predict that sustained demand for the XRP ETF could drive bullish momentum for the price.

Binance has delisted seven cryptocurrencies from its Alpha platform as the exchange continues a series of changes in October.

The delisting follows a recent review that found that the tokens do not meet Binance Alpha's requirements. The affected tokens are PTB (Portal to Bitcoin), AA (ARAI), OWL (Owlto Finance), DORA (DORA), ELIZAOS (elizaOS), MEMES (memes will continue) and 哭哭马 (错版马).

Binance Alpha will remove the following tokens on 2026-10-23 at 9:30 (UTC): $PTB, $AA, $OWL, $DORA, $ELIZAOS, $MEMES, #哭哭马 Withdrawing or selling of these tokens on Binance Alpha will still be allowed after the removal. Users can do so by: - Binance Alpha: Go to the [Asset] tab > [Alpha] > Withdraw > Select the token - Binance Alpha: Go to the [Asset] tab > [Alpha] > Select the token > Instant > Sell - Binance Wallet: Go to the [Market] tab > Search > Trade For more information 👉https://t.co/75IhfXJ4Qm

— Binance Wallet (@BinanceWallet) October 23, 2026

According to Binance's announcement, the delisting took effect on October 23, 2026, at 09:30 (UTC). However, withdrawing or selling the above-listed tokens on Binance Alpha will still be allowed after the removal.

Binance Alpha is a platform within Binance Wallet designed to spotlight early-stage projects with potential to grow within the Web3 ecosystem. Some tokens highlighted on Binance Alpha may be considered for listings on Binance Exchange in the future.

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In a similar vein, Binance Futures has closed all positions with an automatic settlement conducted for USDⓈ-M PTBUSDT and MITOUSDT Perpetual Contracts. The delisting took effect today, October 23, 2026, at 09:00 (UTC).

Binance will remove and cease trading for four spot trading pairs: BONK/FDUSD, JUP/FDUSD, LDO/FDUSD and WAL/BNB, with the delisting set to take effect on October 23, 2026, at 03:00 (UTC).

Binance has launched an airdrop campaign rewarding all eligible users who hold Ripple USD (RLUSD) on its platform. Eligible users will share rewards from a grand prize pool of 600,000 XRP, with the campaign period beginning from October 23, 2026, at 00:00 (UTC) to November 20, 2026, at 00:00 (UTC).

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On October 21, 2026, the PHP Foundation released emergency security updates via the CISA Advisory to fix two critical, unauthenticated remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities known as PHP2Shell.

Binance reaffirmed its commitment to safeguarding its users and its platform. In response to the PHP security vulnerability disclosure, Binance said its security teams acted quickly to implement proactive safeguards ahead of the official patch release and performed the required remediation.

The crypto exchange is monitoring developments and is taking steps to strengthen its security to help protect its ecosystem.

Activity on the XRP Ledger just jumped. XRPScan statistics suggest that payment volume reached 770.6 million XRP in the latest reading, a 119.6% rise in 24 hours. The 30-day average sits at 601.9 million XRP, so the latest figure is well above the recent norm. The all-time high stands at 7 billion XRP, which shows how much room is left.

The one-year chart offers useful context. Payment volume has moved in sharp spikes all year, with peaks near 2.6 billion XRP in November and again in February. Most of the time, volume remains between 300 million and 700 million XRP. Quiet days often drop near zero, and the latest jump comes right after one of these weak readings. 

That means part of the 119.6% gain is a jump from a very low base, not a new trend. Still, the move matters. Payment volume shows how much XRP is actually moving between accounts, so it is a cleaner signal than exchange trading alone. When this figure rises, more people are sending, settling, and using the network. After weeks of falling activity, any recovery is a good sign.

The price chart tells a different story for now. XRP trades near $1.31 and is below several key moving averages. The 200-day average near $1.37 and the 100-day average near $1.34 are now acting as resistance. The price was rejected at this area earlier in the week, and sellers pushed it back toward $1.27 to $1.30. The RSI sits around 40, which shows weak momentum without being oversold.

The recent low near $1.25 is the first level to hold. If it breaks, the next stop is around $1.15, where the price started its August rally. On the upside, a daily close above $1.37 would turn the trend back in favor of buyers. After that, $1.45 and $1.55 become the next targets.

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Volume on the price chart is also fading, which means that investors are waiting. A real recovery needs both better network use and stronger buying on the exchanges. So far, only the first part has appeared.

The key point is simple. The ledger is active again, but the price has not reacted yet. If payment volume remains above the 30-day average of 601.9 million XRP over the next few days, the case for a breakout above $1.37 becomes much stronger. If the spike fades, XRP will likely stay stuck in its current range.

Intersect, a member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem, shared upgrade news in a recent X post. Intersect stated that the public Dijkstra testnet is now open for participants, with SPOs encouraged to start joining ahead of the 11.2 release and hard fork to pv12.

A respin of the Dijkstra testnet took place on October 21 and is now publicly available for all participants. It is currently running protocol version 11 (Conway) on node version 11.1.3.

Cardano Upgrade News 🛠️ 🗞️ A public Dijkstra testnet is now available! SPOs can begin onboarding using Node 11.1.3 on pv11. Epochs are 1-day in length. Timeline: - Protocol version 11 (Conway) on node 11.1.3 - Node 11.2 Pre-Release - Hard Fork Initiation action - Hard fork for protocol version 12 (Dijkstra) using node 11.2 - Integration and testing against the Dijkstra feature set (minus Leios) Resources available in the next post. Happy testing!

— Intersect (@IntersectMBO) October 23, 2026

In the meantime, SPOs can now begin onboarding to the network using the configuration files available on Cardano Book, which also hosts the link to the Dijkstra testnet faucet.

Meanwhile, development continues on node version 11.2, with a tagged version expected soon. This includes the full Dijkstra hard fork feature set, apart from Leios.

Once available, node version 11.2 will be used to hard fork the public Dijkstra testnet, DijkstraNet. The Cardano network is using node 11.1.3 until 11.2 is released. Cardano node version 11.2 is expected to introduce several additional capabilities, most notably LSM clearance for mainnet use.

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Development continues on node version 11.3, with substantial work remaining and a tagged release still at least two weeks away. The weekly RC 2026w42 pre-release is considered a Leios-based prototype including the complete Dijkstra hard fork feature set, including Leios. This prototype provides an early integration opportunity for downstream tooling teams to explore Dijkstra functionality on the Musashi testnet, ahead of the formal 11.3 release.

CIP-23 introduces a new protocol parameter, minPoolMargin, which specifies a lower bound on the variable fee (margin) a stake pool may set is now confirmed as fully included in the Dijkstra hard fork scope, addressing a long-standing request from SPOs.

Ouroboros Leios is planned to arrive with Dijkstra, Cardano's next hard fork. However, this is only the beginning of the rollout; Cardano will not suddenly reach full Leios capability. Stake pool operators (SPOs) will first register new BLS voting keys. Once enough stakes have registered, Leios can start using endorser blocks. Capacity will be increased in stages, depending on mainnet outcomes and governance approval.

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The initial target is about 3 to 5 times the current Praos ceiling of 4.5 kilobytes of transactions per second (TxkB/s). At least two subsequent protocol parameter improvements seek to increase that to 10 to 15 times the current throughput. Any subsequent increases will be determined by demand, the needs of builders, and the economics of operating the network.

Dijkstra also includes nested transactions, account enhancements, guard scripts, Plutus V4, freely withdrawable staking rewards and a new pledge-leverage parameter. 

The XRP token is targeting a price breakout to the $1.40 mark as Ripple gathers representatives of BlackRock and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in New York for its annual Swell 2026 conference. The event, starting on October 27, this time combines keynote sessions with the Apex blockchain program for developers. 

Against this backdrop, the industry is trying to understand whether the XRP Ledger (XRPL) infrastructure is transforming into a single standard for institutional capital and whether the visit of Wall Street heavyweights will become the main market catalyst.

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The presence of leaders of the global financial system coincided with a sharp influx of regulated investment into the ecosystem. Clients of Franklin Templeton recently bought XRP ETF shares worth $3.55 million, which pushed the token out of a months-long consolidation. 

Now the token has stabilized in the $1.32–$1.33 range, coming close to psychological resistance. Market charts have already sparked a wave of discussion about an inevitable breakout, which is fueled not just by speculation but by the growing utility value of XRPL.

Institutional giants are interested not in the token itself but in how the integration of liquidity and artificial intelligence technologies is unfolding on the basis of Ripple's infrastructure. It is these solutions that may become the foundation for new settlement hubs. 

While the community emphasizes the network's multi-asset design, laid down back in 2012, the built-in auto-bridging mechanism is preparing to become the foundation for a new wave of payments managed by AI agents.

In parallel, in New York, major funds will be presented with scenarios for scaling Ripple's stablecoin (RLUSD) in the On-Demand Liquidity system. While the retail market is being heated up with promotional campaigns, such as the Binance exchange's distribution of 600,000 XRP among RLUSD holders until mid-November, big capital is assessing the long-term viability of the asset.

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Ripple plans to demonstrate the practical expansion of its payment network through a strategic agreement with Swiss fintech company Arf. This infrastructure is designed to accelerate cross-border settlements based on RLUSD, with settlement times of one to five days and the possibility of launching credit lines in the future. 

Holding Swell 2026 in New York with the involvement of BlackRock and the IMF becomes a key demonstration for Ripple of its technologies' readiness for real global application, capable of finally pushing XRP to break through long-term resistance.

NEAR Protocol trades around $4.97 after a sharp pullback from its latest high. The token climbed from approximately $1.60 in August to nearly $6.00 in mid-October, one of the most powerful runs among large altcoins this year. Since then, the price has moved sideways, and investors are now asking whether NEAR can recover and push higher. The answer depends on one price zone.

The main resistance now sits between $5.40 and $5.60. NEAR has failed to close above this area several times in recent weeks. Each attempt ended with a long upper shadow on the daily candle, which indicates that sellers step in quickly when the price gets close. Above that zone, the $6.00 peak is the next major barrier.

Support is easier to identify. The short-term moving average near $4.83 has held the price up in recent sessions, and buyers continue to defend the $4.80 level. If that fails, the next area to watch is around $4.30, where the price bounced earlier in October. That level also lines up with the 50-day moving average at approximately $4.27, which makes it a strong floor.

The bigger trend still looks healthy. All the major moving averages point up, and the price remains well above each of them. The 200-day average near $2.80 is far below the current price, which shows how far NEAR has moved in a short time. A drop toward the middle averages would be a normal cooldown and would not damage the larger uptrend.

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Momentum has cooled. The RSI fell from extreme overbought levels above 85 in late September to approximately 50 today. This is a reset, not a warning signal. It means the market has had time to rest, and there is room for a new push if buyers return. Trading volume has declined during the consolidation. Lower volume in a tight range often comes before a bigger move, but it also indicates that investors are not fully convinced yet.

A breakout above $5.60 with strong volume would be the clearest signal of a recovery. It could open the way to a retest of $6.00 and possibly a new high. For now, NEAR is stuck between $4.80 and $5.40. A daily close above $5.60 would confirm that buyers are in control again. A close below $4.80 could point to a deeper drop toward $4.30. Until one of these levels breaks, the recovery remains possible but not confirmed.

Vet, a prominent XRP Ledger (XRPL) validator, has refuted the popular misconception that the broader adoption of the XRP Ledger network does not necessarily impact its token, XRP.

The expert recently took to X to respond to the complaints that XRP seems not to be involved as much in tokenization or that it does not show significant price increases despite the network's growing ecosystem.

"I see sometimes comments saying XRP is not used here, why tokenized assets, price is not moving, etc.," he said.

Vet explained that such claims are due to a basic misunderstanding of how the XRP Ledger works.

"The XRP Ledger is a multi-asset ledger since 2012. XRP has a special role in auto-bridging: bridging liquidity on the DEX for the long tail of assets, aside from reserves/accounts/fees. More importantly, it's the only native asset on the network without a counterparty, neutral, can't be frozen, and anyone can accept it."

Auto-bridging is one of XRP's most important capabilities. This means that when two different assets are being traded on the decentralized exchange (DEX) within the XRP Ledger, XRP can act as a bridge between them.

However, Vet emphasized that the importance of XRP isn't only in its use cases for liquidity, transaction fees, account reserves, etc.

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"More importantly, it's the only native asset on the network without a counterparty - neutral, can't be frozen, and anyone can accept it," he said.

Unlike issued tokens that can have a counterparty and can be frozen, etc., XRP is not a claim on anyone.

Vet also responded to the popular question of why the price of XRP doesn't necessarily correlate with the increased utility of the XRP Ledger.

The expert explained that it is not necessary for the price of XRP to rise instantly whenever there is new tokenization or institutional integration.

Instead, the expert believes that the focus should be on increasing the adoption of the network first.

Then, as a secondary effect, one can expect that the price may potentially increase.

"A valuable network is a good place to house money," he said.

"It's order of operations. Let the price of the native asset be a knock-on effect of large-scale usage and acceptance of the XRP Ledger."

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju has said that a potential bust in the artificial intelligence (AI) bubble could actually be largely harmless for Bitcoin (BTC).

According to the prominent crypto analyst, the leading cryptocurrency has largely failed to participate in the massive run-up in AI stock prices.

As a result, a steep correction in the AI space could be relatively harmless for Bitcoin.

"I don't think an AI bubble burst would hurt BTC much," Ju said in a recent post on X.

He speculated that investors looking to profit from the AI boom may have already dumped their Bitcoin holdings to finance their AI stock investments.

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Now, as worries about the extent of AI overvaluations grow, the reverse rotation could be in play.

"Now it may be time to rotate back into Bitcoin," Ju wrote.

But he didn't want to be seen as claiming that an AI market crash would be bullish for the leading cryptocurrency.

"An AI crash isn't necessarily bullish or bearish for BTC. They seem unrelated," he added. 

The meteoric rise of artificial intelligence has spurred one of the biggest investment booms in modern technology.

In many ways, it's reminiscent of the dot-com era of the late 1990s.

Tech companies are spending hundreds of billions on data centers, top-notch chips, and increasingly sophisticated AI models.

Do these massive investments make sense? Skeptics say it's not clear whether the money will be able to generate enough revenue to make it all worth it.

AI companies have yet to prove that their business model is capable of producing impressive results on a consistent basis.

Moreover, the growing complexity of the AI industry is a significant concern.

There are technology companies that invest billions in AI developers, which in turn invest a lot of their own money in the form of computing infrastructure and services from the companies that have invested in them.

That being said, a burst of the AI bubble doesn't necessarily mean it's the death of AI technology.

For example, during the dot-com crash, a massive amount of speculative money was vaporized, but the internet continued to change the world economy.

• Monero (XMR): Trades near $629 after breaking above the September peak near $635, with the RSI near 70.
• Stellar (XLM): Trades near $0.1777 below all major moving averages, with support at $0.172.
• Bitcoin (BTC): Trades near $81,500 after rejection at $84,000, with $80,000 the key support.
• Hyperliquid (HYPE): Trades near $78.17, testing key support near $77.60 after a 20% drop.

Monero is one of the strongest charts in the market right now. XMR trades near $629 after a daily range between $604 and $656. The coin has more than doubled from its July low near $300, and the trend is still pointing up.

The main news is the move above the September peak, which sat near $635. That level stopped the price in mid-September, and now XMR is trading on top of it. A daily close above this area would confirm the breakout.

The price also tested $656 during the day and pulled back. That upper wick suggests some sellers are active near this level. It is a small warning, but not a reason to call the trend broken.

All the major moving averages slope upward and sit below the price. The short-term ones are near $565 and $548, the medium one is near $538, and the longer ones are near $492 and $443. The wide gap between the price and the long averages shows how fast this rally has been.

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A strong trend like this usually pulls back to the fast averages before moving higher. The $565 to $540 area is the first place where buyers may step in.

The RSI is near 70, which is the edge of overbought territory. This means the move is strong, but it may pause or cool down. Volume has risen over the past few days, which supports the breakout.

On the upside, $656 is the first target, followed by $700. The January high near $800 is the major resistance above. On the downside, $565 is the first support, then $540 and $490.

If XMR holds above $635, buyers stay in control. A fall back below it could turn this breakout into a failed move.

Stellar is moving in the wrong direction for now. XLM trades near $0.1777 on Binance, down from an open of $0.1838. The daily range was tight, between $0.1768 and $0.1845, and buyers have not been able to sustain any bounce.

The price fell from approximately $0.237 in late September to the current level, a drop of approximately 25%. XLM now sits below all of its major moving averages, which are clustered between $0.19 and $0.196. This cluster is now resistance.

Every attempt to move up will first need to clear this area. Until that happens, rallies are more likely to fade than to turn into a trend.

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The nearest support is $0.172, where the price bounced earlier this week. That low has held so far, but the price is sitting only approximately 3% above it. A clean break below it might open the way to $0.17 and then to the August low near $0.1525.

The RSI is near 38, below the midpoint of 50. This suggests sellers have the upper hand, although it is not yet oversold, so there is room to fall further. Volume has also stayed low in recent weeks. Low volume means few traders are showing strong interest, which keeps the price stuck in a slow drift.

If XLM bounces, the first target is $0.19, followed by $0.20 and then $0.22. A move back above $0.19 would be the first sign that the downtrend is ending. If it fails to hold $0.172, the price could slide toward the lower end of its summer range.

For now, the safer view is that XLM needs a strong volume spike before the trend changes.

Bitcoin trades near $81,500 after a rejection from the top of the day's range. BTC opened near $84,000, touched $84,294, and then dropped to a low of $81,483. The red candle erases the previous day's gains and suggests that sellers are still active above $84,000.

Since mid-September, Bitcoin has moved in a wide range. The top sits near $87,000, where the price failed twice, once in September and again in early October. The bottom sits near $80,000, where buyers stepped in at the start of this month. The price is now close to the bottom of this range.

Each bounce has been weaker than the last, and the highs are getting lower. That is a small sign of fading strength.

The shorter averages are bunched between $80,800 and $82,500, and Bitcoin is sitting right on top of them. This region is the first line of defense. The longer averages are rising and sit lower, near $77,400 and $76,100.

All of the averages point up, which keeps the larger trend positive since the August rally. The large gap above the long averages also means a deeper pullback is possible without breaking the trend.

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The RSI is near 43, below the midpoint of 50. Momentum has slowed from the strong readings seen in late August and September. Volume is average, with no sign of panic selling.

Support begins at $80,800, then $80,000, and then $77,400. A daily close below $80,000 could push the price toward the $77,000 to $76,000 zone. On the upside, Bitcoin needs to climb back above $84,300 to challenge $87,000.

For now, $80,000 is the most important level. As long as it holds, the range remains intact.

Hyperliquid is under pressure. HYPE trades near $78.17 on Coinbase, after opening at $80.64 and falling to a low of $77.69. The price is now approximately 20% below the late September top near $98.

After reaching nearly $98, HYPE has made a series of lower highs. A bounce to $95 in early October failed, and the price has fallen nearly every week since. Sellers have controlled the trend for approximately a month.

The price is also below the short and medium moving averages, which sit between $82.5 and $85.8. This area is now resistance, and any bounce will first need to clear it.

The orange moving average near $77.60 is now the key level. HYPE is sitting almost on top of it. The price touched this area a few days ago and bounced, but the bounce was small and faded quickly.

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This is the third test in a short time. Each test of a support level makes it a bit weaker. A clean break below it would be a negative signal.

The RSI is near 40, which indicates weak momentum but not oversold conditions. There is still room to fall before buyers might be expected to react. Volume has dropped to low levels, so neither side is showing strong conviction.

If $77.60 fails, the next support is near $75, the low from earlier this month. Below that, the long average near $65.50 is the next major area, which would mean another 15% drop. On the upside, HYPE needs to reclaim $82.50 to turn the short-term picture around. After that, $85.80 and $90 are the next targets.

The long-term trend is still up, since the price remains well above the long average. But in the short term, buyers must defend $77.60 to avoid a deeper pullback.