Citadel founder Ken Griffin said investors are almost certainly in an AI bubble, but Griffin did not advise investors to sell AI stocks. Griffin argued that companies surviving such bubbles often become market leaders for decades. Griffin compared GPUs with airline seats, warning that excess supply could cause prices to collapse. Griffin said corporate buyers are deciding which tasks require premium OpenAI and Anthropic models and which can use cheaper open-source alternatives. Gartner forecasts global AI spending of nearly $1.5 trillion for 2025.

Dolomite announced that the decentralized trading and lending platform has added $100 million in Bitcoin-backed collateral through Concrete's BTCcx infrastructure and enabled borrowing against that collateral. BTCcx represents underlying Bitcoin held by BitGo in qualified custody. Borrowers can borrow without first selling the underlying Bitcoin or moving the Bitcoin out of custody.

Grayscale announced that eligible investors can contribute cryptocurrency directly in return for shares in ten investment products. Minimum contributions include approximately $364,800 for the Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF and approximately $257,000 for the XRP product, based on October 20 prices. Investors must use an authorized participant or a connected intermediary and pay facilitator fees. Grayscale has not publicly identified the eligibility requirements. Contributions may trigger taxes, and transfers can face execution delays or slippage.

Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla and SpaceX are considering a merger that could consolidate 30,221 BTC under one company. Musk said independent director committees are evaluating the combination, but the committees have not agreed on terms and might never reach an agreement. The combined Bitcoin holdings would be worth about $2,508 million at a Bitcoin price of around $83,000. Investing.com reported that JPMorgan analyst Rajat Gupta said an all-stock acquisition could give Tesla shareholders a 30% to 35% premium. JPMorgan identified regulatory approval in China as potentially the largest obstacle, and a transaction would require approval from holders of a majority of Tesla's outstanding shares.

Bybit plans to enter the United States through a brokerage partner instead of obtaining licenses independently, CEO Ben Zhou said. Zhou identified Interactive Brokers as an example of a potential partner, not as a confirmed partner. Zhou estimated that state-by-state licensing takes two to three years and said Bybit prefers to await a simpler federal framework. Zhou acknowledged that Coinbase's established presence and Robinhood's expansion would make the U.S. market highly competitive. Bybit did not respond by publication time to questions about specific brokerage discussions or initial products.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said three companies have submitted plans to offer tokenized stock trading under a new rule. The SEC identified Tokenized Stock Venue, Perpetuals.com and OKX in an announcement on Wednesday. The regulator announced a five-year exemption for tokenized stock trading platforms in September. However, the SEC warned that inclusion on the list does not necessarily establish compliance with every requirement of the rule.

President Donald Trump hosted a White House roundtable on Wednesday and said Americans lost more than $20 billion to cybercrime in 2025. Trump said federal officials froze $1 billion in "cybercurrency tied to foreign scammers" and prevented $1.6 billion in losses in 2025 following a March executive order. Neither Trump nor Attorney General Todd Blanche explicitly mentioned cryptocurrency or digital assets when discussing the scams. Trump and administration members face scrutiny from lawmakers and voters over allegations that the officials used public office to enrich themselves through digital assets. The FBI reported that digital asset scams alone cost Americans $11 billion in 2025.

Nvidia announced the OpenShell Reference Architecture on Wednesday, combining Vera CPUs, OpenShell software and BlueField-4 chips to contain and monitor autonomous AI agents. Sentry monitors agent traffic from separate hardware and can quarantine an agent within milliseconds without cooperation from the agent or host. CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler and Check Point are integrating support into agent security products. Nvidia says the architecture is available now. However, Nvidia lists Sentry's planned availability as early next year.

A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion on Wednesday, October 21, after a jury found that Facebook repeatedly misled consumers about privacy and personal data. Meta shares nevertheless rose roughly 2% to around $708 in afternoon trading. Meta is expected to appeal, and the legal process could delay payment for years. Source New Mexico reports that the unpaid judgment accrues 15% annual interest. Investors are also awaiting Meta's third-quarter earnings after Wednesday's market close, with analysts expecting approximately $63.3 billion in revenue.

Coinbase announced the launch of perpetual futures trading for AI agents. Coinbase calls the functionality "AiFi²".

Mizuho says single-stock perpetual futures could significantly benefit Robinhood shares, citing a survey of more than 600 active Robinhood users. The survey found that 94% would likely or very likely trade the contracts if available. Mizuho analysts said 84% of respondents would fund the trades mostly or entirely with new money, suggesting limited displacement of existing equity trading. However, Robinhood has not announced single-stock perpetual futures, and executive Johann Kerbrat recently said Robinhood had no such plans to announce. Mizuho maintained an Outperform rating and a $140 price target for HOOD.

Defend American Jobs has spent more than $46 million on the Ohio Senate race this cycle, exceeding the group's $40 million supporting Bernie Moreno in 2024. The group spent about $24 million on the race in September, supporting Republican incumbent Jon Husted and opposing Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown. Fairshake transferred more than $24 million to Defend American Jobs, a Fairshake affiliate, in September. The Digital Freedom Fund has spent another $5.9 million on the Ohio race to support Husted and oppose Brown.

Circle Internet shares rose 6.72% to $91.79 on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a final rule implementing the GENIUS Act, covering payment stablecoin issuance and related activities under the agency's jurisdiction. Bitcoin gained 2.03% over 24 hours to $84,618.75. Needham analyst John Todaro kept a Buy rating on Circle and increased the price target from $130 to $134. However, Circle shares remained down 30.34% over the past 12 months.

A Fox Business crypto reporter said the SEC had received notifications from three companies planning tokenized securities trading venues under the new innovation exemption. The companies are TSV LLC, OKXICE and Kephas Corp. The SEC said a company's appearance on the list does not establish that the company satisfies the exemption's conditions.

Galaxy Digital shares gained 10.34% to $17.39 on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro, alongside gains in Bitcoin and other crypto stocks. Galaxy Digital's website says the company actively trades Bitcoin and provides trading infrastructure. The Financial Times reported that crypto exchanges are expanding into prediction markets to diversify revenue during a prolonged digital asset trading slowdown. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency completed its GENIUS Act stablecoin rule on October 21.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency dropped a presumption against certain third-party stablecoin rewards arrangements from its final rule implementing the GENIUS Act. American Bankers Association CEO Rob Nichols said the rule preserves crypto platforms' ability to offer yield despite Congress's intent to protect local lending. The Blockchain Association welcomed the change as more consistent with the law's wording. A regulatory official said the issue would receive case-by-case treatment. TD Cowen said that approach creates uncertainty and viewed the final rule as unfavorable for banks.

The Cardano Foundation urged the European Union not to create standalone rules for decentralized finance and staking. The foundation argued that existing financial laws should apply according to activities' functions and risks, rather than their underlying technology. The foundation called for regulators to distinguish direct network participation from intermediary services involving custody or control of users' assets. The foundation also warned that overlapping requirements and inconsistent interpretations among EU member states could leave crypto businesses facing uncertainty.

Bitcoin recovered to $84,000 on Wednesday after rising around 2.5%, supported by renewed ETF inflows and slower profit-taking. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs received almost $653 million in net inflows on October 19, ending a week of outflows. However, the funds' 30-day average trading volume remains below a quarter of the year-earlier level. The Federal Reserve's October 28 interest rate decision could test the recovery because higher borrowing costs could pressure cryptocurrencies. MSCI's forthcoming classification changes also raise concerns about potential index-related selling, with Strategy and Metaplanet flagged in an earlier test.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission preliminarily interprets existing law to mean that some fully paid retail Bitcoin purchases may remain subject to futures-style regulation. The interpretation applies when a covered financing offer extends to the purchase and neither actual delivery nor another statutory exception excludes the transaction. The CFTC's consultation seeks comments for potential rulemaking and does not establish a final trading rule. Comments are due Dec. 14. The notice says a balance shown by an exchange does not, by itself, demonstrate that the customer controls the crypto assets.

Bitcoin reached a weekly high near $84,500 on Wednesday, gaining 2.5% over 24 hours. XRP rose 4.1%, while Zcash advanced 11.2% during a broad cryptocurrency recovery. Oil prices and Treasury yields eased slightly after contributing to October's selloff. Bitcoin's technical indicators still warrant caution despite the recovery, with a daily close above $84,726 needed for the bullish scenario.