Tom Lee: Bitcoin on Track to Reach New All-Time High This Year, Ethereum Will Outperform Bitcoin

GMGN Season 1 Global Championship is now open for registration. The competition will run from October 17 to 27 (UTC), where participants will complete 10 days of real-time meme coin trading on the GMGN platform. Six top traders will be selected to advance to the final round in London. Participants must use their own funds, with a maximum entry capital of $2,000, and are required to create a Solana wallet and an EVM wallet respectively. Rankings are based on realized profit and loss, with a real-time leaderboard, and all trades are recorded on-chain. A daily champion will be selected each day of the event, who will receive a platinum GMGN plaque. The organizer will cover the finalists’ airfare, hotel, and visa expenses, while the overall champion will take home a limited-edition Aston Martin Vantage numbered GMGN #001.

Bitfinex stated in a post that Bitcoin is typically transferred to trading platforms before being sold. However, during Bitcoin’s decline from $87,000, almost no Bitcoin held for six months or longer exhibited this behavior. Data shows that nearly all Bitcoin flowing into exchanges recently consists of tokens that were only transferred in the past week. Bitfinex noted that a genuine market capitulation usually requires long-term holders to start moving and selling their holdings, and no such sign has emerged yet.

Decentralized derivatives protocol Ostium has unveiled an updated design for its Phase 2 loss recovery plan for OLP holders. For users who suffered losses exceeding 1,000 USDC and did not opt for the convenience distribution scheme, two recovery options are available: Default Scheme A offers installment USDC repayments, while Scheme B allows converting part or all of unrecovered losses into equity in Ostium Labs. Scheme A will distribute funds recovered from Phase 1 settlements and future recoveries proportionally, with a portion allocated from protocol and Gateway revenues for compensation. The current plan earmarks 50% of Ostium’s open position fees as the funding source, and partner incentives or revenue shares may be added in the future. Scheme B allows eligible users to convert part or all of their remaining unrecovered losses into equity at the valuation of Ostium Labs’ next financing round. The equity class matches that of the team, though specific allocation ratios and thresholds are still pending. The Phase 2 portal is scheduled to open on October 30. Eligible users’ outstanding losses will be credited to the Scheme A contract, enabling them to claim repayments proportionally later. Users may also pre-set the proportion of losses to convert to equity, though this intent is non-binding. Once the next financing round is priced, users will receive an official selection window. If total equity applications exceed the set cap, allocations will be proportional, with unconverted amounts remaining in Scheme A. Ostium emphasized that this recovery plan is voluntary, does not guarantee full recovery of all losses, and equity allocation ratios, specific mechanisms, and various thresholds are still being finalized.

According to market data from BIT (Bit.com), U.S.-listed crypto-related stocks rose broadly. Specific gains include: MSTR up 3.89%, COIN up 5.45%, CRCL up 7.69%, SBET up 0.23%, BMNR up 1.81%, HOOD up 2.41%, and HYPE Treasury firm PURR up 0.72%.

US consumer confidence declined further in early October, with consumers’ assessment of current economic conditions hitting an all-time low as persistently high inflation strains American households’ finances. The preliminary survey released Friday by the University of Michigan showed that the October Consumer Sentiment Index fell to 46.3, its lowest level since May. Among its components, the Current Economic Conditions Index plummeted from 50.9 in September to 44.7, marking an all-time low on record. Meanwhile, the Consumer Expectations Index rose from 46.3 to 47.3, the first increase since July. US consumer confidence has continued to deteriorate amid sustained high gasoline prices, rising borrowing costs, and slowing hiring activity. The survey found that consumers expect prices to rise 4.7% over the next year, up from 4.6% in September. Long-term inflation expectations for the next 5 to 10 years rose to an average of 3.5%, slightly higher than September’s level. Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan’s consumer surveys, said in a statement that this month, confidence indices dropped notably among low-income consumers and those with smaller stock portfolios.

Starknet published a post introducing the Quantum-Safe Bitcoin (QSB) scheme, stating that StarkWare researchers have verified on Bitcoin’s mainnet a quantum-safe locking mechanism that requires no soft fork, no new opcodes, and no modification to consensus rules. The first QSB output was spent on August 26, 2026, in Bitcoin mainnet block 964,199, with associated GPU computing costs dropping from an initial ~$320 to around $50. Designed by StarkWare researcher Avihu Levy, the scheme’s core approach is to use hash calculations to build locking mechanisms, avoiding reliance on elliptic curve private keys vulnerable to quantum computer cracking. However, QSB does not mean Bitcoin has achieved full quantum resistance: each transaction requires massive computing power, and transferring existing assets into the scheme still involves traditional transactions with quantum risks. Additionally, QSB transactions do not comply with Bitcoin Core’s default relay rules, requiring submission by miners willing to directly accept such transactions, and there are currently no supporting wallets, address formats, or recovery processes. StarkWare emphasized that QSB is an emergency research solution, not a replacement for Bitcoin’s quantum-resistant upgrade. Long-term solutions will still require a soft fork to introduce post-quantum signature mechanisms. In contrast, Starknet noted that its underlying STARK proofs have used hash-based security mechanisms from their inception and has developed a quantum migration roadmap, but as an Ethereum Layer 2, its full quantum resistance still depends on the progress of Ethereum’s underlying upgrades. At Token2049, StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson also raised an open question: whether Starknet should transition to a Layer 1 to independently advance post-quantum security upgrades without fully waiting for Ethereum’s upgrade timeline. This idea has not yet become an official decision.