Payment firm Lydian has launched its merchant checkout application Lydian Pay, which supports cryptocurrency payments and settlements.

Nasdaq-listed company SkyAI, with core holdings centered on Solana digital assets, previously held over 2 million SOL. Since October, the firm has transferred roughly 1.57 million SOL, valued at approximately $175 million. SkyAI recently disclosed selling 1 million SOL for about $107 million, and noted it may continue selling. On-chain data shows its average purchase price is around $194, translating to an unrealized loss of over $160 million based on current prices. A Form 8-K filed on October 13 revealed SkyAI’s SOL holdings have dropped to roughly 600,000 tokens, a nearly 70% decrease from the "over 2 million" figure cited in mid-September. The sales timing, average transaction price and approval process were not fully disclosed to shareholders beforehand. Bastion Trading, a major shareholder holding approximately 9.99% of outstanding common shares, issued a statement today expressing serious concern over SkyAI’s cash tender offer announced on October 11. Bastion said it will not participate in the offer until its concerns are properly addressed, and demanded immediate full disclosure of SOL disposal details, an independent review, a board restructure, and an increase in the tender offer price from $3.00 per share to at least $3.50. Bastion also noted that at the 2026 annual general meeting, all five incumbent directors received far more abstentions than votes in favor—some with a nearly 3-to-1 ratio—questioning the current board, which has lost shareholder trust, for still leading the sale of core reserves and advancing the tender offer.

U.S.-listed fintech firm Perpetuals com (ticker: PDC) has filed a notice to operate a tokenized securities trading venue under the U.S. SEC’s five-year "Innovation Exemption" framework, with operations to be run by its Delaware subsidiary Kephas Corporation. Trading will take place via permissioned Automated Market Maker (AMM) liquidity pools, initially deployed on the company’s Ethereum-compatible Layer 2 chain Kronos X Public, where tokenized U.S. equities will pair with stablecoin USDC. Per the SEC’s 30-day post-notice rule, trading could launch as early as mid-November, pending completion of compliance, market data, and smart contract security preparations. The "Innovation Exemption" allows certain venues to trade U.S. stocks on public blockchains without registering as a traditional securities trading platform, requiring tokens to carry the same shareholder rights as regular stocks—including dividends and voting rights—with relevant listed companies allowed to raise objections within 30 days. Perpetuals com is thus the second firm to launch a tokenized U.S. equities market under this framework, following OKXICE. Its CEO Patrick Gruhn co-founded Swiss tokenization firm Digital Assets AG, which assisted trading platforms in launching stock-linked tokens for names like Tesla and Coinbase before being acquired by FTX; Gruhn previously led FTX Europe.

According to HTX market data, Bitcoin has fallen below $82,000, with a 1.4% decline in the past 24 hours.

Nick Timiraos, a Wall Street Journal reporter widely known as the "Fed’s mouthpiece," said September’s underlying inflation came in above expectations for the second consecutive month, further bolstering the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates again this year. Last month, Fed officials unanimously voted to hike rates, with nearly all policymakers projecting at the time another increase would come before the end of the year. September’s core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.33% month-over-month, beating nearly all Wall Street economists’ forecasts. Core CPI had climbed 0.29% month-over-month in August. This report raises two key questions for Fed officials. The more urgent one: after policymakers recently signaled they do not plan to adjust rates at their meeting in two weeks, can they still hold off on another hike until December? Some analysts argue that if officials ultimately intend to raise rates, there is little reason to delay, though Fed policymakers have not yet shown signs of reconsidering policy solely based on this single report. The more critical question is how high interest rates will ultimately need to climb. That depends on whether pressures from surging energy prices and the AI investment boom will spread to the broader economy.

On-chain analyst Ai Yi (handle @ai_9684xtpa) monitored that the "UBTC-to-ETH whale" continued its position adjustment, converting 13,036.32 ETH over the past 24 hours, valued at $32.59 million. Since October 11, the whale has cumulatively shifted more than 39,832.76 ETH from BTC, with a total value exceeding $100 million.

According to market data from BIT (bit.com), U.S. semiconductor stock GlobalFoundries (GFS) rose 6.3% against the trend at the start of trading. The catalyst: GlobalFoundries plans to build two new chip factories in New York State, with the Japanese government providing up to $210 billion in financial support. As part of the agreement, the U.S. government will also acquire an approximately 4% stake in GlobalFoundries.