Meta issued €9 billion in bonds.

According to CNN, after the Republican Party's crushing defeat in the U.S. midterm elections, multiple GOP lawmakers and allies are quickly pointing fingers at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, blaming him for convincing Trump to launch military strikes on Iran while lacking an exit strategy and a plan for political consequences. Meanwhile, party leaders and many colleagues still hesitate to directly blame Trump himself. The report notes a vote on impeaching the Pentagon chief could come as early as next week. Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie told CNN that he plans to initiate a vote on impeaching Hegseth once Congress returns from recess next week; multiple GOP sources said the measure is expected to pass. Since taking the helm of the Defense Department, Hegseth has had few allies on Capitol Hill. Several Republicans, speaking anonymously to CNN, accused him of exaggerating prospects for a quick victory and pushing for escalation even as Iran showed no signs of surrender, turning the conflict into a quagmire that has driven up prices and sparked voter backlash against the GOP. Vice President J.D. Vance said Wednesday, "The reason we lost is this war," but did not name the responsible party. The White House still shows Trump's unwavering trust in Hegseth: when pressed Wednesday, Trump denied any plans to fire him, calling him "doing a great job" and stating that if he had to make the decision to go to war again, he would still do so. People close to Hegseth said he is prepared to fight the impeachment head-on. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell released a statement saying Hegseth is "100% committed to leading the department until the end of Trump's term" and will not be deterred by "false investigations."

Following Binance's major hack, the crypto community has observed a bizarre on-chain trend: a large number of strangers are sending tiny Bitcoin amounts to the hacker’s controlled wallets via the blockchain, with various messages attached—ranging from begging and pitches to even money laundering advice. These transactions typically amount to less than $1, with senders leveraging Bitcoin’s OP_RETURN function to permanently embed text data on the blockchain. The most persistent sender has, since last Friday, repeatedly sent the message "Help me bro" to all 19 wallets held by the hacker. Each round, the sender spends roughly 1,000 sats (≈$0.78) per wallet; after three rounds, total costs including fees hit around $46, yet no response has been received. Beyond begging, the messages are wildly varied. Some pitched to the hacker, suggesting they use a link to swap assets on THORChain, and advised never returning funds to Binance founder CZ. A self-proclaimed Turkish crypto influencer promoted his own token, asking the hacker to "donate" to support his ecosystem. Another, leaning into Halloween, left the message: "Happy Hacklloween Satoshis for treats PLS". Despite the lively comment section, the hacker has not replied, and the stolen funds have remained unmoved since last Thursday.

According to reports from NBC News, ABC News and other outlets, U.S. President Donald Trump made his first public appearance since the Republican Party’s midterm election landslide defeat, bringing reporters to the construction site of the White House’s ballroom to review progress and sign the final steel beam. He spent significant time praising the venue as "one of the most beautiful in the world," stressing the White House "must be perfect," and rarely discussed the election results unprompted; his remarks on the loss came mostly in response to reporters’ questions. When asked about the defeat, Trump addressed Vice President J.D. Vance’s claim that "we lost because of this war," saying: "I largely think that’s true, because it pushed up oil prices in the short term." But he added that if he could redo the decision, "I’d still do it, because in the long run it’s the only answer—we can’t let Iran have nuclear weapons." He twice emphasized: "If I were on the ballot, we would have won." He also said support from his campaign rallies "didn’t translate to other candidates." On personnel matters, Trump said he would not interfere in the House Republican leadership race, nor had he asked the current speaker to step down. When asked about possibly replacing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, he flatly denied, stating: "No, I think he’s doing a fantastic job." ABC noted this stands in contrast to post-election rumors of personnel reshuffles, and a Pentagon spokesperson also confirmed Hegseth would serve out his current term. When discussing a potential impeachment push by Democrats, Trump said: "If they do that, it will destroy the Democratic Party," insisting there is no basis for impeachment. He also mentioned Democrats have reached out to him by phone hoping to communicate, saying "maybe we can get along," but warned of the consequences of impeachment.

According to on-chain data analyst Yu Jin’s monitoring, a whale holding a $148 million long crude oil position started cutting losses after incurring an unrealized loss of $15.08 million. Over the past 10 minutes, this address closed out $44.04 million worth of long CL (WTI crude oil) positions via stop-loss, realizing a loss of $4.9 million. It is reported that this address initiated long crude oil positions half a month ago and gradually scaled up its position to $148 million. However, crude oil prices plunged 14% this week, pushing its unrealized loss to $15.08 million. Currently, the address still holds BRENTOIL positions worth $94.79 million, with an unrealized loss of $8.35 million.

Tom Lee told CNBC in an interview: "If everyone starts using tokens, computing power will become scarce, prices will rise, and then we’ll have to discuss bottlenecks again. Of course, many states will welcome this investment. So I actually believe AI trading will remain very dynamic over time. I think the community does want capital inflows, but on their own terms. Turning now to cryptocurrencies: they are rising because Democrats are now pushing crypto legislation, which they opposed ahead of the midterm elections. Now they aim to actually pass crypto legislation."

According to Bitget market data, WTI crude oil futures for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed down $7.97, or 8.29%, at $88.12 per barrel; London ICE Brent crude oil for January delivery fell $8.98, or 8.67%, to $94.62 per barrel, both hitting their lowest closing levels in over two months. Reports from CNBC, Xinhua News Agency and other sources noted that after the Democratic Party took control of Congress in the midterm elections, markets ramped up bets that the Trump administration would seek to end or de-escalate the Iran conflict. Vice President Vance later posted, "The reason we lost is this war," further strengthening expectations of de-escalation. During Asian morning trading, the WTI front-month contract fluctuated narrowly around $88.2.