Elon Musk integrates Claude Opus 5.5 into Grok Bot: "Going forward, whichever works better will be used"

The Central Bank of Russia announced it has registered the first batch of authorized cryptocurrency trading platform operators and digital asset custodians under new crypto regulations that took effect on September 1, including 4 trading platform operators and 5 custodians. Russia’s largest bank Sberbank is on the custodian list, while VTB Bank appears on both lists. Sberbank stated it has applied for digital asset custodian qualification and plans to launch its first crypto products on December 1, initially supporting Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and USDT. Users will access the services via existing platforms such as SberBank Online, SberInvestments, and SberBusiness. The registration follows Russian President Vladimir Putin signing the crypto regulation bill in August; the legislation establishes a regulatory framework covering trading platforms, custodians, brokers, and investors, overseen by the Central Bank of Russia, while retaining the ban on using cryptocurrencies to pay for goods and services.

Beating AI Express: ElevenAgents is ElevenLabs’ enterprise AI Agent platform, which lets businesses build AI agents capable of handling phone calls, online chats, and customer service tasks. Now, ElevenLabs has added Architect, a built-in AI assistant designed to help teams build and maintain these agents. For instance, if refund calls are often routed to human agents, teams can ask Architect directly for the reason. The tool analyzes real call logs, agent configurations, and test results to pinpoint issues, then modifies prompts, workflows, tools, knowledge bases, or guardrails. After adjustments, Architect automatically generates simulation tests to compare performance pre- and post-change. All changes are saved as drafts first, so they do not impact live agents directly. Once testing is done, modifications are submitted for human review and deployment. Architect can also build new agents: after users outline their requirements and provide relevant materials, it configures prompts, knowledge bases, tools, and tests. Teams can access Architect via Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT, and Cursor. ElevenLabs notes that Architect enables continuous improvement for agents, though tasks still need human initiation, and all modifications require approval before going live.

According to CryptoRank data, the total number of global stablecoin holders reached 300 million by the end of September. BNB Chain added nearly 13 million new stablecoin holders in the third quarter, making it the fastest-growing major public blockchain network; Celo, Tron, and Solana each added around or more than 2 million holders during the same period. As of September’s end, BNB Chain has become the network with the largest total stablecoin holder base, with data showing that stablecoins are further spreading across multiple blockchain ecosystems.

As U.S. long-term Treasury yields recently surged to their highest level since 2002, two prominent strategists who have long been bearish on sovereign bonds have turned bullish. Anatole Kaletsky, co-founder of Gavekal Research, this week turned positive on 10-year and 30-year U.S. Treasuries; Jim Bianco, founder of Bianco Research, also shifted to a bullish stance on long-term U.S. Treasuries last week, marking his first positive view on the asset in six years. On Monday, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield closed at around 5.31%, while the 30-year yield rose to 5.66%, both hitting their highest closing levels since 2002. Bianco argued that after a prolonged sell-off, the absolute yields on long-term U.S. Treasuries are now attractive. TLT, the roughly $47 billion long-term U.S. Treasury bond ETF, had fallen for 10 consecutive trading days, but has still recorded around $5.3 billion in net inflows so far this year. Kaletsky has advised avoiding government bonds of major advanced economies since 2022, but now believes U.S. interest rates could fall again in the future; Bianco, meanwhile, noted that long-term Treasuries also hold hedging value if the economy weakens significantly or the stock market undergoes a major correction. However, factors including the U.S. fiscal deficit, Treasury supply, financing needs of AI firms, war-related spending, and rising energy prices could continue to push long-term yields higher.

Binance announced that it has completed the migration of Stargate Finance (STG) tokens to LayerZero (ZRO), with a distribution ratio of 1 STG for 0.08634 ZRO. Users can view ZRO distribution records and corresponding ZRO deposit addresses on Binance, while deposit and withdrawal services for the original STG tokens will no longer be supported.

Bitcoin fell to around $83,500 at one point on Wednesday, and is now trading around $84,200 amid volatility. It has dropped more than 2% from Tuesday’s high of roughly $86,500, but remains within the $83,000–$87,000 range it has formed over the past two weeks, and its months-long "stepped" uptrend structure has not yet been broken. Giottus CEO Vikram Subburaj noted that since July, BTC has formed a stepped trend via a series of sequentially rising sideways ranges: from mid-July to August 18, it fluctuated mainly between $62,000 and $67,000, then rallied 21% over three days; from late August to mid-September, it traded in the $76,000–$81,500 range, before climbing 6.6% between September 19 and 21, after which it has held in the $83,000–$87,000 range. Subburaj pointed out that $83,000 is the current key support level. A decisive break below this could signal a failed September breakout and a retest of the $80,000–$81,500 zone. Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at FxPro, takes a different stance, identifying the area around $84,000 as a more critical support level. A breach of this level could push BTC further down to $80,000.