Ripple partners with Stripe-owned Privy to introduce embedded wallet functionality for the XRP Ledger.

21Shares has launched a synthetic Anthropic ETP on the Vienna Stock Exchange, trading under the ticker CLAU, providing investors with non-leveraged exposure linked to the pre-IPO implied valuation of the artificial intelligence startup. The ETP does not grant investors direct ownership of Anthropic shares, either before or after the firm goes public. The product accesses this exposure via total return swaps (TRS), tracking a reference rate compiled by Kaiko, which is calculated based on Anthropic’s perpetual futures prices on Binance.

Google (GOOG.O) announced the launch of Gemini 4 Argon to developers and enterprises worldwide via the Gemini API. Gemini 4 Argon is accessible through the paid Gemini API and Google AI Ultra subscription service.

NVIDIA will announce a $2 billion artificial intelligence investment in Europe this week.

The real-life inspiration for *The Big Short*, Michael Burry, said in a Substack post today that the U.S. stock market could be just 0 to 9 months away from a major top, noting that "the final months of this bull market could get very wild." According to his disclosure, his current short positions are concentrated primarily on put options for the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) and the semiconductor ETF (SMH). Both positions expire in spring 2027, with strike prices roughly 20% below current levels. Burry also remains short on Oracle (ORCL), MetLife (MET), Caterpillar (CAT), and Palantir (PLTR). He believes the market may already be in the late stages of this bull run, but expects significant volatility could still occur before the major top is reached.

According to official announcements, Solana research and development firm Anza has announced that Alpenglow will launch on Solana’s mainnet-beta at approximately 22:50 UTC+8 on October 21. The 18-month-long upgrade will complete the migration in a single slot, cutting block finalization time from several seconds to roughly 150 milliseconds. Alpenglow will replace the TowerBFT consensus protocol that Solana has used since its mainnet launch. The upgrade combines the latest consensus research advancements with erasure-coded data distribution technology, aiming to boost block confirmation speeds across the global network to as close to physical limits as possible. Alpenglow is expected to deliver a more efficient underlying infrastructure for 24/7 global capital markets, supporting high-throughput transactions and near-instant settlement. For institutional users, the protocol will reduce transaction settlement time from the typical 1–3 business days to around 150 milliseconds, while providing cryptographic guarantees and enabling direct on-chain payment processing to cut down on intermediaries and reconciliation requirements. For developers, faster confirmation speeds will improve Web3 application responsiveness, reduce wait prompts and retry logic, and bring on-chain app interaction experiences closer to those of traditional internet applications. Additionally, Alpenglow will offer a more suitable on-chain transaction environment for AI agents to execute high-speed operations. Combined with payment tools like x402, AI agents will be able to complete payments and other on-chain operations more efficiently without permission, lowering transaction friction. This upgrade will further strengthen Solana’s support for use cases including high-frequency trading, institutional financial services, Web3 applications, and the AI agent economy.

According to BIT (bit.com) market data, Apple (AAPL.O) stock has hit a new all-time high, currently trading at $346.1, up 1.5%.