S&P Global warns that tech giants’ AI infrastructure-related debt could be higher than the amounts they have publicly disclosed.

According to Caixin, just four days after the UK High Court of Justice ruled that the property rights dispute over more than 60,000 bitcoins in the Qian Zhimin case is subject to Chinese law, around 16,000 Chinese victims participating in the UK asset recovery process have been granted the chance to challenge the ruling further. The UK High Court held a fresh hearing, with the judge approving the Chinese victims’ appeal against the October 12 ruling on applicable law. Lawyers from all parties also discussed issues including litigation costs related to the earlier applicable law dispute, whether the approximately 16,000 individual claimants will continue to pursue their claims, and how to opt out of the proceedings.

CryptoQuant analyst Axel Adler Jr stated in a post that Bitcoin short-term whales’ unrealized profit dropped 53% from a record $9.8 billion on September 22 to $4.6 billion on October 20, though the whales remain profitable. On the same day, whales transferred 10,605 BTC to centralized exchanges (CEXs), the highest single-day volume since October 8, roughly 2.8 times the 3,815 BTC average daily amount over the past 30 days. The decline in unrealized profit does not indicate reduced holdings, nor do transfers to exchanges equal actual sales, but analysts point out that the increased inflow signals a rising potential sell-off risk.

According to crypto analyst Darkfost's data, centralized exchange (CEX) stablecoin reserves have been declining recently, with Binance's stablecoin reserves hitting their lowest level this year. Data shows Binance's stablecoin market capitalization has been on a downward trend since June, dropping approximately 4.7% over the past 90 days. Darkfost also pointed out that the decline in stablecoin reserves is not unique to Binance. This stablecoin outflow dynamic will continue to exert pressure on the market, and the lack of inflowing liquidity is exacerbating the current market weakness. To reverse the situation, the market needs to see capital flowing back into CEXs, which is a sign of demand recovery.

Zcash developers have reached consensus on the NU7 upgrade, set to activate at block height 3,543,405 (estimated around November 5). The upgrade will reduce block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, tripling transaction confirmation speed. Additionally, 60% of fees collected per block will be removed from circulation, with plans to return these funds to miners starting February 2031, while the original block reward halving schedule remains unchanged in the interim. Furthermore, Zcash’s original privacy protocol Sprout will be permanently shut down after the upgrade; funds not transferred in time will become inaccessible. The proposal was put forward by developer Sean Bowe and approved by the Zcash Improvement Proposal (ZIP) editing team, but it still needs to be formally merged into deployment specifications and integrated into node software before it can officially take effect.

Before U.S. stock market opens, all three major index futures rose, with the Nasdaq 100 futures up around 0.80%. In terms of individual stocks, according to BIT (bit.com) market data, boosted by strong quarterly results, SpaceX gained nearly 9% to $161.08. Additionally, driven by merger rumors, Tesla rose 2.67% to $383.68. AI-related stocks mostly advanced before the market open: Nvidia was up 1.8%, AMD up 2.5%, Intel up 2.9%, SanDisk up 2.9%, Western Digital up 2.1%, and Seagate Technology up 2.4%. Meanwhile, optical communications and Neocloud-related stocks saw notable gains: Credo (CRDO) jumped over 5.2%, Lumentum (LITE) rose around 3.98%, and CoreWeave (CRWV) gained around 2.95%. For crypto-related stocks, BNB Standard (BNC) surged over 7.8%, and Strategy (MSTR) added around 1.99%.

According to Kyodo News, a source familiar with the matter revealed on Wednesday that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will assess whether the underlying inflation rate has hit its 2% target at next week’s policy meeting. A confirmation would mark a symbolic turning point for the BOJ, signaling an end to its long-standing monetary policy stance aimed at combating deflation. The BOJ first set the 2% inflation target in January 2013. Despite implementing aggressive monetary easing programs, the central bank has repeatedly pushed back its timeline for achieving the goal. If the target is ultimately met, it will come nearly 14 years after the target was first introduced.