Telegram Founder on Jensen Huang's Departure: Founders Should Take Control of Their Own Boards

According to Bloomberg, Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, posted adjusted third-quarter EBITDA of $60 million, down 67% year-over-year but up 163% quarter-over-quarter. Total revenue hit $487 million, down 12% YoY and up 12% QoQ, while total trading volume fell 30% YoY to $353 billion. Amid the volume decline, Payward’s number of funded accounts—defined as accounts with a positive balance—rose 37% YoY to 7.1 million. Bitcoin rallied roughly 40% from mid-August to early October before pulling back amid concerns over inflation and the impact of U.S. midterm elections on the sector. Trading fees are a key revenue source for most crypto exchanges, and falling prices tend to dampen trading activity. To diversify its revenue streams, Payward is expanding its stock tokenization business and plans to offer on-chain perpetual contracts to U.S. clients once it secures regulatory approval. The firm reached an agreement in October to acquire Saldo Bank; Kraken also plans to enter the UAE market after securing full approval from Dubai’s regulators. The shareholder letter also revealed Payward’s plans to enter prediction markets and launch its own token, though no timeline was provided. Earlier this year, Payward laid off roughly 150 employees, citing AI-driven efficiency improvements as the reason. Bloomberg previously reported that its IPO may not take place until 2027. Performance among other crypto exchanges was mixed: Gemini’s third-quarter revenue fell 19% YoY but narrowed its losses, while Coinbase’s revenue dropped 35% YoY but returned to profitability.

According to a shareholder letter submitted by Bitcoin treasury company Twenty One Capital (XXI) to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company recorded a net profit of $1.087 billion in the third quarter of 2026, compared to a net loss of $656,000 in the same period last year. The quarterly profit mainly stemmed from a $1.093 billion unrealized gain on the fair value of its held Bitcoin, rather than operating cash flow. As of September 30, the company held 43,514 BTC, with an ending fair value of approximately $3.643 billion, plus about $103 million in cash and cash equivalents. The company also has about $487 million in outstanding convertible notes principal, collateralized by roughly 16,116 BTC. The pledged Bitcoin cannot be used for general corporate purposes or to meet liquidity needs. CEO Rapha Zagury stated that the company is evaluating opportunities in Bitcoin mining, lending, treasury, and energy sectors, aiming to build businesses that can generate cash flow even if Bitcoin prices stay flat. In the future, the company may use operating cash flow to acquire more Bitcoin or invest in other businesses. He also noted that if the company’s share price falls below its per-share asset value, it may consider share repurchases, though this is subject to liquidity, regulatory approval, and applicable restrictions.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that NVIDIA (NVDA) is an outstanding company capable of continuing its growth independent of its founder.

Strategists at Bank of America Corp. said global equity funds are attracting record inflows this year, with few investors willing to take short positions. The team led by Michael Hartnett wrote in a report that equity exposure has surged sharply, with an annualized $1.4 trillion flowing into global funds. Of that total, U.S. equity funds drew $656 billion, tech stocks drew $222 billion, and South Korean equities drew $78 billion. They noted: "These inflows provide impressive support for the stock market, but also show that while many investors are sentimentally bearish, few are actually putting their money into short positions or underweighting assets." Hartnett added that risk assets have struggled over the past six months "because bullish positions collided with policy tightening." Still, the strategists maintain a "risk-off stance until interest rate hikes end and financial conditions ease." They believe this shift will only occur when U.S. crude oil prices fall below $70 per barrel, the U.S. dollar reverses its recent rally, and the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield drops below 4.5%.

Beating AI Express News reports that financial data firm Databento has closed a $100 million Series C funding round, pushing its valuation to $1.1 billion. The Series C comes just four months after it secured a $97 million Series B round in July this year. The company currently has only 39 employees and has already been profitable for some time. According to official disclosures, its revenue has more than doubled since the previous funding round. The company had no plans to raise capital this time, but existing shareholders came forward to request additional investment. Databento operates in the financial market data space. It sources real-time and historical trading data for stocks, futures, and options directly from exchanges, then delivers this data via APIs to quantitative funds, brokerages, and developers. Clients can purchase data on-demand, allowing their programs to access the data directly without going through the complex procurement processes associated with traditional financial data services. AI firms have also emerged as key clients for Databento. The company says five of the world’s six leading AI labs have signed enterprise contracts with it, with OpenAI and NVIDIA among its customers. Founder Christina Qi has disclosed that roughly 90% of the company’s revenue comes from large financial institutions and AI labs. The company plans to use the new funds to expand its global data infrastructure. Over the past four months, it has advanced the deployment of nine data centers in locations including Hong Kong, Japan, and London, with plans to offer historical trading data from additional markets.

Venture capital firm a16z recently released a comprehensive overview of the agent economy. In a companion article, a16z partners Olivia Moore and Justine Moore noted that as AI agents begin to select products, subscription services, and complete purchases on behalf of users, payment, identity verification, and anti-fraud infrastructure will face new demands. The "Payments & Checkout" section of the overview includes crypto-related projects such as Kite, Crossmint, Privy, Turnkey, and Catena Labs, covering stablecoin payments, wallets, and expense management. Among these projects, Kite is the only one that has issued a tradable native token to date.