Daily Brief · October 25, 2026
Cryptocurrency markets retreated to multi-week lows as geopolitical pressures sparked risk-off sentiment and liquidations across spot and derivatives markets.
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Bitcoin Drops Below $80,000 on Geopolitical Tensions
$BTC slipped below $80,000 to a multi-week low as the US began evacuating diplomatic and military staff in the Middle East amid Iranian attack threats .
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Stablecoin Payment Volumes Surge 45% in Q3
Stablecoin payment volumes hit $482 billion in the third quarter of 2026, marking a 45% increase despite a mostly flat overall token supply .
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X100 Exploiter Swaps Drained USDT to Ether
An attacker converted roughly 4.75 million $USDT into ether following a governance takeover of the X100 protocol . The proceeds were dispersed across four wallets holding 400 $ETH each, with 423 ETH left in a…
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US Regulatory Delays Benefit Middle East and Asia
The failure to pass the Clarity Act will push institutional digital asset activity to Bermuda and the Gulf, according to Apex Group CEO Peter Hughes .
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Public Firms Reject OKX-ICE Tokenized Stock Venue
Cisco, Wells Fargo, Arm, and three other companies formally blocked their shares from trading on the OKX-ICE blockchain platform . A total of 22 public issuers have now opted out under the SEC's 30-day notice framework .
The numbers
$BTC hovered around $80,159 and $ETH at $2,322, with the total crypto market capitalization falling 1.2% to $2.64 trillion.
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