Bitcoin Magazine

NY Seeks $1.37 Billion Judgment Against Operators of NovaTech Crypto Ponzi Scheme

New York Attorney General Letitia James is trying to secure a $1.37 billion judgment against the operators of NovaTech and its predecessor AWS Mining, two successive cryptocurrency investment schemes that allegedly defrauded hundreds of thousands of investors worldwide out of more than $1 billion.

Alleged founders Cynthia and Eddy Petion never appeared in court and, according to the AG’s office, fled the country.

“NovaTech and AWS Mining scammed thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers by telling them they were making a safe investment when in reality, they were victims of a pyramid scheme,” James said in a statement. “These scammers targeted immigrant and religious communities with the promise of a better life but instead robbed them of their life savings.”

The schemes, AWS Mining and later NovaTech, relied on promoters who recruited heavily in Haitian and other immigrant communities — through prayer groups, WhatsApp chats, and ads in Haitian Creole.

AWS Mining sold crypto mining contracts promising 15 to 20 percent monthly returns and 200 percent within 15 months. It collapsed in 2019. The Petions then launched NovaTech, marketed as a registered hedge fund broker, promising weekly trading returns of two to four percent — more than 140 percent a year.

Those returns were fabricated, according to prosecutors. Records from B2Broker, which supplied NovaTech’s white-label trading platform, show that of the more than $1 billion investors deposited between 2019 and 2023, only about $26 million was ever actually traded — and NovaTech’s traders lost $18.2 million of that. Returns to earlier investors came from newer deposits, not trading. When NovaTech collapsed in mid-2023, tens of thousands of investors could not withdraw their funds.

The AG is also seeking $134.5 million the Petions allegedly withdrew to their own wallets from the investor account Cynthia Petion solely controlled, plus $4.7 million tied to the earlier AWS Mining scheme. A default judgment entered in August 2025 already bars the couple and their companies from the securities, commodities, and cryptocurrency industries.

Separately, four of the scheme’s top promoters have agreed to pay nearly $6 million in disgorgement to victims and accepted the same industry bans.

This post NY Seeks $1.37 Billion Judgment Against Operators of NovaTech Crypto Ponzi Scheme first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin ETFs Lose Over $635M In One Day Following Oil Price Spike 

U.S. investors quickly reversed course on Thursday, cashing out over half a billion dollars from spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds as risk-off sentiment surfaced again. 

A total of $635.6 million left the funds on Thursday, data from Farside Investors shows. The redemptions put downward pressure on the price of bitcoin, which dropped under $81,000 at one point. 

The coin has since rebounded and was recently trading for nearly $81,669, down just 1% over a 24-hour period. 

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust saw the biggest outflows, with investors cashing out over $254 million. Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund followed, losing close to $218 million. 

Over $109 million left the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF; Morgan Stanley’s fund and Bitwise’s ETF lost nearly $30 million and over $27 million, respectively. 

But the investment vehicles this week have this week received net positive investment of over $439 million. 

Investors went into “risk-off” mode after flare ups in the Middle East sent the price of oil higher. Brent crude hit its highest price in five months after Yemeni rebel group the Houthis on Thursday attacked Saudi Arabia, sparking concerns over more disruption to energy supplies. 

Bitcoin’s price has been rattled this year since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, halting oil supplies as ships have struggled to pass through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil passes through. 

A higher oil price can hurt the price of bitcoin and other “risk-on” assets because it increases the chances of the U.S. central bank raising interest rates. 

Bitcoin has typically done well in a low interest rate environment because it means the asset has more liquidity to rally. 

Investors on Thursday also sold off tech stocks, which had rallied earlier in the week off the back of SpaceX’s impressive earnings. 

Analysts are saying bitcoin is entering a bull market again. Data last month showed that  the leading cryptocurrency crossed above its 365-day moving average — a typical sign it is out of a bear market — following a strong run in August. 

Bitcoin notched a record of $126,080 in October 2025 but then began to sink later that month after the biggest liquidation event in crypto history saw over $19 billion in bets closed. 

The coin spent the first half of 2026 trading well below that level but picked up again in August and September, having its best quarter in years. 

This post Bitcoin ETFs Lose Over $635M In One Day Following Oil Price Spike  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Circle Shareholder Sues Trump, Alleging Unconstitutional Profits From $2B UAE Crypto Deals

A shareholder from one of the world’s biggest digital asset companies has sued U.S. President Donald Trump for alleged crypto corruption. 

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday by shareholder and former Circle employee J. Benjamin Greenberg, alleges that a member of the United Arab Emirates ruling family agreed to pay half a billion dollars into the Trump-backed World Liberty Financial business — in direct violation of the Constitution. 

Circle is the fintech company behind the stablecoin, USDC. Regulators in the U.S. are fast pushing ahead with pro-crypto rules despite lawmakers last month blocking landmark digital asset legislation, which President Trump backed. 

A number of lawmakers didn’t back the draft legislation — the Clarity Act — because they said that the Trump family had illicitly cashed in on crypto ventures. 

“The corruption at issue is not subtle, and it is not hidden,” the lawsuit alleges. “Since returning to office,  President Donald J. Trump and his family have built a cryptocurrency business and invited foreign states to route money to him by paying into it. Foreign money has answered.”

The lawsuit goes on to allege that an investment fund created by the government of Abu Dhabi also gave the president $2 billion via World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin product. 

World Liberty Financial is a decentralized finance project co-founded by the president and his sons.

President Trump stopped being involved in the project after taking office in 2025. 

Thursday’s lawsuit adds that the president allegedly gave the Emirati leadership access to advanced artificial intelligence chips and pardoned a convicted felon in turn for the crypto investment. It references a February Wall Street Journal article that reported the deal. 

“Although the President has dressed his corrupt arrangements in the language of new technology — tokens and stablecoins, holding companies and reserve yields — that vocabulary must not obscure what this is: the oldest form of public corruption, a public official taking money from a foreign power,” the lawsuit further says. 

It alleges that the president has “corruptly” profited from $2 billion via the deals. 

President Trump, World Liberty, and U.S. Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are named as the defendants in the lawsuit. 

The president campaigned on a ticket to help the crypto industry and received major financial backing from the space but some Washington lawmakers have criticized the way the Trump family has profited from digital asset ventures.

Trump and the White House have always denied any conflicts of interest. The president in August, ahead of the crypto Clarity Act vote, said that Democrats criticizing his family crypto ventures had made money from stock trading. 

This post Circle Shareholder Sues Trump, Alleging Unconstitutional Profits From $2B UAE Crypto Deals first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

China Moves to Confiscate $5 Billion in Bitcoin From Fraudster Who Fled to UK: Report

Chinese authorities are working to seize nearly 62,000 bitcoins — worth around $5 billion at today’s prices — linked to one of the country’s largest-ever fraud cases.

Prosecutors allege that Qian Zhimin, the alleged controller of Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology, recruited associates to sell fake wealth management products nationwide from 2014 to 2017 without financial regulatory approval, promising guaranteed returns to investors, according to a report last week from Shanghai’s The Paper. 

The scheme raised some RMB 40.3 billion ($2.8 billion). Qian allegedly used investors’ cash to pay off earlier participants — Ponzi-style — while channeling funds into the bitcoin holdings, property, cars, and jewelry. Little of the money went toward legitimate business operations.

In July 2017, as the scheme unraveled, Qian fled to the UK carrying computers holding the bitcoin wallets. British authorities later seized the crypto assets and other property, including roughly 61,900 BTC along with cash, jewelry, and other cryptocurrencies. 

The case took a significant turn recently when the UK High Court ruled that Chinese law — not UK law — applies to ownership disputes over the seized bitcoin. 

The coins have appreciated enormously since 2017, and the applicable law determines whether victims share in those gains. The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service says victims may recover losses through China’s compensation mechanism, but representatives from Fieldfisher law firm, acting for some victims, are considering an appeal. Further hearings will determine whether victims can prove their entitlement to the assets.

Meanwhile, the Second Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin announced it accepted the prosecution’s application on September 28 to confiscate Qian’s illicit assets. 

Victims can register to participate in asset recovery proceedings through a WeChat platform, with a six-month notice period before the formal trial begins.

China has some of the world’s strictest rules in regulating crypto. Its government banned digital asset trading and bitcoin mining back in 2021.

This post China Moves to Confiscate $5 Billion in Bitcoin From Fraudster Who Fled to UK: Report first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Slides Towards $81,000 as Oil Above $110 Revives Rate-Hike Bets

Bitcoin’s price on Thursday slid — erasing the gains it made earlier in the week — after oil prices jumped. 

The largest cryptocurrency was down by nearly 4% over a 24-hour period on Thursday in New York, trading as low as $81,331 at one point. 

On Wednesday, the price of the top cryptocurrency was fast closing in on $85,000 as investors piled back into tech stocks following Elon Musk’s SpaceX earnings. 

But conflict in the Middle East pushed the oil price higher, spurring inflation fears with U.S. A surging oil price can — at least in the short-term — hurt the price of bitcoin and other “risk-on” assets because it increases the chances of the U.S. central bank raising interest rates. 

Bitcoin has in the past done well with low interest rates because of increased liquidity, moving at times with tech stocks and the Nasdaq. 

Stocks on Thursday slid on the news of more attacks from the Yemeni Houthis on Saudi Arabia — stoked fears of oil supply disruptions and a wider Middle East conflict.

Bitcoin has typically faced downward pressure on news of war and rallied in hopes of a ceasefire. 

When the U.S. and Israel first attacked Iran in February, the coin nosedived, and had been shaky on news of war in March and April. 

Oil rising is stoking what many politicians are calling an affordability crisis in the U.S. Americans will go to the polls on November 3, and surging inflation is one of the hottest topics. 

The Federal Reserve has said getting inflation down in the world’s largest economy is its top priority. 

Despite the price of bitcoin dipping, the asset just had its best quarter in years, and analysts have said the coin is now in a bull market after rising above its 365-day moving average. 

Bitcoin last month shrugged off the Federal Reserve raising interest rates and lawmakers blocking landmark crypto legislation, the Clarity Act. 

This post Bitcoin Slides Towards $81,000 as Oil Above $110 Revives Rate-Hike Bets first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Three Companies Have Notified the SEC of Intention To Start Tokenized Stocks Trading

Three companies have notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of their plans to operate tokenized securities venues following a new rule, according to the top regulator. 

Tokenized Stock Venue, Perpetuals.com, and OKX have all submitted plans to operate by allowing trading of tokenized stocks, the SEC said in a Wednesday announcement. 

Along with the Intercontinental Exchange, crypto exchange OKX was the first to file with the regulator to debut tokenized securities trading on a new platform, OKXICE. 

The SEC in September said it was offering a five-year exemption to platforms that facilitate trading of tokenized stocks. Regulators like the SEC are pushing ahead with regulating the crypto space despite lawmakers blocking major digital asset legislation in September. 

Tokenized stocks are the latest example of firms wanting to utilize Bitcoin’s underlying technology to help upgrade traditional finance. By putting stocks on the blockchain, traders can operate 24/7, according to proponents. 

The SEC said Wednesday that just because the firms are on the list, doesn’t necessarily mean they meet all the requirements for the rule. 

Wall Street’s top regulator is now very pro-crypto under U.S. President Donald Trump. SEC Chair Paul Atkins has said the regulator wants to “update” how it watchdogs securities, and “modernize them in the age of blockchain and crypto assets.”

Atkins has said that the regulator wants the U.S. to be on track to be the “crypto capital of the world.” 

Under the previous Democratic Joe Biden administration, the SEC was hostile towards the crypto industry and hit major companies — including Coinbase and Kraken — with lawsuits. The regulator attracted criticism for so-called regulation by enforcement. 

But under Trump, that has changed: the Republican campaigned on a ticket to help the crypto space and has signed a number of laws and executive orders aimed at helping the digital asset space. 

Traditional finance titans like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton for years have used blockchain rails to tokenize money funds.

In January, the S&P 500 gave crypto platform Trade[XYZ] the green light to debut a new derivative contract on decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, giving traders the ability to trade the stock index 24-7. 

This post Three Companies Have Notified the SEC of Intention To Start Tokenized Stocks Trading first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Standard Chartered Signs Agreement To Acquire Crypto Custodian Zodia Custody

British multinational Standard Chartered will buy digital asset custodian Zodia Custody, months after signing an agreement. 

A statement from London-based Zodia Custody on Wednesday said that the deal will see the company’s service integrated into Standard Chartered’s existing digital asset custody activities. 

Standard Chartered is expanding its crypto-related offerings worldwide. Earlier this month, it said it had plans to offer crypto custody services for institutional clients in Singapore. It already offers the service in the UAE, Luxembourg, and Hong Kong. 

“As institutional adoption of digital assets accelerates, custody is increasingly becoming part of the global banking landscape,” Zodia Custody CEO Richard Clark said. 

He added: “Zodia Custody has built a strong business with the specialist expertise and capabilities to meet the needs of institutional clients. 

“Bringing that expertise together with Standard Chartered’s global reach and established banking platform will strengthen its digital asset custody offering and provide institutions with greater access to trusted, regulated custody services worldwide.”

Ying Ying Tan, global head of securities services and digital assets at Standard Chartered, added that the deal “further deepens our digital asset custody portfolio and reinforces our position as a leading provider of digital asset services globally.”

Zodia Custody shareholders in May approved Standard Chartered’s offer to buy the company. 

The company works to custody bitcoin and other digital assets for institutional and asset managers. 

Standard Chartered has delved deeper into the crypto space in recent years. In 2025, the bank set up a trading desk for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in London, making it one of the first global banks to enter spot cryptocurrency trading.

It has since debuted custody and trading services in countries around the world. 

Top banks worldwide are debuting or planning to debut crypto custody services, with State Street, Standard Chartered, U.S. Bank, and Citigroup all committing to direct crypto custody over the past 18 months.

Crypto custody is often a starting point for banks moving into the digital asset space. BNY Mellon in 2022 became the first major U.S. bank to offer digital asset custody services.   

This post Standard Chartered Signs Agreement To Acquire Crypto Custodian Zodia Custody first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Nears $85,000 as SpaceX Earnings Reignite Risk Appetite

Bitcoin’s price rose above $84,500 on Wednesday as investors flooded back into risk-on assets — particularly tech-related stocks. 

The leading cryptocurrency was recently priced at $84,461 after rising nearly as high as $84,588 earlier on Wednesday morning in New York. 

Over a 24-hour period, the coin is up 2%. Zooming out over a seven-day timeframe and it is up 3%. 

JUST IN: $84,003 Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/ht1VmQnDQ5

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 21, 2026

Bitcoin’s rise comes as SpaceX reported surging revenue growth in its third quarter, and its owner, Elon Musk, talked of a potential SpaceX-Tesla merger.

SpaceX — which debuted in June on the Nasdaq in the biggest initial public offering ever — reported third-quarter revenue on Tuesday of $14.6 billion, up 161% from the previous year and smashing estimates. 

Technology stocks rallied on the news. Bitcoin has in the past risen with risk assets and been correlated with the Nasdaq. 

But this year, the OG cryptocurrency has moved with gold as the so-called debasement trade becomes hot again. The trade is when investors buy certain assets to hedge against currency being devalued. 

The dollar slid in value in August after the U.S. Treasury Department said it would more than double the size of its government debt repurchases. Bitcoin had its best quarterly run in three years and third best August ever.   

U.S. investors this week have piled back into spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, too. On Monday and Tuesday, the funds managed by BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, and others received new investment of over $549 million, according to Coinglass data. 

Bitcoin’s price is still over 30% below its all-time high of $126,080 — reached in October 2025 — but analysts are saying the cryptocurrency is now back in a bull market after spending most of this year in a bear. 

This post Bitcoin Nears $85,000 as SpaceX Earnings Reignite Risk Appetite first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Liquid Network Announces Final Stages of Recovery Following Massive Hack 

The Liquid Network on Tuesday said that things were up and running again, over one month after hackers stole 4,000 bitcoin, worth about $320 million at the time, from the network’s federation wallet before returning most of it in a “white hat” operation.

Writing in a blog post, the Liquid Network said that it was entering “the final stages of recovery with enhanced security.” 

Hackers in September stole 4,000 bitcoins from the federation wallet that backs the Blockstream sidechain. Blockstream was able to negotiate to get back most of the funds. 

LBTC:BTC swaps full service again. swap @liquid_btc to/from mainchain BTC on @side_swap. swap @liquid_btc to/from lightning on @AquaBitcoin. https://t.co/csslFIIRAE

— Adam Back (@adam3us) October 20, 2026

“The final phase of restoration involves reestablishing the network’s full 1:1 bitcoin backing, followed by the controlled reactivation of Federation peg-outs for authorized PAK key holders,” the Liquid blog post read. 

“The Federation, Blockstream, and independent security experts have made substantial progress toward this objective, with the necessary technical infrastructure and safeguards now in place.”

The post added that it had introduced phased swaps again. Blockstream CEO Adam Back wrote on X on Tuesday that swaps were working again. 

Liquid is a layer-2 created by Blockstream that allows users to quickly move assets backed 1:1 with bitcoin. People can swap stablecoins for bitcoin and bitcoin on the Lightning Network on apps that support the Liquid Network. 

Hackers were able to get 4,000 bitcoins by exploiting an inflation bug on the Liquid sidechain to create over 4,000 LBTC — a token supposedly backed by bitcoin — that did not exist before and cash them out for real on-chain BTC. 

The hackers claimed to be white hat hackers who then had an exchange with Blockstream via messages written into Bitcoin blocks. Though critics argue they were not so ‘white’ since they kept 15% of the stolen funds, worth millions.

In one message, the hackers slammed Blockstream as “delusional, greedy, and arrogant,” and threatened to reveal all of Blockstream’s encrypted messages in the exchange unless the company paid the hackers 10% of the bitcoins as an official bounty. 

“You SHALL pay 10% using your own money as bug bounty or you will cause all your holders a 15% loss for your irresponsibility and stinginess,” the message read. 

The hackers are still holding onto around 600 bitcoins — or 15% of the total funds — worth close to $50 million at today’s prices as per the latest public knowledge. 

It is not clear if Blockstream reached a settlement with the hackers in private.

This post Liquid Network Announces Final Stages of Recovery Following Massive Hack  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Swiss Financial Regulator Gives Green Light to Country’s First Bitcoin ETF

Swiss financial regulator FINMA has approved the country’s first bitcoin exchange-traded fund for retail investors. 

The watchdog said Tuesday that the approval comes as people in Switzerland express a growing interest in crypto — particularly bitcoin. 

Bitcoin ETFs — particularly in the U.S. — have widened the scope of investors who can buy and sell the leading cryptocurrency. Via shares that trade on the stock exchange, investors can buy exposure to the biggest cryptocurrency in a safe and regulated way. 

“As early as 2021, FINMA authorised a fund for qualified investors that invests primarily in a basket of cryptocurrencies,” the announcement read. 

JUST IN: Switzerland's Financial Market Supervisory Authority has approved the country's first Bitcoin ETF pic.twitter.com/AOVLGqTa5H

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 20, 2026

“As Bitcoin has a long trading history and a particularly high trading volume compared with other cryptocurrencies, FINMA has approved an exemption from the applicable risk diversification rules in this case.” 

It added: “At the same time, FINMA emphasises that investments in Bitcoin — even through an approved ETF — remain highly risky.” 

The announcement did not reveal which asset manager or bank would debut the product. Switzerland already has crypto ETFs limited to institutional or qualified investors on the market. 

In the U.S., bitcoin ETFs had the most successful debut in the history of investment vehicles when approved in 2024. 

Now, traders, institutions, and retail investors can quickly buy shares that track the price of the leading cryptocurrency and not worry about exchanges or storage of the digital coin. 

The funds, managed by Wall Street giants like BlackRock, Fidelity, and Morgan Stanley, manage over $97 billion in assets, according to CoinGlass data. 

This post Swiss Financial Regulator Gives Green Light to Country’s First Bitcoin ETF first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

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Bitcoin Treasury Strive Debuts New Preferred Stock With 15% Dividend 

Bitcoin treasury Strive’s preferred stock, SATS, is now trading on the Nasdaq, according to the company. 

The stock debuted Tuesday and will pay a 15% dividend every business day, according to an announcement. 

Nasdaq-listed Strive said it closed its upsized initial public offering of 7,000,000 shares of SATS at a public offering price of $90 per share. 

JUST IN: Strive’s 'SATS' has officially IPO’d on the Nasdaq, and is raising $630 million to buy more Bitcoin and income-generating assets pic.twitter.com/IxqeUENary

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 20, 2026

It comes as public companies work to financialize bitcoin via different products. OG bitcoin treasury Strategy, which has five different preferred stocks, proposed daily dividends for its products last month. 

“The successful, upsized IPO of SATS marks a critical milestone in our strategy to maximize long-term total returns for our common equity investors,” Matt Cole, Chairman and CEO of Strive, said in a statement. 

The Nasdaq-listed Strive also has SATA, another preferred stock, which pays a variable dividend. 

Strive debuted as an official bitcoin treasury last year and is now the fourth biggest company in the space. 

Founded by former Ohio gubernatorial candidate and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, the company holds 36,818 BTC worth over $3 billion at today’s prices. The company on Monday announced another bitcoin buy of 4,045 BTC between October 12 and 16.

In January 2026, it completed the acquisition of Semler Scientific in an all-stock deal — the first instance of a publicly traded Bitcoin treasury company acquiring another such company. 

Like with other digital asset treasuries, the idea is that investors can get amplified returns from Strive’s stock. The company buys bitcoin with equity, and maintains a debt-free balance sheet: no bonds, no credit lines, and no leveraged positions that could trigger forced liquidation in a downturn. 

Strive is following in the footsteps of software company Strategy, which started buying bitcoin in 2020. Strategy is now the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, with 848,517 coins worth over $60 billion. 

Its five preferred stocks are STRF, STRC, STRK, STRD, and STRE. 

Strive’s stock, ASST, was trading 4% higher on Tuesday. 

This post Bitcoin Treasury Strive Debuts New Preferred Stock With 15% Dividend  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Could Outperform Most Assets, JPMorgan Says — But the Bank Still Won’t Recommend It

JPMorganChase’s asset management division has said that while bitcoin is still too volatile to be recommended for strategic investors’ portfolios, the cryptocurrency could outperform most asset classes over the next 10 years.

In its 2027 “Long-Term Capital Market Assumptions” report, the bank said that while volatility in the biggest cryptocurrency’s price has dampened, it is “premature to consider BTC as a diversifier in a balanced portfolio.” 

JPMorgan, one of the world’s biggest banks, has utilized Bitcoin’s underlying tech — the blockchain — to debut its own products. But the multinational’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, has long been a Bitcoin skeptic.

JUST IN: The largest bank in the U.S. JPMorgan is forecasting Bitcoin to outperform every major asset over the next decade.

You are not bullish enough pic.twitter.com/m2dEiP47Vo

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 20, 2026

“BTC currently lacks a clear role as a diversifier in balanced portfolios due to unstable correlations to other asset classes,” the report read. 

It added: “We see bitcoin as a speculative asset and a hedge against monetary easing.”

The report went on to show a graph with a base case for bitcoin returns beating stocks, bonds and gold. But it did add that the coin’s volatility could harm its role in portfolios. 

“But should volatility continue to decline and correlations to other asset stabilize, this may evolve in the future, particularly as regulation becomes clearer and liquidity and price discovery continue to improve,” it noted. 

For now, the report added, bitcoin “mostly trades like a high beta risk asset that tracks global money supply growth.” 

Bitcoin has become more popular on Wall Street, especially since the Securities and Exchange Commission green lighted exchange-traded funds to trade in 2024. 

President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto stance has also helped: regulators under the U.S. leader have taken a far more open approach to watchdogging the space since 2025. 

JPMorganChase boss Jamie Dimon has famously blasted Bitcoin, calling it a “hyper up fraud” and “pet rock” — adding that its only value is to criminals.

Still, he has praised the coin’s underlying technology, and lauded crypto products like stablecoins. 

This post Bitcoin Could Outperform Most Assets, JPMorgan Says — But the Bank Still Won’t Recommend It first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

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BlackRock Files for Bitcoin ETF With Downside Buffer and Capped Upside

BlackRock has filed for a new bitcoin exchange-traded fund which, if approved, would cap investors’ upside while limiting their losses. 

The iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF, or PBIT, would aim “to create and manage bitcoin exposure,” according to a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

It would work buying options and fixed-income strategies to give investors regulated bitcoin exposure with capped upside and some downside protection — but not direct bitcoin ownership. 

The fund would suit investors who want to invest in bitcoin but not experience all the volatility that comes with the top cryptocurrency. 

Bitcoin has attracted attention for its wild price swings over the years but its volatility has dampened as more investors have bought into the space. 

But 2025 was the least volatile year for the asset and the bear market of 2026 has been its most shallow on record: in past cycles, bitcoin’s price has dropped as low as 80% from its all-time high; this year it shed just 50% of its value. 

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust — IBIT — started trading in 2024 after the SEC gave the green light to 11 spot bitcoin ETFs. 

The most successful of the ETFs in terms of flows, the investment vehicle has helped bring bitcoin to Wall Street. Now traders, institutions and retail investors can quickly buy shares that track the price of the leading cryptocurrency. 

They don’t need to worry about exchanges or storage of the digital coin, rather, BlackRock buys and holds the bitcoin while investors simply hit the buy or sell button via their brokerage account. 

IBIT has the most assets under management out of the bitcoin ETFs, currently handling $65.7 billion. 

On Monday, the fund received $665.2 million in fresh investment as bitcoin buyers flooded back into the market. 

That’s the biggest number of shares bought in the product since October 2025, when bitcoin notched a new all-time high, according to Farside Investors data. 

This post BlackRock Files for Bitcoin ETF With Downside Buffer and Capped Upside first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

AnchorWatch Launches Nevada Trust Company, Caps Bitcoin Custody Fees at $10,000 a Month

Bitcoin custody and insurance firm AnchorWatch has said that its Nevada state-chartered trust company opened for business, offering qualified custody for fiduciaries, public companies, trusts and high-net-worth individuals.

AnchorWatch Trust Company, authorized by the Nevada Financial Institutions Division to act as a custodian, opened on Monday, according to AnchorWatch. 

The service is aimed at public companies holding BTC, a category that has expanded sharply as more corporations have added the asset to their balance sheets.

JUST IN: AnchorWatch Trust Company launches a Bitcoin custody service with up to $370 million in insurance per client

"Its clients include fiduciaries, public companies, trusts, and high-net-worth individuals requiring qualified bitcoin custody." — The Block pic.twitter.com/sxGL36ee7I

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 19, 2026

The company’s flagship differentiator is pricing: fixed-dollar annual fees tiered by vault size, capped at $10,000 per month, rather than the percentage-of-assets charges typical among qualified custodians. Once a client hits the cap, additional bitcoin purchases or price appreciation do not increase the annual fee.

“For large enterprises, the pricing cap will translate to potential six- or seven-figure annual savings for qualified custody,” the company said in its announcement.

ATC offers clients two qualified-custody models. Flagship Custody, where ATC holds the keys required for qualified custody while the client’s trustees or executives hold additional keys, and multi-institution custody, where key control is distributed across three institutions — AnchorWatch Trust Company, BitGo in the United States, and CoinCorner in the Isle of Man.

The multi-institution model addresses a growing concern among institutional bitcoin holders: concentration risk at a single custodian, an anxiety sharpened by past industry failures.

Clients may also apply for insurance issued in the covered client’s or entity’s name — a structure AnchorWatch contrasts with policies held in the custodian’s name, where coverage terms may leave ambiguity about the client’s position in a claim. The insurance is provided by AnchorWatch and backed by A+ rated Lloyd’s of London syndicates.

As a Lloyd’s of London Coverholder, AnchorWatch says it has authority to write up to $370 million in limits per ATC client, covering loss of Bitcoin from perils including violent coercion and kidnapping, as well as losses arising from fraudulent acts by AnchorWatch itself. Coverage is subject to underwriting approval and policy terms.

Insurance is available to U.S.-domiciled companies and subsidiaries and U.S.-resident individuals. Custody without insurance may be available across a broader range of jurisdictions, subject to KYC and AML requirements.

AnchorWatch’s underlying custody platform, Trident Vault, has secured customer Bitcoin for 20 months, according to the company. It has been audited or reviewed by security firms Halborn and Doyensec, and by the technical underwriters at the Lloyd’s syndicates backing the policies. 

AnchorWatch describes itself as a Bitcoin-native insurance and custody company; ATC is its Nevada state-chartered trust company arm.

This post AnchorWatch Launches Nevada Trust Company, Caps Bitcoin Custody Fees at $10,000 a Month first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Super League Stockholders Approve Metaplanet’s 2,100 BTC Investment, Paving Way for ‘Superplanet’

Super League stockholders have approved all proposals tied to Metaplanet‘s 2,100 BTC investment, clearing the way for the Nasdaq-listed company to be renamed Superplanet and become the Japanese firm’s U.S. Bitcoin treasury vehicle.

The proposals passed at Super League Enterprise, Inc.’s 2026 annual meeting of stockholders, held Friday and were disclosed Monday morning. The transaction itself was first announced in August.

Under the definitive agreement, Metaplanet, Inc. will contribute 2,100 Bitcoin and $2.5 million in cash through its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, Metaplanet Holdings, Inc. 

JUST IN: Japan's Metaplanet to buy Super League for 2,100 BTC and $2.5 million

This will give the 2nd-largest corporate BTC holder a U.S. listed Bitcoin treasury platform! pic.twitter.com/0gucAALjAX

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 19, 2026

In exchange, Metaplanet receives 44,859,400 shares of common stock at $3.00 per share, along with preferred stock and warrants.

At closing, Super League will be renamed “Superplanet, Inc.” and trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “SUPA.” Its advertising and media activation business will continue as a distinct operating segment, and Matt Edelman will remain chief executive officer.

Among the measures stockholders approved were the issuance of common stock and warrants to Metaplanet and the corporate name change. The proposals also included an increase in authorized preferred shares from 10 million to 100 million, according to a summary of the meeting posted on X.

“Super League stockholders have voted to approve the proposed Metaplanet transaction, an important step in our transformation from a Bitcoin treasury company into a global Bitcoin-native financial platform,” Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich wrote on X. 

“Upon close, Superplanet will be our U.S.-listed Bitcoin treasury platform, providing direct access to U.S. capital markets and greater flexibility to opportunistically raise capital.”

Edelman framed the vote similarly in the company’s announcement: “Their approval brings us one step closer to redefining what this company can become.”

Closing is anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, including required filings with the Nasdaq Capital Market. The shareholder approvals represent a required step but not the final one.

Super League said the arrangement is intended to establish conditions governing Metaplanet’s ability to dispose of its equity holdings following the transaction. The company did not provide details of exceptions to those restrictions in its announcement.

Metaplanet held 43,000 BTC as of August 18, describing itself as the third-largest corporate Bitcoin treasury among publicly traded companies. The combined structure is intended to give the group two listed Bitcoin treasury platforms — one on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, one on Nasdaq — each with its own investor base and reporting currency.

Super League connects brands with what it describes as a 3.3 billion-person global gaming population through advertising and branded content programs across gaming and digital media platforms. Metaplanet is a Tokyo-listed company building Bitcoin-based financial products and infrastructure.

Shares of Super League moved higher on the news. 

This post Super League Stockholders Approve Metaplanet’s 2,100 BTC Investment, Paving Way for ‘Superplanet’ first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

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No ‘Uptober’ Yet: Bitcoin Slips 2% in a Month That’s Historically Bullish

Bitcoin’s price retook $82,000 on Monday as choppy trading last week stunted the coin’s gains. 

The biggest cryptocurrency by market cap was recently trading for close to $82,393 — up by close to 2% over the past day but still down over a seven-day period. 

Bitcoin has gotten off to a slow start for so-called Uptober, a month when the cryptocurrency has typically surged: Since the beginning of October, bitcoin’s price has dropped by 2%. 

U.S. investors last week cashed out of exchange-traded funds, with speculators redeeming $228.4 million in shares from the investment vehicles managed by BlackRock, Fidelity, and Grayscale, according to data from Farside Investors. 

Bitcoin is often moved by investors buying shares of the U.S. ETFs. The funds give investors easy exposure to the asset via shares they can buy on their brokerage accounts. 

Despite the slow October so far, analysts have said that bitcoin is now in a bull market after spending most of 2026 trading under $70,000 — well below its all-time high of $126,080. 

Bitcoin’s price started rallying in August after the U.S. Treasury Department said it would more than double the size of its government debt repurchases. The coin had its best run in three years and third best August ever.  

The coin’s price has recently benefited from the so-called debasement trade: when investors buy certain assets to hedge against currency being devalued. The dollar slid in value in August. 

It continued to have a good September, rising nearly 6% over a 30-day period. Bitcoin in the third quarter of this year had its best three months since 2024. 

After a record third quarter, will October keep the streak alive?

This post No ‘Uptober’ Yet: Bitcoin Slips 2% in a Month That’s Historically Bullish first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

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Strategy Keeps Buying: Third Purchase This Month Brings October Spending to $73 Million

The largest corporate holder of bitcoin, Strategy, bought another 267 BTC last week, bringing its holdings to 848,517 digital coins — worth $69.5 billion at today’s prices. 

According to a Monday filing, the software company said it spent slightly more than $22 million on buying the new bitcoins. 

The latest buy allowed Strategy to snap up slightly more coins than its transaction the previous week, when it spent again $22 million on 250 BTC. So far in October, Strategy has spent $73 million on buying bitcoin. 

BREAKING: Michael Saylor's Strategy buys 267 BTC worth $22 million pic.twitter.com/16yaYZikHw

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 19, 2026

Strategy stock (NASDAQ: MSTR) was trading nearly 2% higher Monday morning New York time at about $139 per share. Over the past month, MSTR has dropped by 17%. Year-to-date, it’s down 11%. 

Monday’s filing also shows that Strategy also repurchased $193.1 million of its STRC preferred stock. 

Strategy has bought back its stock this year as its STRC preferred shares have traded below their $100 face value due to market volatility and index changes.

Strategy — formerly MicroStrategy — started buying Bitcoin in August 2020 as a way to generate better returns for its shareholders. 

It has since spent around $64 billion on BTC, making it the largest corporate holder of the asset. Investors can buy its shares to gain exposure to the leading cryptocurrency without having to buy bitcoin themselves. 

The company is now also focusing on products that pay investors yield via its STRF, STRC, STRK, and STRD preferred shares. 

Strategy could face trouble soon though after Morgan Stanley Capital International last week said it was moving ahead with a proposal “to define and classify non-operating companies as ineligible for inclusion in the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes.” 

Such a move could eventually remove Strategy from the index, leading to fewer institutional investors holding the stock. 

This post Strategy Keeps Buying: Third Purchase This Month Brings October Spending to $73 Million first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

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Poetic Justice: Scammer Lost $5M in Bitcoin After Being Targeted by Ledger Thieves

Call it poetic justice: one of the biggest victims of last week’s Ledger theft happened to be a scammer themself, according to blockchain analysts, and lost nearly $5 million in bitcoin. 

In a post Thursday, Chainalysis wrote that a crook lost 60 bitcoins worth about $4.8 million they’d stolen via a so-called task scam. 

According to Chainalysis, the address was linked with a con where people were paid to fake sales and reviews of real items. They were told to add their own money in order to get paid — and then stolen from. 

One of the biggest victims of the Ledger theft was a scammer themselves. They lost more than 60BTC, about $4.8M. The funds were from a task scam.

In this task scam, people were paid to fake sales and reviews of real items. Then a "negative balance" appeared, and they were told… https://t.co/IJX4tx9ib3 pic.twitter.com/pGXNJkZJUi

— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) October 15, 2026

But the mastermind behind the task scam moved the stolen money to Ledger addresses which were then targeted by different scammers last week.

“On Sep 22, the person behind the scam moved the proceeds into three separate Ledger addresses,” Chainalysis said. “On Oct 9, thieves emptied all three. One transfer each, into the same wallet. The wallet is reported as stolen funds.”

Paris-based Ledger last week said it had started an investigation after customers in South East Asia reported they’d lost funds after buying from Malaysia-based reseller, CryptoBilis. 

Ledger has since said that the scam was a massive organized crime operation where a group installed implants into devices and put them back on the market. The implants could read users’ seed phrases so criminals could then drain wallets. 

Calling it one the most “sophisticated attacks” the digital asset industry has experienced, Ledger is yet to reveal how much money has been lost — but blockchain investigator Specter said $86 million had been drained. 

And the task scam conman, according to Chainalysis, was one of the victims.

Ledger has said that it is working with law enforcement to “follow the funds and dismantle the attackers’ infrastructure” and has made sure no other vendors have been targeted by scammers. 

CryptoBilis has stopped selling Ledger products, the company said. 

Criminals have targeted bitcoin hardware sellers this year, with a huge attack taking place in July on the popular Coldcard products. 

Crooks were able to steal close to $120 million in bitcoin from Coldcard users because the devices had a firmware bug which led to faulty seed generation, allowing hackers to guess investor seedphrases. 

This post Poetic Justice: Scammer Lost $5M in Bitcoin After Being Targeted by Ledger Thieves first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

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Sazmining Now Sells Jack Dorsey’s Proto Immersion Hashboards 

Bitcoin mining just got a lower barrier to entry. 

Sazmining announced Thursday that it is now selling Proto’s immersion hashboards directly to individual and institutional buyers through its mining-as-a-service platform. Previously, the hardware was mostly in the hands of large-scale operators.

Each hashboard delivers roughly 200 TH at around 15 J/TH, and buyers own them outright while Sazmining handles deployment, monitoring and maintenance at a US facility. Mining rewards go straight to the owner’s wallet.

The move follows a multi-megawatt supply deal between Sazmining and Proto — the bitcoin mining arm of Jack Dorsey’s Block (NYSE: XYZ) — which both companies expect to expand as demand grows.

“Because of our aligned-incentive model, Sazmining only earns when we produce bitcoin for our clients,” said Kent Halliburton, CEO and co-founder of Sazmining. 

He also pitched mining as a form of bitcoin acquisition diversification: rather than paying the market price on the day of purchase, a miner’s costs are spread across the machine’s working life.

Wyoming-based Sazmining, founded in 2018, operates renewable-powered facilities across the US, Paraguay, and Norway. It says its fleet runs more than 20 percentage points ahead of the Bitcoin network’s carbon-free share.

Proto is Jack Dorsey’s Block’s bitcoin mining play. The Twitter founder has spent years arguing bitcoin is the foundation of “a more open financial system,” funding everything from Cash App’s buy-and-send rails to the Bitkey self-custody wallet, and he framed mining as the obvious missing piece back in 2021: “Bitcoin mining should be as easy as plugging a rig into a power source.” 

Block formally announced it was building an open bitcoin mining system in January 2022, with the stated aim of making mining “more distributed and efficient.”

This post Sazmining Now Sells Jack Dorsey’s Proto Immersion Hashboards  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

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Hot Inflation Data Puts Bitcoin Under Pressure, but ‘Difficult’ Isn’t ‘Bearish’: CoinShares

Bitcoin’s price has dropped this week as new inflation data has come in hot. 

But while the largest cryptocurrency’s near-term setup is difficult, it’s not “fundamentally bearish,” according to European asset manager CoinShares’ Head of Research, James Butterfill. 

In a report Friday, the analyst said that bitcoin’s near-term challenge stems from a macro environment that’s caught in an awkward middle ground: inflation is too elevated for the Fed to ease up, while the economy is too resilient to force a policy pivot. 

“Bitcoin and the broader digital asset market have moved lower on the resulting hawkish repricing, a reminder of how sensitive Bitcoin remains to monetary policy over short horizons,” he wrote. 

Bitcoin’s price recently stood at $81,473, down 2% over a seven-day period. 

The price of the leading cryptocurrency dropped Wednesday after data showed that U.S. consumer prices shot up more than expected in September. 

Then, on Thursday, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said that U.S. producer prices rose in September at the fastest pace in more than four years. 

This has weighed on bitcoin’s price because higher inflation means the Federal Reserve may hike interest rates. Higher borrowing costs can restrict the liquidity the digital coin needs to rally. 

The Federal Reserve hiked rates in September and will meet at the end of this month. 

But Butterfill added that investors should be patient and advised investors to instead think in the long-term and not react to any single weekly data point. 

“For investors, that argues for reading the coming weeks as a data-driven range rather than a trend, and for sizing digital asset exposure against a strategic allocation rather than against this week’s print,” he wrote. 

Bitcoin spent the first half of 2026 in a bear market but had its best quarter in years after surging in August and September. Analysts have now said the leading cryptocurrency is now back in a bull market after trading above its 365-day moving average. 

This post Hot Inflation Data Puts Bitcoin Under Pressure, but ‘Difficult’ Isn’t ‘Bearish’: CoinShares first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.