Morning Edition · Monday, October 19, 2026
Crypto
Zcash weighs freezing its oldest shielded pool as developers move to cut quantum exposure in cross-chain swaps
Zcash decides on Oct. 20 whether its upgrade goes ahead on Nov. 5, and the plan would leave about 23,000 ZEC in the Sprout pool unspendable even with intact keys. A separate client team wants a fresh key for every NEAR Intents swap so that one public refund address cannot expose a user's wider history.
Crypto
Hidden implants in resold Ledger wallets tied to more than $86 million in thefts as chief executive and Karpelès dispute who is responsible
The implants read the 24-word recovery phrase during setup and send it out over a cellular eSIM, and Mark Karpelès says Ledger received reports as early as December 2025 without issuing a public warning.
Crypto
Qubic halts its blockchain after weak wallet seeds let an attacker drain 1,404 accounts of about $1.4 million
Qubic generated wallet seeds with JavaScript's Math.random function on Apple browsers, and about 87% of the stolen QU is now frozen by the chain halt while MEXC froze the rest.
Crypto
Aztec sets the end of 2030 as its deadline to become quantum-resistant and admits part of the timeline depends on Ethereum
The privacy rollup plans to choose post-quantum signatures in March 2027, encryption in July 2027 and proof systems in November 2027, after a July bug in its proving system showed what a cryptographic flaw costs.
Crypto
XRP Ledger validators set to activate a token-burn fix on Friday while the native lending protocol still lacks 10 votes
The fixCleanup3_4_0 package closes a flaw that could let PaymentBurn delegates create tokens instead of destroying them, and the lending amendment has 19 of the 29 validator votes it needs.
Crypto
Broadcom, Verizon and Nasdaq move to keep their shares off tokenized trading venues under the SEC framework
Eight more companies objected to trading on the planned OKX and ICE venue, which shows that the SEC's opt-out rule gives issuers a working veto over which stocks get tokenized.
Crypto
Miden launches a private-finance stack built around a confidential Circle stablecoin and a self-custodial wallet
The PriFi stack uses USDCx, issued through Circle's xReserve, as the settlement asset, and partners are building identity, custody, neobanking and real-world asset services that hide amounts and counterparties.
Crypto
Aave's stablecoin backstop shrinks by $12.4 million even as reward rates rise
Two tracked Umbrella stakes on Ethereum V3 fell 9.7% while their implied annual rewards stayed near $2 million, and a risk adviser has already proposed cutting emissions because lending yields fell.
Crypto
Deutsche Bank readies crypto custody in Germany and targets Asian financial centers in 2027
The bank will hold clients' private keys for bitcoin, ether, USDC, EURC and EURAU. In the United States, Fidelity's $500,000 California settlement leaves retirement accounts outside its wallet-transfer terms.
Crypto
White House crypto council's last staffer departs after the market-structure bill failed in the Senate
Patrick Witt's exit follows the departures of David Sacks in March and Harry Jung in July, while the industry's Fairshake committee puts its money into individual candidates of both parties instead of legislation.
Crypto
Bitcoin rises with Asian stocks after China's third-quarter growth beats forecasts, while ether funds lead weekly outflows
China reported 4.5% growth and oil prices fell, but US ether ETFs lost $320 million last week against $228 million for bitcoin funds, and Strategy spent nine times more buying back its preferred stock than buying bitcoin.
Crypto
West African scam raids lead to 28 arrests with help from Coinbase and Binance, as the FBI dismantles North Korean laptop farms in Texas
Authorities in Ghana found 117 human-trafficking victims and identified more than $11 million in funds that could be frozen, while the FBI's Lonestar Roundup shut more than 40 laptop farms used by North Korean IT workers.