Morning Edition · Thursday, October 22, 2026
Crypto
Solana Switches From TowerBFT to Alpenglow, Targeting 150-Millisecond Finality
On Wednesday, at slot 459,653,000, Solana validators retired the consensus system the network has used since its 2020 launch and moved vote traffic off-chain. Separately, Ethereum researchers published their own design for broadcasting large blocks faster.
Crypto
Aztec Discloses a Critical Proving-System Flaw in Alpha V5 and Says It Cannot Tell Whether Anyone Exploited It
Core contributors found the soundness bug on July 27 through AI-assisted internal auditing. The fix will ship only with Aztec's next version, V6, and the team is telling users to treat V5 funds as exposed to a protocol-level failure until then.
Crypto
OCC Finalizes Its First GENIUS Act Stablecoin Rule, and Active Issuers Will Need a Waiver to Keep Issuing After January 18
A pending application alone will not protect existing US issuers. The Treasury Department says the rules "cement American dominance in digital assets." Tether, meanwhile, is investing in a Bolivian fintech to push USDT payments into four Latin American markets.
Crypto
Rekt Post-Mortems Trace Bitget's Nine-Figure Loss and the SingularityNET Bridge Drain to Trusted Keys and Third-Party Tools
In most of the past month's largest incidents, attackers used credentials and components the systems treated as valid. NEAR Intents recovered its $3.8 million loss, and Balancer holders voted 99.2% to wind the protocol down.
Crypto
Ledger Devices Sold Through Reseller CryptoBilis Carried an LTE Implant That Sent Recovery Phrases to Attackers
On-chain investigators estimate losses of $93 million to $102 million across more than 300 wallets. MediaMarktSaturn suspended Ledger sales in Europe after a buyer in Germany reported modified units.
Crypto
SEC Names Three Applicants for Tokenized Stock Venues Under Its Innovation Exemption, Including the OKX and ICE Joint Venture
OKXICE TSV plans round-the-clock trading in tokenized shares of more than 60 US-listed companies. Separately, banks are objecting to a different SEC crypto fundraising plan built around a $75 million threshold, and some have threatened legal action.
Crypto
Aztec Targets the End of 2030 for Full Post-Quantum Migration as an Ethereum Researcher Measures the Sender's "Free Option" in Encrypted Mempools
Aztec plans to choose new signature schemes in March 2027 and new proof systems in November 2027, and it says a full migration also depends on changes to Ethereum's data availability layer.
Tech
Leaked PHP Flaws Force Emergency Patches as Binance Founder Warns Crypto Users About Compromised Websites
Both bugs carry a 9.2 severity rating and are known together as PHP2Shell. Because they sit in the PHP runtime itself, sites running WordPress or Magento are exposed even when their own code is secure.
Crypto
Miden Unveils a "PriFi" Stack Built on Client-Side Proving and a Private Token Backed by USDC
The stack centers on USDCx, which is backed one-to-one by USDC through Circle's xReserve, and on Bread, a self-custodial wallet that keeps balances and counterparties private by default.
Crypto
XRP Ledger Bug Fix Loses Its Activation Countdown After Validator Support Slips to 26 of 35
The fix was less than two days from activating when support fell. It has since recovered to 31 validators and now targets activation in November. The ledger's lending amendments remain about ten votes short.
Crypto
Standard Chartered Signs Deal to Absorb Zodia Custody as Kalshi and BitGo Open Bitcoin-Backed Margin Loans
The bank will fold Zodia's regulated custody business into its securities services unit and spin its infrastructure business out under SC Ventures. Grayscale, separately, is extending in-kind creations and redemptions to ten of its products.
Crypto
Bitcoin Falls Back to About $82,800 After Briefly Breaking $84,000 as ETF Inflows Lag the Pace of Past Rallies
US spot bitcoin funds took in $1.08 billion over three days, below the roughly $235 million a day seen during past steep rallies. Separately, Tesla and SpaceX merger talks could put 30,221 BTC under one company.