An investor of unknown identity, managing a digital asset portfolio valued at $11 billion, has executed a series of high-risk moves. This market player has opened Bitcoin whale short positions worth $600 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and an additional $300 million in Ethereum (ETH). The information, revealed by on-chain analysis firm Arkham Intelligence, shows a strong bearish bet that has captured the attention of the entire investment community. These operations have been carried out at a time of notable volatility for the digital economy.
Author: liam
liam
Liam writes about Web3 and decentralized finance, focusing on how protocols, applications, and governance models are used in practice. His coverage centers on real adoption, integration, and the mechanics behind decentralized systems. Market developments and regulatory context are part of his reporting when they intersect with Web3 or DeFi activity.
The European Union’s MiCA framework only covers digital assets that are technically transferable between wallets, leaving tokens that block any change of holder outside the regime. This gap places issuers, trading venues, retail buyers and professional firms dealing with locked NFTs, non-transferable loyalty points or certain real-world asset tokens in a legal grey zone. The result is inconsistent national treatment, room for regulatory shopping and weaker, non-uniform investor safeguards compared to transferable crypto assets.
Bybit secured the full Virtual Asset Platform Operator License from the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) on 9 October 2025, allowing the exchange to operate under the country’s regulatory framework. The permit enables regulated trading, brokerage, custody and fiat conversion for retail and institutional users across the Emirates. The move pulls a global operator into the local legal system and may shift regional liquidity and competition as the firm serves clients from its Dubai headquarters.
The month of October, known in the ecosystem as “Uptober” for its historically positive performance, has begun with strong institutional activity. A total of 21 new crypto ETF applications were filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in just the first eight days of the month, generating remarkable market optimism. This bullish trend has been highlighted by analysts like James Seyffart of Bloomberg Intelligence.
The AB token, an asset listed on Binance Alpha, experienced a dramatic AB token crash today, October 9, 2025. Its value plummeted by 99% in just two minutes, only to recover with equally surprising speed. The event has created uncertainty among investors, even though the team behind AB DAO has not issued any official statement on the matter, which increases market speculation.
The UK will appoint a Digital Markets Champion to accelerate the tokenisation of wholesale markets, speeding the shift of post-trade work to digital form and keeping the country in the front rank of market change. Custodians, asset managers and market utilities will feel the effects, with potential shifts in how collateral, liquidity and hedging in derivatives operate, while Bloomberg and the official paper note the Champion will link public bodies with private firms to stop rules drifting apart across borders.
97% of the circulating supply of Bitcoin is recording on-chain gains, with between 95% and 97% of coins traded below the current price. The jump comes as the price exceeds $117,000 and approaches $126,000, the level marked as the recent high by Glassnode.
Two British men, Robert Barr and Barry Letham, are facing trial at the High Court in Glasgow. They are accused of devising a cryptocurrency theft plan valued at nearly $23 million. Most surprisingly, the plot was allegedly organized while one of them was already in prison.
The Bitcoin ETF complex absorbed $1.19 billion on 6 October 2025, the biggest single-day intake since July, pushing Bitcoin past $125,000 with an intraday high of $126,000 and restoring institutional size to spot and derivative order books.
Rezolve AI (NASDAQ – RZLV) completed its purchase of Smartpay, a platform that lets buyers pay with digital assets. Smartpay moved more than 1 000 million USDT across about 19 million transactions in the twelve months that ended on 30 September 2025. The takeover adds USDT and BTC besides ETH to Rezolve’s retail checkout stack and impacts stablecoin issuers, emerging market merchants and RZLV shareholders as rapid uptake and weak finances sit side by side.