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Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, said spending money to smear rival exchanges ultimately damages the credibility of the exchange behind the attack. In a post on X, Zhao said users cannot confidently entrust their crypto to an exchange that operates unethically, adding that paying to attack competitors is the best way to destroy an exchange’s own credibility while giving the targeted platform extra publicity. Zhao was responding to a claim by influencer Ruslan Khairullin, who has about 125,700 followers on X, that Binance and CZ offered $25,000 in February to have Binance and CZ smeared for a month, but the offer was declined. Meanwhile, OKX founder Star Xu previously criticized CZ, saying Zhao was framing as a good deed his voluntary compensation of about $800 million to users affected by the crypto market crash on Oct. 10 last year.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $84,000. BTC is trading at $84,024.8 on the Binance USDT market.

Ledger disclosed on X how an unauthorized implanted device found in wallets tied to a recent crypto theft incident worked. According to Ledger’s security research team Donjon, the device read the 24-word recovery phrase shown during a wallet’s initial setup, parsed it with a microcontroller, and transmitted it externally through eSIM-based LTE communication. Ledger said "This device does not modify the secure chip or operating system, and it does not manipulate transactions or signatures." Ledger added all confirmed theft cases so far involved products sold by Southeast Asian distributor CryptoBilis, with no confirmed cases linked to products from other sellers. Ledger also said it is reviewing reports that similar devices may have been inserted into other products and in other regions. Ledger said the total number of victims and the scale of losses have not yet been confirmed, and the figures circulating online have not been verified. Ledger had earlier confirmed an unauthorized implanted device in products sold by CryptoBilis, which suspended Ledger sales during the investigation.

Solana retook the top spot in stock-token spot DEX trading volume by blockchain for the first time in 13 weeks, SolanaFloor reported. According to Blockworks data, Solana recorded about $786.3 million in stock-token spot DEX volume for Oct. 5-11. Over the same period, Robinhood Chain posted $663 million and BNB Chain logged $623.31 million.

Polygon said it has added a feature to Polygon Open Money Stack, or Polygon OMS, that automates stablecoin payout operations for businesses. Companies can pre-set recipients, budget caps, and payout periods, then distribute stablecoins automatically during the specified window. When a payout request is made, the wallet checks on-chain whether the pre-approved conditions are met, and any request that fails those conditions is rejected at the smart contract stage. After approval, servers cannot add recipients, raise limits, or extend expiration periods, although companies can cancel active payout rules to stop subsequent payments. Polygon said the feature can be used for merchant settlements on online trading platforms, freelancer compensation, creator revenue sharing, and customer rewards.

South Korea’s National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun said taxing virtual assets perfectly will be difficult, citing the asset class’s early stage and many practical limitations, Digital Asset reported. Speaking during a parliamentary audit of the National Tax Service at the government complex in Sejong on Oct. 13, Lim said the agency would still work to prevent disruptions within the current system, including through operational cooperation with exchanges, according to the report.

South Korea’s National Tax Service said hard forks and airdrops involving virtual assets could be subject to tax if their economic substance amounts to a transfer or a loan. According to Digital Asset, National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun told a parliamentary audit at the government complex in Sejong on Oct. 13 that such cases should be treated as taxable when they have the characteristics of a transfer or lending. Asked whether taxation standards had been established for staking, airdrops, hard forks, DeFi deposit rewards, and liquidity provision, Lim said economic substance matters more than transaction type or name, adding that the issue comes down to whether a transaction is classified as a transfer or a loan.

An anonymous early Bitcoin investor deposited 138.32 million USDC ($138.32 million) into Binance, Onchain Lens reported. The whale currently holds stablecoins worth a total of $261.68 million, including 200 million USDC and 61.68 million USDT.

The case for taxing digital assets remains clear after the measure was postponed three times following the introduction of the system, Democratic Party lawmaker Jung Tae-ho said during a National Assembly audit of the National Tax Service at the government complex in Sejong on Oct. 13, according to Digital Asset.

South Korean exchanges Upbit, Bithumb and Coinone have placed BLUR on a delisting watchlist. The exchanges said they identified shortcomings in BLUR’s business viability and sustainability under best-practice guidelines for virtual asset trading support, and determined there was a potential risk of user harm. The designation was made to protect investors, the exchanges said.

On-chain analyst Darkfost said in an X post that BTC selling pressure from U.S. institutions and professional investors has intensified in October. Darkfost said the Coinbase premium index has posted sharply negative readings for several days, signaling relatively stronger selling pressure from U.S. institutional investors as Bitcoin on Coinbase traded below Binance. Rising Treasury yields, persistent inflation, and strength in the dollar index, or DXY, are constraining market liquidity, Darkfost added, while weakening institutional appetite for risk assets.

South Korea’s central bank is preparing to launch real-transaction testing for the general public this year in the second phase of its digital currency pilot, Project Hangang, according to Newsis, citing the Bank of Korea on Oct. 13. Materials the Bank of Korea submitted to the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee showed this year’s project budget rose 61.8% to 12.52 billion won from 7.74 billion won a year earlier. As related spending increased by more than 60%, questions raised during the parliamentary audit over how the project differs from existing payment methods and whether it is necessary have put the effectiveness of the deposit token model to the test.

Surf AI, a crypto-focused AI intelligence platform, said on X it will launch 6,666 Surfboard NFTs on Robinhood Chain at 3:00 a.m. UTC on Oct. 15. The NFT collection will allow holders to collect shares tied to five stocks: Nvidia (NVDA), SPY, Meta (META), Alphabet (GOOGL), and SPCX. The number of stocks users can collect will vary by NFT tier. The NFTs can be obtained with a ticket included in an annual subscription or with one SURFBOARD token.

South Korea’s National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun said preparations are under way to issue a public notice on virtual asset taxation around November, Edaily reported. Speaking at a parliamentary audit at the National Tax Service headquarters in Sejong on Oct. 13, Lim made the remarks after People Power Party lawmaker Lim I-ja, the party’s policy committee chair, asked about preparations including the tax notice. Lim said the agency is also monitoring progress in the National Assembly as it prepares. Lim added that even if the law takes effect, taxation would not begin immediately, and gains from trades made next year would be taxed in 2028.

South Korea’s central bank is facing criticism that its new advisory committee for digital currency projects does not adequately reflect expertise in cybersecurity and anti-money laundering, Dailian reported. According to the virtual asset industry on Oct. 13, the Bank of Korea held the first meeting of its digital currency advisory committee on Sept. 29 as it accelerates work on projects including a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, and deposit tokens. The committee consists of 11 experts in finance and economics, law and institutions, and business and technology. However, no member appears to have a clearly identifiable primary specialization in cybersecurity, information security, or anti-money laundering, the report said.

On-chain analyst Maartunn said selling pressure has regained the upper hand in the Bitcoin market, according to an X post. Maartunn said Net Taker Volume, which measures the gap between market buy and sell volume, has turned negative again, indicating aggressive selling pressure is outpacing buying demand.

More hedge funds are showing interest in trading traditional finance, or TradFi, products on Binance, Binance VIP head Catherine Chen said in an interview with The Block. Chen said around-the-clock trading and arbitrage opportunities created by weekend price discovery are drawing interest from hedge funds.

The combined holdings of the top 10 Starknet (STRK) addresses have risen to 7.09 billion STRK, the highest level since April, Cointelegraph reported, citing crypto analytics firm Santiment. While retail investor interest has declined after STRK surged 330%, holdings in large wallets have increased.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said public-key cryptography will likely remain in use, though it may require one or two additional upgrades, including raising parameters tied to cryptographic keys, according to Wu Blockchain. Speaking at the Network State Conference 2026, Buterin compared the process to Y2K and said cryptography may need one or two rounds of upgrades. He added that cybersecurity faces a similar situation, with challenges still to be addressed, though he remains optimistic over the long term.

Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at crypto venture firm Dragonfly Capital, said the expectations that fueled past waves of crypto speculation ultimately proved correct. Qureshi said no financial revolution in history had occurred without speculative manias. Similar waves of speculation have appeared repeatedly in crypto markets and are now also unfolding in artificial intelligence, Qureshi said. The key to understanding speculation is human behavior, according to Qureshi, as people tend to believe in a vision of the future and pull that vision forward into the present. He added that the expectations behind past crypto bubbles — that crypto would take over the world, spread like wildfire and grow far beyond what anyone imagined at the time — were all right.

U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs posted $85.4 million in net outflows on Oct. 12, marking a 10th consecutive trading day of net redemptions, according to Farside Investors. - BlackRock ETHA: -$75.1 million - Grayscale Mini ETH: -$10.3 million

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $65.4 million on Oct. 12, according to Farside Investors. The products swung back to net outflows after posting net inflows in the previous trading session. No other ETFs saw net flows aside from BlackRock's IBIT. - BlackRock IBIT: -$65.4 million

A UK crypto trader known as "realist" said home intruders forced the transfer of about $800,000 in cryptocurrency, The Block reported. In a post on X, the trader said the intruders tied the trader up with tape, held a bladed weapon to the trader’s face, and forced the transfer of assets held in crypto wallets and a Ledger hardware wallet.

Binance announced the addition of the RWUSD/USDT spot trading pair at 8:00 a.m. UTC on Oct. 13.

An anonymous whale address starting with 0x13 withdrew another 600,005 UNI worth about $4.28 million from Binance around 40 minutes ago. Exchange withdrawals are typically interpreted as a sign of holding intentions. The address has bought a total of 1,292,895 UNI worth about $9.6 million since Oct. 11. Its average purchase price was $7.42, and it is currently estimated to be sitting on an unrealized loss of about $300,000.