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The issuer of the USDC stablecoin (a coin with an exchange rate pegged to the dollar) laid off about 5% of its employees and spent $9.1 million on it, even though net profit for the quarter grew. The reduction is mentioned in a footnote to the third-quarter report.
On Monday, Brent (the benchmark crude oil grade used to price oil in Europe and Asia) plunged 7.63% to $104.77 per barrel on signals of US-Iran talks. On Tuesday, quotes recovered about 1.1% after a report of a US strike on an Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude (the benchmark grade used to price oil in Europe and Asia) fell to $110.06, losing $3.37 in a day. The reason is not OPEC+, which on Sunday left December quotas unchanged, but Tehran's statement that the Strait of Hormuz could be opened in two days.
The OPEC+ alliance (an association of oil-exporting countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia that regulates production volumes and thereby influences world prices) decided on November 1 not to change production quotas for December. The next meeting is on November 29.
Oil gained $2.63 per barrel on Friday after the fourth tanker attack in the Strait of Hormuz this month. Today seven OPEC+ countries are meeting online, but according to Reuters, everything is decided in advance for December: production will be left as is.
In October, China's economy slowed again: the manufacturing, services and composite business activity indices dropped into contraction territory. The composite indicator plunged from 50.7 to 49.3 - the worst combination in recent months.
On Friday the euro broke below the March 2025 levels against the British pound: the EUR/GBP pair touched 0.8336, a 19-month low. Strong eurozone economic data failed to convince the market, while the pound is rising on expectations that the Bank of England will raise rates as early as next week.
On October 26, miners (companies that mine new BTC) transferred 21,140 BTC to Binance in a single stream - about $1.7 billion at prices at that time. Their own reserves dropped to 1.19 million BTC, nearly a five-plus-year low.
The US Department of Energy (EIA) reported a decline in commercial oil inventories of 1.892 million barrels for the week. The market expected a build of 0.1 million - meaning the data came in opposite to consensus.
The preliminary business activity indices for October came in above forecasts across all three sectors, yet the pound barely gained against the dollar - but it pushed the euro to a 17-month low.
The DXY dollar index (the dollar's exchange rate against a basket of major currencies) has fallen to a three-week low of around 101.50. Over the week, the dollar lost between 0.53% and 0.76% against each of the major currencies.
France has become Europe's main problem: the yield on its 10-year government bonds (OATs) broke through 5%, and the spread with German paper reached 158-160 basis points - the widest since 2011, that is, since the height of the eurozone debt crisis.
The UK economy grew by 0.1% month-on-month in August, against a forecast of a 0.1% decline. After the data release, the pound strengthened, and GBP/USD rose by about 0.37%, to 1.3242.
EUR/GBP fell to 0.8442, the lowest level since June 2025. In less than three weeks, the pair lost about 1.92%, which is a notable move for an usually calm cross rate.
WTI crude oil is rising for the fifth consecutive session and has climbed above $94 per barrel after new attacks in Saudi Arabia. The market is again pricing in heightened risk of supply disruptions in the Middle East, despite rising OPEC+ production.
Strategy added 250 BTC for $21.5 million in a week, whereas two weeks ago it acquired 1,665 BTC. At the same time, the company allocated $192 million to buy back STRC preferred shares, almost nine times more than for Bitcoin.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs lost $244.1 million on October 8, and a day earlier the outflow was $484.9 million. Over two sessions, about $729 million exited the category, while Ethereum ETFs remain in the red for the eighth consecutive trading day.
ESMA has required MiCA-licensed crypto exchanges, brokers, and custodians to cease services with stablecoins that do not meet European regulatory requirements. A deadline of January 8, 2027 has been set for closing and transferring existing positions.
On October 8, WTI oil rose to $90.87 and at one point approached $91.00, gaining about 3% in a day. The rise was supported by new attacks on facilities in Saudi Arabia, risks to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, and a decline in US oil inventories.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs lost $484.9 million in a single session, marking the largest daily outflow since June 25. After that, October's overall result turned from positive to negative and now stands at about -$163 million.
FinCEN has withdrawn from consideration two major draft rules for cryptocurrencies: reporting on transfers to personal wallets from $10,000 and a separate control regime for crypto mixers. Both proposals had been under consideration for years but never came into force.
In August, the number of job openings in the US declined to 7.079 million versus the expected 7.225-7.230 million. At the same time, hires and layoffs remained nearly unchanged.
