JPMorgan Chase allows cryptocurrency trading; CME launches SOL and XRP options trading

Headline

▌JPMorgan Chase: Will allow customers to trade Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, but has not yet launched custody services

JPMorgan Chase confirmed on CNBC that they will allow customers to trade Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, but have not yet launched custody services.

▌CME launches SOL and XRP options trading

CME has launched Solana (SOL) and XRP options trading.

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC price is $115,450, with a 24-hour increase or decrease of +0.3%;

ETH price is $4,250.58, with a 24-hour increase or decrease of +2.6%;

BNB price is $1,293.85, with a 24-hour increase or decrease of -0.5%;

+6.2%;

DOGE price is $0.2146, with a 24-hour increase or decrease of +3.4%;

XRP price is $2.61, with a 24-hour increase or decrease of +3.4%;

TRX price is $0.3233, with a 24-hour increase or decrease of +0.1%;

▌Singapore Court Approves WazirX's Restructuring Plan

Bitinning founder Kashif Raza posted on the X platform, "The Singapore Court has approved WazirX's restructuring plan. I still believe Nischal (WazirX co-founder) should ensure: Customers should not suffer losses, as the market price has doubled since then; No more delays and excuses; No more form filling; Withdrawals enabled before Diwali."

▌Ant Group's Acquisition of Stablecoin Stock Yaoche Securities Receives Approval from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission

According to Caixin on the 13th, Ant Group's tender offer to acquire Hong Kong-based brokerage and stablecoin stock Yaoche Securities has been approved by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, six months after the announcement. However, Yaoche Securities still awaits approval from the National Development and Reform Commission, and its intraday trading price surged 30%. In April of this year, Ant Group announced a tender offer to acquire a 50.55% stake in Bright Smart Securities. At the time, market rumors circulated that Ant's acquisition of Bright Smart Securities was intended to secure a virtual asset trading platform license. Bright Smart Securities is a long-established Hong Kong brokerage firm, holding Hong Kong licenses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9, covering Hong Kong and US stocks, the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, financing, and futures trading. During the Hong Kong stablecoin craze of July and August, Bright Smart Securities was also a popular stablecoin concept stock. OpenAI announced a multi-year chip partnership with Broadcom. The partnership covers 10GW of computing power, and the two companies plan to establish a customized digital center by 2026. CoinShares: Digital asset investment products saw a net inflow of $3.17 billion last week. According to CoinShares' latest weekly data, digital asset investment products saw a net inflow of $3.17 billion last week, bringing the total inflow for the year to a record $48.7 billion. Bitcoin led with $2.67 billion in inflows, followed by Ethereum with $338 million. Inflows into Solver and XRP slowed to $93.3 million and $61.6 million, respectively. Citigroup Plans to Launch Crypto Custody Services in 2026. Citigroup is planning to launch crypto custody services in 2026, a senior executive said in an interview. As Wall Street giants continue to expand their digital currency presence, Citi's move demonstrates the accelerated entry of traditional financial institutions into the sector. Biswarup Chatterjee, Citi's head of global partnerships and innovation for its servicing business, stated that the bank has been developing crypto custody services for the past two to three years and has made substantial progress. Chatterjee stated, "We are exploring multiple fronts and hope to launch a trusted custody solution for our asset management and other institutional clients within the next few quarters." BitMine increased its holdings by 202,000 ETH last week, completing half of its goal to acquire 5% of the ETH supply. According to an update released on the 13th by Ethereum treasury company BitMine, BitMine increased its holdings by 202,000 ETH last week. BitMine now holds a total of 3.032 million ETH, representing 2.5% of the total ETH supply, and halfway to its goal of acquiring 5% of the ETH supply. The average cost price of BitMine's ETH reserves is $4,154. In addition, BitMine revealed it has $104 million in unsecured cash on hand. Ethereum Stablecoin Activity Reaches New High, Surpassing 1 Million Unique Sending Addresses Per Week. In 2025, the number of unique sending addresses for stablecoins on Ethereum reached an average of 720,000 per week, exceeding 1 million for the first time in the past two weeks. This number has grown exponentially over the past year, averaging over 1.7% per week since August 2024. Analysis indicates that this growth is primarily driven by increased stablecoin adoption. Furthermore, perpetual swaps, prediction markets, and most real asset tokenization (RWA) projects all use stablecoins for settlement, and each new application generates a significant number of new addresses. As a primary settlement layer, Ethereum captures deposits, rebalancing, and payment flows, driving the increase in active addresses.

▌Strategy acquired 220 BTC for approximately $27.2 million last week

Strategy acquired 220 BTC for approximately $27.2 million last week, at a price of approximately $123,561 per Bitcoin, and achieved a 25.9% BTC return so far in 2025. As of October 12, 2025, Strategy held 640,250 BTC, acquired for approximately $47.38 billion, at a price of approximately $74,000 per Bitcoin.

▌Bitcoin Treasury Company Empery Digital Secures $100 Million in New Credit Facility

Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin Treasury Company Empery Digital announced that it has reached an agreement with Two Prime Lending to secure $100 million in new credit facilities. The company also announced an increase in its share repurchase program to $150 million, having repurchased 6,740,482 shares of common stock as of October 10.

▌BNB Chain and Four.Meme Jointly Launch $45 Million BNB Airdrop

BNB Chain and Four.Meme, in partnership with PancakeSwap, Binance Wallet, and Trust Wallet, will launch a $45 million Reload airdrop on BNB Chain for the Meme Coin community. This event will distribute $45 million in BNB to over 160,000 users/addresses that traded Meme Coin in the past week. The airdrop amounts will be randomly allocated. The first batch of airdrops will begin this week, and all 160,000+ addresses are expected to receive their airdrops by early November 2025. China Renaissance Capital is in talks to establish a $600 million fund to invest in BNB, with YZI Labs participating. According to Bloomberg, China Renaissance Capital is in talks with investors to raise approximately $600 million to establish a dedicated investment vehicle for BNB investment. YZI Labs is expected to participate in the project.

▌Xinhuo Technology CEO Weng Xiaoqi: There's no need to be overly pessimistic, as sharp declines and rebounds are typical characteristics of bull markets.

Xinhuo Technology CEO Weng Xiaoqi told the media that after the sharp drop in the early morning of October 11th, mainstream cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH rebounded rapidly, with some even reaching new highs. Bull markets often experience sharp declines, often followed by rapid rebounds. This is a typical bull market characteristic. In contrast, bear markets are characterized by sustained declines. Amidst continued interest rate cuts and the expected release of liquidity, industry fundamentals have not reversed. Weng Xiaoqi also believes that the true scale of liquidations in this sharp drop far exceeds $20 billion, with many institutions and large investors facing short-term liquidity crises. Considerable volatility cannot be ruled out in the short term, and historically, a second bottom has not been ruled out after a sharp drop. Non-professionals are discouraged from using leverage, and we should always respect the market. On the other hand, Weng Xiaoqi believes there's no need for overly pessimistic outlooks. Liquidations also present opportunities for the industry, weakening the forces of repeated market manipulation. Once the market consolidates and establishes a direction, the momentum may actually intensify. Currently, the prices of many crypto assets are below the cost of DAT companies that previously established positions. For example, BMNR's average holding price for ETH is over $4,500, while the current ETH price is around $4,100. This is a positive development for DAT companies that haven't yet established positions. This sharp drop stems from an overreaction to Trump's TACO diplomacy. High volatility is likely in the short term, and market risks warrant attention. However, after experiencing continued political volatility, the market will desensitize to the stress, leading to a more stable development of the industry. STBL to Launch Buyback Program at the End of October STBL founder and CEO Avtar Sehra announced plans to launch a buyback program at the end of October 2025, with repurchases to be paid in USST tokens. Holders can stake their earned USST in the upcoming Multi-Factor Staking (MFS) module to increase their returns. STBL will also announce USST liquidity channels, allowing users to withdraw or continue staking. Tether minted an additional 1 billion USDT, according to Whale Alert. The Tether Treasury minted an additional 1,000,000,000 USDT at approximately 04:40 Beijing time today. USDC Treasury minted 250 million USDC on Solana, according to Whale Alert. USDC Treasury minted 250 million USDC on Solana at 16:21:33 Beijing time yesterday.

Important Economic Developments

Federal Reserve Bank's Paulson Supports Two More 25 Basis Point Rate Cuts in 2025

Federal Reserve Bank's Anna Paulson said she supports two more 25 basis point rate cuts this year. Paulson said monetary policy should ignore the impact of tariffs on consumer prices, as she believes the conditions for tariff-induced price increases to become sustained inflation are not in place. Paulson expects the economy to continue growing above trend in the third quarter, but she also noted that the foundations supporting growth are narrow, and some business contacts have expressed doubts about where future demand will come from.

Federal Reserve Bank's Paulson: Achieving a 2% Inflation Rate is Important

Federal Reserve Bank's Paulson said that if inflation surges, the Fed will have to act, and achieving a 2% inflation rate is crucial.

▌The probability of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in October is 98.3%

According to CME's "Fed Watch": The probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in October is 1.7%, and the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut is 98.3%. The probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in December is 0%, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut is 4.5%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut is 95.5%.

Golden Encyclopedia

▌Is independent Bitcoin mining feasible?

Independent mining involves a single miner independently verifying Bitcoin transactions and adding new blocks to the blockchain without cooperating with others in a mining pool. This process requires significant computing power and resources as miners compete with a global network of participants to find a hash that meets the Bitcoin network's current difficulty target. It involves repeatedly hashing the block header with different nonce values ​​until a valid hash is found. The first miner to discover this hash earns the right to add the new block to the blockchain and receives a reward in the form of newly minted Bitcoin and transaction fees. Independent mining has the potential to yield lucrative returns. However, compared to collective mining, the chances of success are relatively low, especially given the fierce competition and increasing difficulty of the mining process. Independent mining is like playing the lottery with a powerful computer, but instead of selecting numbers, you rapidly try different combinations to find the winning ticket. The rewards can be substantial, but the odds of success are low, especially with the rise of industrial-scale mining farms dominating the network. Factors affecting the viability of independent Bitcoin mining in 2025 include the increasing difficulty of mining, the high cost and energy consumption of ASIC hardware, competition from industrial mining farms, and the unpredictable nature of finding a winning block independently. Alternatives to solo Bitcoin mining include pooled mining (which offers more stable returns by sharing block rewards) and cloud mining (which eliminates hardware ownership but carries risks such as contract volatility and potential scams). Given the challenges of solo mining, individuals may want to consider alternatives that offer more stable returns and lower risk.