Bitcoin Below $80,000 After Fed Holds Rates and Tech Shares Weaken

Bitcoin Below $80,000 After Fed Holds Rates and Tech Shares Weaken

by | Oct 30, 2026 | Tech

Bitcoin below $80,000 became the story of early trading on October 29 as markets digested the Federal Reserve's decision to leave interest rates unchanged and the hawkish dissent that accompanied it, according to NewsBTC. The move put the largest cryptocurrency back under a round-number level that traders watch closely.

The decline matters because it arrived as investors were simultaneously repricing interest-rate expectations and cutting exposure to technology shares, two forces that increasingly move crypto prices. NewsBTC reported that dollar financing rates, appetite for tech stocks, brokerage activity and institutional allocation decisions can all feed into crypto demand, so a shift in any one of them can ripple through digital asset prices within a single session.

The session therefore drew attention beyond crypto desks, because it tested how the asset behaves when monetary policy and equity sentiment deteriorate at the same time. According to the reporting, the selling pressure reflected conventional market transmission rather than any change specific to Bitcoin itself.

Fed Holds Rates With Two Hawkish Dissents

The Federal Open Market Committee kept its benchmark rate target range at 3.75% to 4.00%, and the official statement confirms two votes in favor of raising it. The statement passed 10-2, with Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack voting for a quarter-point hike.

The committee's own language signaled it is not ready to commit to a direction. "The accumulation of more information will help the Committee determine the policy stance appropriate to ensure a timely return of inflation to the Committee's 2 percent goal," the FOMC said in its statement.

Charles Schwab's analysts framed the outcome in their FOMC meeting write-up as the Fed choosing patience and leaving rates unchanged. A split vote in which the dissenters want to tighten, however, shifts the market conversation toward whether the next move could be up rather than down, and that reframing reached trading desks within hours of the release.

For crypto markets, the practical consequence was a rate outlook that carried more uncertainty than the price had reflected going into the meeting. Two votes for an increase do not change policy on their own, but they tell investors that tightening remains a live option, and that message landed on a market already positioned for the opposite.

Tech Selloff Pushes Bitcoin Below $80,000

The drop in Bitcoin arrived during Asian hours, when Samsung's semiconductor business fell short of analysts' estimates and the company's shares declined more than 5%, dragging technology stocks down with them, Coinspeaker reported. The weakness in chip names then carried over into crypto, according to the outlet.

History offers a pattern for days like this: a decline of more than one percent in tech futures seldom leaves Bitcoin untouched, and Thursday played out along those lines, one report noted. The linkage reflects how higher-for-longer rate expectations raise the cost of carrying leveraged positions while supporting cash and short-term instruments, conditions that weigh on both tech shares and crypto assets at the same time.

Fixed-income markets offered a competing pitch for investor cash. "Real yields remain attractive, and there's considerable income available across high-quality fixed-income markets," Rieder said, according to CryptoNews. That argument gains force whenever the Fed signals rates may stay elevated, because it gives investors a reason to demand more from assets that pay nothing.

NewsBTC's reporting placed the day's moves in the same frame, noting that the cost of dollar financing, investor appetite for tech shares, activity at brokerages and the allocation choices of institutions all shape demand for crypto. When several of those channels turn negative together, the effect on prices can be larger than any single catalyst would suggest.

Crowded Positioning Amplifies the Move

Surprises from central banks tend to bite hardest when traders are crowded on one side of the trade, and the Fed's mixed message arrived at a moment when many market participants were still positioned for rate cuts, according to the reporting. That backdrop helps explain why an ambiguous hold with two hawkish votes was enough to push prices lower without any change in policy itself.

The reporting also sketched a longer-term channel: should the Fed drift toward keeping rates higher for an extended period, borrowing becomes more expensive and projects operating on thin margins face delays, a dynamic that reaches data center and crypto infrastructure financing alike. A tidy narrative would blame the Fed alone, or Samsung, or Alphabet, but the session reflected all of these pressures landing at once.

Resisting a single-cause story matters for how the move is read, the reporting suggested, because each of the day's catalysts pointed in the same direction for the same underlying reason. Higher expected rates, weaker tech earnings and crowded positioning all reduce the willingness to hold volatile assets, and their convergence produced the slide that took Bitcoin below $80,000.

What Traders Watch Next

Attention now turns to a short list of markers: what Fed officials say next, how equity markets trade, the pace of ETF demand and whether Bitcoin finds its footing once the first reaction passes, NewsBTC reported. The size and timing of any future Fed move remain open questions hanging over each of those signals.

Because the central bank offered no guidance on December, the direction of equities now sets the tone, one report said, adding that a rebound in tech futures from their 1.1% decline would likely keep Bitcoin above the $80,000 line. Coinspeaker reached a similar conclusion, writing that ETF buyers returned this week but the Fed left December open and the price remains hostage to tech stocks.

Until one of those markers resolves, the reporting suggests the market is likely to trade off the same forces that produced the October 29 slide. Fed communication and equity direction sit at the top of that list, with ETF flows offering a measure of whether institutional demand can absorb the selling that a hawkish rate outlook encourages.

Conclusion

The session that took Bitcoin below $80,000 on October 29 followed a Federal Reserve decision to hold rates at 3.75% to 4.00% with two officials dissenting in favor of a hike, and a selloff in technology shares that began with Samsung in Asian trading. Reporting across outlets attributes the move to the combination of hawkish rate risk and tech weakness rather than any single trigger. The next concrete markers are further Fed communication, the direction of equity markets, ETF flows and whether Bitcoin stabilizes after the initial reaction, with the size and timing of any future Fed move still undecided.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did Bitcoin fall below $80,000 on October 29, 2026?

The drop came in early trading on October 29 as investors weighed the Federal Reserve's decision to leave rates unchanged alongside a hawkish dissent, according to NewsBTC. Coinspeaker reported the decline unfolded in Asian hours after Samsung's semiconductor unit missed estimates, sending its shares down more than 5% and dragging tech stocks lower.

How did the Federal Reserve vote on October 28, and who dissented?

The FOMC held its benchmark rate target range at 3.75% to 4.00%, and the statement passed 10-2. Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack voted for a quarter-point hike, two votes in favor of raising the range that the Fed's official statement confirms.

What did the FOMC statement say about future rate decisions?

The FOMC said: "The accumulation of more information will help the Committee determine the policy stance appropriate to ensure a timely return of inflation to the Committee's 2 percent goal." Charles Schwab's analysts described the outcome as the Fed choosing patience and leaving rates unchanged.

What role did Samsung and tech stocks play in the Bitcoin drop?

Coinspeaker reported the Bitcoin decline unfolded in Asian hours after Samsung's chip unit missed analysts' estimates and its shares slid more than 5%, dragging technology stocks down, with the chip weakness then spreading to crypto. One report noted that a drop of more than one percent in tech futures seldom leaves Bitcoin steady.

What could decide whether Bitcoin holds above $80,000 next?

NewsBTC identified the coming signals as Fed communication, equity-market direction, ETF demand and whether Bitcoin stabilizes after the initial reaction. One report said that with the Fed silent on December, equities set the tone, and a recovery in tech futures from their 1.1% decline would likely keep Bitcoin above $80,000.

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Binance Hack Linked to North Korea’s TraderTraitor After $6.3B Theft

Binance Hack Linked to North Korea’s TraderTraitor After $6.3B Theft

by | Oct 30, 2026 | How to Crypto

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, is investigating a hack that drained roughly $6.3 billion in digital assets on October 29, 2026, an incident blockchain investigators have linked to TraderTraitor, a North Korean state-sponsored hacking operation. The exchange said early findings point to a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer, and it has frozen about $3 billion in affected assets while promising customers they will not bear the losses.

The Binance hack matters beyond its size. At about $6.36 billion, TRM Labs called it "the largest crypto theft on record," roughly four times the $1.5 billion Bybit hack of February 2025, and it lands at a moment when confidence in the industry was already fragile. The attribution to a unit tied to Pyongyang also raises the stakes, since US authorities have said such thefts fund North Korea's weapons programs.

TraderTraitor attribution

TRM Labs attributed the Binance hack to TraderTraitor with high confidence, citing what it described as robust onchain and offchain intelligence. "TRM attributes the attack to TraderTraitor, North Korea's elite hacking unit, based on robust on and off-chain intelligence," the firm said. Chainalysis co-founder and CEO Jonathan Levin reached the same conclusion, putting the haul slightly higher at $6.4 billion and pointing to links with earlier attacks.

Independent onchain investigator ZachXBT said funds stolen from Binance and from an earlier Bitget exploit were commingled at the same address after moving through THORChain. "This indicates the same actor is likely behind both incidents," he said, noting the Bitget attack had already been attributed to TraderTraitor. Binance itself has not officially confirmed the attackers' identities.

TraderTraitor began as a US government codename for a cluster of North Korean state-sponsored cyber activity and was named in an April 2022 joint advisory from the FBI, CISA and the US Treasury warning that the group was targeting crypto exchanges and DeFi protocols. Security firms track it under names including Jade Sleet, UNC4899 and Slow Pisces, and it is widely described as a subunit of the Lazarus Group. The FBI says the group targets company employees through social engineering, and US authorities have linked it to the Bybit theft and to the May 2024 theft of more than $300 million from DMM Bitcoin.

TRM said several features of the Binance hack match earlier North Korea-linked heists, including the Bybit hack and the April 2026 KelpDAO hack: small Tornado Cash withdrawals funding an operator wallet, staging that began well before the theft, and signatures obtained in advance then executed in one burst. Blockaid CEO Ido Ben-Natan had earlier told Cointelegraph that the attack's sophistication and onchain preparations resembled North Korean activity. North Korea has previously denied hacking crypto exchanges, Axios noted.

How the Binance hack unfolded

The outflows began on the evening of October 29, when billions of dollars in crypto started leaving Binance wallets. TRM traced every transfer from Binance-attributed wallets to attacker-controlled addresses across ten blockchains, including Ethereum, Bitcoin, Tron, the XRP Ledger, Solana, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism, Base and Polygon, with most of the activity occurring within about 20 minutes starting at 20:05 UTC.

On Ethereum, the attacker used an EIP-7702 delegation to turn a Binance hot wallet into a sweeper it controlled, with 50 pre-signed authorizations prepared in advance. Three minutes and 24 seconds after the delegation, the operator instructed the wallet to send its entire balance to an attacker-controlled address, and it kept sweeping newly arriving funds at 20:41, 20:59, 21:04, 21:44, 22:39 and 23:56 UTC. Between 20:05 and 20:09 UTC, five Binance wallets on the XRP Ledger sent 233.46 million XRP to a single attacker address, and at 20:20 UTC a Binance Bitcoin hot wallet sent 18,270 BTC to the attacker.

In TRM's assessment, the pattern points to a compromise of Binance's hot wallet signing infrastructure, giving the attacker the ability to make the exchange's signing system approve transactions of its choosing across chains. That fits Binance's own account: the exchange said investigators found no evidence of leaked wallet private keys, because access to the internal withdrawal system was enough to push transfers out. Binance has yet to publish a root cause.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao acknowledged the incident on X, writing, It does look like a hack on Binance. Zhao, who stepped down as CEO in 2023, said that as a shareholder he expected all affected users to be fully compensated. The outflows were first spotted Thursday evening, when about $2.8 billion was reported leaving Binance wallets before the full scale became clear.

Freezes and the race to recover funds

Binance and its blockchain partners have frozen approximately $3 billion in affected assets. The exchange said at 23:35 UTC on October 29 that the verified total frozen had reached $2.54 billion, and it temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals, revoked affected address authorizations and contacted law enforcement.

Stablecoin issuers moved quickly. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in an X post that the company froze more than $1.5 billion of its stablecoin "related to a potential Binance exchange hack," and Circle Internet Group's Jeremy Allaire said $800 million of its coin had been frozen amid reports of a potential exploit. Binance co-CEO Yi He said Ripple helped stop about $200 million from moving, and World Liberty Financial froze the 27.8 million USD1 in the main receiving wallet.

The attacker raced the freezes by selling USDT to market makers and borrowing ETH against USDT on Aave, and still controls more than 420,000 ETH and 18,270 BTC, worth about $2.4 billion, plus smaller amounts on other chains. Based on previous large thefts, TRM expects the next stage of laundering to involve cross-chain bridges, swap services and over-the-counter brokers. A Pangolin Intelligence analyst told CNN that "the cat and mouse game has barely begun," expecting North Korea to tap money-laundering networks to cash out.

Market fallout and what Binance owes users

The Binance hack weighed on a market that had been riding a two-month price rebound. "The rumoured Binance hack is definitely driving down coin prices," said Fredrick Collins, chief executive and co-founder of crypto data platform Velo Data, adding that Binance is so central to the industry that any hit to confidence in it is a hit to confidence in the whole sector.

Binance assured customers their funds remained safe and pledged to cover all losses through its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and company resources. The SAFU fund was established in 2018 as a backstop for customers in extreme situations and is generally maintained at around $1 billion, though it has fluctuated with market movements, Binance said in 2024.

The theft came on the same day event-contract venue Polymarket halted trading on its international exchange for an hour after saying a third-party software provider was compromised. Two days before the Binance theft, on October 27, the exchange said it had blocked a week of North Korea-linked attacks from a campaign known as Contagious Interview, which uses fake job interviews to trick developers into running malicious code; Binance has not said whether the compromised engineer's laptop is connected to that campaign.

Conclusion

The Binance hack is the largest cryptocurrency theft on record at roughly $6.36 billion, and three separate investigators, TRM Labs, Chainalysis and ZachXBT, have linked it to North Korea's TraderTraitor unit with high confidence, though Binance has not confirmed the attribution. About $3 billion has been frozen, but the attacker still holds an estimated $2.4 billion in ETH and BTC.

The next concrete steps are Binance's updated Proof of Reserves and a comprehensive technical post-mortem, which the exchange has said it will release once its findings are verified. Investigators, meanwhile, are watching for the stolen funds to move through bridges, swap services and over-the-counter brokers.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much was stolen in the Binance hack on October 29, 2026?

TRM Labs traced approximately $6.36 billion moving out of Binance wallets across ten blockchains, most of it within about 20 minutes starting at 20:05 UTC. Binance has put the impact at about $6.3 billion, while Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin estimated $6.4 billion. It is the largest crypto theft on record, roughly four times the $1.5 billion Bybit hack.

Who is TraderTraitor, the group linked to the Binance hack?

TraderTraitor is a North Korean state-sponsored hacking operation, originally a US government codename used in an April 2022 joint advisory from the FBI, CISA and the US Treasury. Security firms track it as Jade Sleet, UNC4899 and Slow Pisces, and it is widely described as a subunit of the Lazarus Group. US authorities have linked it to the Bybit and DMM Bitcoin thefts.

Will Binance users get their money back after the $6.3 billion hack?

Binance said user funds are safe and pledged to cover all losses through its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and company resources. Founder Changpeng Zhao, who stepped down as CEO in 2023, said that as a shareholder he expected all affected users to be fully compensated. The SAFU fund, set up in 2018, is generally maintained at around $1 billion.

How did attackers pull off the Binance hack without private keys?

Binance's preliminary investigation points to a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer, and the exchange said it found no evidence of leaked wallet private keys. TRM Labs assesses the attacker gained the ability to make Binance's hot wallet signing infrastructure approve transactions of its choosing across ten blockchains, including an EIP-7702 delegation that turned an Ethereum hot wallet into an attacker-controlled sweeper.

How much of the stolen Binance funds has been frozen?

Binance and its blockchain partners have frozen approximately $3 billion in affected assets. Tether froze more than $1.5 billion of its stablecoin and Circle froze $800 million, while Ripple and World Liberty Financial also blocked funds. The attacker still controls more than 420,000 ETH and 18,270 BTC, worth about $2.4 billion.

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Cisco AI Code Rewrite Led by 27-Year-Old Engineer With Unlimited Tokens

Cisco AI Code Rewrite Led by 27-Year-Old Engineer With Unlimited Tokens

by | Oct 30, 2026 | How to Crypto

Cisco has put one of its most consequential engineering jobs in the hands of a 27-year-old engineer who, until recently, sat five rungs below the executive suite, launching a Cisco AI code rewrite. President and chief product officer Jeetu Patel personally selected the engineer to lead the major code refactoring effort and gave him an unlimited budget for AI usage, according to Crypto Briefing.

The appointment is one piece of a much larger push inside the networking company. Roughly 32,000 engineers at Cisco are being shifted toward building software in an AI-centric way, and the Cisco AI code rewrite sits at the center of that transition.

The decision to elevate a junior staffer, rather than a senior manager, signals how Patel wants the program to run. He bypassed the layers of leadership between his office and the engineering ranks and handed the assignment directly to the person he wanted doing the work.

Unlimited tokens for the Cisco AI code rewrite

Patel described the move at a small roundtable dinner with Fortune. He said the engineer he chose was positioned five levels below him in the company hierarchy, and that he reached down through the org chart to find him rather than promoting through the usual management channels.

"I've given him unlimited tokens because he's going to refactor code," Patel told Fortune. "So I'm like, you can go, you can go nuts."

In AI systems, text is broken into small units called tokens that models take in and produce, and providers bill customers based on how many of those units are consumed. An uncapped budget therefore removes one of the main constraints on how aggressively an engineer can point AI at a codebase. The assignment itself, refactoring, involves restructuring existing code while leaving its behavior unchanged.

That combination of an open-ended budget and a narrowly defined technical task is unusual inside a large corporation. Most developers working with AI tools operate under usage limits tied to cost controls, which makes the freedom Patel granted this engineer stand out within the Cisco AI code rewrite.

Six AI-written products targeted by end of 2026

The company has laid out concrete targets for the strategy. Cisco's goal is to ship six products written entirely by AI before the close of 2026, and by 2027 it wants AI to generate 70% of its offerings in full, according to Crypto Briefing. Alongside those goals, the company plans to wipe out all of its legacy code over the next two years.

Early results offer some support for the timeline. In one project, engineers used the approach to cut a codebase down from 500,000 lines to 120,000 lines over the course of two weeks, an outcome that helps explain why Patel is willing to stake an uncapped token budget on a single engineer.

That reduction, removing more than three quarters of the lines in the original codebase in a fortnight, is the clearest evidence cited so far that the method can operate at the speed the 2026 and 2027 targets would require. Whether it scales across the full product line is the question the Cisco AI code rewrite now has to answer.

Founder mode inside a decades-old incumbent

Patel has described the strategy in terms of founder mode, running Cisco with the habits of a young startup even though it is an incumbent that has operated for decades. Under that framing, AI takes over the routine portions of coding, and human engineers are left to concentrate on problems that are harder and carry more strategic weight.

The mandate has teeth. Patel has made adoption of AI tools compulsory across the engineering organization, and employees who do not comply face potential risks to their jobs, according to Crypto Briefing.

The founder mode framing also helps explain the choice of leader for the refactoring work. Picking a 27-year-old from five levels down, rather than a veteran executive, fits a model where speed and direct contact with the work matter more than tenure.

Token budgets folded into headcount decisions

The company has begun merging token budgets with the headcount budgets that managers control. Because money for AI usage and money for hiring now come from a single pool, each manager must weigh the choice directly: bring on another engineer, or spend the same funds on additional compute. That structure pushes the philosophy behind the Cisco AI code rewrite into routine resourcing decisions across the company.

The internal push comes as Cisco's external AI business expands. Orders for the company's AI infrastructure business have reached $9.3 billion over the last two years, giving Cisco a commercial stake in the same technology it is now turning on its own code.

Taken together, the budget mechanics, the hiring trade-off and the infrastructure order book show a company aligning its internal engineering practices with the market it sells into. The unlimited tokens granted to one young engineer are the most visible expression of that alignment, but the policy changes underneath it affect every manager in the engineering organization.

Conclusion

Cisco has handed a 27-year-old engineer, plucked from five levels below the executive suite, an unlimited AI token budget to lead a major code refactoring effort, according to Crypto Briefing. The appointment anchors a company-wide shift of roughly 32,000 engineers toward AI-centric software development. The next concrete milestones are the targets Patel has set: six fully AI-written products by the end of 2026, 70% of offerings entirely AI-generated by 2027, and the elimination of all legacy code within two years.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who did Jeetu Patel pick to lead Cisco's code refactoring effort?

Patel, Cisco's president and chief product officer, picked a 27-year-old engineer who sat five levels below the executive suite in the company hierarchy. He described the selection at a small roundtable dinner with Fortune, according to Crypto Briefing.

What does unlimited AI tokens mean for the Cisco engineer?

AI models process language by breaking it into small units called tokens, and vendors charge customers based on how many of those units are consumed. An unlimited budget means the engineer can run AI tools against Cisco's code without a spending cap, a freedom Patel confirmed when he told Fortune the engineer could go nuts.

What are Cisco's AI product goals for 2026 and 2027?

Cisco aims to have six fully AI-written products by the end of 2026, and by 2027 it wants 70% of its offerings to be entirely AI-generated, according to Crypto Briefing. Separately, the company intends to retire every line of its legacy code over a two-year period.

How fast has Cisco's AI refactoring worked so far?

In a single project, the AI-driven approach reduced a codebase from half a million lines down to 120,000 lines over two weeks, according to Crypto Briefing. That outcome is the clearest data point so far suggesting the method can operate quickly.

How is Cisco pushing its 32,000 engineers to adopt AI?

Adoption of AI tools is now compulsory across the engineering organization, and employees who resist could put their jobs at risk, according to Crypto Briefing. Cisco has also folded token budgets into managers' headcount budgets, forcing a direct trade-off between hiring another engineer and buying more compute.

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Uniswap, Aave or Avalanche: Which DeFi Coin Has the Most Upside After October’s Slide?

Uniswap, Aave or Avalanche: Which DeFi Coin Has the Most Upside After October’s Slide?

by | Oct 30, 2026 | DEX

Uniswap, Aave and Avalanche, three of the most recognized names in DeFi, each surrendered their summer gains during October 2026, according to 24/7 Wall St. The question of which DeFi coin has the most upside now turns on token supply, live catalysts and where demand has stalled.

The comparison matters because each token rallied on a different driver before the reversal. Uniswap landed CME futures, Aave drew attention from Citi, and Avalanche jumped 55% on a single upgrade, yet all three crashed back down, 24/7 Wall St. reported.

Where the Three DeFi Coins Stand

AAVE trades at $132 after falling 14.6% over the past week, while AVAX changes hands at $9, down 16.3% for the month, 24/7 Wall St. reported. UNI is priced at $7, off 20.2% over the past month.

Each coin now sits well below a recent peak it would need to reclaim. UNI reached $10 on September 22, 2026, AAVE topped out at $184 on October 5, and AVAX hit $12 on October 6, according to 24/7 Wall St.

Measured by market capitalization, Uniswap is the largest of the group with a value of $4.39 billion, placing it 26th across the crypto market. Avalanche sits one spot behind in 27th place at $3.94 billion, while Aave holds the 49th position at $2.04 billion, even though AAVE carries the highest per-token price of the three, 24/7 Wall St. reported.

Supply Math Favors Aave

Aave's supply is nearly fully issued, with about 15.4 million AAVE circulating out of a hard cap of 16 million. Because so few tokens remain to be released, the fully diluted valuation of $2.12 billion is almost identical to the current market cap, so fresh demand meets a fixed supply, a setup 24/7 Wall St. said makes a price recovery easier.

Uniswap's circulating supply stands at 624.4 million UNI against a maximum of 1 billion tokens, which works out to a fully diluted valuation of $6.23 billion. Avalanche has roughly 444 million AVAX circulating out of a 720 million cap, and 24/7 Wall St.'s October 22, 2026 analysis calculated that today's circulating AVAX, priced at its 2021 peak, would carry a value of roughly $64.3 billion, exceeding the $61.6 billion market cap Solana held at the time.

That supply growth raises the bar for Avalanche. AVAX's all-time high of $145 would represent a far larger network valuation today than it did in November 2021, according to 24/7 Wall St.

Uniswap's CME Catalyst Fades

Uniswap's biggest recent catalyst came from CME Group, which listed UNI futures. The announcement pushed UNI up 13.7% to close at $10, but the futures began trading on October 19, 2026, without sparking a rebound, 24/7 Wall St. reported.

The trading activity behind Uniswap's fees is also shrinking. Spot volume on decentralized exchanges now totals $37.2 billion per week, a drop of 36.5% since late August 2026, according to CryptoRank data cited by 24/7 Wall St.

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes added to the pressure by taking profits on UNI and other altcoins on October 24, 2026, 24/7 Wall St. reported.

Aave operates in crypto lending: depositors put up digital assets to collect interest or take out loans against them, and the protocol retains a portion of that interest. Citi Research, the research arm of Citigroup, has identified Aave as a possible leader in lending against tokenized assets, and Aave launched Horizon, an institutional market, on August 26, 2025.

That usage connects to AAVE's price through buybacks, where the protocol uses revenue to purchase AAVE on the open market. Founder Stani Kulechov introduced Aavenomics 3.0 in June 2026, a plan that would send all protocol revenue to holders by default, though it still depends on governance votes, 24/7 Wall St. reported.

The token also faces pressure from a whale. A wallet tied to an institution, inactive for more than a year, shifted $22.9 million worth of AAVE onto exchanges, the kind of move that frequently comes ahead of a sale, though 24/7 Wall St.'s October 27, 2026 coverage found no evidence an actual sale has occurred.

Separately, Aave has frozen its lending markets on Avalanche in a bid to keep a suspected Binance hacker from borrowing through the protocol, Crypto Briefing reported. Investigators have tied roughly 1.81 million AVAX and 8.4 million USDT to the incident, and that AVAX stash is the reason Aave acted, according to Crypto Briefing.

By freezing the Avalanche markets, Aave aims to deny the hacker the ability to deposit the tokens as collateral and borrow against them. Tether and Circle, the two major stablecoin issuers, have likewise frozen assets connected to the suspicious transactions, and Aave has reported no direct losses from the episode, Crypto Briefing reported.

Avalanche's Stalled ETF Demand

Avalanche is a blockchain that hosts DeFi apps, with AVAX covering network fees. U.S. spot Avalanche ETFs had pulled in $31.6 million in cumulative net inflows by October 21, 2026, yet recorded no net inflows at all from October 9 to October 21 after a $2.5 million inflow on October 8, 24/7 Wall St. reported.

Intercontinental Exchange tests and the Helicon upgrade drove AVAX up 55%, from $8 on September 17, 2026, to $12, but the token gave back 8% after Helicon went live. CertiK later flagged an Avalanche vault that lost roughly $1.01 million in USD Coin when a scheduled accounting update allowed borrowers to tap credit they had already drawn on.

Which DeFi Coin Has the Most Upside

On the question of which DeFi coin has the most upside, 24/7 Wall St. ranks Aave first, citing lending fees as the most direct link between real usage and token value, along with a supply that is nearly all in circulation. Uniswap takes second place, the sole token of the trio still holding a 10.8% gain over the past year, though falling DEX volume undercuts its momentum, while Avalanche ranks last on stalled ETF demand and a large supply still to come.

For AAVE, 24/7 Wall St. said whales would need to leave coins on exchanges unsold, and the token must climb back above its 50-day average around $150 and its 20-day average around $153 before a run at the $184 peak turns realistic. The downside line is $120, and a close below it would send AAVE toward its 200-day average near $107, a scenario in which Uniswap would take over as the stronger pick, according to 24/7 Wall St.

Conclusion

All three tokens enter November 2026 well below their recent highs, with UNI at $7, AAVE at $132 and AVAX at $9. 24/7 Wall St.'s ranking puts Aave first on its near-fixed supply and revenue-driven buybacks, Uniswap second and Avalanche third. The immediate tests are concrete: whether the $22.9 million in AAVE moved to exchanges stays unsold, whether AAVE holds the $120 support, and how long Aave keeps its Avalanche lending markets frozen while the Binance investigation continues.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which DeFi coin has the most upside between Uniswap, Aave and Avalanche?

24/7 Wall St. ranks Aave first, citing lending fees as the most direct link between real usage and token value and a supply that is almost fully issued. Uniswap ranks second and Avalanche last, on stalled ETF demand and a large supply still to be released.

What price levels must AAVE reclaim before retesting its $184 high?

According to 24/7 Wall St., AAVE must first climb back above its 50-day average around $150 and its 20-day average around $153 before the October 5 peak of $184 becomes realistic. A close below $120 support would send it toward the 200-day average near $107.

Why did Aave freeze its Avalanche lending markets in October 2026?

Aave froze the markets to stop a suspected Binance hacker from depositing stolen AVAX as collateral and borrowing against it, Crypto Briefing reported. About 1.81 million AVAX and 8.4 million USDT have been linked to the incident, and Tether and Circle also froze related assets.

How did Uniswap's CME futures listing affect the UNI price?

CME Group's announcement of UNI futures pushed the token up 13.7% to close at $10, but the futures began trading on October 19, 2026, without sparking a rebound, 24/7 Wall St. reported. UNI has since fallen to $7, down 20.2% over the past month.

Why does Avalanche's token supply work against a recovery to its all-time high?

About 444 million AVAX circulate out of a 720 million cap, and 24/7 Wall St. found the circulating supply could be worth around $64.3 billion at its 2021 peak price. That means the $145 all-time high would imply a far larger network valuation today than in November 2021.

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Coinbase Tokenized Stocks on Base Reach $4B in DEX Trading Volume

Coinbase Tokenized Stocks on Base Reach $4B in DEX Trading Volume

by | Oct 30, 2026 | DEX

Coinbase tokenized stocks issued on the exchange's Base network have reached $4 billion in cumulative decentralized exchange trading volume, according to data shared by Token Terminal and reported by Crypto Briefing on Friday.

The milestone points to sustained demand for the product, which lets eligible investors outside the United States trade blockchain-based tokens tied to U.S. equities, and it arrives as Coinbase works to reduce its reliance on spot crypto trading revenue.

How the Coinbase tokenized stocks work

The tokens, known as B20 tokens, represent U.S. equities and are backed one-to-one by shares held with a regulated custodian, Crypto Briefing reported. Minting and redemption are limited to KYC-approved participants, while secondary-market trading takes place permissionlessly among eligible users outside the United States.

On Base, Coinbase's Ethereum layer-2 network, users can trade tokens linked to Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, Tesla and Strategy, according to a Bloomingbit report. The underlying shares sit with a regulated custodian, and the tokens can move on-chain or be used in decentralized finance applications.

Coinbase has described the tokenized equities as securities redeemable for their underlying assets, with dividend exposure and voting rights being implemented, TradingKey reported. The company has recorded $3 billion in tokenized-equity trading volume on Base since opening the product to non-U.S. customers, a figure that measures activity on its own venue rather than the broader DEX total.

Lending and collateral use expands

Use of Coinbase tokenized stocks is spreading beyond trading. Aave, a decentralized lending protocol, now accepts seven of the Coinbase-issued tokenized stocks on Base as collateral for USDC borrowing, according to the Bloomingbit report, and services on the network now let users pledge tokens tied to U.S. stocks such as Apple and Microsoft to borrow stablecoins.

Deposits on Aave V4 reached $10.1 million, roughly 53% of the $18.9 million deposited across DeFi venues, according to Token Terminal data cited by Yahoo Finance. That $18.9 million remains small next to the $245.9 billion of assets Coinbase held on its platform at June 30.

Credit and brokerage products built around tokenized stocks are also being developed with support from Base, the report said. The circulating value of tokenized stocks overall rose about 18% over the past 30 days to roughly $3.84 billion, according to Blockworks data cited by Bitcoin.com on October 28.

Armstrong sees assets moving on-chain

Brian Armstrong, Coinbase's chief executive officer, said in a post on X that all asset classes are shifting on-chain, adding that tokenized stocks and stablecoins are expanding rapidly with additional assets expected to follow, according to Bloomingbit.

The company competes in the tokenized stock market alongside Ondo, xStocks and Securitize. Blockworks co-founder Jason Yanowitz called the tokenized stock market's expansion one of the fastest-growing charts in tech.

Management told investors that tokenized-equity volume on Base showed early momentum in the third quarter, alongside growth in agentic trading through the company's MCP API and continued USDC adoption, TradingKey reported. Sequencer fees are currently the most direct source of monetization for the activity on Base.

Volume milestone lands after third-quarter report

The DEX volume figure follows Coinbase's third-quarter 2026 results, reported after the close on Thursday, October 29. The company said revenue was broadly flat quarter over quarter even as overall crypto spot trading volume fell 10% sequentially, with prediction markets helping to offset the weaker spot activity, according to TradingKey.

Services revenue accounted for roughly 49% of total net revenue in the quarter, reflecting the company's shift toward a more diversified revenue mix. Coinbase's prediction markets business, which debuted in February 2026, passed a $200 million annualized revenue run rate in the period and ranked among the company's fastest-growing new revenue products, TradingKey reported.

Yahoo Finance noted ahead of the report that Armstrong's push into AI agents, stablecoins and tokenized stocks remained too small in dollar terms to move quarterly revenue, with Coinbase shares down 31% this year. Wall Street projects $5.30 billion in 2026 revenue, a decline of roughly 26% from the $7.18 billion recorded in 2025, according to Yahoo Finance.

Base token speculation persists

The activity around Coinbase tokenized stocks has fed expectations about Base's ecosystem, including the possibility of a Base token launch, Crypto Briefing reported. Market odds on a Base token arriving by the end of 2026 are still low, though YES probabilities ticked slightly higher over the past 24 hours.

Markets are watching for further announcements from Coinbase, particularly around a potential Base token, and observers are also tracking regulatory updates and public statements from company executives that could shift the perceived likelihood of a launch by year-end, according to Crypto Briefing.

Coinbase management has stressed that durable differentiation will come from liquidity and network effects, not from issuing a token by itself, TradingKey reported. The company is also folding its acquired crypto options platform into a single regulated global exchange spanning perpetual futures, options and futures, and plans to relaunch its advanced trading platform under the Coinbase Pro brand.

Conclusion

Coinbase tokenized stocks on Base have accumulated $4 billion in decentralized exchange volume, according to Token Terminal data, with the tokens backed one-to-one by custodied shares and increasingly used as collateral in DeFi lending through Aave. The product remains small relative to Coinbase's overall business but is growing as the company diversifies beyond spot trading.

The next concrete markers are any announcements from Coinbase on a potential Base token and further regulatory or executive statements that could shape market expectations for a launch by the end of 2026, according to Crypto Briefing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Coinbase's B20 tokenized stocks on Base?

B20 tokens are blockchain-based tokens issued on Coinbase's Base network that represent U.S. equities, with each token backed by a corresponding share held at a regulated custodian. Only KYC-approved participants can mint or redeem the tokens, while secondary trading occurs permissionlessly among eligible users outside the United States.

How much DEX trading volume have Coinbase tokenized stocks reached?

Coinbase tokenized stocks on Base have reached $4 billion in cumulative decentralized exchange trading volume, according to Token Terminal data reported by Crypto Briefing. Separately, the company said tokenized-equity trading on Base has totaled $3 billion since the product opened to customers outside the United States.

Which U.S. stocks can be traded as tokens on Base?

Tokens on Base are linked to shares of Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, Tesla and Strategy, according to a Bloomingbit report. The service is offered to eligible investors outside the United States, with underlying shares held by a regulated custodian.

Can Coinbase tokenized stocks be used as loan collateral?

Yes. The Aave lending protocol accepts seven of the tokenized stocks Coinbase issues on Base as collateral for USDC loans, according to Bloomingbit. Deposits on Aave V4 reached $10.1 million, about 53% of the $18.9 million across DeFi venues, per Token Terminal data cited by Yahoo Finance.

Will Coinbase launch a Base token by the end of 2026?

Market pricing for a Base token launch by the end of 2026 remains low, though YES probabilities rose slightly over the past 24 hours, Crypto Briefing reported. Coinbase management has said lasting differentiation rests on liquidity and network effects, not on issuing a token alone.

Sources

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