CANDY Weekly: The Week in Crypto and the CANDY Ecosystem (Oct 12–18, 2026)

Welcome to CANDY Weekly, your seven-day catch-up from CandyPulse. If you only have five minutes, this is the week in crypto: what moved, what changed and what is happening across the CANDY ecosystem.

Between October 12 and October 18, CandyPulse published 27 stories. Here are the ones worth your time.

CANDY ecosystem

• Building Before the Bell: CANDY Turns Its Roadmap Into a Checklist as the Presale Heats Up: Five products live, including the new CandyMate Club Telegram mini app, one in beta and four more on the way, all while the CANDY presale is still in its first round.

Security

• Bitget Announces Service Changes for Selected Users, Says Exchange Operations Continue: Bitget will discontinue services for a subset of users in a one-off exercise. Affected customers will get official notices with deadlines and withdrawal steps; everyone else can keep trading as normal.
• Crypto Scam Network Disrupted: Brooklyn Prosecutors and FBI Take Down 241 Websites and 112 Servers: A three-year investigation by the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office and the FBI has knocked out 241 scam websites and 112 servers behind a crypto fraud network that cost victims tens of millions of dollars.
• Ledger's Next Chapter: Atom, a Smartphone-Style Hardware Wallet Planned for Mid-2027: Ledger has unveiled Atom, an Android-based, phone-like device that runs everyday apps alongside a protected mode for crypto. It is planned for mid-2027, as Ledger responds to a recent supply-chain incident.
• Ledger Confirms Hidden Implant in Reseller-Sold Wallet as CryptoBilis Halts Sales During Probe: Ledger says one user's device carried an unauthorized hardware implant. The units came through a Southeast Asian reseller, and losses remain unconfirmed.
• XRP Ledger Bug That Could Have Minted XRP Past Its Supply Cap Was Patched Quietly, Then Disclosed: A decade-old overflow flaw in XRPL's payment engine could have created XRP from nothing. It was fixed on Sept. 25, and RippleX says there's no sign anyone exploited it.

Regulation and policy

• Australia Raises the Standards: ASIC Proposes Tougher Safeguards for Crypto Exchanges: Australia's financial watchdog wants crypto exchanges to hold more capital, report their wallets every quarter and stop trading against their own customers. Consultation is open until Nov. 27.
• A Vacancy at the Crypto Desk: Patrick Witt Exits White House Crypto Role: Patrick Witt, executive director of the White House Crypto Council, has left as his temporary assignment ended. He was the council's last remaining staffer, and no replacement has been named.
• More Bitcoin for Strategy? Saylor Hints at a Purchase With a Sunday Chart, but Confirmation Is Pending: Michael Saylor posted his familiar Sunday chart with 117 purchase markers and "room for more orange." No buy has been confirmed, and a holiday may delay the SEC filing.
• Tokenized Stocks Are 1.5 Times as Volatile as the Real Thing, IMF Warns as Off-Hours Trading Booms: The IMF says tokenized equities have found real users, many trading fractions of a share after hours, but thin liquidity makes them about 1.5 times as volatile as ordinary stocks.

Markets, Bitcoin and ETFs

• Circle Targets 40 Markets: USDC Heads for Developing Economies as Payment Demand Grows: Circle plans to take USDC into about 40 emerging and developing markets across Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, betting on demand for digital dollars in everyday payments.
• Deutsche Bank Nears Crypto Custody Launch: Bitcoin and Ether First in Germany, Asia Planned for 2027: Deutsche Bank is weeks away from launching custody for bitcoin and ether in Germany for institutional clients, with an expansion to Asia planned for 2027.
• $52 Million Liquidated in 10 Minutes: Chip-Stock Contracts Crash While Wall Street Was Closed: About $52 million in leveraged bets on chip stocks was wiped out in roughly ten minutes on Saturday, while U.S. markets were closed. Here is how it happened and why weekend trading carries extra risk.
• Bitcoin Reclaims $82,000 After a Brief Dip Below $80,000: Bitcoin slipped below $80,000 after hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data, then bounced back above $82,000 within hours as buyers stepped in. Now traders are watching $84,000.
• Bitcoin Nears $84,000 as Crypto Rebounds After the Fed's Williams Rules Out 2027 Rate Hikes: Bitcoin climbed toward $84,000 in Asian trading after New York Fed President John Williams said he sees no need for rate hikes in 2027. Now all eyes are on Thursday's inflation data.
• Wall Street Goes On-Chain: BNY and Citadel Securities Use a Tokenized Treasury as Repo Collateral: BNY and Citadel Securities settled a tokenized two-year Treasury note in minutes, then used it as collateral in an overnight triparty repo, a first for a major triparty platform.
• Strive Targets a $500 Million Raise That Could Fund More Bitcoin: Bitcoin treasury company Strive plans a $500 million offering of a new preferred stock called SATS, with a 15% fixed dividend. The raise is proposed, not completed, and could fund more bitcoin purchases.
• Bitcoin Meets Banking: Jeonbuk Bank Launches South Korea's First Won Loan Backed by Bitcoin: Jeonbuk Bank now lets businesses pledge Bitcoin for Korean won loans, a first for the country's banks. Pricing details are still unknown, but the legal groundwork is already in place.

More news

• Big Banks, Tokenization, New Business: Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley See Growth, Not a Threat: On their latest earnings calls, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley described tokenization as a way to grow, not something that will eat their business. Here is what each bank said.
• Ripple Meets Privy: Stripe-Owned Wallet Platform Brings Embedded XRP and RLUSD Wallets to Apps: Ripple has partnered with Stripe-owned Privy to bring embedded wallets to the XRP Ledger, letting apps offer XRP and RLUSD payments without building wallets from scratch, and opening the door to AI agent payments.
• Solana's Next Big Upgrade: Alpenglow Set for Oct. 21, Targeting 150ms Finality: Solana's Alpenglow upgrade is scheduled to go live on mainnet-beta on Oct. 21, replacing TowerBFT with Votor and targeting finality of about 150 milliseconds, down from roughly 12.8 seconds.

Guides and analysis

• You Set the Goal, Agents Do the Work: Why AI Agent Payments Will Shape the Next Internet, and How CANDY Is Building x402 On Chain: AI is moving from chatbots that answer to agents that act. To work, agents need to pay as they go. Here is how x402 brings back the web's forgotten 'Payment Required' code, and why CANDY is building it on chain.
• Press Play on Possibility: A Player's Guide to the CANDY Presale: Five levels, one coin and a few early power-ups. A simple, game-style guide to how the CANDY presale works, from the $10 entry to the 18-month unlock.
• Your World, More Connected: How the CANDY Ecosystem Links Payments, Games, AI and Community: Payments, games, AI and community, all on one coin and one chain. Here is how the CANDY ecosystem builds bridges between the apps you use every day.
• Sweet Name, Big Possibilities: Why the CANDY Presale Is Different: A live ecosystem, its own blockchain and a $10 entry. Here is how the CANDY presale works, what sets it apart and how the ecosystem behind it is growing.
• More Than a Whitepaper: 4 CANDY Products You Can Use Today: Forget the roadmap for a minute. Cardaxo, CandyRush, Claimo and SugarPen are CANDY products you can explore right now: payments, games, communities and AI tools on one coin.
• One Coin, a Connected Ecosystem: Why CANDY Is More Than a Whitepaper: Payments, games, communities, AI tools, predictions and tokenized rewards, all running on one coin and one chain. Here is what the CANDY ecosystem is building for everyday use.

The week in numbers

Coming up in the CANDY ecosystem

Cardaxo, CandyRush and SugarPen are live, and Claimo is in beta. Still to come: CandyBet prediction markets, Candy RWA rewards tokenization, the CandyWorld app for CANDY and RUSH swaps, and the AI Agent Marketplace. CandyPulse will cover each launch as it happens.

Never miss a week

CANDY Weekly is published every Sunday. Bookmark candypulse.org, follow the daily headlines on the Crypto News Today page, and check the Bitcoin price today page for live prices.

This roundup is for information only and is not financial advice.