Weekly Review: SBF Revelations, Western Union Stablecoin, and a Respite in the US-China Trade War
Date: 2025-11-03 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: BUSINESS
The Incrypted editorial team has presented a fresh overview of key events in the world of Web3, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence. The central themes of the week were Sam Bankman-Fried's revelations, news from Western Union, and the impact of macroeconomic factors on the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Bitcoin strengthened at the beginning of the week amid easing trade tensions between the US and China, but by October 29, the price had fallen sharply below $107,000 following a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. The asset later partially recovered after President Donald Trump announced "fruitful talks" with Chinese President Xi Jinping. At the time of publication, BTC is trading around $110,000. October marked Bitcoin's first losing month since 2018, down 3.7%.
According to CryptoQuant analysts, despite the interest rate cut, demand from institutional investors remains weak. Glassnode noted that BTC has tested the 0.85 base price, and its further movement will determine the short-term trend.
In the corporate sector, activity among companies managing Bitcoin reserves has increased significantly. Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) reported a profit of $2.8 billion and received a credit rating from S&P Global Ratings—the first for a Bitcoin holding company. Analysts at 10x Research believe the company could join the S&P 500 index by the end of the year. South Korean Bitplanet announced plans to accumulate 10,000 BTC, and Metaplanet launched a share buyback program.
Ethereum followed Bitcoin's trend but managed to partially recover from its decline. Its price is hovering around $3,860. The final test of the Fusaka hard fork ahead of its December release has completed on the Hoodi testnet. According to Santiment, the pressure on the asset is due to investor panic and an excess of long positions.
The ETF sector saw an influx of $446 million into Bitcoin funds, while Ethereum ETFs saw an outflow. Spot products based on Solana, Hedera, and Litecoin also debuted, while CoinShares launched the Toncoin-based CTON fund, highlighting the potential of the Telegram ecosystem.
In artificial intelligence news, Elon Musk's Grokipedia project—a Wikipedia analog with AI editors—and OpenAI's preparation for an IPO with a $1 trillion valuation were notable. Character.ai announced restrictions for underage users, and Western Union announced plans to issue the USDPT stablecoin in the first half of 2026.
The review concludes with Nvidia's record-breaking achievement, becoming the first company in the world with a market capitalization exceeding $5 trillion, and Sam Bankman-Fried's explosive revelations that FTX remained solvent and that its bankruptcy was the result of legal actions.
This week proved that the crypto market remains volatile, and its connection to the global economy and technology is becoming increasingly stronger.
