SpendNode Podcast: Crypto News & Analysis

Solana's Alpenglow consensus upgrade activated October 21, 2026, targeting 150ms finality. Here is what the faster settlement means for payments and spending. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/solana-alpenglow-upgrade-150ms-finality-october-2026/

French authorities propose making crypto exchanges vet DeFi protocols they offer access to and bear liability for them, a template that could spread across the EU. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/france-exchange-liability-defi-access-october-2026/

President Trump plans to announce enforcement action against crypto scams targeting Americans, signaling a tougher federal stance on consumer fraud protection. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/trump-crackdown-crypto-scams-october-2026/

FINMA cleared the first Swiss-law retail ETF holding only Bitcoin, waiving diversification rules after ruling trading volume was deep enough to justify it. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/switzerland-first-bitcoin-only-retail-etf-october-2026/

MEXC is discontinuing services for users in Russia and Belarus, the latest major exchange to retreat from sanctioned markets. Here is what it means for access. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/mexc-exits-russia-belarus-october-2026/

Mastercard opened early access to Agent Pay for Machines, giving developers APIs, a toolkit, and a sandbox to test autonomous AI agent payments. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/mastercard-agent-pay-machines-ai-payments-october-2026/

Federal court orders EminiFX and founder Eddy Alexandre to pay over $288M in restitution and penalties for a crypto and forex Ponzi scheme. What it means. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/cftc-eminifx-288m-ponzi-judgment-october-2026/

A Kazakhstan regulator has secured court injunctions against six crypto platforms, including Coinbase and HTX, tightening access across Central Asia. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/kazakhstan-court-injunctions-coinbase-htx-october-2026/

Kraken's USDC conversions can cost 1% or 0.20% depending on the route you pick, an $80 gap on a $10,000 trade. Payout fees and account rules add more. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/kraken-stablecoin-fee-gap-hidden-costs-october-2026/

MetaMask has opened MetaMask Card sign-ups in the UK, letting users spend wallet balances on the Mastercard network directly from self-custody. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/metamask-card-uk-signups-open-october-2026/

The World Gold Council projects tokenized gold growing from $45B today to $170B by 2031. Here is what the forecast says about real-world assets moving on-chain. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/tokenized-gold-170-billion-world-gold-council-october-2026/

The CFTC argued in a court filing that CME Group cannot challenge its perpetual futures policy because the exchange has not shown any harm from the approach. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/cftc-defends-perpetual-futures-policy-cme-legal-challenge-october-2026/

MoneyGram's new consumer app embeds stablecoin rails for cross-border transfers, letting users send and hold money globally without touching crypto directly. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/moneygram-stablecoin-app-borderless-money-october-2026/

France's National Assembly adopted an amendment taxing gains when crypto is swapped into MiCA e-money tokens, passing 38-37 with a January 2027 start. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/france-national-assembly-stablecoin-swap-tax-mica-october-2026/

Mt. Gox's trustee pushed the creditor repayment deadline back a year to October 31, 2027, extending one of crypto's longest-running settlement cases. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/mt-gox-trustee-delays-creditor-repayment-october-2027/

Ramp has applied to the OCC for a national trust bank charter that would let it offer fiduciary investment management and bank-level digital asset custody. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/ramp-occ-national-trust-bank-charter-crypto-custody-october-2026/

Russia wants crypto trades funneled through authorized brokers and exchanges, raising the question of whether wallet-to-wallet transfers can survive state oversight. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/russia-crypto-authorized-brokers-exchanges-october-2026/

BlackRock has filed with the SEC for an iShares Bitcoin Managed Protect ETF that pairs IBIT upside with a built-in downside buffer for investors. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/blackrock-bitcoin-managed-protect-etf-october-2026/

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino pushed back on a US Senate report linking USDT to Iran, citing a 94% drop in Iran-linked stablecoin volumes and early freezes. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/tether-ardoino-rejects-senate-iran-sanctions-report-october-2026/

Coinbase said it is working with Thunes to connect its stablecoin rails to local bank accounts and mobile wallets worldwide. The last-mile settlement angle for cardholders. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/coinbase-thunes-stablecoin-local-payments-october-2026/

Sparkasse, Germany's largest banking group, will let its roughly 40 million customers buy Bitcoin directly, a major step for mainstream crypto access in Europe. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/german-savings-bank-sparkasse-bitcoin-40-million-october-2026/

Bitmine added 12,535 ETH to reach 6,041,481 ETH, now 99% of the way to its target of holding 5% of Ethereum's total supply. Here is what the position means. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bitmine-6-million-eth-approaching-5-percent-ethereum-supply-october-2026/

The XRP Ledger patched its forthcoming lending system with a Friday bug-fix upgrade, but the protocol still needs 10 more validator votes out of 29 to go live. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/xrp-ledger-lending-protocol-validator-vote-october-2026/

JPMorgan is deploying its JPM Coin deposit token on public Ethereum for institutional clients, per Bloomberg. Here is what the move means for onchain settlement. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/jpmorgan-jpm-coin-ethereum-institutional-october-2026/

South Korea's finance ministry will reportedly meet major crypto exchanges this week as pressure builds to postpone the 20% crypto tax due in January 2027. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/south-korea-crypto-tax-delay-finance-ministry-exchanges-october-2026/