💵COINBASE CEO: $BTC WILL HELP PRESERVE DOLLAR DOMINANCE@Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) argues $BTC strengthens the U.S. dollar rather than threatening it.Reacting to America’s national debt hitting a record $39 trillion, he posted on X:“Bitcoin is a check and balance on inflation. When spending gets too far out of hand, capital moves to Bitcoin. Competition benefits customers, and this applies even in the market for money. In this way, Bitcoin will help preserve dollar dominance.”With its f ...

Core Insights - The Bank of Korea is considering a new registration regime for domestic institutions to issue virtual assets, with concerns about won-denominated stablecoins potentially enabling circumvention of capital flow controls [1][2][3] - The won has been under pressure due to currency fluctuations and tariff threats from the U.S., with the exchange rate reaching 1,446.2 won per dollar [2][5] - Governor Rhee Chang-yong highlighted that the issuance of won-denominated stablecoins could primarily facilitate cross-border transactions, while tokenized deposits would be used for domestic payments [4] Regulatory Environment - South Korean regulators are currently divided on stablecoin governance, with the Financial Services Commission and the Bank of Korea at odds over whether issuance should be restricted to bank-led consortia [2] - The non-bank issuance of stablecoins presents regulatory challenges for authorities, complicating oversight [3] Market Dynamics - The demand for dollars is increasing, driven by the growing size of South Korea's National Pension Service, which has adjusted its foreign stock target, impacting the currency's strength [5][6] - The volatility in the won's exchange rate has led to expectations of rapid fund flows into USD stablecoins, raising concerns about large-scale cash transfers [3]

Market Trends & Crypto Performance - Crypto majors experienced declines following Trump's trade war confirmation; Bitcoin decreased by 1% to $111,100, Ethereum decreased by 1% to $4,040, BNB decreased by 1% to $1,170, and SOL decreased by 4% to $195 [1] - Gold increased by 1% to $4,260 [1] - Memecoin leaders mostly declined; DOGE decreased by 2%, Shiba decreased by 2%, PEPE decreased by 4%, PENGU decreased by 4%, BONK decreased by 4%, TRUMP decreased by 3%, SPX decreased by 5%, and FARTCOIN decreased by 4% [3] Regulatory & Institutional Developments - Erebor Bank, backed by Palmer Luckey and Peter Thiel, secured a conditional federal bank charter, aiming to operate as a stablecoin-era crypto bank under the GENIUS framework [1] - Sony Bank applied for a national trust charter to issue USD stablecoins and offer custody services [1] - Kraken acquired Small Exchange for $100 million, gaining a license to offer derivatives trading in the US [1] - The UK moved to repay Chinese victims of a $7 billion Bitcoin fraud [1] Token & Protocol Updates - Launchcoin decreased by 23% to $78 million after Pasternak announced plans to increase the token supply by 33% to 133 billion and a flywheel to buy BELIEVE [3] - MegaETH opened registration for a public ICO, open for 12 days [3] - Jupiter announced changes for its JUP token including scaling down the DAO, dropping unstaking window from 30 days to 7 and voting to burn current JUP buyback [3] - Tether's USDT0 and XAUT0 launched on Solana, powered by LayerZero [3] NFT Market - OpenSea announced that its Wave 1 is locked and Treasure Chests claimable by Oct 17 with $122 million in prizes; Wave 2 runs Oct 15 - Nov 15 with $1 million in tokens added to prize pool [3] - Plush Pepe 7 sold for 25,000 TON ($55,250) on Portals marketplace in Telegram [3] Corporate Treasury & ETF Flows - Bitcoin ETFs experienced $1041 million in net outflows on Wednesday; Ethereum ETFs saw $1696 million in net inflow [1]