Tether user base reaches 500 million
Tether, the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, is used by over 500 million people worldwide, according to its issuing company, Tether. CEO Paolo Ardoino called this milestone "one of the biggest achievements in the history of financial inclusion" and published a user growth chart.
According to CoinGecko, USDT's market capitalization exceeds $182.3 billion, representing 59.11% of the entire stablecoin market. For comparison, its closest competitor, Circle's USDC, is valued at $76.7 billion. USDT operates on 13 blockchains, with Ethereum leading the way, with over $101 billion in issued value. TRON accounts for $78 billion, and Solana for $2.7 billion. In August, Tether also added support for the RGB protocol for issuing assets on the Bitcoin network.
Bitcoin mining profitability falls 7%
Bitcoin mining profitability fell by 7% in September, with revenue per EH/s falling from $56,000 to $52,000, CoinDesk reports, citing Jefferies. This decline was driven by a 2% drop in the asset's price and a 9% increase in hashrate. Network capacity declined slightly in October, but the subsequent price correction increased pressure on revenue. According to the Hashrate Index, the hashrate fell below $49 per EH/s, reaching April lows. Public miners in the US mined 3,401 BTC in September, down from 3,576 the previous month. The leaders were MARA Holdings (736 BTC) and CleanSpark (629 BTC), with hashrate of 60.4 and 50 EH/s, respectively.
Despite the drop in profits, miner shares rose sharply. According to TheMinerMag, the market capitalization of the top 15 companies has reached $90 billion. Since mid-September, Bitfarms shares have risen by 162%, Canaan by 149%, and CleanSpark by 125%, while Bitcoin has fallen by 3.7%.
Aave plans $50 million annual token buyback
The Aave DAO is considering launching an annual $50 million AAVE token buyback program using protocol revenue. The initiative was initiated by the Aave Chan Initiative, a key community service provider.
The plan calls for weekly buybacks ranging from $250,000 to $1.75 million, depending on market conditions and available revenue. The Aave Finance Committee (AFC) and TokenLogic analysts are responsible for implementation. The AFC will also have the authority to allocate its BTC and ETH reserves to income-generating strategies, such as issuing collateralized debt or purchasing assets with recurring returns.
According to CoinGecko, crypto projects have spent $1.4 billion on buybacks since the beginning of the year. DEX Hyperliquid led the way, spending $644 million (46% of the total), followed by LayerZero ($150 million) and Pump.fun ($138.17 million).
Polygon co-founder criticizes Ethereum Foundation
Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal harshly criticized the Ethereum community, calling it toxic and short-sighted. He believes that loyalty to the ecosystem has cost Polygon billions of dollars: abandoning its status as an independent blockchain has limited the project's growth. He also noted that the success of platforms like Polymarket, built on Polygon, is attributed to Ethereum, while Polygon itself remains largely unnoticed. In response to these statements, Solana representatives, including Raj Gokal and Austin Feder, invited Nailwal to join their ecosystem.
Vitalik Buterin, in turn, acknowledged Polygon's contribution to the development of zk-EVM and emphasized Polymarket's importance as a leader in prediction markets. He also highlighted Nailwal's reputation, citing his participation in the CryptoRelief charity initiative and his voluntary return of $190 million in donated SHIB tokens. Buterin believes that the best step for Polygon would be to implement advanced ZK solutions into its PoS chain to enhance security and reliability at the Ethereum mainnet level.
Ripple co-founder sells $764 million worth of XRP
The XRP price may come under pressure due to the actions of Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, who, according to analysts, continues to take profits. This was warned by CryptoQuant researcher Maartunn. The asset is currently trading around $2.30, a third lower than its July peak of $3.66. The market correction is partly due to large transfers linked to Larsen.
On October 20, he moved 50 million XRP, worth $120 million, just as the price rose to $2.53. Larsen later stated that the transaction was related to investments in Evernorth, but the analyst emphasized that such exceptions are rare: over seven years, Larsen has already realized $764 million in profits.
According to another analyst, Coby Vu, most of the trades occur around local market highs. Larsen currently holds approximately 2.5 billion XRP, or 8% of the total supply. He has previously been accused of "dumping": in July, he withdrew about $140 million in XRP, right near the all-time high.
New wallets from Ledger and Trezor
Hardware wallet makers Ledger and Trezor unveiled their next-generation models: the Ledger Nano Gen5 and Trezor Safe 7. The presentations came amidst renewed interest in personal security in the crypto space. In addition to the new device, Ledger renamed the Ledger Live app to Ledger Wallet and announced the Ledger Multisig enterprise solution. The new model features an E Ink touchscreen, Bluetooth and NFC support, and a recovery card.
Trezor emphasizes premium materials and security: an aluminum case, a Gorilla Glass touchscreen, and wireless charging. The key innovation is the TROPIC01, the industry's first fully auditable security chip, which works in conjunction with an additional component. The Safe 7 is also designed to address potential threats from quantum computers.
