The GENIUS Act Got Its Final Rules. Here’s What Else Happened in Crypto.
The OCC finalized stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act, taking effect January 18. Solana replaced its consensus mechanism on mainnet. JPMorgan brought its deposit token to Ethereum. Standard Chartered is buying a crypto custodian. And a layer-1 network had to halt after a bug let an attacker mint unbacked tokens.
Here is everything that mattered in crypto from October 19 to 25, 2026.
The OCC Finalized GENIUS Act Stablecoin Rules
The OCC issued its final rule under the GENIUS Act covering stablecoin issuers. The rule sets requirements for reserves, redemption, custody, and capital. It takes effect January 18, 2027.
The GENIUS Act passed earlier this year as the first major US stablecoin legislation. The OCC’s final rule is the implementing regulation that tells banks and non-bank issuers exactly what they need to do to comply. With a January deadline, issuers that want to operate under the framework have about three months to get their structures in order.
The rule matters most for non-bank stablecoin issuers that want US banking legitimacy. Issuers already inside a bank charter have a cleaner path. Everyone else now has a defined set of requirements to meet, or a decision to make about whether to operate outside the framework.
Solana Activated Alpenglow on Mainnet
Solana activated the Alpenglow consensus upgrade on mainnet, replacing TowerBFT and targeting finality of about 150 milliseconds.
TowerBFT had been Solana’s consensus layer since launch. Alpenglow replaces it with a new architecture designed for faster, more predictable finality. The 150-millisecond target is a significant reduction from Solana’s existing finality times.
For applications that depend on fast settlement such as payments, trading, and real-time DeFi, lower and more consistent finality changes what is practical to build on the network. Alpenglow is one of the more substantial protocol-level changes Solana has made since mainnet launch.
JPMorgan Brought JPM Coin to Ethereum
JPMorgan brought its JPM Coin deposit token to Ethereum for approved institutional clients.
JPM Coin has existed since 2019 but ran on JPMorgan’s private Quorum blockchain. Moving it to Ethereum puts a bank-issued deposit token on the same public network as the bulk of DeFi, tokenized assets, and institutional crypto infrastructure.
The move is limited to approved institutional clients and does not open JPM Coin to general use. But it signals that JPMorgan sees value in Ethereum interoperability rather than keeping its digital dollar entirely within a private chain.
Standard Chartered Is Acquiring Zodia Custody
Standard Chartered signed definitive agreements to acquire 100% of Zodia Custody, subject to regulatory approvals.
Zodia Custody was founded by Standard Chartered in partnership with Northern Trust and provides institutional-grade crypto custody. The acquisition brings that custody infrastructure fully in-house.
For a major bank to move from co-founding a custody venture to outright acquisition signals that crypto custody is now considered core infrastructure rather than an experimental side project. The deal needs regulatory sign-off before it closes.
Microsoft, Alphabet, and Goldman Objected to Tokenized Stock Trading
Sixteen issuers including Microsoft, Alphabet, and Goldman Sachs objected to having their shares traded on OKX and ICE’s planned tokenized stock venue.
The objections center on whether tokenized versions of their shares can be listed and traded without their consent or involvement in the process. The issuers argue it creates legal and reputational complications around a product they have no control over.
Tokenized stocks have gained traction offshore, but bringing them to a venue with US-regulated participants raises questions that US securities law has not resolved. The objections from this group of issuers make the regulatory path for the OKX/ICE venue more complicated.
Initia Halted After a Bug Let an Attacker Mint Unbacked Tokens
Initia halted its layer-1 network after a MoveVM bug let an attacker create unbacked balances of WETH, iUSD, and USDC. About $3 million in real funds is estimated to have been extracted.
The bug was in MoveVM, the virtual machine Initia uses to run smart contracts. The attacker exploited it to mint tokens without backing, then extracted real assets against those fabricated balances.
Initia halted the network to stop further losses. The incident adds to a growing list of 2026 exploits targeting newer layer-1 and layer-2 networks, where novel virtual machine implementations introduce attack surfaces that have not been fully stress-tested in production.
The CLARITY Act Stalled in the Senate
Senator Lummis said Democrats voted against a CLARITY Act motion that would have raised civil penalties for digital asset violations, with no new cloture vote scheduled.
The CLARITY Act is the Senate’s main attempt at comprehensive digital asset market structure legislation. The failed cloture motion means the bill cannot advance to a floor vote without a new procedural step that has not been scheduled.
The stall is a setback for the bipartisan crypto legislation push that had been a feature of 2026. With no cloture vote on the calendar, the bill’s timeline is now uncertain.
Switzerland Approved Its First Retail Bitcoin ETF
Switzerland’s FINMA approved the country’s first Swiss-domiciled Bitcoin ETF for retail investors, waiving diversification rules to allow it.
Swiss investors already had access to Bitcoin ETPs and crypto-focused funds. A domestic ETF specifically approved for retail access under a FINMA waiver is a different kind of regulatory signal. FINMA’s willingness to waive standard diversification requirements shows the regulator treating Bitcoin as an asset class that warrants its own rules rather than forcing it into existing product frameworks.
Electrum Patched a Flaw After Malicious Servers Stole Bitcoin
Electrum released version 4.8.3 after malicious servers exploited a flaw to redirect users’ Bitcoin transactions to lookalike addresses.
Electrum is one of the oldest and most widely used Bitcoin wallets. The flaw allowed malicious Electrum servers to manipulate transaction outputs so funds went to attacker-controlled addresses instead of the intended recipients. Users running the patched version are protected; anyone still on an older version is at risk.
Paybis Added Four European Local Payment Methods
Paybis added iDEAL, BLIK, Multibanco, and EPS for buying crypto in Europe, the first of 13 local payment methods it plans to launch. The additions cover the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Austria respectively.
Other News Worth Noting
Mastercard opened early access to Agent Pay for Machines after pilots with Coinbase, Base, Cloudflare, and BVNK. Andreessen Horowitz rebranded its blockchain unit as a16z Frontier with a $2.2 billion fifth fund. Tether joined Tenstorrent’s $1.5 billion Series E funding round.
Strategy reported holding 848,517 BTC and raised its share repurchase authorization from $2 billion to $3 billion. Strive closed a $630 million preferred stock offering at a 15% fixed annual dividend. South Korea’s presidential office backed delaying the crypto income tax scheduled for January 2027, with a ruling-party proposal to push it to 2029.
Latvia said it could introduce real-world asset tokenization rules in the first half of 2027. The Ethereum Foundation postponed the Glamsterdam upgrade’s Hoodi testnet activation over interactions between new gas rules and existing smart contracts. BlackRock filed for an iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF that would use options to cushion losses while capping gains.
Wrapping Up
This week the OCC finalized the GENIUS Act stablecoin rules, giving issuers until January 18 to comply. Solana replaced TowerBFT with Alpenglow on mainnet, targeting 150-millisecond finality. JPMorgan brought JPM Coin to Ethereum. Standard Chartered moved to acquire Zodia Custody outright. Microsoft, Alphabet, and Goldman Sachs objected to their shares being listed on OKX and ICE’s tokenized stock venue. Initia halted its network after a MoveVM bug let an attacker extract about $3 million. The CLARITY Act stalled in the Senate with no vote scheduled. Switzerland approved its first retail Bitcoin ETF. The regulatory infrastructure is filling in on one side while exploits and legislative setbacks keep arriving on the other.
Disclaimer: Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high‑risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more at: https://go.payb.is/FCA-Info
