Citi and Coinbase announced a collaboration to develop digital asset payment capabilities for institutional clients. The partnership will initially focus on streamlining fiat-to-crypto transfers and expanding into always-on settlement infrastructure, addressing long-standing friction in institutional funding workflows.

U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna announced plans to introduce legislation prohibiting the president, members of Congress, and their immediate families from trading, owning, or creating cryptocurrencies. The proposal follows President Donald Trump's October 24 pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who served four months for anti-money laundering violations. Khanna stated the legislation would extend existing stock trading restrictions to digital assets, calling the pardon "blatant corruption."

Coinbase's x402 payments protocol processed nearly 500,000 transactions between October 14 and October 20, marking a 10,780% increase from the previous month, according to Dune Analytics data. The protocol enables AI agents and users to conduct instant stablecoin payments without intermediaries by utilizing the HTTP 402 status code. Friday recorded the highest daily transaction count at 239,505, while Thursday saw peak transaction volume reaching $332,000.

Blockchain gaming's pledge of "true ownership" has largely failed to materialize as game shutdowns expose regulatory gaps. Magnus Söderberg, CEO of Triolith Games, warns that Web3 studios face steep compliance costs when in-game assets become tradeable for fiat currency. This triggers financial service regulations that many developers cannot afford, forcing platforms to choose between multi-million dollar compliance infrastructure or unregulated operations that carry significant legal risks.

Brian Armstrong outlined plans to enable startups to incorporate, raise capital, and go public through blockchain infrastructure following Coinbase's acquisition of Echo. The CEO stated that onchain capital formation could democratize early-stage investment access while reducing costs and timelines for entrepreneurs globally. Armstrong confirmed Coinbase is working with the SEC to establish frameworks for retail investor participation in onchain fundraising.

Crypto hardware wallet provider Ledger has introduced a fee structure for its redesigned Multisig application, charging a $10 flat fee per transaction plus 0.05% on token transfers. The pricing model, announced alongside the Nano Gen5 device launch, has drawn criticism from developers and users who argue the fees contradict self-custody principles. Ethereum developer pcaversaccio stated the company claims alignment with cypherpunk ideals while attempting to establish centralized control over cryptocurrency transactions.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller introduced a payment account proposal on October 21 that would provide stablecoin issuers and crypto firms access to Fed payment systems without full master account rights. The account would enable Fedwire and ACH connectivity while excluding interest payments, overdraft facilities, and emergency lending access. The framework aims to support payments innovation while limiting central bank exposure to digital asset entities.

Custodia Bank and Vantage Bank Texas have launched a nationwide platform enabling U.S. banks to issue blockchain-based tokens backed by FDIC-insured deposits. The tokens function as traditional deposits within participating institutions and convert to stablecoin-like instruments during inter-institutional transfers. Three trial transactions were completed on Ethereum in March, with Bitcoin integration currently in development.