A federal appellate court ruled that the Federal Reserve retains full authority to deny master account access to crypto-focused institutions. The Tenth Circuit upheld the Kansas City Fed's rejection of Wyoming-based Custodia Bank, citing operational risks tied to digital asset custody. The decision may deter similar litigation from blockchain-focused institutions seeking direct access to U.S. payment infrastructure.

Web3 companies raised $3.877 billion in October 2025, the second-highest monthly total on record, according to DefiLlama. Three firms—Polymarket, Tempo, and Kalshi—captured over 70% of the capital raised during the month.

Bank Negara Malaysia has launched a three-year program to explore blockchain-based asset tokenization across the country's financial sector. The central bank released a discussion paper inviting industry feedback until March 1, 2026, with pilot testing scheduled to begin in 2026 and expand through 2027.

The T3 Financial Crime Unit froze over $300 million in criminal cryptocurrency during its first year of operation, according to an announcement on 31 October. The partnership between Tether, TRON, and TRM Labs handled cases spanning fraud, money laundering, and state-sponsored hacking across five continents. United States investigations accounted for $83 million in frozen assets across 37 separate cases.

A U.S. bankruptcy court has directed Circle to keep three Ethereum wallets holding approximately $63 million in stolen USDC frozen, supporting Singapore-based liquidators managing the Multichain Foundation collapse. Judge David S. Jones issued the provisional order under Section 1519 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code on Thursday. The order prevents any movement of funds tied to the July 2023 exploit that drained over $210 million from the cross-chain bridge protocol.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has released its e-HKD Pilot Programme Phase 2 Report, developed with analytical input from Deloitte. The report examines how central bank digital currencies and digital money forms could transform Hong Kong's financial infrastructure. It covers settlement efficiency, programmable payments, and offline functionality across 11 industry partnerships in banking, payments, and technology sectors.

Standard Chartered forecasts tokenized real-world assets could achieve a $2 trillion market capitalization by 2028, according to a report released Thursday. The projection represents a 57-fold increase from the current $35.5 billion valuation. DeFi infrastructure expansion and stablecoin adoption are expected to drive growth, though regulatory clarity remains a critical factor.

Mastercard is in advanced negotiations to acquire Zero Hash, a regulated crypto-settlement platform, for approximately $1.5 to $2 billion, according to Reuters. Zero Hash processes tokenized fund flows for issuers including BlackRock and Franklin Templeton across twenty-two blockchains. The acquisition would integrate stablecoin settlement capabilities into Mastercard's global payments network, enabling T+0 settlement while maintaining regulatory compliance.