Briefs · Evening brief
Evening brief: CFTC event-contract rules set for Monday, bitcoin slips 0.98%, Schwab opens crypto to all eligible clients
Bitcoin was at $81,506.05 at the 4:00 p.m. ET close of the US session, 0.98% below Thursday at the same time and its lowest 4:00 p.m. ET level since Sept. 20, per CoinGecko; the CFTC's event-contract proposal and casino-style rule are set to publish in Monday's Federal Register; and Schwab said its crypto accounts are now open to all eligible retail clients.
Bitcoin ended the U.S. session at $81,506.05 at 4:00 p.m. ET, 0.98% below Thursday and its lowest 4:00 p.m. ET level since Sept. 20, as most large coins fell, per CoinGecko. In Washington, the CFTC's rules on event contracts, the yes-or-no contracts behind prediction markets, head to Monday's Federal Register, which starts the comment period on a proposal the agency says would confirm its exclusive jurisdiction over them. [1][2][3][4]
Two company moves land directly on users. Schwab says eligible clients can now trade bitcoin and ether next to their brokerage holdings, and Cobo will start taking 2% a month from coins left in its consumer wallet app after it shuts at 11:00 a.m. ET on Nov. 30. [6][12]
U.S. session close
Altcoins fell harder than bitcoin, with ether, solana and XRP each down more than 1.5%. CoinGecko USD prices at 4:00 p.m. ET Friday vs 4:00 p.m. ET Thursday. Price data by CoinGecko. [1]
| Asset | 4:00 p.m. ET | vs Thu 4:00 p.m. |
|---|---|---|
| BTC | $81,506.05 | −0.98% |
| ETH | $2,410.24 | −1.67% |
| SOL | $103.47 | −2.32% |
| XRP | $1.2979 | −3.38% |
Movers
Only 7 of the 36 large and mid-cap coins on our screen rose. Celestia's TIA led by a wide margin, with SEI and INJ also up; NEAR fell most, ahead of FET. CoinGecko USD prices, 4:00 p.m. ET vs Thursday 4:00 p.m. ET. Price data by CoinGecko. [1]
| Coin | 4:00 p.m. ET | vs Thu 4:00 p.m. |
|---|---|---|
| TIA | $0.6792 | +17.09% |
| SEI | $0.06575 | +4.85% |
| INJ | $8.680 | +2.90% |
| FET | $0.1985 | −4.42% |
| NEAR | $5.025 | −7.11% |
What printed
01 · CFTC's event-contract proposal and casino-style rule set for Monday's Federal Register. The CFTC's two rules on what counts as a "swap" went on public inspection at 8:45 a.m. ET Friday and are set to publish Monday, Oct. 19. The proposal would define "swap" to "explicitly include event contracts," including those on sports, politics, culture and weather. The interim final rule, effective on publication, keeps "casino-style gambling products, including wagers placed on sportsbooks and casino games" outside the definition. The CFTC says event contracts are swaps under its "exclusive jurisdiction," the question in state gambling-law cases it cites, including rulings from three federal appeals courts in Kalshi cases and a district-court ruling in Coinbase Financial Markets v. Raoul. Comments are due 30 days after publication: Nov. 18 by Le Coin's count if both print Monday. [3][4][5]
02 · Schwab opens crypto trading to all its eligible retail clients. "Schwab Crypto™ accounts are now available to all eligible retail clients," Charles Schwab said in a 10:04 a.m. ET post on its official X account, adding that clients can trade cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and ether "alongside their brokerage account investments." That reaches eligible holders of Schwab's 40.3 million active brokerage accounts, per its Oct. 15 earnings release. The accounts are not offered in New York, Louisiana, U.S. territories or abroad, per Schwab's Aug. 27 release. [6][7][8]
03 · Japan's three megabanks finish a joint yen stablecoin test as SBI explores a yen-dollar stablecoin link. SMBC, Mizuho Bank and MUFG Bank said Friday that a July 17–23 trial confirmed "the feasibility of a joint issuance model by multiple banks" for a yen stablecoin, a token built to hold a steady value against the yen. The banks tested it for payments between Mitsubishi Corporation's offices in Japan and abroad and tie the work to their June 10 plan for live transactions in fiscal 2026. Separately, SBI Holdings and Startale joined Open Standard, the alliance behind the dollar stablecoin Open USD (OUSD), and "will explore interoperability" between OUSD and JPYSC, the yen stablecoin issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank. SBI calls it a pilot exploration that "does not represent the launch of a new commercial service." [9][10]
04 · SkyAI sells all its solana and keeps its tender at $3.00 a share. "On October 15, 2026, we completed the sale of all of our SOL, and we hold no digital assets," SkyAI said in a filing accepted at 1:20 p.m. ET Friday, leaving about $223.8 million in cash. A tender offer is a company's public bid to buy back its own securities at a set price for a limited time. SkyAI is offering $3.00 a share for up to about 95% of each class of its stock and warrants, up to $201.26 million in all, a price it puts at about 0.95 times its cash-based net asset value. It says it will use the remaining cash to build an "agentic AI financial platform." [11]
05 · Cobo will charge 2% a month on coins left in its closing consumer wallet app. Cobo says its Cobo Wallet App, a consumer crypto wallet closed to new sign-ups since 2021, stops service at midnight Dec. 1 (UTC+8), which is 11:00 a.m. ET Nov. 30. After that, Cobo will charge a monthly "account management fee" of 2% of remaining assets, with a minimum equal to $100, and users who don't withdraw "will be deemed to have agreed to this fee arrangement." Balances worth less than $100 are taken in one deduction, and the first charge comes at 11:00 a.m. ET Dec. 31, which is midnight Jan. 1, 2027, in UTC+8. [12]
Open items still in play
- Super League (SLGG) shareholder vote on the Metaplanet transaction: result not yet filed. Shareholders met at 1:00 p.m. ET Friday; EDGAR showed no result as of ~4:14 p.m. ET. The result 8-K is due by Thu. Oct. 22. [13]
- Australia's draft law adopting the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework: comments close Wed. Oct. 28. The framework is the OECD's standard for crypto platforms to report users' transactions to tax authorities. [14]
- SkyAI tender: expires one minute after 11:59 p.m. ET Thu. Oct. 29, unless extended. [11]
Sources (14)
- Prices: Powered by CoinGecko API (https://www.coingecko.com). CoinGecko public API, USD prices for BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, TIA, SEI, INJ, FET, NEAR and 27 other coins at 4:00 p.m. ET Thursday Oct. 15 and Friday Oct. 16. Accessed Oct. 16, 2026, ~6:22 a.m. ET (Thursday points) and 4:13 to 4:15 p.m. ET (Friday points).
- Prices: Powered by CoinGecko API (https://www.coingecko.com). CoinGecko public API, hourly bitcoin prices, daily 4:00 p.m. ET points from July 18 to Oct. 15, 2026. Accessed Oct. 16, 2026, ~6:25 a.m. ET.
- Federal Register, Public Inspection current list (FR Docs. 2026-21376 and 2026-21377, filed 8:45 a.m. ET Oct. 16; publication date Oct. 19). Accessed Oct. 16, 2026, ~4:14 p.m. ET.
- CFTC, proposed rule, "Further Definition of 'Swap' - Inclusions" (FR Doc. 2026-21377). Accessed Oct. 16, 2026, ~4:16 p.m. ET.
- CFTC, interim final rule, "Further Definition of 'Swap' to Exclude Casino-Style Gambling Products" (FR Doc. 2026-21376). Accessed Oct. 16, 2026, ~4:16 p.m. ET.
- Charles Schwab (@CharlesSchwab), X post, Oct. 16, 2026, 10:04 a.m. ET. Accessed Oct. 16, 2026, ~4:17 p.m. ET.
- The Charles Schwab Corporation, Q3 2026 earnings release, Form 8-K Ex. 99.1, Oct. 15, 2026. Accessed Oct. 16, 2026, ~9:20 a.m. ET.
- Charles Schwab, "Charles Schwab Announces Plans to Expand Digital Assets Available in Schwab Crypto Accounts," Aug. 27, 2026. Accessed Oct. 16, 2026, ~9:20 a.m. ET.
- SMBC, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking and TISI, joint news release on the stablecoin proof-of-concept, Oct. 16, 2026. Accessed Oct. 16, 2026, ~4:14 p.m. ET.
- SBI Holdings, "SBI Holdings and Startale Join Open Standard, Advancing Global Interoperability Between JPYSC and OUSD," Oct. 16, 2026. Accessed Oct. 16, 2026, ~4:14 p.m. ET.
- SkyAI, Inc., Schedule TO-I and Offer to Purchase, accession 0000930413-26-003076, Oct. 16, 2026. Accessed Oct. 16, 2026, ~1:40 p.m. ET (Offer to Purchase) and ~4:14 p.m. ET (filing index).
- Cobo, "Cobo Wallet App (Consumer Wallet) Shutdown Notice," Oct. 16, 2026. Accessed Oct. 16, 2026, ~4:21 p.m. ET.
- SEC EDGAR, Super League filing feed (CIK 1621672). Accessed Oct. 16, 2026, ~4:14 p.m. ET.
- Australian Treasury, Crypto asset tax transparency - draft legislation consultation (c2026-813391); comments close Oct. 28, 2026. Accessed Oct. 15, 2026, ~4:17 p.m. ET.
Holding the Corner.
Not financial advice.