Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda told parliament that underlying inflation is quite close to the 2% target, signalling room for further rate increases. He cited higher raw material costs, a tight job market and strong AI demand as price drivers, warning that delaying adjustments could push up long term rates. The BOJ meets on October 30 and markets expect a hold at 1.25%.

More than $10 billion has flowed into crypto lending vaults, up from $4 billion at the start of last year, according to the Financial Times. The surge has drawn scrutiny from US and European regulators, who are examining risks in the sector.

The 2026 Financial Street Forum opened in the afternoon at Beijing's Financial Street and will run through October 22. This year's theme is “Openness, Cooperation, Inclusiveness—Building a New Global Financial Development Ecosystem.” More than 400 guests from over 40 countries and regions are taking part. Pan Gongsheng, Governor of the People's Bank of China; Ding Xiangqun, Director of the National Financial Regulatory Administration; Wu Qing, Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission; and Zhu Hexin, Director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, will deliver keynote speeches. The agenda features 21 thematic sessions and three special conferences, among them a FinTech Conference devoted to blockchain, artificial intelligence and related topics. Planned outcome announcements include the PBOC's digital RMB system and the digital RMB smart contract ecosystem framework.

The CFTC has proposed a Reg CAM framework to offer crypto trading platforms a voluntary path to join a unified federal regulatory regime. It targets platforms offering leveraged, margin, or financed trading to retail customers. Purely spot trading remains outside this framework. The rulemaking is in its comment period, and industry interest is uncertain.

DTCC opens commercial access to its tokenization service this month, covering roughly $30 trillion in assets at its DTC depository, about a quarter of total custodied assets. It starts on two closed platforms, Canton and Besu, with 25 liquid instruments such as U.S. Treasuries, major ETFs and Russell 1000 stocks. Stellar is named a 2027 partner under the SEP41 standard.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's proposed Reg CM framework would let crypto exchanges opt into federal oversight, a senior advisor to CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam explained. Whether the industry embraces the approach remains an open question.

Bitget is shutting down accounts held by users in Russia and Belarus. Some clients were told they can no longer open new trades as of today and must withdraw their funds by October 21. Affected users should clear balances before that deadline to keep access to their assets. The exchange has not publicly explained the reasoning behind the restriction.

U.S. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the agency will keep advancing a comprehensive crypto framework despite legislative setbacks. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act failed a 60-vote Senate threshold on September 15. The SEC also issued a temporary exemption in September for tokenized stock trading. White House Crypto Committee director Patrick Witt stepped down after CLARITY Act talks.

Polygon Labs completed its acquisition of Coinme on October 14, adding 37 state money transmitter licences, 11 exemptions and FinCEN registration. The regulatory assets extend the combined operation to 48 states and feed Polygon's Open Money Stack for fiat on and off ramps. The platform is rolling out to selected customers including Tazapay, Mesh, Toku and Kira.