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Weekly Blockchain Blog – October 19, 2026

10/19/2026 | 5 minute read

Posted in Cryptocurrency

In this issue:

Financial Services Companies Launch Stablecoin Solutions

By Robert A. Musiala Jr.

The provider of a popular digital wallet application used in cellphones and made by a major global technology company recently announced that the wallet app will soon support transfers of the USDC stablecoin for eligible users in the U.S. According to a press release, the USDC transfers will be supported for transfers to “compatible wallets” and “eligible bank accounts in more than 60 countries.”

Outside the U.S., a major global bank recently announced institutional custody support for the RLUSD stablecoin. According to a press release, the service is available through the bank’s DIFC Branch, which is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority. The same bank also recently announced “the launch of a new, first-of-its-kind cryptocurrency trading solution, enabling affluent clients to access digital assets securely through the [b]ank’s platform.”

In more foreign-based developments, a major U.S. crypto exchange recently “announced plans to launch in the UAE, after receiving Full Market Approval from the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) in Dubai.” According to a press release, the approval permits the exchange “to operate as a regulated Virtual Asset Service Provider, serving retail, professional and institutional investors.”

And in a final notable item, a major U.S. financial services company recently published findings from a consumer research survey showing that across Asia Pacific, 46 percent of consumers say they are likely to use stablecoins within the next five years, and 16 percent have used them in the past 12 months. The survey also found that 49 percent of those surveyed believed stablecoins could become a common way to move money across borders within five years.

For more information, please refer to the following links:

U.S. Crypto Companies and Banks Announce Tokenized Securities Initiatives

By Robert A. Musiala Jr.

Securitize, a major asset tokenization platform, recently “announced the launch of Securitize Stocks, bringing some of the world’s most widely held U.S. equities onchain for eligible investors in the United States, European Union (EU) and other permitted jurisdictions worldwide.” According to a press release, Securitize Stocks will launch on the Solana blockchain, will trade on Securitize’s registered broker-dealer platform and “will include security entitlements to shares of AAPL, MSFT, NVDA, GOOG, TSLA, META, AMZN, NFLX, CRCL, SPCX, MSTR and PLTR.”

In related news, a major U.S. bank recently announced that it has completed “a triparty repo workflow” with a major U.S. financial services firm “using a tokenized representation of a U.S. Treasury, marking the first use of tokenized assets on a major triparty repo platform.” According to a press release, “[i]n the transaction, a 2-year U.S. Treasury note was purchased and represented on [the bank’s] private digital ledger as a tokenized security, settling near-instantly rather than on the standard T+1 settlement cycle, before being used as collateral in an overnight triparty repo.”

For more information, please refer to the following links:

Financial Stability Board Note Addresses Global Stablecoin Arrangements, Vulnerabilities

By Robert A. Musiala Jr.

On Oct. 12, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a note addressing “ongoing work at the FSB on vulnerabilities related to global stablecoin arrangements along with data for their financial stability monitoring.” The note builds on the FSB’s prior work and discusses its ongoing work related to stablecoin vulnerabilities, including analysis of the structure of stablecoin arrangements, the potential propagation of vulnerabilities, and the metrics that could support financial stability monitoring. According to the note, the FSB’s ongoing work in this area also “concerns the data currently available for monitoring stablecoins, assessing the sources as well as the benefits and limitations of these sources.”

For more information, please refer to the following links:

Bank for International Settlements Report Explores Privacy Model for Digital Cash

By Keith R. Murphy

The Bank for International Settlements recently issued a report addressing its Project Aurum Phase 2 (Report). The project reportedly explores whether a digital cash system can provide cash-like privacy for ordinary transactions while simultaneously supporting anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing, fraud prevention, consumer protection and financial stability objectives. According to the Report, the project proposes a model in which commercial banks retain customer identity information while central banks do not have access to routine payment data, with investigations and disclosures occurring only when legally required. To achieve this balance, the prototype incorporates privacy-enhancing technologies such as encryption, BBS+ signatures, pseudonym-based ownership and zero-knowledge proofs, enabling transaction validation and regulatory compliance without routinely exposing personal information, as noted in the Report. Some of the Report’s main lessons include that privacy should be considered at the technology-design stage rather than addressed later through legal or operational safeguards, and that a practical middle ground exists between complete anonymity and full transaction transparency.

For more information, please refer to the following link:

New York AG and Brooklyn DA Announce Crypto Enforcement Actions

By Keith R. Murphy

According to a recent press release (Release), New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a settlement with former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky that could recover millions of dollars and permanently bars him from participating in the securities, commodities and cryptocurrency industries. The settlement resolves a 2023 lawsuit alleging that Mashinsky misled hundreds of thousands of investors, including more than 26,000 New Yorkers, about Celsius’s safety and financial condition while the company incurred massive losses from risky investments, as detailed in the Release.   

In another recent press release (Release), Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced that his office’s Virtual Currency Unit carried out one of the largest cyber-disruption operations ever undertaken by a local prosecutor. According to the Release, the operation successfully dismantled a multinational cryptocurrency fraud scheme that targeted members of the Russian community across the U.S. The enforcement action reportedly disabled the scam’s infrastructure by seizing and disrupting 241 fraudulent investment websites along with 112 servers. As stated in the Release, authorities alleged that the operation relied on cyber infrastructure and IP addresses located in Ukraine and other Eastern European countries to facilitate the fraud.

For more information, please refer to the following links:

Ledger Hardware Compromised in Suspected Supply Chain Attack, $86M Lost

By Keith R. Murphy

According to recent reports, hardware technology company Ledger is investigating a security incident that reportedly affected customers in Southeast Asia who purchased hardware wallets through reseller CryptoBilis in October 2026. Ledger reportedly has asked the reseller to suspend all sales and shipments during the investigation. Reported losses connected to the incident have grown to approximately $86 million. The reports include comments from other major crypto company leaders suggesting that the losses may stem from a supply chain compromise involving the single vendor, and affected customers may have unknowingly purchased counterfeit or otherwise compromised Ledger devices that could contain surveillance hardware and SIM-enabled implants. 

For more information, please refer to the following links: