Alphabet’s TPUs are gaining investor hype as analysts say the company could capture a share of the $900 billion AI-chip market.
The post Alphabet Emerges as Nvidia’s Biggest Threat in a $900B AI-Chip Race appeared first on TechRepublic.
Alphabet’s TPUs are gaining investor hype as analysts say the company could capture a share of the $900 billion AI-chip market.
The post Alphabet Emerges as Nvidia’s Biggest Threat in a $900B AI-Chip Race appeared first on TechRepublic.
Uzbekistan is preparing to integrate stablecoins into its formal payment system and allow the issuance of tokenized stocks and bonds under a tightly regulated framework starting in 2026, according to local media reports.
The plan positions the country to become one of Central Asia’s most structured environments for regulated digital-asset activity.
It also represents a major shift for a jurisdiction that once imposed broad restrictions on crypto use but has spent recent years building a more controlled and supervised system for the sector.
According to a Friday report by local news outlet Kun, under the new rules, a special legal regime will take effect on January 1, 2026, introducing a regulatory sandbox managed by the National Agency for Perspective Projects together with the central bank.
The sandbox will allow stablecoins to be tested as a means of payment inside a controlled environment, where authorities will monitor risk, market behavior, and technical implementation.
Pilot programs will also explore a distributed-ledger-based payment system and develop a regulated market for tokenized equities and bonds.
Starting the same day, legal entities registered in Uzbekistan will be permitted to issue tokenized securities, with licensed stock exchanges preparing dedicated trading platforms to support placement and circulation.
The move follows months of review. In September, central bank chairman Timur Ishmetov said stablecoins could be approved for payments but only under strict oversight given their potential impact on monetary policy.
He cautioned that expectations for digital currencies often exceed their practical use in mature payment systems, yet confirmed the bank will continue testing various models, including a wholesale CBDC designed to speed interbank settlements rather than serve the public.
The decree builds on Uzbekistan’s ongoing regulatory framework, which, since January 2023, has required all crypto transactions by residents to flow through locally licensed crypto asset service providers.
These rules ban anonymous transactions, prohibit the use of foreign exchanges, require mandatory customer identification, and mandate that providers store transaction data for at least five years.
Crypto is treated as an asset rather than legal tender, though stablecoins will now become the first category permitted for payment use inside a controlled model.
Mining remains legal but regulated, with companies required to use solar energy and register with the agency.
The new stablecoin law follows a series of cost adjustments for the industry. In March 2024, monthly fees for crypto exchanges were doubled to roughly $20,000 as part of a wider effort to tighten the market and ensure compliance.
Uzbekistan has maintained a highly supervised approach even as activity grows. In 2024, nearly 1.5% of the population held cryptocurrency, and licensed domestic providers processed more than $1 billion in transactions.
The country ranked 33rd globally in adoption, leading Central Asia alongside Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, which have each pursued their own approaches to mining, payments, and licensing.
The global context surrounding payments is also changing. Throughout 2025, several major jurisdictions formalized oversight for stablecoins.
The European Union began implementing its broad MiCA rules, the United States advanced federal legislation through the GENIUS Act, and regions such as Hong Kong and the UAE launched licensing systems that bring stablecoin issuers under direct supervision.
Canada proposed its Stablecoin Act, while South Africa, Kenya, and Brazil advanced frameworks for stablecoin usage in commerce and cross-border settlement.
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) October 27, 2025
These steps have come as blockchain-based payments continue to scale, with on-chain settlement volume surpassing levels seen in traditional card networks.
Another industry milestone came as Fireblocks, Polygon Labs, Mysten Labs, Solana Foundation, TON Foundation, Stellar Development Foundation, and Monad Foundation formed the Blockchain Payments Consortium intended to standardize how digital assets move across networks.
The post Uzbekistan Legalizes Stablecoins for Payments and Tokenized Stocks in Massive 2026 Overhaul appeared first on Cryptonews.
Bitcoin Magazine
Bitcoin Price Plunges to $94,000, Hitting Six-Month Low as Macro Fears Mount
Bitcoin price slid to fresh six-month lows on Friday, breaking decisively below the psychological $100,000 mark and intensifying a sell-off that has wiped out nearly a quarter of its value in just over a month.
By midday, the bitcoin price was trading between $94,000 and $97,000, its weakest level since early May and a steep fall from October’s $126,296 all-time high, according to Bitcoin Magazine Pro data.
At the time of writing, the bitcoin price is at $94,850 but it bounced off of levels at $94,000.
The drop caps off a chaotic week across global markets, where risk assets, from tech giants to crypto stocks, have tumbled amid collapsing expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut in December.
Just two weeks ago, traders were pricing in a near-certain 97% chance of easing. Today, that probability has plunged to roughly 50%, triggering deleveraging across equities and digital assets alike.
The macro pressures are only part of the story. The Bitcoin price is facing internal market dynamics that have amplified the decline. According to new data from CryptoQuant, long-term holders have sold an estimated 815,000 BTC in the past 30 days— the largest such exodus since early 2024.
Spot demand has weakened at the worst possible moment, and U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs have recorded hundreds of millions in daily outflows, draining liquidity while fueling downside momentum.
The turmoil extends beyond crypto. Risk-sensitive equities—including Nvidia, Tesla, Palantir, Coinbase, and Bitcoin miners—were hammered in this week’s sessions as investors fled speculative assets.
Rising concerns over an AI bubble, combined with uncertainty surrounding delayed U.S. economic data following the 43-day government shutdown, have pushed the VIX to its highest reading since mid-October.
Institutional buying has fallen below the daily supply issued by miners, adding steady sell pressure at a time when liquidity is thinning.
Bitcoin price is now hovering near its closely watched 365-day moving average around the $100,000, a level analysts say could determine whether the current pullback turns into a sharper correction, according to Bitcoin Magazine Pro.
Researchers at Bitfinex noted to Bitcoin Magazine that the drawdown from October’s peak is tracking closely with typical mid-cycle retracements, matching the roughly 22% pullbacks seen throughout the 2023–2025 bull market.
Despite the slide below a bitcoin price of $100,000, they estimate that about 72% of all circulating bitcoin remains in profit — an indication that long-term holders are still sitting on gains even as sentiment weakens.
Other analysts see signs that the market may be nearing a floor. JPMorgan estimates bitcoin’s current production cost — driven higher by rising network difficulty — sits around $94,000, a level that has historically acted as a strong downside anchor.
With the price now approaching that threshold, the bank argues that bitcoin’s price-to-cost ratio is back near historical lows and maintains a bullish 6–12 month outlook targeting roughly $170,000.
Still, the forces shaping this correction are far larger than retail traders. Whales, institutions, and leveraged market structures now dictate most major moves. Single transfers from wallets holding thousands of BTC can shift sentiment across exchanges.
But bitcoin’s recent wave of whale selling isn’t a sign of panic but typical late-cycle behavior, according to Glassnode.
Glassnode says long-term holders are steadily realizing profits, with monthly spending rising from 12,000 BTC per day in July to about 26,000 — consistent with normal bull-market distribution rather than an “OG whale exodus.”
The broader backdrop isn’t helping. The U.S. government has reopened after a record 43-day shutdown, the longest in American history, following President Trump’s late-Wednesday approval of a temporary funding measure.
Under the bill, federal agencies are funded only through Jan. 30, meaning uncertainty will continue to hang over markets even as operations slowly resume.
At press time, bitcoin price is trading at $95,670, hovering near production-cost levels and testing key technical support.
This post Bitcoin Price Plunges to $94,000, Hitting Six-Month Low as Macro Fears Mount first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
People and technology are more interconnected than ever before, and with that, we’ve seen an acute need for cyber security. Data breaches have reached unprecedented levels and seem to have no end in sight. Private business data, employee data, and consumer data are now scattered about the dark web; for sale or liable to be used for unscrupulous and unintended purposes.
In 2022, the global cost of cyber crime reached $8.4 trillion. In 2023, that number is expected to surpass the 11 trillion dollar mark. Adequate cyber security is indispensable for the continued advancement of the global economy and for continuous individual well-being. Focusing on breach prevention is essential.
Because of cyber security’s far-reaching implications, cyber security will be an important growth area across the next decade. If you are a retail investor, that’s why investing in a cyber security fund might make sense for you. While individual stocks can be volatile, investing in a basket of cyber security ETFs could provide stability. Cyber security ETFs represent an efficient and effective way to get investment portfolio exposure to this booming sector.
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are investment products that track a sector, commodity or index. An ETF consists of an assortment of investments, such as stocks, bonds and commodities. A cyber security ETF will include stocks belonging to companies within the cyber security industry.
In choosing a cyber security ETF, consider the following:
1. First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF. This ETF consists of 35 different cyber security company stocks. The fund retains nearly $5.6 billion in assets under management, and represents the largest pure-play ETF in this segment of the tech sector.
The First Trust cyber security offering is one of the longest-tenured ETFs globally, with an inception date in 2015. Since the fund’s creation, shares of the fund have more than doubled.
2. Global X Cybersecurity ETF. A comparatively new fund, the Global X cyber security ETF was launched in 2019. The fund quickly attracted over $1.1 billion in investor funds, and has shown better performance than the First Trust NASDAQ fund.
3. ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF. This ETF has amassed $1.9 billion in assets and consists of 62 different stocks. This translates to less portfolio concentration of top brands in the industry, and a greater focus on smaller companies and international investments.
4. iShares Cybersecurity and Tech ETF. This ETF is composed of 52 different cyber security stocks and includes stocks belonging to other tech companies that participate in the cyber security space. Beyond that, this ETF includes cloud computing firms that are in security-adjacent areas.
As part of a long-term investment strategy, selecting top cyber security ETFs can be a smart choice. They can serve as the basis of a well-diversified portfolio.
A quick reminder: All investors should perform their own diligence, assess their own risk tolerance, invest responsibly, and ensure that investments align with financial goals. This article is not an endorsement of any specific investment strategies or cyber security ETFs.
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The post How to choose a cyber security ETF (2023) appeared first on CyberTalk.
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