Kaupr Daily — Thursday 22 October 2026
Good morning!
Bitcoin climbed to a weekly high near $84,500 yesterday, then gave back more than $2,000 overnight at the same level that turned it back last week. Switzerland has approved its first spot bitcoin ETF for retail investors, and stablecoins now move mostly when banks are closed. In AI, SpaceX and Tesla are studying a merger, while Fidelity and Blackstone see the risks in AI's debt differently.
Some stories in Kaupr Daily:
💎 Buyers from late 2025 stand in bitcoin's way near $87,700
💎 Wall Street's blockchain boom does not guarantee token gains
💎 Walmart opens its store to AI shopping agents
Our next live event, Impact Onchain on 4 November, looks at how hackathon work becomes real projects. It is free to join.
— Morten
📅 Impact Onchain — Wednesday 4 November
Interested in watching live?
Bitcoin rebounds, then stalls at $84,000
Bitcoin climbs to a weekly high as crypto rebounds
Bitcoin rose to around $84,500 on Wednesday, about 6% above its October low just under $80,000, as a broad crypto rebound took hold. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index stands at 55, a neutral reading. On prediction market Myriad, the odds of bitcoin touching $87,500 in October have fallen to 31%.
Why it matters: Traders expect the Fed to hold rates on 28 October, but to raise them in December.
Source: Bitcoin Hits Weekly High as Crypto Rebounds From October Slide — Decrypt
Bitcoin gives back its run at $85,000
Bitcoin peaked near $84,800 late Wednesday, then fell more than $2,000 within six hours to about $82,600. $84,000 is the same level that turned bitcoin back on 13 and 14 October. Tesla's cut to its spending forecast and a weak outlook from Lam Research weighed on Nasdaq futures overnight.
Why it matters: Some analysts warn that a lasting break below $82,500 could open the way towards $70,000.
Buyers from late 2025 stand in bitcoin's way near $87,700
Investors who bought bitcoin six to twelve months ago paid about $87,700 on average, and Glassnode expects them to sell as the price nears that level. Support lies between $80,000 and $81,500, around the average cost for buyers of US spot bitcoin ETFs. Bitcoin fell by more than a third after reaching the same level in January.
Why it matters: A break below $80,000 could trigger a cluster of forced liquidations, Glassnode warns.
Source: Bitcoin top buyers halt BTC price upside with $87.7K now key: Glassnode — Cointelegraph
What else is moving crypto
Switzerland approves its first spot bitcoin ETF for retail investors
Swiss regulator FINMA has approved the country's first spot bitcoin ETF open to retail investors, from Zurich-based BIT Asset Management, which plans to list it on SIX Swiss Exchange in November. To do so, FINMA waived the rule that public funds must spread their holdings across many assets.
Why it matters: Investors "can now access bitcoin through an ordinary Swiss bank account," says BIT chief executive Dominik Oggenfuss, while FINMA warns that bitcoin remains highly risky, even through an ETF.
Source: Switzerland Approves Its First Spot Bitcoin ETF for Retail Investors — BeInCrypto
Stablecoins move most when banks are closed
In the year to July, 73% of stablecoin volume moved outside US banking hours, according to a report from Coinbase and The Block Pro. Adjusted transfers averaged more than $400 million an hour in the third quarter. Among mid-sized US companies operating across borders, 30% now use or test stablecoins, up from 10% in 2024.
Why it matters: Transfers are growing far faster than the stablecoin supply itself, which has hardly changed over the past year.
Source: Stablecoins: Coinbase reveals a staggering $400M in hourly transfers — Cointribune (Source: company research)
Wall Street's blockchain boom does not guarantee token gains
Securitize's tokenised US stocks, JPMorgan's Kinexys, which handles about $7 billion a day, and a new S&P and Pantera index show institutions moving onchain. But growing use does not by itself lift token prices, BeInCrypto argues. What matters is whether business income actually reaches token holders.
Why it matters: "Institutional adoption is not an overnight thing. It happens over time," says Pantera Capital president Scott Lawin.
Source: Wall Street's Blockchain Boom May Not Lift Crypto Token Investors — BeInCrypto
A Musk merger, AI debt and shopping agents
SpaceX and Tesla study a merger
The boards of SpaceX and Tesla have each formed committees of independent directors to study combining the two companies, Elon Musk said. No terms have been agreed, and a deal would need approval from half of all Tesla shares, which Musk called "quite a high hurdle". Combined, the companies would be worth about $3.5 trillion.
Why it matters: Musk sees "a lot of merit" in combining them, but says treating a merger as certain "would be overstating it".
Source: Elon Musk's SpaceX and Tesla Weigh Merger to Build AI Empire — Decrypt
Fidelity's Timmer sees the AI bubble risk in debt, not stocks
Jurrien Timmer, Fidelity's director of global macro, compares today's AI market with 1998–2000, when junk-rated telecom bonds gave the early warning of overbuilt networks. Today he points to the sharp drop in high-yield data centre bonds, while stock valuations are falling as earnings grow. He sees the large hyperscalers as fundamentally sound.
Why it matters: Stress among high-yield AI borrowers could force discipline and slow compute spending to a more sustainable pace, Timmer suggests.
Source: Fidelity's Timmer: AI Bubble Risk Lies in Debt, Not Stocks — BeInCrypto
Blackstone says fears over AI debt are overblown
Blackstone, which says it is the largest owner of computing power outside the hyperscalers, lent CoreWeave $2.3 billion in 2023. Jas Khaira, who leads its AI hub, says most data centre debt is backed by hyperscalers with strong credit. Blackstone and Anthropic have also formed Ode, a $1.5 billion venture helping companies adopt AI.
Why it matters: "This doesn't feel like something where you've got 2008 banks that are shaky credits," Khaira says, though he calls the returns on AI "uneven".
Source: Blackstone's Jas Khaira says fears over AI buildout debt are overblown — TechCrunch
Walmart opens its store to AI shopping agents
Walmart has launched Agent Gateway, letting approved AI agents search its inventory and buy on customers' behalf, while Amazon has started blocking agents. It runs on MCP, a protocol originally created by Anthropic. From next month, customers can require approval for each purchase or set a spending limit, and agents never see payment details.
Why it matters: Agents that break Walmart's terms, for example by going beyond what the shopper asked for, will be blocked from the site.
Source: While Amazon blocks AI agents, Walmart rolls out the welcome mat — TechCrunch
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More from Kaupr
Onchain Invest — tokenised assets, wealth and markets, for anyone putting money to work, every other Thursday.
Onchain Money — stablecoins, banks and payments for businesses and consumers, every other Thursday.
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Onchain Build — notes for builders, organisers and operators.
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Kaupr Weekly — ten-minute podcast on the week's most important news, every Sunday.
Wishing you a great Thursday — and welcome back tomorrow morning for the next edition of Kaupr Today.
Best regards
Morten Myrstad
Founder & Editor