This week's crypto discussions are heating up with multiple key stories shaping market sentiment, according to data from market intelligence provider Santiment. Bitcoin briefly rebounded past $113,000 on October 21, fueled by remarks from the U.S. Federal Reserve about allowing crypto firms access to its payment network, which spurred widespread optimism. The flagship cryptocurrency jumped from $109,000 to nearly $114,000, with analysts noting capital shifting from gold to Bitcoin, reversing the precious metal's recent rally. Gold fell 5% to $4,130, its biggest single-day drop in years, while silver tumbled nearly 7%. Bitcoin's market value now stands at roughly $2.16 trillion, trading near $108,000 at the time of writing, down 4.4% over the past week but still up 60% year-on-year. Additionally, large Bitcoin holders are exchanging coins for shares in U.S.-listed Bitcoin ETFs like BlackRock's IBIT, with over $3 billion worth of such swaps confirmed.
Meanwhile, GameStop (GME) has exploded across social feeds, mirroring the 2021 meme-stock craze, as traders compare its short interest to AMC and Beyond Meat, sparking speculation of another short squeeze. Although GME is not a cryptocurrency, its connection to retail trading culture is renewing talk of cross-market sentiment links. In early 2021, GameStop's shares skyrocketed to over $500 per share, nearly thirty times its value at the start of that month, after retail traders targeted heavy short sellers.
Ethereum is also trending due to internal governance tensions within the Ethereum Foundation. Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal criticized Ethereum's elite governance, prompting Vitalik Buterin to respond with public praise for Polygon's contributions. ETH is trading around $3,846, down 8% this week and almost 14% in the past fortnight, per CoinGecko data.
Tether has drawn significant attention after surpassing 500 million users across its stablecoin products, including USDT and Tether Gold (XAUT). Online debates focus on the company's asset backing, particularly its growing Bitcoin reserves and diversification. Tether reported a record $4.9 billion net profit in Q2 2025 and plans to raise approximately $20 billion at a $500 billion valuation through equity sales. However, it faces regulatory challenges in the European Union under MiCA, leading to delistings, and is responding by planning a new US-compliant stablecoin, USAT, by the end of 2025.
Chainlink entered the spotlight after participating in the Federal Reserve's Payments Innovation Conference, where co-founder Sergey Nazarov highlighted its role in powering about 70% of tokenized real-world asset issuers and stablecoin providers. He urged U.S. policymakers to create clear guidance for integrating traditional finance with global digital payment systems.
In a negative development, the Kadena blockchain announced its shutdown due to market conditions, causing the KDA token to plunge nearly 60% within hours to $0.086, its lowest in over three years, with speculation of insider selling ahead of the news.
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