Author: Jeremy Ryan

An attacker could have, theoretically, open hundreds of accounts, have each one offer a tiny amount of a token in exchange for an unusually large amount of XRP, then send a single payment that bought every offer at once.The total XRP owed would be too large for the software to count correctly, so the attacker’s selling accounts would be paid in full while the buying account was charged almost nothing — leaving the attacker with XRP that hadn’t existed before.How one payment could have printed XRP from nothing. (Shaurya Malwa/CoinDesk)The XRP Ledger runs a check after every transaction to make…

“People were keenly aware, like me, they were bulled up because it was ‘go’ time,” Connors said. “We were going to go to that $250,000 to $300,000, $400,000 level using previous cycles.”Instead, the market turned against them.”The movement was obviously not onchain data. I mean, it was all derivatives,” he said. “So paper bitcoin again is alive and well and governs the near term.” The lesson, he argues, is that bitcoin’s price can be driven as much by leveraged bets as by demand for the asset itself.That hasn’t changed much in the past year. Perpetual futures, which allow traders to…

I’m pleased to announced that longtime Editor Scott Hayden is stepping up to become Road to VR’s new Executive Editor. After starting with Road to VR as a freelancer in 2014, becoming a contributor in 2016, and then Editor in 2019, Scott Hayden is now the publication’s new Executive Editor. As such, Scott is responsible for all editorial decisions and strategy, and for upholding the standards of reporting that Road to VR has been dedicated to over the last 15 years. There’s no way I’d miss my last opportunity—as the one with the final say on editorial—to use this photo…

Nearly four years have passed since FTX — the crypto exchange run by Sam Bankman-Fried and headquartered in the Bahamas — filed for bankruptcy. In that time Congress has held hearings, the Justice Department has won a conviction for misappropriating customer funds, and creditors have recovered close to $10 billion. What Congress hasn’t done is establish safeguards that could have prevented or curtailed the fraud sooner. Congress has been trying for years. The House twice passed market structure legislation that would have given regulators the authority to stop FTX, most recently in July 2025 by a bipartisan vote of 294…

Hong Kong has warned that payment platforms operating without required licenses face enforcement action, after its monetary authority received 16 complaints about suspected unlicensed stored value services between January 2024 and September 2026. Summary HKMA received 16 complaints about suspected unlicensed stored value services, with one case substantiated. Hong Kong law prohibits unlicensed stored value operations unless a statutory exemption applies. Currency exchange and cross-border remittance services fall under a separate licensing system. Regulators can intervene directly and refer suspected payment law breaches to law enforcement agencies. Hong Kong’s Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau said in an Oct. 7…

Altcoins left behindFor altcoins, the picture is reversed. In CoinDesk Research’s basket of altcoins, dollar depth was greatest on Jan. 1, 2025, and has been lower on each date measured since.Depth at 5% from the price is down about a third since the start of 2025, to around $2 million. Closer to the price, at 1%, it has fallen by about a sixth.Measured in tokens, alt depth looks healthier: it peaked on Jan. 1 this year and has eased only modestly since. But analysts said that token-unit recovery was mostly due to falling prices, masking a steady erosion in committed…

In brief The CFTC issued two measures Friday: a proposed rule expanding the “swap” definition to include event contracts , and an interim final rule excluding casino-style gambling like sportsbooks and casino games. Chairman Michael Selig said event contracts are “commodity derivatives squarely within the CFTC’s regulatory remit” and under its “exclusive jurisdiction,” while “casino-style gambling products are not derivatives.” The rules formalize proposals sent to the White House last month, as the agency asserts authority amid state lawsuits and a Supreme Court fight. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is pressing its claim over prediction markets, issuing a pair of…

“The big proposition is access,” co-founder Bhau Kotecha told CoinDesk in an interview. Gold lending has historically required scale and relationships unavailable to many investors, he said.Kotecha sees demand from individuals, family offices and institutions, with borrowing against PAXGy a possible next step. Lending returns are not guaranteed, and borrower defaults could erode the token’s value.Silver offers another route into that financing market. Theo’s thSLVR product passes income from institutional silver leases to holders while maintaining exposure to the metal’s price.Theo Chief Investment Officer Iggy Ioppe sees growth coming from existing commodity owners and users: institutions seeking productive collateral, refiners…

As we approached the end of the AVEVA 2025 event, I had the pleasure of interviewing Phanney Kim Brevard, the Chief Strategy Officer of ETAP, a technology leader specializing in software solutions for the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of electrical power systems. Through digital twin technology, ETAP empowers operators and energy stakeholders to manage energy systems confidently by simulating various scenarios. Phanney discussed the critical role of ETAP’s software in the nuclear energy sector, emphasizing its importance for the safe operation and management of power plants: “We support a wide range of industries, with most U.S. nuclear power plants…

FindingsTotal issues: 17 (9 resolved)Critical: 0 (0 resolved) · High: 0 (0 resolved) · Medium: 2 (1 resolved) · Low: 7 (6 resolved)Notes & Additional Information8 notes raised (2 resolved)ScopeOpenZeppelin performed an audit of the following pull requests:pull request #469 at commit 7181245: Proxy-Based Swap Flowpull request #470 at commit c908caf: Universal Router v2.1.1pull request #516 at commit d6d0656: Per-hop slippage to single swaps and flip to output/input ratioIn scope were the following files:(pull request #516)v4-periphery└── src├── V4Router.sol├── interfaces│ └── IV4Router.sol└── libraries└── CalldataDecoder.sol(pull request #469)universal-router└── contracts├── SwapProxy.sol└── interfaces└── ISwapProxy.sol(pull request #470)universal-router└── contracts├── base│ └── Dispatcher.sol├── libraries│ ├── Commands.sol│ └── Constants.sol└──…