Crypto news, 18 October 2026: ether ETFs, Ledger, DTCC and SEC rules

Sunday 18 October 2026. This round-up gathers the relevant facts published between Friday and today, each checked against a primary source. There is no significant FINMA news.

Markets: heavier outflows from ether ETFs

According to CoinGecko data checked on 18 October at 18:10 (Zurich time), bitcoin is trading around $81,000, about CHF 66,900, down 0.4% over 24 hours; ether is around $2,370 (-1.6%).

According to the tables of Farside Investors, US spot ether ETFs ended the week of 12 to 16 October with a net outflow of $320.1 million: four negative sessions out of five, the only positive balance on Tuesday (+$24.8 million) and the largest outflow on Wednesday (-$129.5 million). Almost all of it came from BlackRock's ETHA, with -$299.0 million over the week. Since the start of October the daily figures add up to about -$955 million.

Security: the cost of the theft linked to tampered Ledger devices

On Friday Galaxy Research published an on-chain estimate of the theft suffered by people who bought Ledger hardware wallets through CryptoBilis, a reseller in Southeast Asia. According to Galaxy, about $91 million left 474 addresses on bitcoin, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon and TRON; 88%, about $80 million, moved within one hour starting at 05:00 UTC on 9 October. As of 15 October about $56.6 million was still held at attacker-controlled addresses, while Tether had frozen $10 million in USDT. It excludes BNB Chain, so it is a floor.

The devices contained a hidden component that read the screen during setup, captured the 24-word recovery phrase and sent it out over a mobile network. In its statement of 15 October Ledger says its chip, operating system and servers were not compromised and describes an attack on the distribution channel. It has suspended reseller sales in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong and banned the resale of returned devices. The practical lesson: buy from the manufacturer or verified channels, and treat any device that arrives already set up or with a pre-printed recovery phrase as compromised.

Tokenization: DTCC sets out the scope of its service

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the US post-trade infrastructure, published a one-pager on Friday on the initial scope of its Tokenization Service, whose launch it announced in July for October 2026. At launch, 25 securities will be available to tokenize, drawn from Russell 1000 equities, ETFs and US Treasuries; DTCC cites about $30 trillion in assets available to be tokenized. The tokens represent DTC-held securities 1:1, with the same CUSIP and the same rights, and the official books and records remain with DTC. The networks live at launch are Canton and DTCC's private Besu network; Stellar and Circle's Arc are anticipated in 2027. The roadmap is indicative and subject to the SEC no-action letter.

Rules: SEC and EBA deadlines

On Tuesday 20 October the comment period closes for the SEC's proposed "Regulation Crypto Assets", published in the Federal Register on 21 August. It provides two registration exemptions for certain offerings involving crypto assets: a one-time exemption of up to $5 million over four years and one of up to $75 million every 12 months, with financial statements and ongoing reporting, plus a safe harbor from the term "investment contract".

In the EU, the European Banking Authority (EBA) has classified USDC as the first significant e-money token under MiCA, out of 45 notified. From 12 November the EBA will directly supervise own funds, reserve of assets, liquidity and recovery and redemption plans; other areas remain with the French authority ACPR.

Sources

• CoinGecko, bitcoin and ether prices, checked on 18 October 2026 at 18:10: https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin
• Farside Investors, Ethereum ETF Flow (US$m): https://farside.co.uk/eth/
• Galaxy Research, Not Your Reseller, Not Your Coins, 16 October 2026: https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ledger-cryptobilis-wallet-implant-theft
• Ledger, Ledger's Response to the Hardware Implant Attack, 15 October 2026: https://www.ledger.com/blog-response-hardware-implant-attack
• DTCC, Tokenization Service: Scope at Launch and What's Next: https://communications.dtcc.com/rs/669-QIL-921/images/DTCC%20Tokenization%20Service%20At-a-Glance.pdf
• DTCC, DTCC Turns Tokenization into Reality, 15 July 2026: https://www.dtcc.com/news/2026/july/15/dtcc-turns-tokenization-into-reality
• SEC, SEC Proposes New Regulation Crypto Assets, 18 August 2026: https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026-76-sec-proposes-new-regulation-crypto-assets
• Federal Register, Regulation Crypto Assets: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/08/21/2026-17183/regulation-crypto-assets
• EBA, USDC as the first significant e-money token, 14 October 2026: https://www.eba.europa.eu/publications-and-media/press-releases/eba-classifies-usdc-first-significant-e-money-token-european-union

Information, not advice. Prices and flows are those reported by the sources at the time they were checked.