Crypto news, 23 October 2026: a Swiss bitcoin ETF, HSBC, BLOOM and NovaTech

Friday, 23 October 2026. We bring together the relevant facts of the last 24 hours, each checked against a primary or reliable source. In focus: a new Swiss product, bank-issued stablecoins and cooperation among Asian central banks.

Markets: bitcoin ETFs swing back to outflows

According to CoinGecko data checked on 23 October at 18:12 (Zurich time), bitcoin is trading at around 81,600 US dollars, about 67,300 Swiss francs, virtually unchanged over 24 hours; ether is at around 2,400 dollars (+0.3%). Over the last 24 hours bitcoin moved in a narrow range between about 81,100 and 81,900 dollars; over seven days bitcoin is up 0.3% and ether down 1.1%.

According to Farside, US-listed spot bitcoin ETFs recorded net outflows of 635.6 million dollars on Thursday 22 October, including 254.1 million from BlackRock's IBIT, 217.5 million from Fidelity's FBTC and 109.4 million from ARKB. It is the weakest daily figure of October and wipes out the previous day's inflow of 524.8 million, taking the month-to-date balance back to -175.6 million. Ether ETFs also closed lower at -110.6 million; month to date they stand at -1,180.2 million.

Switzerland: first bitcoin ETF expected on SIX in November

On Tuesday FINMA approved the first Swiss ETF that invests directly in bitcoin without naming the provider. It is now known: the Bitcoin Fund ETF (BBIT) from BIT Asset Management AG, a Zurich-based company of the BIT group. According to the provider, trading on SIX Swiss Exchange is expected to begin in November; the date, identifiers and fees will be announced before launch. The fund is a Swiss collective investment scheme rather than a structured product: the bitcoin is held separately in cold storage at a Swiss bank, with no derivatives or securities lending. It is offered only in Switzerland, falls under "other funds for alternative investments" with particular risk and, as the company itself points out, carries the risk of losing all invested capital.

Hong Kong: HSBC launches RedCoin, its first stablecoin

HSBC has launched HSBC RedCoin (RCHKD), a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin issued under a licence from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). In the coming days more than 3.3 million users of the PayMe app will be able to activate a wallet to send money to other people and pay at more than 100,000 merchants. According to HSBC, each RedCoin is redeemable 1:1 for Hong Kong dollars and backed by segregated high-quality liquid assets; the first independent attestation of reserves is expected after the fourth quarter of 2026. By the end of the year the bank plans to bring RedCoin to its banking app and to subscriptions to tokenised investment products.

Asia: Malaysia and Thailand join Singapore's BLOOM initiative

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand have joined the BLOOM initiative as policymaker members. BLOOM develops common approaches for the cross-border use of tokenised deposits and regulated stablecoins. The work covers three areas: acceptance and settlement across jurisdictions, interoperability between different systems, and programmable controls such as identity verification and sanctions screening. New participants include Mastercard, Visa, Ripple, Maybank and the World Bank Group.

United States: New York seeks 1.37 billion from NovaTech's founders

The New York Attorney General has asked the court to order NovaTech's founders, Cynthia and Eddy Petion, and their companies to pay about 1.37 billion dollars including interest. According to the filing, investors deposited around 1.16 billion dollars in crypto between 2019 and 2023, of which only 26 million actually went to trading. Four promoters will pay almost 6 million dollars for the benefit of victims.

Sources

• CoinGecko, bitcoin and ether prices, checked on 23 October 2026 at 18:12: https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin
• Farside Investors, Bitcoin ETF Flow and Ethereum ETF Flow: https://farside.co.uk/btc/, https://farside.co.uk/eth/
• BIT Asset Management, press release and BBIT announcement: https://www.bit.com/pressroom/btc-etf, https://www.bit-am.com/post/finma-approves-first-swiss-bitcoin-etf
• HSBC, press release of 23 October 2026 and HSBC RedCoin page: https://www.about.hsbc.com.hk/news-and-media/hsbc-redcoin-launches-today, https://www.hsbc.com.hk/stablecoins/
• MAS, media release of 23 October 2026: https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2026/mas-bnm-and-bot-partner-with-industry-to-advance-cross-border-settlement-in-digital-money
• New York Attorney General, press release of 22 October 2026 and court filing: https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2026/attorney-general-james-secures-nearly-6-million-crypto-scammers-who-targeted, https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/settlements-agreements/new-york-v-nova-tech-ltd-et-al-affirmation-2026.pdf