Crypto news, 29 October 2026: the Fed, Switzerland's bitcoin ETF, the UK, OFAC sanctions and Ethereum clients
The Fed holds rates, US bitcoin ETFs log a third day of inflows, new details on Switzerland's bitcoin ETF, the Bank of England on tokenised collateral, the FCA stops HTX, OFAC sanctions and a patch for Ethereum clients.
Thursday, 29 October 2026. We bring together the relevant facts of the last 24 hours, each checked against a primary or reliable source.
Markets: the Fed holds, a third day of bitcoin ETF inflows
On Wednesday evening the Federal Open Market Committee kept its policy rate in a range of 3.75% to 4%. The vote was 10 to 2: Lisa D. Cook and Beth M. Hammack preferred a quarter-point increase.
According to CoinGecko, checked today at 18:10 (Zurich time), bitcoin trades at around 80,970 dollars, about 66,900 Swiss francs, up 0.7% over 24 hours; ether is around 2,350 dollars (+0.8%). According to Farside Investors, US spot bitcoin ETFs took in net inflows of 137.3 million dollars on 28 October, almost all into BlackRock's IBIT: the third positive day in a row. Since 12 October the balance stands at about +496 million. US spot ether ETFs, by contrast, closed 28 October with outflows of 21.4 million.
Switzerland: the BBIT bitcoin ETF opens to foreign brokers
There are new details on Switzerland's first spot bitcoin ETF, approved by FINMA on 20 October. SIX told CoinDesk that trading will start in November, with no date set yet, and that about 90 banks and brokers participate in the exchange; foreign intermediaries will be able to access it directly or through a participant. Public offering remains authorised in Switzerland only. According to FINMA, execution-only purchases need no suitability check, but the client must receive a risk warning; the check remains mandatory for advisory and portfolio management clients. FINMA confirms that other applications are pending, without giving a number, and says the approval does not automatically open the way to ether or solana ETFs.
United Kingdom: tokenised collateral and a stop for HTX
The Bank of England opened a consultation on supervisory expectations for central counterparties that want to accept tokenised collateral. The existing framework is not seen as a barrier, but collateral must remain valuable, transferable and realisable, including under stress. The paper covers liquidity, valuation, interoperability, settlement finality, credit and concentration risk, operational resilience and custody. The consultation closes on 12 February 2027.
The FCA obtained undertakings in the High Court from Huobi Global S.A., which operates HTX: the platform is no longer active in the UK and accepts neither deposits nor new users. The terms of the settlement are confidential and involve no admission of liability. The proceedings had started in October 2025.
Sanctions: OFAC targets North Korean IT worker networks
The US Treasury sanctioned 10 individuals and one entity linked to North Korean IT worker schemes. According to OFAC, one facilitator converted about 3.5 million dollars in crypto-assets and another nearly 2 million since January 2025, plus 1.25 million in other transactions. Six workers at a linked centre allegedly generated more than 750,000 dollars. The listing includes Ethereum and Tron addresses.
Security: Teku and Besu fix a certificate problem
The keys of eight eMudhra intermediate certificate authorities turned out to be recoverable; the certificates were revoked on 18 October. Because Java does not check revocation by default, the Docker images of Teku 26.10.3 and Besu 26.10.2, released this week, remove trust in those certificates. According to the teams, mainnet nodes with default settings are not exposed and no exploitation has been reported; operators who do not use Docker should update Java, preferring Java 25 to Java 26, which has reached end of support.
Sources
- CoinGecko, prices checked on 29 October 2026 at 18:10: https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin
- Federal Reserve, FOMC statement of 28 October 2026: https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20261028a.htm
- Farside Investors, bitcoin and ether ETF flows: https://farside.co.uk/btc/, https://farside.co.uk/eth/
- CoinDesk, Switzerland's bitcoin ETF and foreign brokers: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/29/switzerland-s-first-bitcoin-etf-gets-rare-exemption-will-open-to-overseas-brokers
- BIT Capital and FINMA, announcements of 20 October 2026: https://www.bit.com/pressroom/btc-etf, https://www.finma.ch/en/news/2026/10/20261020-mm-finma-bitcoin-etf/
- Bank of England, news release and consultation paper: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2026/october/bank-of-england-sets-out-approach-to-tokenised-collateral-in-central-clearing, https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/paper/2026/cp/supervisory-expectations-for-ccps-seeking-to-accept-tokenised-collateral
- FCA, press release on HTX: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-stops-htxs-crypto-promotions
- US Treasury and OFAC, sanctions of 28 October 2026: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0669, https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20261028
- Teku and Besu, release notes and incident report: https://github.com/Consensys-Incorporated/teku/releases, https://github.com/besu-eth/besu/wiki/Incident-Report-2026-10-26-eMudhra-CA-Compromise
- CoinDesk, the Ethereum client fix: https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/10/29/ethereum-clients-patch-flaw-that-could-let-attackers-redirect-eth-rewards
