Private equity: Clearer view, tougher terrain - McKinsey & Company

Six major blockchain organizations urged the SEC to formally recognize digital commodities as non-securities in its proposed regulatory framework. Six major blockchain organizations, including Chainlink Labs and the Cardano Foundation, have urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to formally classify digital commodities as non-securities, as the agency’s public consultation on proposed crypto regulations came to a close Tuesday. In a joint letter dated Oct. 20, Chainlink Labs, the Cardano Foundation, Hedera, Aptos Labs, Ava Labs and the Stellar Development Foundation called on the SEC to incorporate its digital commodity classification directly into the proposed Regulation Crypto Assets framework, arguing that interpretive guidance alone leaves market participants facing legal uncertainty. The groups argued that the SEC’s existing interpretation recognizes digital commodities as a distinct category but that the proposed rules fail to explicitly reflect that distinction, potentially leaving developers and other market participants uncertain about which securities regulations apply.

Oct 21, 2026, 11:51 p.m. EDT2 min readBitcoin gives back its run at $85,000 as Tesla and Meta fail to calm AI nervesSummaryBitcoin traded just below $82,800 after a brief surge to nearly $85,000 reversed, leaving the cryptocurrency near a key $82,500 support level that some analysts say could precede a slide toward $70,000. Most major cryptocurrencies declined, with HYPE, Dogecoin and Solana among the laggards, while Zcash gained nearly 3% and XRP edged higher. Disappointing corporate outlooks and renewed doubts about artificial intelligence spending weighed on U. S. stock futures and Asian markets, while oil rose amid renewed Middle East tensions. Bitcoin was flat at just under $82,800 as of Thursday Asian morning hours after giving back a late-Wednesday surge to nearly $85,000. Mixed results from Tesla and Meta knocked Nasdaq futures lower and revived doubts about the AI trade. ZEC was the only standout gainer among the majors, up nearly 3% to about $1,290, and XRP added less than 1%. HYPE was the laggard, down 3% to about $79. DOGE fell 2% and SOL lost about 1%, while ether, BNB and TRX slipped less than 1%, according to CoinDesk data. The breakout didn’t last long.

“Nothing has been set aside for his needs.”

Facing a potentially giant tax bill that could threaten his voting power, Zuckerberg was days away from listing his Palo Alto home when Meta agreed to create a new class of stock.

The PHP Foundation has acknowledged that indecision and a shortage of resources delayed a fix for a critical security flaw first identified in 2024, calling the stalled response a “structural failure.” Government agencies and other organizations worldwide took websites offline Wednesday as a precaution while PHP released emergency patches for two related critical vulnerabilities. The flaws could allow unauthenticated attackers to execute code on affected servers without logging in. PHP is a programming language widely used to power websites and web applications, including content management systems. In a blog post following the release of the patch, the foundation described how its developers first found signs of the vulnerability in 2024, but struggled to come up with a solution without disrupting the large ecosystem of software built using PHP. “Combined with the lack of a known path to remote code execution and the small team of core developers with the necessary deep knowledge of the engine occupied with many responsibilities, this decision process caused work on a fix to stall and restart repeatedly over months,” said the foundation.

Rising oil sands output and the return of Venezuelan oil to the U.S. oil market put pressure on Canadian heavy crude prices