Episode Details

Bitcoin ran at $85,000 and got rejected, even as ETFs pulled in more than $1 billion in three days. Now China has opened a case to seize the 61,896 bitcoin held by U.K. authorities, Tesla's Bitcoin stash jumps without a single sale, and a P.H.P. flaw has the industry on alert. Anna breaks down the day's Bitcoin news ahead of next week's Fed decision.

THE MARKET TODAY (Thursday, October 22, 2026)

- Bitcoin: about $81,700, down roughly 2.1% in 24 hours after running to about $84,800

- 7 days: +0.5% | 30 days: -5.2%

- About 35% below the all-time high of $126,080 (October 2025)

- Market cap: about $1.64 trillion | Bitcoin dominance: about 60%

- Fear and Greed Index: 68 (Greed), up from 63 on Wednesday

THE BIG STORY

- Bitcoin gives back its run at $85,000 as Tesla and Meta fail to calm A.I. nerves

- South Korean stocks drop more than 4%. Brent crude tops $111. SoftBank shares have halved from their June peak

MONEY IN

- U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs: +$528M on Wednesday, a third straight day of inflows. Three-day haul past $1 billion

- Ether ETFs flip to +$15M after five straight days of outflows

- Bitcoin slips below $82,500 as resistance holds. The Fed decides October 28

CHINA VS. THE U.K.

- China opens its own case to confiscate 61,896 BTC held by U.K. authorities, tied to a $5.7 billion fraud scheme (the Qian Zhimin case)

WHO IS BUYING?

- Tesla sold no Bitcoin in Q3. Holdings up about 42% to $962 million. SpaceX's holdings stay intact

- Strategy: 848,517 BTC, average cost about $76,000, unrealized gain about $4.84B

- Treasury companies are back in profit above their roughly $80,200 average cost, but monthly buying is under 10% of peak

- Public companies hold about 1.3 million BTC. Governments hold about 619,000

ALSO DEVELOPING

- P.H.P. flaw draws millions of exploit attempts. Binance and BNB Chain say they face no risk

- Coinkite (Coldcard) hit with a Canadian class action over a firmware flaw tied to more than $140M in Bitcoin theft

- U.S. restrains $938M in crypto in a scam crackdown. Cambodia freezes nearly $1B tied to Prince Group. Albuquerque bans Bitcoin ATMs

- Grayscale opens in-kind investing to 10 crypto assets. Robinhood gets Dubai approval

- Watch: Ethereum's Glamsterdam upgrade on the Hoodi test network, Monday October 26

NOSTR DESK

- Keeping your feed clean: follow lists, mute lists and the web of trust

- Fountain: stream sats, boost or zap. Value for value

- A shout-out to Corndalorian

EVERYTHING ON THE BITCOIN STREET JOURNAL (TheBitcoinStreetJournal.com)

- News desks: Bitcoin, A.I. and Tech, Crypto and Nostr, plus News Explorer and DANI

- Markets: market cap index, market dashboard, rankings, Top Gainers and Losers, Digital Asset Treasury Tracker, exchange directories

- On-chain: DEX Screener, Token Intel, Token Search Engine (250+ chains), Wallet Tracker

- RWA Markets and Tokenized Stock Sectors

- Learn: Ask Satoshi, Bitcoin Guides, Halving Guide, Bitcoin Tools, Crypto Glossary

- Video: Bitcoin Video Channel and Gallery. Find The Bitcoin Street Journal on YouTube

ADVERTISE WITH US

TheBitcoinStreetJournal.com/advertise. Placements across the site, social, newsletter, this podcast and Nostr.

LISTEN ANYWHERE

Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Fountain, Pocket Casts, Podcast Addict and more. Follow the show, leave a rating, and share this episode with a friend or your local Bitcoin group.

This episode is for general information and is not investment advice. Digital assets are volatile. Do your own research.