Next Week's Must-Watch | Fed to Announce New Interest Rate Decision; Strategy to Release Q3 Earnings (10.26-11.1)
- Key Takeaways: Next week, the crypto industry enters a period of intensive adjustment, with multiple projects including Blast, Balancer, and Ebisu announcing shutdowns due to unsustainable economic models. Meanwhile, interest rate decisions from the Fed, ECB, and Bank of Japan, along with Strategy's earnings report, become macro focal points.
- Key Elements:
- Blast announced a gradual network shutdown because maintenance costs exceed L2 revenue and the economic model is unsustainable. Users must withdraw assets by October 26, and Coinbase and Upbit are delisting BLAST simultaneously.
- The Balancer community passed the BIP-928 orderly shutdown proposal, with liquidity pools operating until October 30; stablecoin protocol Ebisu's frontend will also be disabled on October 30, confirming that the token will not launch and no airdrop will occur.
- The Fed will announce its rate decision on October 29 at 2:00, the ECB on the same day at 21:15, and the Bank of Japan on October 30, drawing attention to global monetary policy direction.
- Strategy plans to change the dividend on its preferred stock STRC to daily accrual, with a shareholder vote on October 28. The current annualized dividend rate is 12%, and the company will disclose its Q3 earnings after U.S. market close on October 29.
- BNB Chain's Jenner hard fork will launch on testnet on October 28, introducing a dedicated payment channel called Payment Lane and a compliant asset standard CAS20.
- Brazil requires virtual asset service providers to submit authorization applications to the central bank by October 30, 2026. Currently, about 120 service providers, most of which have not obtained formal licenses.
- ECX plans to launch its mainnet on October 31, distributing ECX 1:1 to most Bitcoin holders and launching seven dedicated sidechains.
Key Events Next Week
October 26
October 28
October 29
- The Federal Reserve will announce its latest interest rate decision on October 29 at 2:00;
- The European Central Bank will announce its latest interest rate decision on October 29 at 21:15;
- Strategy will disclose its Q3 financial results after U.S. market close on October 29;
October 30
- The Bank of Japan will announce its interest rate decision on October 30;
- Balancer community passes orderly shutdown proposal, liquidity pools to operate until October 30;
October 31
November 1
From October 26 to November 1, other noteworthy industry events are previewed in detail below.
October 26
BNB Standard to ring the Nasdaq opening bell on October 26
Odaily: Nasdaq-listed company BNB Standard Corporation (ticker: BNC) announced that it will ring the opening bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York's Times Square at 9:30 AM ET on October 26 to celebrate the company's adoption of its new name and the appointment of Alex Odagiu as Chief Executive Officer on October 19. Odagiu will attend alongside board members and management, with the livestream beginning at 9:15.
BNC states that it holds the world's largest corporate BNB treasury and builds and operates businesses on BNB Chain, with plans to run a BNB Chain validator node. Odagiu said most institutional investors have yet to research BNB.
Blast announces shutdown: economic model unsustainable, users must withdraw assets by October 26
Odaily: Blast announced on X that it will gradually shut down its L2 network. It stated that its original goal was to build a network that could operate long-term on a self-sustaining economic model and serve users and developers, but the ongoing cost of maintaining Blast now exceeds the revenue generated by the L2, and the team sees no credible path to economic sustainability for the time being, and therefore decided to terminate Blast's operations. The team apologized to users and developers who have used Blast, built on it, and supported the ecosystem, and said its top priority is to ensure the shutdown process is as smooth and safe as possible.
Blast requires all users to withdraw assets to Ethereum mainnet, including balances held in the Blast PWA. To lower the barrier to withdrawal, the team plans to shorten the withdrawal waiting period to 24 hours. However, once the shutdown process begins, Blast will first process the exit of its Lido assets, a process expected to take about a week, during which users will temporarily be unable to withdraw assets even with the shortened waiting period.
After the Lido asset exit process is complete, Blast will restore withdrawals with a 24-hour waiting period. Users can withdraw assets through Blast's regular interface until October 26, 2026; after October 26, assets can still be withdrawn, but users will need to interact directly with the Blast Bridge contract deployed on Ethereum L1, and the team will publish detailed instructions beforehand. Blast strongly recommends that users complete asset withdrawals before October 26.
Odaily: Galxe announced in an official post that, as the Gravity Alpha mainnet is gradually taken offline, most core services have migrated to the Gravity L1 network. Because unstaking and fund withdrawals require a 7-day waiting period, users holding G token stakes or Smart Savings balances must complete operations before 11:00 UTC+8 on October 26, 2026. At that time, the G staking page will officially go offline; Smart Savings users who do not manually withdraw or migrate funds before the deadline will have remaining assets automatically transferred to Smart Balance and will no longer be able to withdraw them afterward.
Coinbase suspends Blast and reminds users to transfer out before October 26
Odaily: Coinbase has suspended BLAST trading and reminded users to transfer assets out before October 26; BLAST not transferred out of Coinbase before that date will be inaccessible after the Blast network closes. Previously, Blast announced it would cease operations and advised users to withdraw assets to Ethereum mainnet before October 26; Upbit also plans to delist BLAST on October 26.
Upbit to delist BLAST spot trading on October 26 at 12:00
Odaily: South Korea's largest crypto trading platform Upbit announced it will delist BLAST spot trading at 12:00 local time on October 26.
October 27
None
October 28
Odaily: According to an official CFTC announcement, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Innovation Task Force is launching the "Frontiers Forum Series" of public seminars. The first forum is scheduled for October 28, themed around artificial intelligence and agentic finance, aiming to promote dialogue among regulators, industry, and the public on emerging financial technologies and to balance technological innovation with investor protection and market integrity.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said the agency will engage directly with the builders, users, and researchers of relevant technologies. The public may nominate speakers, and in-person attendance may be limited and subject to security screening.
Odaily: Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor said Bitcoin itself pays no coupon, and the company distributes dollar dividends to investors under the terms of its securities. The company raises funds by issuing stock or selectively selling holdings, and covers dividends and debt interest with cash reserves; its preferred stock is not collateralized by Bitcoin. Strategy's common stock MSTR provides Bitcoin exposure, while preferred stock STRC targets investors seeking dollar income. STRC currently has a 12% annualized dividend rate, with the rate adjusted monthly and dividends paid twice a month; the security has no maturity date and no guaranteed repayment of principal. On September 25, Strategy proposed changing dividends to accrue per calendar day, with declared amounts typically paid on the next business day, while the regular dividend rate and total amount remain unchanged. Shareholders are scheduled to vote on October 28; if the proposal is approved, STRC's first daily record date will be November 1, with the first payment scheduled for November 2. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily: BNB Chain announced that the Jenner hard fork upgrade will go live on the BNB Smart Chain testnet on October 28. The upgrade will introduce the Payment Lane feature, reserving 5% of block Gas capacity by default for eligible payment transactions; support smart contracts using millisecond-level block timestamps; and add support for the new compliant asset standard CAS20, with specific rollout arrangements for related features to be announced separately.
BNB Chain reminded validators, node operators, block builders, and application developers to prepare for the upgrade in advance. Testnet node operators must switch to compatible clients before the upgrade activates, and developers should check the impact of these changes on applications and development tools.
Upbit to delist Synthetix SNX trading pair, users must complete withdrawals by October 28
Odaily: Upbit will end trading support for Synthetix SNX at 14:00 on September 28, with the affected trading pair being SNX/BTC. Users need to complete withdrawals before October 28; assets will not be processed after the deadline.
Binance to delist EPIC and QUICK on October 28
Odaily: According to an official announcement, Binance will stop trading and delist all spot trading pairs for EpicChain (EPIC) and QuickSwap (QUICK) at 03:00 (UTC) on October 28, 2026. In addition, Binance Futures will close contract positions for the above tokens and automatically settle them at 09:00 (UTC) on October 20, and will prohibit opening new positions from 08:30 (UTC) on October 20. Withdrawal services will cease to be supported at 03:00 (UTC) on December 28.
October 29
The Federal Reserve will announce its latest interest rate decision on October 29 at 2:00
Odaily: At 02:00 Beijing time on October 29 (Thursday), the Federal Reserve FOMC will announce its interest rate decision; subsequently at 02:30, Federal Reserve Chair Warsh will hold a monetary policy press conference.
The European Central Bank will announce its latest interest rate decision on October 29 at 21:15
Odaily: At 21:15 Beijing time on October 29 (Thursday), the European Central Bank will announce its interest rate decision; subsequently at 21:45, ECB President Lagarde will hold a monetary policy press conference.
Strategy to disclose Q3 financial results after U.S. market close on October 29
Odaily: Strategy announced it will disclose its third-quarter financial results after U.S. market close on October 29, 2026, and discuss the results via video webcast at 5 PM ET that day. About two hours after the livestream ends, a replay will be uploaded to Strategy's Investor Relations website, and the video webcast will also be available there.
Unichain mainnet to migrate to OP Enterprise on October 29
Odaily: The Unichain mainnet will migrate to OP Enterprise on October 29.
October 30
The Bank of Japan will announce its interest rate decision on October 30
Odaily: On October 30 (Friday) Beijing time, the Bank of Japan will announce its interest rate decision, and BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda will hold a monetary policy press conference.
Brazil's crypto market faces licensing deadline, service providers must apply by October 30, 2026
Odaily: Brazil's crypto market recorded $318.8 billion in on-chain transaction value over the past 12 months, ranking fifth globally in crypto adoption, with nearly one-third of related activity in Latin America completed through Brazilian wallets and platforms. Blockchain security firm CertiK said virtual asset service providers must submit authorization applications to the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) by October 30, 2026, along with independent audit reports.
The Central Bank of Brazil issued three resolutions on November 10, 2025, clarifying the licensing scope, minimum capital requirements, and foreign exchange rules for virtual asset service providers. Minimum capital for different license categories ranges from about 10.8 million to 37.2 million reais; most of the roughly 120 current service providers have not yet obtained formal licenses, and overseas operators must also move their operations into Brazil within 270 days.
About 80% of Brazil's declared crypto trading volume is completed through USD-pegged tokens, of which USDT accounts for 88.7%, with total stablecoin transactions reaching 1.13 trillion reais from 2019 to 2025. CertiK statistics show that in the first half of 2026, the crypto industry lost $1.32 billion to hacker attacks and exploits across 344 incidents. (Decrypt)
Balancer community passes orderly shutdown proposal, liquidity pools to operate until October 30
Odaily: Balancer officially announced that BAL holders have voted to pass the BIP-928 orderly shutdown proposal, while the fork proposal BIP-929 was not approved. Existing liquidity pools will operate normally until October 30, during which users may withdraw at any time.
Under the plan, October 16 is the deadline for partners to apply to extend designated V3 pools until November 30; starting October 30, where contracts permit, relevant pools will become withdrawal-only, and the bug bounty program will end; on November 30, the V3 Vault will be officially paused.
With $23.75 million in losses, Ostium's phase two compensation portal to launch October 30
Odaily: Ostium published its phase two compensation plan, applicable to OLP holders with losses exceeding 1,000 USDC who did not opt for expedited distribution. Category A will be repaid in USDC installments, funded by recovered and future recovered funds and protocol revenue, with protocol revenue first including 50% of opening fees; Category B allows losses to be converted into Ostium Labs equity, valued at the next funding round's valuation. The phase two compensation portal will launch on October 30. Ostium was previously attacked in July, resulting in losses of $23.75 million.
Phasing out: stablecoin protocol Ebisu frontend to be discontinued on October 30
