Week of 10 November 2026

Crypto news,
minus the noise.

Hacks, new laws, politics and the coins everyone is talking about, explained in plain English for students, young professionals and the crypto-curious.

StudentsYoung professionalsAccountantsJust curious
BTC $73.7k INJ +14.6% wk
Hacks · Lead story
$6.36bntaken from Binance in about 20 minutes
Binance '26$6.36bn
Bybit '25$1.5bn
29 Oct 20264 min read

The biggest crypto heist ever started with one laptop

On the evening of 29 October, attackers drained about $6.36 billion from Binance wallets across ten blockchains, most of it within roughly 20 minutes. Binance says the way in was a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop, which let the attackers push unauthorised withdrawals through an internal system. It says it has found no sign that a wallet's private key leaked.

Blockchain analytics firm TRM links the attack to North Korea's Lazarus Group (also tracked as TraderTraitor). Binance hasn't named anyone, and North Korea denies it. Roughly $3 billion has since been frozen on-chain, and Binance says it covered users' losses from its own balance sheet, including its SAFU emergency fund.

Why it matters to youEven the largest exchange can be hit through one person's device. If you keep coins on an exchange, you are trusting its security. Turn on two-factor sign-in and think about moving long-term holdings to a wallet you control.

Sources: BleepingComputer · TRM Labs · Washington Post

The week in numbers

Four figures to know

$1.28bnpulled out of US spot bitcoin ETFs, 2–6 Nov
$73,708bitcoin's low after the midterms, its weakest since August
49–50the Senate vote that stalled the CLARITY Act in September
92%of candidates backed by crypto super PAC Fairshake won

Latest stories

What's moving crypto

Tap a story to read the full thing. Each one ends with what it means for you.

Politics

Crypto spent $150m+ on the US midterms. It didn't get what it wanted.

Democrats came out on top on 3 November, and some of the industry's loudest critics are set to run the committees that write crypto rules.

$154.5mFairshake network spend
86 / 93backed candidates who won
$60m+spent trying to beat Sherrod Brown

Crypto super PAC Fairshake and its allies spent about $154.5 million across 93 races, and most of their candidates won. The headline loss was Ohio: Sherrod Brown, a long-time crypto sceptic, won his way back to the Senate despite more than $60 million spent against him. Two House Republicans who led on digital asset policy, Bryan Steil and Bill Huizenga, also lost.

Markets didn't love it. Bitcoin briefly topped $80,000 on 4 November, then slid to about $73,700 as a tech-stock sell-off and the election result landed together. TD Cowen's Jaret Seiberg said the result is "souring the political environment for crypto".

Why it matters to youUS rules shape the whole market, including the apps you use in the UK. A tougher Congress means pro-crypto laws are likely to move more slowly from January.
4–6 Nov3 min
New laws · US

America's big crypto bill is stuck, and the clock is running

The CLARITY Act sailed through the House in 2025, then fell one vote short in the Senate.

The bill would decide which regulator oversees which tokens: the SEC for securities, the CFTC for commodities. On 15 September it failed a procedural vote 49 to 50, well short of the 60 needed. Arguments over DeFi, ethics rules for officials who hold crypto, and how it fits with last year's GENIUS stablecoin law are still unresolved.

The lame-duck session before January is the last realistic window this Congress. After that, a new Congress may start again from scratch.

Why it matters to youClear rules tend to bring in banks and big investors. Without them, US firms stay cautious and new products launch elsewhere first.
15 Sep2 min
Markets

It's not altcoin season. It's "pick your coin" season.

Bitcoin is holding about 60% of the whole crypto market, its biggest share since May.

+14.6%Injective, week to early Nov
47 / 100Altcoin Season Index

When nervous money flows into crypto, it goes to bitcoin first. That's why BTC "dominance" is near 60%. A few coins still had big moments: PEPE was one of October's best large caps with no obvious reason, and Injective led the weekly gainers in early November.

CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season Index sits at 47. "Altseason" usually means 75 or above.

Why it matters to youBig weekly percentages on small coins often come from borrowed money (leverage) and can reverse just as fast. A sharp rise is not evidence that a project is any good.
Early Nov2 min
New laws · UK

The UK finally has its stablecoin rulebook

The FCA published final rules in June. Issuers get until 25 October 2027 to comply.

Any UK-issued stablecoin will need to be fully backed by safe assets and redeemable at face value, so £1 of coin must always be swappable for £1. Smaller issuers will be supervised by the FCA. Big "systemic" ones, the kind millions of people might use for payments, will also be supervised by the Bank of England.

Why it matters to youIf you're in the UK, this is the framework that decides whether a pound-backed coin from your bank or a fintech is something you can trust.
30 Jun2 min
Hacks

The hacker who gave 85% back

In September, $319m in bitcoin was drained from Blockstream's Liquid sidechain. Then most of it came home.

Until Binance, Liquid was 2026's biggest theft. In a twist that happens more often than you'd think, the attacker returned about 85% of the funds. These deals are often struck as a "bug bounty": the hacker keeps a cut and the project stops pursuing them.

Why it matters to youGetting money back after a hack is the exception. Plan as if stolen funds are gone for good.
6 Sep1 min
For accountants

Could stablecoins count as cash? FASB has put forward an answer.

The standard-setter has proposed when some stablecoins can be treated as cash equivalents.

Under today's US rules (ASU 2023-08), most crypto is measured at fair value, with gains and losses going through profit. Stablecoins sit awkwardly in that model, so FASB has proposed guidance on when they can count as cash equivalents. Separately, the AICPA's digital assets guide now has a full chapter on stablecoin issuers.

Why it matters to youIf you're training or auditing, expect this on client balance sheets soon. "Cash equivalent" or "intangible" changes how a company looks to lenders and investors.
Apr–Aug2 min

2026 so far

The year's biggest hacks, to scale

Every other hack this year put together is still under a third of what was taken from Binance.

Binance29 Oct · exchange
$6.36bn
Bitget24 Sep · exchange
$388m
Liquid Network6 Sep · 85% returned
$319m
KelpDAO19 Apr · DeFi
$292m
Drift Protocol1 Apr · DeFi
$285m
Coldcard wallets30 Jul · self-custody
$115m

Amounts are as first reported and some estimates vary. Coldcard is shown at the low end of a $115–130m range. Sources: TRM Labs, TheStreet.

Crypto, explained

Words from this week's news

New to all this? Here's what this week's jargon means.

Hot walletnoun

A crypto wallet connected to the internet so it can send funds quickly. Exchanges use them for withdrawals, which is why hackers go after them.

Stablecoinnoun

A token designed to always be worth one unit of a real currency, like $1 or £1, backed by cash and government bonds.

Spot bitcoin ETFnoun

A fund you can buy through a normal brokerage that holds real bitcoin. Money leaving these funds ("outflows") is a quick read on investor mood.

BTC dominancemetric

Bitcoin's share of the total value of all crypto. When it rises, investors are playing it safe.

Super PACUS politics

A US group that can raise and spend unlimited money on adverts for or against candidates, as long as it doesn't coordinate with campaigns directly.

Lame duckUS politics

The weeks between an election and when the new Congress takes over in January. The outgoing lawmakers can still pass bills.

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Diary

Coming up

15NOV

Solana Breakpoint, London

Solana's big yearly conference runs 15–17 November. It usually brings new launches and announcements.

18NOV

Fed meeting minutes

Traders are watching for signs of a December rate rise. Higher rates usually hit crypto prices.

Dec2026

Lame-duck Congress

The last chance for the CLARITY Act before the new Congress arrives in January.