Crypto regulators and central banks move on tokenised stocks and stablecoins, while AI’s job cuts, deepfakes and data centres draw fresh backlash.
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This week’s stories show institutions racing to write rules for technologies already in operation. Regulators and central banks are drawing up frameworks for tokenised stocks, stablecoins, and blockchains, while AI’s fallout is landing faster than the guardrails.
In crypto, six more companies, including Wells Fargo, Arm and Intuit, objected to tokenised listings on OKXICE, taking the total to 22. Malaysia and Thailand joined Singapore’s BLOOM payments initiative, while US Senator Richard Blumenthal pressed Tether over payments to a firm co-owned by Bo Hines.
In AI, Barclays said it will cut 5,000 jobs as AI lifts productivity, and Anthropic reported entry-level technical hires falling from nearly 30% to 9%. Finland halted two Google data centre sites over illegal land-clearing, and Spain’s People’s Party drew outrage with a deepfake campaign ad.
Get up to speed with the latest in Web3 and AI with this week’s Pasar Pulse.
Crypto and Web3
OKXICE Faces 22 Tokenised Stock Objections
Six more companies, including Wells Fargo, Arm, and Intuit, have objected to tokenised listings on OKX and ICE’s proposed platform, Reuters reports. The total is now 22 of the 62 companies proposed, with Microsoft and Alphabet among them.
IRS Plans Lower Penalties for Disclosures
The IRS aims to launch a revised voluntary disclosure programme before December, targeting case resolution within 120 days. Crypto will follow the same process as other non-compliance with lower penalties.
Blumenthal Presses Tether on Hines Payments
US senator Richard Blumenthal demanded records of Tether’s dealings with former White House official Bo Hines and his firm Nxum by 3 November. The Wall Street Journal reported Nxum earned US$6.3M from a May 2025 Tether deal.
Netanyahu Requests Crypto Sanctions Plan
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said he has asked for a plan to use crypto and blockchain to get around possible banking sanctions, four days before national elections. He gave no details on the network, currency or timeline.
Bitcoin ETFs Shed US$635.6M in a Day
US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw US$635.6M of outflows on Thursday, their biggest of the month, erasing nearly 60% of a US$1.07B three-day inflow run. October has flipped back to a net loss of about US$176 million.
Malaysia, Thailand Join Singapore’s BLOOM
Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand joined the MAS-led BLOOM initiative as policymaker members to work on cross-border payments using stablecoins and tokenised deposits. Ripple, Visa, Mastercard, and JPMorgan are also participants in the initiative.
Bank of Korea Drafts Stablecoin FX Rules
The Bank of Korea plans to draft an amendment to the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act with the government before year-end, regulating stablecoins as a means of payment. No draft text or passage date has been set.
China Targets 2030 for National Blockchain
China’s 15th Five-Year Plan for National Informatization aims to largely complete a national blockchain network by 2030, with large-scale use in manufacturing and agriculture. Mainland China still bans crypto-related business.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
SEC Flags AI in FY2027 Exam Priorities
The SEC’s Division of Examinations listed superintelligence and other advanced technologies among its eight FY2027 priorities, alongside tokenisation under market infrastructure. The list is not exhaustive.
BBC’s Blue Planet III Keeps Footage Murky
Producers of BBC series Blue Planet III deliberately kept cloudier, less polished shots to show viewers the footage is authentic. The BBC’s Jack Bootle said no generative AI was used, ‘not a single frame’.
PHP Patches Two Critical RCE Flaws
Emergency patches were released for two unauthenticated remote code execution flaws, CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, tracked as PHP2Shell. Researchers at Calif, OpenAI and Wiz found them, and they affect all PHP installations serving web requests.
Spain’s PP Faces Backlash Over Deepfake Ad
Spain’s People’s Party posted a video using AI deepfakes of the prime minister’s wife and other Socialists, drawing nearly 2M views ahead of elections next month. One of those depicted has filed a legal challenge.
Anthropic Report Shows Fewer Junior Hires
Anthropic said entry-level technical hires fell from nearly 30% to 9% since March 2025, and staff now spend about 22% of their time managing Claude agents. Some researchers question the report’s motives ahead of its IPO.
Huang Urges Kazakhstan to Export Intelligence
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met President Tokayev in Astana and said Kazakhstan could turn its energy into AI. Deputy PM Zhaslan Madiyev said the country is building Kazakh-language models.
Finland Halts Google Sites Over Clearcutting
Finland’s LVV ordered Google to pause work on two data centre sites in a €13B AI project after it cleared forest without completed environmental assessments. More than 93,000 people have signed a petition for stricter regulation.
Barclays Cuts 5,000 Jobs, Citing AI Gains
Barclays will cut about 5,000 roles, around 5% of staff, as part of plans to save over £1.1 billion (SGD$1.88 billion) in 2027, with 60% in support functions. CEO CS Venkatakrishnan called AI the ‘icing on the cake’ of its tech modernisation.
That’s all for this week’s Pasar Pulse. Want more insights? Stay tuned to our site or subscribe via email!
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