The number of layoffs in the US in October fell by 71% year-on-year, hitting the lowest level for the same period since 2023.

Some Federal Reserve observers believe that Trump’s strong backlash from voters in the midterm elections could ease the political pressure on Fed Chair Walsh, allowing him to reduce political interference and focus on controlling inflation. Voters have ranked the cost of living as one of their top concerns, completely reshaping the political landscape surrounding the Federal Reserve. Since Trump was re-elected in 2024, he has continuously pressured the Fed and its interest rate decisions, repeatedly calling for interest rate cuts, supporting an unprecedented criminal investigation into the Fed’s office building renovation project, and attempting to remove a sitting Federal Reserve governor. Against this backdrop, Trump selected Walsh to lead the Federal Reserve in May this year; Walsh had previously shifted his stance to support interest rate cuts, a move that sparked Democratic concerns that the new chair might have agreed to adjust monetary policy to align with the president’s wishes. Claudia Sahm, chief economist at New Century Advisors, stated that in fact, if the election results prompt Trump to end the Iran conflict and abandon further tariff hikes, the Federal Reserve may not need to raise interest rates again at all.

Hong Kong currently has 13 virtual asset trading platforms licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). Chan Ho-lim, acting Secretary for the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, yesterday responded to questions about attracting international platforms to set up operations in the city, stating that international virtual asset trading platforms may apply for an SFC license as long as they meet relevant statutory requirements and the regulator’s standards. The SFC and Invest Hong Kong have also engaged with relevant international platforms to outline Hong Kong’s regulatory requirements and market opportunities. Chan noted that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government and the SFC attach great importance to the quality of licensed platforms to properly manage risks and fully protect investors. He pointed out that the government and SFC will soon submit a bill to the Legislative Council to bring more types of virtual asset services under the regulatory framework, enabling a more diverse range of international service providers to operate in Hong Kong. The authorities will continue to boost the digital asset market’s competitiveness through clear regulation, talent and infrastructure development, and international cooperation. Chan added that the SFC has in recent years gradually expanded the products and services licensed platforms can offer, facilitated access to global liquidity, and is developing more digital assets and tokenized products with appropriate safeguards. Per SFC requirements, applicants for a virtual asset trading platform license must hold Type 1 and Type 7 regulated activity licenses under the Securities and Futures Ordinance, plus a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license under the Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance, and meet conditions including maintaining a physical presence in Hong Kong and appointing at least two approved responsible officers.

Solana-based on-chain lending protocol Loopscale announced in a post that it has been continuously targeted by attackers over the past week, with its API receiving over 30,000 malicious requests daily. All user deposited funds remain secure. After its security system detected a significant escalation of attacks, the team quickly suspended protocol operations to mitigate impact. Attack attempts targeted primarily the SOL and USDC Genesis Vaults; the relevant vaults have been replenished, and no user deposits were lost. Loopscale stated that it will not resume normal operations until the full scope of the attack is clarified and additional security hardening is completed. It will soon reopen the protocol interface and restore repayment functions as quickly as possible to reduce the risk of accidental liquidations. The team has published four associated addresses and is collaborating with federal law enforcement and security professionals, with plans to release ongoing key updates.

Beating AI News (Dongcha) — Insiders disclose Meta has internally decided to stop using fruit codenames for its AI models, a move rooted in brand considerations as the company believes fruit names don’t align with its high-profile AI ambitions. Meta’s latest AI model Wonder Full has the internal codename "Watermelon"; the company calls it its first frontier-level model and previously used watermelon photos to tease its launch. Earlier language and image models had codenames "Avocado" and "Mango" respectively. Meta declined to comment. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and AI lead Alexandr Wang joked on a podcast last month that they’d exhausted fruit names and needed a new naming convention. Wang added that the only larger fruit left is durian, saying "you don’t want to use durian". The report also notes the industry is shifting from food codenames to more imposing names, such as Anthropic’s Mythos and OpenAI’s Astra.

He Yi, a senior executive at Binance, stated that the exchange also encourages all third-party platforms integrated with Binance to review their security controls, monitor for abnormal activity, and contact immediately if any concerns arise, noting that this is a challenge no single company can address alone. Binance CEO CZ (Changpeng Zhao) added that anyone using SignalPlus on any trading platform should revoke all API keys, as storing API keys on third-party platforms is generally not recommended. Deribit also previously reported related incidents. Earlier, Binance announced that in response to potential security issues reported by third-party platform SignalPlus, it had taken preventive measures by actively revoking all API keys linked to SignalPlus. The exchange emphasized that its own systems were not affected and user funds remain secure. Binance reminded SignalPlus users to log in directly to their Binance accounts to check their holdings and open orders, avoid re-binding API keys until SignalPlus confirms the issue is fully resolved, and recommended always enabling IP whitelisting.

Deribit has notified users that after SignalPlus alerted it to a potential security risk, the crypto exchange took preventive action by removing API keys linked to SignalPlus from affected user accounts. No signs of compromise to its systems or data have been found in ongoing investigations. As a result, trading, monitoring, and automated operations run via SignalPlus have been halted. Deribit is advising affected users to log in directly to the platform to review open orders, positions, and recent account activity, and to wait until SignalPlus confirms connectivity can be restored before generating new API keys. New keys must have IP whitelisting enabled, and accounts should also enable two-factor authentication.