Crypto Market Update: Strategy, Metaplanet Face MSCI Exclusion

Bitcoin price update

Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$81,541.46, trading 1.6 percent lower over the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin continued a slide that began after the US inflation reports earlier in the week, dipping to just above US$80,000 on Friday afternoon after a brief bounce above US$82,000 that morning.

On Friday, futures traders added new bets even as prices fell, and those anticipating a rise were paying more than usual to keep their positions open. US tech stocks also fell sharply on Friday.

“In my view, a sustained return to positive ETF inflows would be a stronger bullish signal than a temporary price rebound, as it could indicate genuine improvement in investor confidence and willingness to take on risk,” Simon-Peter Massabni, head of business development at XS.com, said in commentary sent to the Investing News Network.

He added that the US Federal Reserve’s late October decision will be the next big test.

Bitcoin price chart

Ether and altcoin price update

• Ethereum (ETH) was priced at US$2,411.96, trading 1.7 percent lower over the last 24 hours.

• XRP (XRP) was priced at US$1.30, trading 3.5 percent lower over the past 24 hours.

• Solana (SOL) was trading at US$103.59, trading 2.7 percent lower over the past 24 hours.

Today's crypto news to know

Read on for a round-up of the biggest crypto market news:

• MSCI adopts new eligibility rules, Strategy and Metaplanet at risk
• Russia sets hard deadline to outlaw P2P crypto trades
• Circle pushes USDC into 40 emerging markets
• SEC approves Cboe rule change for KPI-tied options
• Charles Schwab expands crypto services access

MSCI adopts new eligibility rules, Strategy and Metaplanet at risk

MSCI approved new eligibility rules for its global stock indexes on Thursday (October 15), placing Bitcoin treasury firms at risk of removal after market close on November 30, 2026.

Under the updated methodology, MSCI says it will exclude non-operating businesses from its Global Investable Market Indexes by applying a multi-step screening framework. Companies must first fail an evaluation of their operating assets before triggering exclusion through four out of five financial ratio tests. For existing constituents, removal requires failing this screening across two consecutive annual filing periods.

An earlier August consultation using May 2026 data flagged Michael Saylor's Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), Japan-based Metaplanet (TSE:3350,OTCQX:MTPLF) and UK uranium investor Yellow Cake (LSE:YCA,OTCQX:YLLXF) as potential deletions, while SharpLink Gaming (NASDAQ:SBET) made a watchlist.

Strategy has strongly disputed MSCI's approach, calling the proposal "misguided" and asserting that its Bitcoin operations qualify as an operating segment under US accounting standards.

Despite its objections, Strategy noted that index-tracking funds hold 13 million of its shares, or just 3.1 percent of its basic outstanding equity, and claimed exclusion "would not meaningfully affect Strategy."

The decision from MSCI will also end temporary restrictions introduced in October 2025 for firms holding 50 percent or more of their total assets in digital assets. MSCI will publish its final list of affected companies on November 11.

Russia sets hard deadline to outlaw P2P crypto trades

The Bank of Russia confirmed a hard deadline of July 1, 2027, to permanently outlaw direct peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading between individual citizens.

Updated guidance published on Monday (October 12) clarifies that Federal Law No. 282-FZ officially removes person-to-person deals from the list of permitted digital asset operations.

After the July cutoff, Russian residents must execute all crypto trades through state-licensed brokers or officially registered digital exchange organizations. Individuals are explictly banned from moving digital assets from regulated accounts into self-custodial wallets where they personally control the private keys.

The new laws completely dismantle the popular peer-to-peer loophole Russians currently use to swap rubles via bank transfers for US dollar-pegged stablecoins like USDT.

Domestic banks must automatically reject any client attempting to fund foreign crypto platforms and block incoming ruble transfers originating from those offshore exchanges.

Major state-backed institutions are already moving to dominate this newly restricted market, with Russia's largest lender Sberbank officially joining the central bank's crypto registry to launch compliant trading products by December.

Circle pushes USDC into 40 emerging markets

Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) is aggressively pushing its USDC stablecoin into 40 new emerging markets across Asia, Latin America and the Middle East to capture surging global demand.

CEO Jeremy Allaire confirmed the expansion strategy during a recent media interview, declaring that blockchain technology has officially crossed from early adoption into mainstream commercial scaling.

International businesses and retail users are rapidly adopting dollar-pegged stablecoins for everyday commercial payments and cross-border money transfers rather than just cryptocurrency trading.

This geographic push puts Circle in direct competition with legacy banks and traditional remittance companies for a lucrative share of global cash flows. Circle currently manages approximately US$72.6 billion in circulating USDC, securing roughly a quarter of the global stablecoin market.

SEC approves Cboe rule change for KPI-tied options

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a Cboe Global Markets rule change on Tuesday (October 13) that lets the exchange list yes-or-no options tied to business figures reported by 23 US-listed companies, including Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN), Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD) and MARA Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA).

The contracts pay out in cash based on the figure each company reports in its SEC filings.

Cboe has said it plans to launch them in October, with Robinhood as the first retail broker to offer them, but listing depends on regulators approving Cboe's new clearing arm.

Charles Schwab expands crypto services access

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) said all of its clients can now use Schwab Crypto, its service for buying and selling Bitcoin and Ether directly. CEO Rick Wurster said on the company's Q3 earnings call on Thursday that Schwab is rolling out the ability to transfer crypto into Schwab accounts and will add three more coins by the end of the year.

In August, Schwab named Solana, Avalanche and Chainlink as the planned additions.