Today in crypto, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent praised Singapore’s approach to digital asset regulation. The Bitcoin white paper, published by Satoshi Nakamoto, turned 17 years old, but a struggling BTC price has marred the occasion, as it faces its first red October in seven years. Elsewhere, Michael Saylor said that Strategy is unlikely to look at acquiring other Bitcoin treasury firms as there’s too much uncertainty.
Scott Bessent praises Singapore’s crypto adoption
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has praised Singapore’s proactive approach to digital assets and stablecoin regulation, highlighting what he described as a model for effective and secure innovation in financial technology.
Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea, Bessent met with Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to discuss financial cooperation and the future of digital finance.
According to reports, Bessent stated that the two discussed “increasing adoption and use of digital assets and US dollar stablecoins,” highlighting Singapore’s forward-looking regulatory regime.
Bessent also told APEC leaders that, through ongoing efforts to strengthen US industrial and technological capacity, the country is “seeing record levels of capital being invested into advanced manufacturing and technology sectors.”
The remarks reflect the Trump administration’s mandate to pursue sensible digital asset regulation while striking a balance between innovation and financial stability.
Bitcoin white paper turns 17 as first red October in 7 years looms for BTC
Bitcoin’s foundational document turned 17, marking the journey of the world’s first decentralized digital currency from a niche financial experiment to a $2 trillion global asset held by governments and institutions.
Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto first shared the Bitcoin white paper 17 years ago today, on Oct. 31, 2008, in response to the global financial crisis.
The document, titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System,” described a decentralized, peer-to-peer network capable of preventing double-spending through proof-of-work (PoW) consensus.
Three months after the white paper was published, Nakamoto launched the world’s largest decentralized network by minting the first Bitcoin block, the genesis block, for a reward of 50 Bitcoin (BTC).
Saylor says Strategy unlikely to scoop up rivals, “just a lot of uncertainty”
Strategy chairman Michael Saylor says his company isn’t interested in acquiring other Bitcoin treasury companies, as doing so is fraught with uncertainty, although he didn’t entirely rule it out.
“Generally, we don’t have any plans to pursue M&A [merger and acquisition] activity, even if it would look to be potentially accretive,” Saylor told investors on Thursday during Strategy’s third-quarter earnings call.
“There’s just a lot of uncertainty, and these things tend to stretch out six to nine months or a year,” he added. “An idea that looks good when you start might not still be a good idea six months later.”
Saylor didn’t totally rule out an acquisition, however, giving Strategy some wiggle room to change its mind on the topic.
“I don’t think we would ever say ‘we would never, never, never, ever,’ but what we would say is the plan, the strategy, the focus is to sell digital credit, improve the balance sheet, buy Bitcoin and communicate that to the credit and the equity investors,” Saylor said.
Strategy CEO Phong Le added that mergers and acquisitions for software companies, Strategy’s main business, are “very difficult.”