The market this morning

Trump names Jay Clayton, the SEC chair who sued Ripple, to lead new AI force

By Crypto Info News

Good morning. President Trump named a new "Super Intelligence Force" to coordinate federal AI policy and placed Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton at its head, Decrypt and Cointelegraph reported. Cointelegraph said Clayton will report to the president and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Decrypt noted that as SEC chair, Clayton launched crypto lawsuits including the agency's case against Ripple. Cointelegraph's weekly digest reported that Roman Storm and what it called "the XRP army" were unhappy with the appointment, and that Peter Brandt had flipped bullish, saying Bitcoin may reach as high as $600,000 by 2029.

Markets closed the day higher. Bitcoin finished at $86,489.73, up 2.06% over 24 hours, with a market capitalisation of about $1.74 trillion. Ether closed at $2,725.91, up 1.45%, and XRP at $1.52, up 2.25%. Decrypt reported that spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $134.4 million over the first two trading days of October, rebounding from a Sept. 30 outflow, which it tied to a weak jobs report cooling Fed rate-hike bets.

On policy, CoinDesk reported that Congress had left Washington for its final pre-election recess, with an election next month. In a separate piece, CoinDesk said the Clarity Act had suffered a Senate setback, leaving dealmakers weighing how much regulatory uncertainty still matters even as crypto M&A hit record levels. Decrypt reported that the Independent Community Bankers of America had sued to block what it called a crypto "side door" into the banking system through the OCC's national trust charters.

Elsewhere, Cointelegraph reported that Japan added Garantex to its Russia sanctions list over the Ukraine war, that El Salvador received $138 million from the IMF after Bitcoin-related waivers, and that Russia's Finance Ministry paid wages in digital rubles for the first time. CoinDesk reported that keeping users, not just building products, is becoming crypto's next challenge.

Watch the response to Clayton's appointment, further ETF flows, and whether the Clarity Act's stall shapes dealmaking into November.