The market this morning

Bitcoin slips below $82,000 as risk appetite cools across crypto markets

By Crypto Info News

Good morning. Crypto markets closed lower on Monday, 12 October 2026. Bitcoin ended the day at $81,794.85, down more than 2% over 24 hours, with a market capitalisation of about $1.64 trillion. Ether fell more than 3% to $2,445.89, and XRP dropped more than 4% to $1.34. BNB slipped more than 2% to $732.31. The two large dollar stablecoins, USDT and USDC, held near $1.

The mood tracked the prices. Decrypt reports that the Crypto Fear and Greed Index has dropped to 56 from an August peak of 82, citing oil, bond yields and ETF outflows weighing on Bitcoin this month. Glassnode's Week 42 note says Bitcoin trades just below $83,000 after a mid-week slide briefly undid the September breakout, with perpetual traders and ETF holders leading the selling while new capital kept arriving on-chain and profitability stayed stretched.

Institutional activity continued regardless. Decrypt reports that Standard Chartered's Dubai branch now offers custody for Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin and plans a link with LMAX that would let institutions post the coins as trading collateral without moving them. Cointelegraph, citing a Tempo report, says proposed US accounting rules could make stablecoins more attractive to corporations, with direct redemption rights determining which tokens qualify as cash. The Block reports that StoneX raised its price target on Securitize to $18 from $12, citing revenue from a tokenized stock platform on Solana.

Treasury companies sent mixed signals. CoinDesk reports Bitmine chairman Tom Lee said he expects a $2 trillion wealth transfer to younger investors to fuel crypto demand as his firm nears owning 5% of ether supply. Decrypt reports that DeFi Development now holds about 2.59 million SOL but that its weekly purchases keep shrinking, and that Ripple-backed Evernorth began trading on Nasdaq holding 473 million XRP worth roughly 40% less than at signing, after 80% of its SPAC investors cashed out.

In regulation and politics, The Block reports that TD Cowen sees the CFTC's proposed crypto framework facing a 2028 election deadline, while Cointelegraph reports a crypto-aligned PAC disclosed a $2.7 million spending blitz on House races with 22 days to the midterms.

Elsewhere, The Block reports Binance launched a free AI trading interface to English-language users after a beta with about 150,000 testers, and that NFT marketplace Blur will shut its frontend next month while the protocol stays on-chain, with the BLUR token down more than 20%. Cointelegraph reports FTX's stake in miner Genesis Digital Assets is now tied to AI data-centre work, and that Bitcoin miners face a roughly $50 billion funding gap for planned AI infrastructure.

What to watch: whether ETF flows and sentiment stabilise, and whether the custody, accounting and tokenization threads keep advancing if prices stay soft.