Bitcoin’s Saturday selloff, an urgent Electrum security alert and Tether’s latest mining announcement lead the October 24 crypto roundup. Arthur Hayes also disclosed a retreat from directional trading.
Bitcoin Drops Below $80,000 as Leveraged Positions Unwind
Bitcoin fell to approximately $79,280 on October 24 before recovering to around $80,138 by 1 p.m. Eastern Time. CoinGlass figures showed $436.44 million in liquidations during the four hours ending at that time, with positions betting on rising prices accounting for $404.15 million. Ethereum traders also faced substantial losses, with ETH liquidations reaching $136.72 million compared with Bitcoin’s $158.45 million over the same period.
Arthur Hayes Says He Has Closed Maelstrom’s Directional Trades
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes disclosed on October 24 that he had exited the directional trading positions at his family office, Maelstrom. He identified ETH, ENA and UNI among the assets sold, describing the transactions as profit-taking amid concerns about economic and geopolitical conditions. Hayes said he would wait for conditions to improve before returning to those trades, without specifying a timetable.
Electrum Issues Urgent Upgrade Alert for Bitcoin Wallet Users
Electrum urged users on October 24 to install version 4.8.3, announcing that the update addresses a critical security issue. The alert called for all users to upgrade, making the release a priority for people relying on the Bitcoin wallet. Updated software is available through Electrum’s official website, which also provides digital signatures and instructions for checking downloaded files.
Tether Secures Mining Industry Commitments for Shared Software
Tether announced on October 24 that 15 mining operators, equipment manufacturers and related participants have committed to developing integrations for its open-source Mining Development Kit, or MDK. Participants include Bitmain, Bitdeer, Canaan, Foundry Digital and Block’s Proto, with the project intended to let software manage equipment and services from multiple providers through a common interface. Tether is targeting its first stable 1.0 release before the end of 2026, while developers can already test the framework and build connections to their systems.
Initia Explains Exploit and Outlines Repair Work
In an October 24 update, Initia attributed Friday’s attack to a software flaw that allowed an attacker to bypass security checks and create unbacked asset balances, while leaving the supply of native INIT unchanged. The project said approximately $2.7 million in assets had moved out before the network shutdown and were subsequently converted into 1,135.52 ETH. Initia said recovery efforts were underway and estimated that completing and auditing a fix would take several days, with its main blockchain and rollups remaining paused at the time of the update.