Plus: Indian traders may be forced to switch platforms

GM. Crypto stories come squeezed, juiced, and sometimes with unexpected pulp.

Here's the fresh pour for today:

🍍 Uptober rally.

😳 India's threatening crypto exchanges.

🍋 Best money transfer services, BNB Chain X hack + more

🍍 Market flavor today

Crypto Market Cap: $4.11T 2.62% (24H)
Name		Price	24H	7D
	Bitcoin BTC	$119,654.08	2.12%	7.14%
	Ethereum ETH	$4,408.08	2.24%	9.66%
	XRP XRP	$2.98	1.09%	4.34%
	BNB BNB	$1,054.09	2.52%	5.39%
	Solana SOL	$225.77	2.96%	11.16%

We're back to Greed for the first time since mid-August, baaby! 😎

This optimism isn't random - a few things are coming together to push crypto higher:

1/ Uptober

October has historically been one of the stronger months for crypto, and traders love a good story.

People lean into the narrative, and that itself can lead to more buying.

2/ Short liquidations

Bitcoin's price started increasing, and that squeeze started knocking out leveraged shorts.

Around $60M worth were liquidated during the London session, and the forced buybacks gave the rally an extra kick.

3/ ETFs are back

After a disappointing last week:

👉 Bitcoin ETFs had about $1.6B in inflows this week,

👉 And Ethereum ETFs had $755M.

That's a whole lotta new demand coming in from the more traditional side of the market.

4/ And finally, US politics is a mess

The government shut down, which usually hurts confidence in financial markets. But in this case, it also makes some investors more willing to put money into crypto, since it isn't directly tied to government budgets or the dollar.

Put all of that together, and you get: Uptober vibes, liquidations, institutional demand, and a dose of political chaos all helping to support the market.

Volatility isn't going anywhere, so sudden price moves are still on the table - especially if there are new developments in US politics - but for now, the conditions lean bullish.

🥝 Memecoin harvest

Memecoins out here speedrunning retirement plans (...or homelessness) 🏃

Data as of 10:30 AM EST.

Check out these memecoins and plenty more here.

😳 India's threatening crypto exchanges

Ever tried to watch a show or sports match online, only to get the dreaded message: "Not available in your region"?

It's like, what am I supposed to do then? Move to Canada for three hours so I can watch this thing?

So annoying.

And unfortunately, some crypto users in India might feel this pain.

A couple of years back, India passed a rule: if you want to run a crypto platform for Indian users, you've got to register under the country's anti-money laundering law, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The idea is to make crypto companies act a bit more like banks: check IDs, flag sus activity, keep track of transactions, the whole shebang.

Plenty of platforms got the memo. About 50 have registered, including big names like Binance and Coinbase.

... But 25 foreign crypto exchanges didn't bother.

So now, India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) has sent legal notices to those 25 platforms (including Huione, LCX, and others), all of which are still serving Indian users without ever registering locally.

And the FIU isn't messing around: they've asked for those exchanges' apps and websites to be blocked in India.

Which means if you're using one, you could wake up tomorrow unable to open the app or struggling to move your coins out.

The immediate question is how the companies respond.

India is one of the largest retail crypto markets in the world, and losing access means a huge drop in trading volume - so some exchanges will likely apply for registration to stay in the market.

Either way, the result is the same: Indian traders end up forced into a smaller pool of regulated platforms. That gives the government more oversight.

And this isn't limited to India - regulators worldwide are dragging crypto into the same rulebook as TradFi, whether we like it or not.

Which will inevitably influence how ordinary people trade, how exchanges survive, and how the market evolves.

🍋 News drops you can't miss

🛫 Planning to send money abroad? We pulled together the most reliable money transfer services so you don't have to guess.

🚨 Hackers took over BNB Chain's official X account yesterday. They dropped scam links trying to drain people's crypto wallets.

📉 Plasma's head, Paul Faecks, spoke up after XPL tanked over 50%. He said the team hasn't sold any tokens.

💰 Two members of Sweden's parliament want the country to build a Bitcoin reserve. They say it'd help soften the blow of inflation and diversify Sweden's assets.

💬 Telegram founder Pavel Durov says he didn't get rich off the app - it's all thanks to Bitcoin. He bought in early, and that crypto stash has basically been funding his life ever since.

🍌 Juicy memes